Keep ’Em On Their Toes

There’s nothing like a handwritten note, opened in front of colleagues or family, to know that your boss cares about you and appreciates your work.

7. Retrain and refresh. Both knowledge and skills get rusty over time. Whether it’s an in-depth review of product knowledge, more sophisticated techniques for understanding customer needs, or stress-reduction exercises, the act of learning, itself, is reinvigorating. And when the new content helps your reps build competence and/or confidence, they understand and appreciate that the business is investing in their long-term success.

8. Mentor them and let them mentor others. Mentoring is a support mechanism, not a supervisory one. Sometimes it’s support for navigating the waters of the workplace more effectively, and sometimes it’s support for life. Either way, it’s special attention from someone who cares about your well-being.

Let your experienced reps help you train, coach and encourage newer employees; they’ll provide additional value in the operation, and you’ll get back some of the benefit of your investment in them.

9. Teach long-term reps the business. It’s easier and more effective to make decisions based on context and strategy if you understand them both. Most reps aren’t familiar with their marketplaces, the competitive situations their organizations face, the cost structure, or even where their own jobs fit into the flow of information upstream and down.

Give them a modicum of knowledge of these concepts, even in the abstract. Eventually they’ll begin to understand and accept even tough situations that they don’t particularly like because they know it’s reality and not some kind of management manipulation.

10. Help them chart a course for the future. Some people stay in jobs a long time because they’re happy, satisfied and content. Others stay because of inertia or because no better offer has come along. By directing discussions toward planning for a secure and satisfying future, whether that future includes college course work, retirement planning or community service, you demonstrate care for the individuals involved, not just their capacities for work.