Improvement in job performance comes about through the ability of the frontline manager to coach his or her employees to change the way they accomplish tasks related to their jobs. A critical component in aiding frontline supervisors to positively change the performance of their staff is the understanding of basic behaviours that enable higher accomplishments. The idea is that by identifying and encouraging average performers to adopt the same behaviours exhibited by top team members, the organisation will reap far-reaching benefits.

This is more than just a concept; it has been proven to work in high-level companies around the world. Although every employee is different and brings varying skills to the team, best practices can be broken into steps anyone can learn.

Retail Case Study

Consider this example of how one company used top performers’ best practices to realise an increase in sales.

The company sells retail appliances and electronics. The greatest profits come not from the items themselves, but as a result of selling an extended three- to five-year warranty to the customer along with their purchase. Their priority for the sales staff was to maximise sales of the extended warranties.

The consultant the company hired spent some time observing consistently high performing sales associates at a competitor’s location. The manager at this store was interviewed, as well. After this observation and information gathering process, the following behaviours were identified as being most influential to the sale of extended warranties:

o Recommending the purchase of an extended warranty early in the sales process.
o A second recommendation before the sale is secured.
o Giving the customer one or two concrete benefits of purchasing the extended warranty after explaining a feature, such as “An extended warranty for this appliance gives peace of mind should any repairs be necessary”.
o Tell the customer that the price of the extended warranty can be added to the total cost at checkout.
o Break the additional cost down into smaller increments, such as the dollar per week amount.
o If the customer exhibits resistance, increase the value proposition by mentioning an additional benefit.
o Ask for agreement to purchase.

The result of implementing these best practices at the company was a strong increase in the sale of extended warranties, from 33% up to 52%.

Obviously this concentration on identifying the behaviour in top performers and teaching it to the sales staff was quite beneficial, allowing the store to go from facing closure to becoming profitable.

In order to use this improvement scheme in your organisation you will first need frontline supervisors to observe, identify, and analyse the behaviours of their top performers. The second step is to teach the entire team how to perform in this manner. Lastly, it is up to the team manager to coach their staff and manage them in a way that promotes the use of these behaviours. Feedback is an important component of this step in that it allows employees to gauge their own performance against the standard.

Any organisation can realise these benefits, not just retail.