What is the best way to hire and retain staff?

Two retailers weigh in on how they find and hold on to good employees.

By Phyllis Schiller

ANDREA BRAGG
OWNER, FORSYTHE JEWELERS
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA It’s extremely difficult to know what an employee is going to be like from an interview. That’s when they are presenting the best version of themselves. And I don’t rely heavily on references, either, because people can receive a great reference, yet not be a great employee. I tend to place value on less tangible cues.

“The first thing I look for is personality. I want my team to be able to connect with our customers and put them at ease. I can teach someone the technical aspects of the position, advise them on the designers we carry and how to complete the sales transaction, but it’s how to develop relationships with our clients that is truly the important element. I’m looking for people who are good conversationalists, and sincere. When they talk to a client, the client needs to know that the sales associate is looking out for their best interest. You can’t get that same feeling when you’re ordering something online.

“In terms of keeping employees, I’m extremely transparent. As the owner of the business, I’m in the store every day. I share a lot of information with my staff. And I value their opinions; I ask for their assistance in selecting new products. I really value their feedback. They’re the ones who are on the sales floor. If they have concerns, I want them to feel that they can come to me; it’s a two-way street. We have a weekly staff meeting where I share our financial information — month-to-date and annual sales, what’s trending, and upcoming events. We’re a small store, so it’s a small staff. But they know everything that’s going on.

JOEL SIEGEL
CO-OWNER, SIEGEL JEWELERS
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN I try to find the best people to hire to start with, of course. We don’t do a lot of formal training. If we were to sit a person down for three days and teach them everything they needed to know, they would probably retain only about 10%. Instead, we basically have new employees shadow another staff member. This way, they can absorb what they need to know in smaller doses, a little at a time, in a way that allows them to really see how we do things here.

“We’re a single store, so there is an opportunity to take on new duties and responsibilities. There are ways to move up within the store, depending upon seniority and individual skill sets.

“Some people are more right-brain-oriented and some are left-brain. The attributes that I look for would be the ability to retain good product knowledge, as well as to be skilled at dealing with the processing of a purchase, including the paperwork and keeping track of all the details of an order. But most of all, the person should have good people skills. Being detail-oriented isn’t enough if they can’t relate to the clients walking into the store. Ideally, I would want a mixture of younger and older staffers, so that customers of different ages can find a salesperson with whom they are comfortable.

“Over the past few years, we have had several employees who had been with the store for 30 or 40 years retire. We’re not necessarily seeing that type of long-term employment happening now. But that situation is not just happening here, it’s in any industry today.

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - August 2019. To subscribe click here.

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