Harvest Roasting
February, 2010 Newsletter
By Don Eckles, President
Hiring the right employees may be one of the most important things you can do for your business. And yet, it’s often one of the things we spend the least amount of time on. Making the “wrong” hire is not only a terrible waste of your time and money, it can set your business back temporarily, or even permanently.
I don’t want to over simplify by saying that it’s all about the people and nothing else. I do believe that the quality and taste of your product is as critical as any other part of your business. But, I also believe that, all things being equal, customer service, and the people providing that customer service are the difference makers.
First, let me get a couple of things out of the way…
Your products must be exceptional, if you are to thrive in business. Too many people believe that an Arabica coffee bean is the same as any other Arabica coffee bean. Or that one flavoring syrup is as good as another. It’s simply not the case. Here a smoothie, there a smoothie, everywhere a smoothie smoothieJ.
In this business, there is one GIANT, and then, there’s us…you, me, and 10,000 other coffee houses. Why do customers come to us? Starbucks has thousands of stores through-out the country. Why doesn’t everyone just go there? Convenience? Maybe, but they’re pretty convenient in most places. Customer service? Could be, but again…they’re pretty good in most stores. Anti-Giant sentiment? Don’t fool yourselves…most of the biggest players in any segment are giants. Ever heard of Wal-Mart or McDonalds? There aren’t enough anti-giant customers out there to build a business on…unless you’re better.
It’s the quality of the product and, the quality of the customer experience. That’s where you have to distinguish yourself from the big guys. Start by taking a look at your products, and the way you make them. Very few roasters in the country are using only specialty grade beans. No flavoring syrup that I’ve tried comes close to Monin in quality or taste. And Maui all natural real fruit smoothies are not only great tasting, they are cost effective, too.
Here’s my only plug for Harvest Roasting. We roast only the highest grade beans available. The best of the best. We sell Monin flavoring syrups and sauces, and Maui smoothie mixes. We also sell Mont Blanc caramel and white chocolate sauces. And, because of our volume, we sell things for less than practically anyone else, anywhere. And, if you order 75 lbs. of our world class coffee beans, we ship your entire order freight free. Lastly, we sell our coffee beans for around $6.25 per pound (give or take, depending on the bean). With free shipping on qualified orders, no one can match our price, quality for quality. No one! Please call us for samples. We’d love to work with you.
Now…back to hiring. Again, assuming your products taste as good as or better than the competition, it will come down to customer service. In our stores, great employees make all the difference. When we have a great staff, sales go up. When our staff needs some attention, sales suffer. How do we improve our staff? Two ways, training existing staff, and making better hiring decisions on new hires.
When we advertise for a new hire, we don’t sugar-coat it. Our application process is a time consuming deal for future hires. We make them prove to us that they really want to work at one of our stores. So, as part of the application process, we lay it all out. We tell prospective employees what we’re looking for, and, if they don’t think that’s them, we tell them they should not apply. Here is the first page of our on-line application process:
“Boundless Enterprises is seeking freakishly happy people to become awesome Baristas’ for our coffee houses. Those who are “laid back”, “chill” and “too cool for the room” need not apply. And, don’t mistake this for “Fake”. We are looking for truly seriously upbeat, happy people (who can move like their backsides are on fire all the time) aiming to deliver a positive attitude to our customers. Really outgoing individuals whose only mission is to please our fellow human beings, who come to us for great coffee” In a nutshell…We are looking for the best of the best! You bring the personality…we’ll teach you the coffee.”
“Think you can hang with us? Then click here…”
Then, they click on to a page that gives them many reasons to turn back. They must read through all the things that a good employee is expected to do if they want to work for us. “Still Interested? Click here, and apply”.
Once they do all that, we weed out 70% of the applicants, based on their work history, their
availability, their ability to match our needs, etc. From that, we interview and, hopefully, hire a great employee.
Here’s what we look for when we interview (taken from our newsletter of February, 2009):
A very clean, well kept person
Appearance is so important. If they aren’t neat and clean when they come in for the interview, it won’t get better…I can promise you that. You and your employees are handling things that your customers are going to put in their mouths. Believe me…they are looking at cleanliness.
Bright, friendly eyes that are full of life
Some people just have a love for life. Find those people. They are pleasant to be around, and your customers will feel the same way.
A warm genuine smile
You can’t fake nice for very long. Nice people attract other people. Hire genuinely nice people.
Someone who looks you in the eyes when they are talking to you
It’s the best way to tell whoever is speaking to you, that you care about what they’re saying.
Good speaking skills, someone who uses proper grammar
Poor grammar is a real turn-off. They don’t need to be an English professor, but they do need to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.
Good listening skills, someone who doesn’t monopolize the conversation
Good listeners know that it’s always about someone else…it’s not about them.
Someone who is not afraid to up-sell (in fact…have them sell something to you during the interview)
This is a great way to find out whether or not you have a winner. If they are too embarrassed to do this…how are they going to up-sell your customers? It doesn’t matter how good they are at it (at least when they are practicing on you), it’s the fact that they were willing to try. If they are willing to try to sell something to you, they will probably be willing to try new things, as your employee.
Once you make a hire, train them well. Training is not a 1 or 2 day deal. In a way…it never ends. Employees must learn to be fast and efficient, clean and friendly. And they must absolutely understand how important the customer is to the success of them as an employee, and, your business.
Break training down into sections. Work on teaching 1 area at a time. Maybe it’s the cash register and greeting the customers. Then, its drink making. Then, cleaning procedures. Then, putting it all together, and learning to do it fast. An employee needs to get good at one area before they move on to the next one. And, if at any point, it becomes clear that they are not going to “get it”, we have to say goodbye. We can’t waste time and money on an employee who is maybe going to harm your business. That’s a hard decision to make, but, that also why it’s important to make a good hire in the first place.
That’s all for now. Next time, we’ll talk about up-selling. Happy selling.
Sincerely,
Don Eckles
Harvest Roasting