Would You Like Soup with Your Sandwich?
That’s what it says in giant black letters on the card facing the employees at a nearby sandwich shop.
Right there at the beginning of the sandwich assembly line, “Remember to ask, ‘Would You Like Soup with Your Sandwich’”.
But they’ve never asked me. Not even once.
If we were to scratch the surface, we’d probably discover that there are a host of reasons this initiative is going nowhere, but they’d all boil down to the fact that these BLT artisans have simply decided that asking this simple question just isn’t worth it.
What might the employees tell us?
“Hardly anyone says ‘yes’.”
“Even if they do it’s just extra work and I’d rather just keep the line moving.”
“I don’t like the manager who implemented this so I never even gave it a chance.”
Again, bottom line is that they’ve decided it’s not worth it, and when encouraging a behavior as simple as beginning the order process with one simple question has failed, then there are some issues that need to be addressed. How might this store’s sales improve if the shift that sold the most cups of soup received a tangible, meaningful reward? If designed intelligently, communicated effectively, and assessed regularly, a sales incentive program could boost morale, increase profits, and pay for itself.
Where are these gaps in your organization? What’s the question you want asked or the behaviors you want to see repeated, that if rewarded, would pay for themselves and then some?
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