Dave Morin

I love fortune cookies. Why? Because they give great advice. Like this:

“Nothing in the world is accomplished without passion.”

Think about that.

I’ve taken to swinging by my favorite Jamba Juice on the way up to the city every once in awhile. Jamba Juice is a great brand. It seems like a pretty cool place to work. The mission is healthy, their colors are fun, and they’ve got great locations.

But, today I was taken aback by what I saw while waiting for my blended berry goodness.

As I stood there, I noticed a woman with a hat on. The hat said “Chicago” with the Jamba Juice brand above it. This grabbed my attention. I sneakily listened to the conversation she was having with what looked like the general manager. She was pointing to each employee saying things like, “she should be smiling more”, “[employee name] should be acting more happy to hand that person their juice”, “because it is hard to add value to the everyday tasks of an employee, each employee should try to do one task happier.”

Now, there are a few things wrong with this if you are trying to figure out a training/incentive/movtivation program for your company. Retail or regardless.

First, standing in front of the “line” or “facade” of the store, and watching the employees is never going to get you the desired look into the actually personality or functioning of the store. Of course the employees are going to be on their best behavior, and of course you are going to see little defects in the way that they are doing their jobs. You are standing directly in front of them. Now, read that last sentance again. They’re stressed out, trying to do everything right, and you happen to be standing with their manager.

Second, you can never get a look at the “personality” of a store by stopping by once a quarter/month. Doing this is much like what Malcolm Gladwell talks about in his new book Blink, and on one of his recent podcasts over at IT Conversations.

He tells the story of the battle between Pepsi and Coke. Pepsi was beating Coke hands down in blind taste tests. Coke freaked out because everyone began buying Pepsi. In the long run, everyone went back to Coke. It turned out that the only reason that Pepsi beat out Coke in a blind taste test was because Pepsi was much sweeter when taking only one sip. In the long run, people realized that the entire experience of a can of Coke was much better. Coke had gone and created a newer, sweeter version called New Coke, it then failed, and original Coke reigned again.

I think you can learn a lot from this story when looking at how you evaluate your programs in the field. Don’t send your marketing or training managers out to the stores to sweat your employees right in front of their face. Train your employees with passion, infuse passion in your managers, ensure that they know the value and passion associated with the brand. Give them a reason to love their work, and love their job. Erase negativity from the workplace. If you want to spot check your stores, send regular consumers (multiple times), to experience the store, experience the brand.

That way, you’ll know exactly how your stores are doing. What your experience is truly like in the eyes of a customer. And, how much passion for your brand you need to infuse into that store.