The three ideas in the article are all important to fostering enthusiasm, but one key item should be added — pay a decent wage. Kudos and innovation don’t replace the need for sales associates to be able to support themselves. Benefits like health care and 401K plans foster loyalty and generate enthusiasm.

Human interaction is the only, and single most important, differentiator between the physical store and the Internet experience. Your store staff are brand ambassadors and as such are the most valuable asset in your store. Making sure they are motivated and valued will pay dividends for all of your marketing and merchandising channels.

Much of this challenge reminds me of a perennial mantra, called “Shadow of the Leader.” Staff needs to see the store management take charge of the shopper experience and get involved with every shopper they pass in the aisles. Once the staff sees that the management is doing exactly what they are asking the staff to do, then that will be the first step toward staff adoption of the policies.

I agree with Max. All the points mentioned in the article are important. But at the end of the day you have to be able to pay your bills.

Now let’s move on from that point. The Container Store is the best example I know of a retailer that is doing the right things — correctly and consistently. They take time to insure that they are hiring the best people available to them. Then those employees are extensively trained so the right things are continually done. Honoring the customer and the importance of the customer getting what they need so they return is paramount. Customers must remember the buying experience as one they want to have again. Their turnover is very low compared to the industry average.

I am going to build on Bob Amster’s comments. Hiring people with a genuine passion for the business is a key component of enthusiastic retail employees. For example, an employee at The Vitamin Shoppe or GNC probably did not run around town filling out applications at McD’s, Chipolte, and Target. They targeted employers that reflect their lifestyle and it shows in their enthusiasm — and others with whom they work share that lifestyle.

However, the challenge is higher where involvement is lower (tedium/boredom higher) such as at a general/mass merch retailer, like a grocery store. In those cases, I believe, it is good old managerial motivation that does the trick and making sure employees are working with people that they enjoy being around. Co-workers are so important to attitude.

I would agree that low/minimum wage suppresses enthusiasm, but I respectfully question whether $15/hr will generate actual upsides in enthusiasm vs $12/hr. It may in the short-term, but tedium/boredom is unaffected by a pay raise. IMHO

I find it so interesting when I read articles about how brick and mortar retailer can survive and compete with Amazon, pure play e-tailers and hybrids. Often times the answer is more technology in stores. But the number one way they will survive is by hiring, investing in, training and creating retail experiences led by intelligent, enthusiastic and passionate employees.

The key to fostering enthusiasm is to treat your employees as the fellow owners of the business. Open up about goals, new products, introduce them to new vendors and get their opinions.

This is what I absolutely love about this community. We start with a premise from one of us or an article, and then a lot of really smart people with incredible experience builds on it. Thanks everyone for taking a topic that I’m enthusiastic about (pun intended), and making it that much better.

Good tips, though I have recently proven one potential issue. I matched American Customer Satisfaction Index and Glassdoor ratings for 366 companies serving US consumers. There are three retail categories in the ACSI data. Supermarkets have a strong correlation between employee and customer satisfaction. The relationship is much weaker for specialty retail stores and non-existent for the group of 14 department and discount store brands covered. Now, employee happiness and employee engagement are quite different concepts. Employees can be happy with their commute to work, their pay and the food in the company restaurant. None of these do anything for customers.

My blog post on the research includes links to all of the data and is here.

Upper management tends to forget the importance of employee engagement and cheering on your team. It’s a simple thing to do, yet so many forget to recognize their employees since we get caught up in day-to-day business operations. If you go out of your way to recognize your staff, they’ll be much happier and transfer that enthusiasm to customers. Happy staff = happy customers which translates to a strengthened bottom line.