“The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits” by Zeynep Ton (New Harvest, $25).
While fast-food and retail businesses have been engines of recent job growth, they believe paying a living wage would raise prices, drive some consumers away and reduce profits. Ton’s counterintuitive money-making approach finds its roots in a business model that controls costs, offers a living wage, satisfies customers.
Here’s how the model works:
1. Less can yield more. Controlling costs starts with offering a narrower selection of products, fewer promotions and limited hours. While you think of Costco as a big-box store, it’s also a limited-selection, bulk-buy store that pays employees a living wage.
There are only a few brands of food, clothing, cleaning products, etc. It offers limited promotions; its hours are shorter than most retailers. Yet consumers pay an annual fee to shop there, and its stock outperforms Walmart’s.
2. Standardize and empower. This 21st century version of Frederick W. Taylor’s systematized-productivity principles incorporates employee decision making. QuickTrip operates over 600 stores with time-managed processes (i.e. five seconds to ring up a single item if the customer pays cash).
Employees have a say in how much and what inventory should be carried at their store, and can deal with customer complaints on the spot. QuickTrip made Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work for” list 11 consecutive years.
3. Cross-train. Instead of specific jobs, employees shift jobs based upon customer flow. You don’t hear “It’s not my job at Trader Joes.” When someone rings the bell indicating help with cashiering, employees closest to the checkout respond. When traffic is light, task-shifting builds teamwork, camaraderie and gets results.
4. Operate with slack. Overstaffing actually reduces costs. Huh? The “extra” staff doesn’t sit idle. They participate in training and continuous improvement geared to improving the customer experience. Coupled with cross-training, they move to high- traffic areas so customers receive prompt, knowledgeable service.
Ton’s message: Companies that control costs and consider employees as assets, not expenses, boost customer satisfaction and loyalty — and their profits.
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“Ditch the Pitch — The Art of Improvised Persuasion” by Steve Yastrow (SelectBooks, $22.95).
In comedy, there’s a huge difference between stand up and improv. The stand-up comedian has a standard joke repertoire. The improv comic takes cues from what the other troupe members say and do. An improviser thinks “yes, and…,” and responds with dialogue or action that builds and extends the scene.
In sales, the stand-up salesperson delivers a stick-to-the-script presentation. These canned pitches don’t work because they start from the premise of “you,” not the prospect. What are the chances the prospect will do the work “of attaching your features to his needs”? Slim at best. Prospects want to talk about themselves — and what they need. They want to deal with people who listen to their story. When they’re not given that opportunity, they tune you out.
The improv salesperson comes prepared to engage the prospect in conversation about needs and wants. They listen actively and think about framing “yes, and…” responses. When prospects see the improv salesperson’s interest in and understanding of their story, they begin responding “yes, and…,” too.
The improviser also knows that you can’t rush the scene. She or he patiently waits for the right spot to introduce insights and ideas into the conversation — knowing that they will build the scene. The conversation heightens with precision and persuasion toward a mutual “Yes, and here’s how the product/service provides a solution.”
Yastrow’s message: “When preparing for an interaction in which you have to persuade, stop thinking about what you want to say, and start thinking about the kind of conversation you want to have.”
Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer.
