sales help. Selling furniture can be
a slow process and we need people who can listen to our customers, learn what they need and then
help them find it. Leon & Lulu is
not a commission store, and we are
committed to a professional, helpful but low-key sales approach.
We also could use, in second
place, someone with clerical skills
and I would be thrilled to have a
person who could help with display and or website, but sales is the
key, and everyone must work with
the customers well.
Benefits
What do we have to offer? As
an independent retailer, the
financial benefits are certainly
not comparable to corporate
America, but we do have
a flexible, family-friendly
scheduling, easy and free parking
and a decent discount. Most important, we offer a pleasant and
welcoming work environment.
Have you recently made a list of
what you offer in addition to hourly wages? As you do it, ask your
employees what they value most
about their jobs. You may be surprised and even delighted by the
answers.
Craig’s List
Craig’s List ( www.craigslist.com)
is a terrific, free classified ad ser-
vice that is well established in some
areas and just beginning to grow in
others. We have used this service
several times both for hiring and
selling old equipment from the
roller rink. It is definitely worth a
try, and growing quickly.
Employee Manual
We knew we were opening a store
for well over a year before the
doors opened. We were fully aware
that a staff was important and that
we needed employees. We even
knew, being no fools, that it was a
good idea to have a few rules and
set some policies.
I did manage to compile a dandy pile of information for an employee manual, but it never quite
got written. We’ve had a few things
that clearly needed clarification,
like breaks and punctuality, but
nothing serious, so we continued
to leave it on the long list of things
to do very soon.
However, one week one of our
staff members proudly showed me
the new tattoos on the insides of
her wrists and I realized that this
time I had truly missed the dead-
line. You see, we had never men-
tioned that visible tattoos are not
an acceptable part of our very lax
dress code.
So now, a little late, I am working on the employee manual. As it
turns out, the project is not as terrifying as I had expected, thanks
to the wonders of the Internet. A
quick visit to Google and a search
for retail employee manual yielded
several links to instantly down-loadable software programs, with
prices ranging from $9.95 to $400,
most under $100.
Naturally, I gravitated to the
cheapest one, but there were misspellings on their website, which I
took as a very bad sign, so I went
all out and spent $34.95 at www.
Standardlegal.com and received a
41-page form, ready to be customized. Not surprisingly, the tone of
the manual is rigid and a little unfriendly. I started to work on it, but
found that it was tough going.
Then I reviewed the manuals
my husband and I received when
we worked at Crate & Barrel and
Restoration Hardware several
Christmases ago. These are de-
lightful––all the legal information
is there, but the attitude is warm
and respectful, so I went back to
Google, and looked at The Em-
ployee Manual, which is the cheap
one I had rejected earlier. (www.
TheEmployeeManual.com).
The tone and attitude of this
document is far closer to our way
of thinking and it seems to have
everything in it. And it was only
$9.95. I’ll just check the spelling
carefully.
We will be sure to include
a section on customer service,
our company philosophy
and the benefits we provide
(discounts, flexible schedul-
ing and a great atmosphere),
a section on employee pur-
chases as well as a stern
section about employee theft.
Writing this personnel
guidebook with the help of The
Employee Manual will not be
difficult and I don’t think it is
going to take very long.
Mary Liz Curtin and her husband
own Leon & Lulu, a 15,000 square
foot destination furniture, gift and accessory store that was formerly a roller
skating rink. They make every penny
count and are always on the lookout
for a good employee. See their store at
www.leonandlulu.com.
I would be thrilled to have a person who
could help with display and or website,
but sales is the key, and everyone must
work with the customers well.
Gift & Home Interactive
August 2010
