As the holiday weekend approaches and cities and countries continue to welcome customer and visitors back, the key ingredient for success is ATTITUDE. At all levels of your organization if the “attitude” isn’t one of positivism, can do and forward thinking, you might as well keep the doors closed.
Attitude is defined in the Merriam Webster’s Dictionary as “a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person’s behavior.” Your mindset drives your actions. If you are not on the right track you are likely to go off the rails.
Businesses that embrace the changes and find creative ways to deal with the new normal conditions maintaining an optimistic outlook are going to succeed. They wouldn’t allow barriers or complications to slow their momentum. Even if a business has been closed, many inventive owners have found ways to continue operations with online services.
You have heard, ‘if there is a will, there is way’. Never has that been truer. Business owner that refused to be defeated by the multiple challenges faced in the last few months have shown great resilience to survive and now thrive. They have pushed their positive attitude to their staff. When staff members are energized and encouraged to put a positive spin on things, they will find customers are more delighted.
Don’t forget to celebrate the return of customers. Place signs and Point-of-Sale messages welcoming them back. Recognize customers who return. Take a picture and post them on wall, thank them on social media and offer them incentives to return and shop with you again.
As you welcome your customers back, now is the time to “train” them on the changes your business has adopted. Provide them clear visual cues and use floor graphics to guide them. If you make new restrictions clear and easy, customers will feel more at ease and more willing to comply.
Ultimately, attitude is something you have to build and work to maintain. It might be important to take a step back and refresh your outlook. Take a timeout to reset and reinvigorate your attitude so that you can be a positive catalyst for your team.
It is hard to upbeat and stay in a positive mindset all the time. But as a business owner and leader, you have to set the tone and model the behavior you want your team to demonstrate. Make sure communication is clear, regular and maintain a level of fun. Providing a fun environment becomes contagious and will permeate to your customers.
Here are ways to make your business more upbeat and more positive.
Ask your team members for ideas and ways to make the new conditions and requirements more upbeat.
Here is a personal story that demonstrates the power of attitude.
Recently, I visited a local coffee shop that had been closed for months. When they reopened, I got an email with a coupon welcoming me back. They had been communicating with me via email during the closing letting me know what they were doing in preparation for reopening. They sent funny messages showed employees cleaning and rearranging the shop and they shared photos of their team in funny masks.
When I went back to the store, the windows were painted with WELCOME BACK WE MISSED BREWING FOR YOU. They had added fun floor graphics indicating where to line up to maintain social distancing. One said if you are standing here, you are too close. They had a ‘Sanitizer Spritzer’ at the door. As I entered, just like in a department store, they had team member offering to spritz me with their sanitizer of the day. The employee said, “Today we are sampling our vanilla sanitizer, let me give you quick spray.”
I noticed that all the employees had character face masks and many of them had added buttons and accessories that matched. They all had new Shirts that said. WE GLAD TO COFFE or TEA YOU! It made me smile.
The store was super clean (it always was) but it was clear they had stepped it up. While there were no chairs to sit inside, they had created a cozy yet spaced out seating area outside. They had gone so far as to place marks on the floor where the chairs should be to maintain 6-feet of distance.
The store was busy and even though there were only letting a few people in a once, they had added additional employees to move the line quickly. The music that played was upbeat. The employees at the counter, were happy to see me and said so… “Welcome back, how have you been” instead of “what can I make you”. They also liked the mask I had on and asked if they could take a snap a photo of me to place on social media. I agreed.
Overall, the experience of buying my favorite coffee and pastry was delightful even during a difficult and uncertain time. They made it clear that they as a business were rising above the chaos and were going to succeed. I have returned several times since the reopening, but as a walk up and drive through. Every time they have some new sign, or new shirts that make me giggle. I love going there, even though I often have to wait a bit longer than I did. But they make me feel so good and so welcome, that it makes no difference to me.
This is just one example of the power of positive attitude. Our CEO and Founder of ActionCOACH, Brad Sugars, recently went on a cross-country trek with his family and he shared his thoughts on this brief video.