Negative employee = negative results
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from Retail Contrarian, the blog of the Dynamic Experiences Group.
I suspect we can all agree that positive people have a positive impact on customers and results. So why aren't employees with a negative attitude assumed to have a negative impact on customers and results?
I have a client whose business was on a roll this summer and then, all of sudden, took a dive. At first she thought it was traffic or the local economy, but as she poked around she discovered that one of her employees was very negative when the boss wasn't in the store.
The owner hired a positive, upbeat person in place of the negative person. Sales went up over 30 percent. A negative employee was killing her business. Not hurting it. Killing it!
Why are employees negative? The number one reason is because they're allowed to be. We're accepting of the behavior.
Why do we accept negative behavior? The number one reason is probably that an owner or manager hates confrontation. Most of us do.
Even if you go to great lengths to avoid confrontations, you have to ask yourself: Which is worse, lost sales or a confrontation?
Another reason we accept negativity is because we hate having to find, hire and train new people. I totally get that. At the same time, though, you have to remember how much that negative person with the negative attitude is costing you in sales. The effort you put into replacing that negativity will easily pay for itself, and then some.
Other reasons I've heard why we accept people being negative:
- "They're good salespeople." Yes, but they would sell a lot more if they weren't negative.
- "He's a good person." I'm sure he is, but imagine how much better he'd be if he knocked off the negativity!
- "She has a lot of problems." But it still isn't okay to create more problems at work.
The good news is that most people will change when confronted. Some people will even be surprised they're perceived as being negative. Many turn it around immediately.
Every now and then you get someone who either won't or can't change. Don't wait them out. You give a final warning, and then they're gone.