- set an achievable goal (10 e-mails/names per hour or whatever).

And this was the pregnant employee, who wanted access to bathrooms? I would even be willing to have wiggle room on that hourly goal, possibly to be adjusted or evaluated after hourly check-ins, to be clear that you're not trying to work the pregnant lady to death. (Which you SO obviously were NOT; that's crystal clear to me, but she sounds like someone for whom extra reassurance was needed.)

And to piggyback on JenP's post up thar: is she a great dog-walker? When you are talking to her, mention her strength, and then segue into the "We need to work on sales skills, and this is something that will come in handy in other areas of your life, not just working for us."

If she's kind of a shitty employee all-around, or if this is another signal that points to the fact that she might be kind of a slacker, you and your colleague might want to talk about retaining or retraining.

Good point, Erin! I forgot about the positive feedback part, if there's any to be had. Man, that can be a streeeeetch sometimes.

If I'm understanding correctly, you had this person (and I'm guessing others -- how did they do?)

One fellow just sort of stood in traffic, hoping someone would talk to him first. When he DID get a taker, he spoke well. There were three other women who were ON IT. They charged down the street and snagged people right and left.

working the crowd and chatting them up, with hopes of getting e-mails/names, etc. so that you could contact them later, and turn them into clients, right?

Right. We are hoping that an informative newsletter and being the most trusted service in the area will eventually convert clients. My personal goal was 40 new clients from the day. This was based on last year's estimate of 7000 attendees. Given the weather, I don't think we had that many.

I tell you what, a $50 bonus per client would be plenty incentivizing for me to work it, especially if I were getting the client out of it. Is that how it worked?

Right? That incentive...plus being paid for attracting new clients...woulda been enough for me.

- give them a short script to fall back on; some people are naturals, most are not, so scripts can help.

I fell down here. I meant to write up a script, but spaced on it that at the last minute. We DID give them short, verbal scripts and they had the opportunity to watch three of us do it fairly easily.

- spend some time role playing with them, so they get comfortable interacting with people.

So far, the company culture does not encourage teamwork and 'extra credit.' I'm working on changing that.

- set an achievable goal (10 e-mails/names per hour or whatever).

I absolutely should have set an hourly goal beyond 'a lot.' I did mention the 40 new clients, but that was clearly not enough.

- provide an additional incentive for whoever collects the most names.

That is in place. I'm pretty sure the woman who manages the house cleaning division smoked the rest of the competitors, which is weird, but whatev.

- have them check in each hour; let them know where they are relative to everyone else.

I TOTALLY should have done this. I got so caught up in working the street (but not participating in the incentives) that I only checked in casually.

Do they have goals for bringing in business in general?

Are they accountable for that?

There has been a passing recognition that people should be working their routes for new clients. Partner does a great job of describing what to do when you see someone moving in with a dog.

I had to lower the boom on walkers not wearing their company tshirts. The shirts are gorgeous. Partner did an amazing job with the logos and colors. That 'billboard' is important for the company, but more so, it attracts attention. (and makes them look more professional)

There has been no official sales goal set so far. I'm thinking this needs to be revisited.

Walkers complain about not having enough clients, but do not feel invested in getting more. This must change.

Walkers complain about not having enough clients, but do not feel invested in getting more. This must change.

Preach it, sister.

While I was pottering over my response, you all added so much great feedback. Thank you!

I think we have much the same "get shit done" personality, bonny, and are alike in other ways: I also have no probs with saying "I said shit, I'm sorry, how can we work this out?"

Totally this.

Being a die-hard non-confrontation sort I have an employee that does the crew supervision because I just can't do it effectively.

This is precisely my role int he supervisory sense. One of us is soft, one of us is hard. I just need to be hard in a more constructive way.

I did not ask them to repeat things back to me and that was a failing of my excited energy. Under other circumstances, that is exactly what I would have done. Damn. I shoulda made up a checklist for myself.

If people are on the clock they need to be doing things how they are told, or should at least discuss another possible way to do things and get the supervisor's permission.

I saw too much red from this. I maintain that the woman should have told me she could not/or didnt' choose to do the job. I might not have liked it, but I would totally have respected it.

she sounds like someone for whom extra reassurance was needed

Steph, in retrospect, I have identified a particular hot-button of my personal experience that I really need to manage better in this context. The woman isn't a great walker, but she is adequate. She IS what my personal prejudices consider to be a 'weak' woman. This is a problem for me that is nobody's fault but my own. I really, really need to get a handle on this because my irritation does nothing for the woman and ensures I do not succeed with that personality type.

Major lesson to learn here.

I forgot about the positive feedback part, if there's any to be had. Man, that can be a streeeeetch sometimes.

I totally fell down on the positive feedback portion of the program yesterday. I got so excited and wound up, I had my eyes too glued to the goals and the people I was talking to about things I feel strongly about.

I know I was encouraging and cheerful with the folks who were cheerful. I did not help those who weren't. a

Yeah I have to say from my perspective, only being given what you said here, I personally would have been horrible at this. And I would have been terrified to tell you I couldn't do it. Given what they came back with and their understanding, they obviously didn't understand what information they should have been gathering and how it would have been used, much less how to gather it from random strangers. I work a lot of conventions, where basically everyone walking past my booth has a stated interest in my product and it it still, after ten years of working at it, insanely difficult to engage people appropriately. What you are asking is hard, and I don't know, but the average dog walker's personality might not be a marketers one.

What you are asking is hard, and I don't know, but the average dog walker's personality might not be a marketers one.

This.

That's a good point, Liese. She may not have known what she was signing up for when she agreed to work the event, I don't know. Again, setting expectations is key. ETA: As is keeping expectations within the parameters of the job description.

I think there is value in expecting and encouraging people to stretch beyond their comfort zones, assuming everything is ethical and above board. It's good to learn new skills, and it's good for business. There are a lot of situations I would have been completely uncomfortable with ten years ago had I not been asked to stretch. I'm better at what I do (did), and the business should expect me to improve unless I'm already perfect, which, no.

And, you know, you have people who want to learn and grow, and there are people who are not interested in that in their part-time job or whatever. I get that. But if you explain to the dog walker that, hey, if you want more business, you're in the field and have a chance to make that happen, and then train on how to do that and set some achievable goals, I think that's reasonable.

I would bet that in this market, you will find excellent dog walkers who are more than happy to market. Seriously!

That's a good point, Liese. She may not have known what she was signing up for when she agreed to work the event, I don't know. Again, setting expectations is key. ETA: As is keeping expectations within the parameters of the job description.

On this, I feel pretty secure. I described tasks for the event, in person, at a staff meeting. Then, the entire staff received 3 emails with encouraging descriptions. We then demonstrated the job on the moment.

The form we gave them to collect the information very clearly requested first name, last name, email address and pet name. At the top it said, email list and raffle entry form. I can't imagine that any of those slots seemed optional, least of all the email address.

I would bet that in this market, you will find excellent dog walkers who are more than happy to market. Seriously!

Absolutely this. The sad part is that some walkers are completely incensed that former employees are poaching their territories but they aren't willing to speak to their own clients about staying with them.

I really do understand people not wanting to be marketers. Goodness knows I would not want to work on an assembly line.

But, knowing that this was an event specifically geared to introducing themselves to potential clients, it doesn't make sense that this woman showed up to do a job she wasn't willing to do.

OH! I should add that the walker's supervisor made it very clear that he was not a talkin' kind of guy. He came early, learned to tie a wicked balloon (seriously, the dude has talent, and kept the behind the scenes stuff rolling. When the set up was done and the talking reached a crescendo, he scampered.

Total respect.