Jess Browne from 3 Wise Men, Shop 3, 195 Lambton Quay, Wellington.
Thought of starting a series of articles on Business Development ... so here's the very first one of this series.
Rater than being a serious, painful exercise, how can you change the staff hiring process to be fun and engaging, and get your customers to play a part in the process? This is especially applicable if you are hiring staff for a retail/hospitality business.
So here is something you could do ...
1. Make a short list of applicants
2. Contact some of your regular customers
3. Arrange few drinks in the shop/store/cafe after work and invite the customers to meet, mix & mingle with the potential staff members. Even better, make a fun event by doing this like a mini-idol contest, where potential employees will tell the customers why they are the best talent for the job.
4. Then get the customers to vote for who you should hire.
Here is the story behind this idea.
3 Wise men is one of my favorite stores in Wellington. I first became a customer when they opened the store in 2005 ... they had a great store manager called Sarah Gummer. So during 2005 & 2006, I bought quite a few items from this shop and recommended it to heaps of my contacts.
Sarah left sometime in 2007 ... I visited the shop few times but didn't spend much money ... the store manager was good ... but she wasn't great.
Then last month, I went back to the shop again and met Jess Browne, the new store manager. Jess is awesome ... she knows how to engage with customers and has a real passion for retail.
So I have spent more money in the store in the last 4 weeks than I have spent in the last 3 years ... and just put out a Tweet to spread the word.
