Just in time for the start of the pre-Christmas period, the seminar “Top Christmas sales with highly motivated employees” of the BTE trade association took place on Friday together with communication and motivation trainer Andreas Nemeth. As the name suggests, the linchpin of the presentation was motivation. Nemeth revealed tips and tricks to motivate employees and himself in the admittedly difficult current situation. In addition, he also explained how it is possible to transfer this motivation to customers in order to encourage them to buy, because according to the motivational trainer, they are “highly motivated employees” who consist of “enthusiastic customers, customers willing to buy do :inside.
How is motivation generated?
How do fashion retailers manage to increase the motivation of their employees? According to Nemeth, there are three different avenues of motivation, each of which can be achieved through pleasure or through pain. This includes the self-motivation of the employees: inside and motivational impulses from outside, i.e. the exertion of pressure, or at best of course via recognition. The last and “highest level of motivation” is the meaningfulness of one’s own task. According to the theory, employees who recognize the meaning behind their tasks will also be motivated to pursue them. While both conscious and unconscious thoughts can be trained through targeted linguistic formulations, three aspects are particularly important for a positive, motivating corporate culture:
1. The flow of information in companies
The current political and economic situation is associated with uncertainty and concern. Open discussions and an honest exchange help to convey security and can take away unnecessary worries and fears from employees.
2. Realistic optimism in the team
Blind optimism is rarely helpful, but it makes sense to motivate employees with realistic optimism. Sentences like “Christmas can come. We are well prepared”, can set positive motivational impulses, explained Andreas Nemeth.
3. The strengthening and development of individuals
Focusing on employees’ mistakes or looking for them is never helpful – because those who seek will find. Rather, the development of the potential of the employees should be strengthened, be it through personal discussions, coaching or specific tasks. Above all, it is important to be aware that every person has undiscovered potential.
How can a motivating communication culture be established?
Language and the right type of communication are the most important building blocks of motivation. This is about inner monologues as well as the way people communicate with each other, because every word has both a conscious and unconscious impact on the human psyche. In short: language can have a strong influence on fellow human beings and consequently on colleagues, employees and also customers. Even small changes in the wording often have a major impact on the motivation of the individual. In this way, more demanding customers with the right attitude can also become an exciting challenge – it’s all a matter of opinion and formulation!
It is particularly important for executives to think “proactively”, explains the communication trainer in his seminar. He understands “pro-active” to deal with situations without protest. It is better to stand up for something than to be against it, he explained. This in no way means that everything should be ignored, rather it is a matter of leading the workforce consistently, but without protest and with understanding. “I can understand that you are overwhelmed, but we still want to go full throttle in the Christmas business,” is one of Andreas Nemeth’s examples of such a proactive reaction to an employee who is affected by the additional opening times around Christmas. Especially on the sales floor, care should be taken to ensure that only positive and inspiring topics and wording are used. If constructive criticism needs to be expressed or a serious discussion needs to be held, this should always take place away from the area in private rooms.
How can the self-motivation of the employees be promoted?
In order to promote the self-motivation of the employees, the seminar provides five concrete tips, the implementation of which should lead to success:
employees set meaningful goals, because these promote motivation and give the person recognition, respect and responsibility. Over the Christmas period, among other things, an above-average number of parts per customer could become an incentive for employees.
Establish concrete and clear rules, because these convey security – everyone knows exactly what is expected of him or her. Especially during the Christmas season, it should be determined which Christmas service is standard and is offered to all customers.
openness and trust goes hand in hand with the flow of information in the company. Weekly morning meetings are useful for this. In order to make it Christmassy, Andreas Nemeth suggests Advent meetings to start the Saturday – with alcohol-free punch and gingerbread if you like. Concrete goals and rules for the day can also be set here.
Employees should definitely go to the Idea generation and innovation of a business, because on the one hand this leads to more respect and respect for one another, strengthens the innovative power of the company and also means that the workers are busy with their work and the company.
The personal responsibility of employees should be strengthened by creating freedom. Of course there are rules, but within them there should be enough leeway for your own decisions.
In the spirit of the upcoming Christmas season, Nemeth also emphasized that small gifts, whether for employees or customers, not only literally maintain friendship.