June 2019 - 31

Management
The time you invest up front will pay dividends
the rest of the year for happier staff, happier
managers and happier customers.
What I am going to share with you here are some
favorite tips and tools around hiring and training
seasonal employees, particularly focused on customer
service, which I'll be speaking about at Cultivate'19.
Hiring
We've gotten REALLY good at seasonal hiring!
I believe that at the heart of our hiring approach
is one thing - clear expectations. We set clear
expectations around:
* Job Descriptions - We're very clear in the job
description what the job entails. I don't want to
entice you to apply for a position, only to have you
show up for an interview for a job that is something
completely different. If you want anyone in your
garden center, from the cashier, to a stocker, to the
person watering the plants to give great customer
service to anyone they interact with, be explicit.
Customer Service is in every job description at
Zingerman's, regardless of what your position is.
* Interview Time - If you want a person to show up
for a 6 a.m. shift start time, schedule your interview
for that time. We learned this the hard way with an
overnight shift at our bakery. We were interviewing
people during the day, then hiring them to work the
shift from midnight to 8 a.m. And people weren't
showing up for their shifts! We started doing these
interviews at 2 or 3 a.m., and are now getting the
true night-owls who thrive in this shift.
* Interview On-Site - Similarly, if someone is going to
be working in a hot, crowded area for much of their
shift, consider spending at least part of the interview
with them in that environment. If they're in a cool,
air-conditioned office for the interview, the realities
of the job can be a rude awakening! In addition, think
about how you're modeling your service expectations
for prospective employees.
* Performance Tests - We wrote in a previous article
(www.lgrmag.com/article/a-customer-service-gemfor-you)
about the 10-4 Rule, one of our service
expectations around greeting customers.
Another service expectation is what we call
the Smile Rule, which is a very straightforward
performance test for an interviewee: if they don't
smile when they're there for the interview, they don't
get hired. I get that people are nervous or anxious
when they really want a job - but wouldn't they
want to make the best impression possible? And if
they're not smiling to impress you, odds are that they
won't be smiling on your busiest day, either.
The 10-4 Rule:
Any time we're within 10
feet of someone, we make
solid eye contact and smile,
and when we're within 4
feet, we greet them verbally.
Training
We are extremely passionate about training! What
better way to set the employee - and the business -
up for success? Here are some of the tried-and-true
training tools that we use at Zingerman's:
LGRMAG.COM | 31
http://www.lgrmag.com/article/a-customer-service-gem http://www.LGRMAG.COM
June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2019
