Hey everyone, I’m a maple syrup and honey vendor at multiple farmers markets and one of my younger employees was caught reading at one of my booths. Like another vendor took a photo of her reading and I was livid. I just talked with her about how she needs to stop this and that she’s making me look bad. She said that reading on the job us apart of her “sales strategy,” and that if she focuses too much on “hustling and pushing” products on every customer that passes by that will scare them and demotivate her. She also says that she only reads during the slow times of the market and that reading helps her take a “mental break” when she feels discouraged by customers rejecting her sales pitches. I’m not there with her so I can’t know for sure if she’s telling the truth and I guess it’s bad if other vendors are taking pictures of her. The market is not for everyone but her numbers are okay and rarely better than mine. What do you guys think should I call her back and let her read and trust that her strategy is a valid one?
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YTA. Nobody takes a job at a farmers market selling honey because they’re type A personality. Get a clue.
ETA: Sorry, wrong sub.
You’re selling honey at a farmer’s market, this isn’t a Mercedes dealership. All your clerk (she’s not a saleperson) needs to do is know enough about the product to answer customers’ questions and handle the transactions.
Your job as the business owner is to be directing people who want to buy from you to the stall via your marketing. If you’re only doing marketing at the market, you have a huge marketing problem and this employee is not at fault for that.
Do you have social media presence? Do you advertise online or anywhere else? How do you engage with your customers and get them thinking about the product before they even get to the market?
If she’s reading during quiet periods and doing her job when people want to buy your wares, then she’s doing fine. She’s on minimum wage, its not her job to define and execute a sales and marketing strategy that will funnel customers to your store front. That’s your job.
Lol your employee is BSing you. She should be engaging with customers, not reading.
Queue all the antiworkers who will swear it’s totally fine to just read books instead of working. 🤣
No, it’s not ok. She should look ready to help, engaging, offering samples, smiling and saying hello to passerbys, etc. There is a reason other vendors sent you photos of her not working. It’s painfully obvious.
“Mental break so I don’t get discouraged”…
She just admitted that she can’t do the job. Fire her.
Fire her immediately. She is stealing time from you!
You said it yourself, your numbers are better. If you work all those shifts instead of her, think of how much better your company will do without her dirty thieving!
An employee that respected you would comply with you telling them to stop, her saying she’s not going to and justifying her actions (regardless of her opinion) is disrespectful. As a customer, I wouldn’t want to interrupt someone reading a book to interact with the business rep. This not the vibe you want for your customers experience. Expecting to get paid while reading is the wrong mindset. I would quietly start to look for someone more engaged with the role and has some sales experience.
Reading a book during a market when customers are waking by is not a sales strategy, it’s a weak excuse to do what they want and undermine you telling them that’s not ok. Makes customers feel like they are uninterested in the product and totally defers them from engaging in a conversation
I highly doubt the people saying on here let them read are in similar shoes to you
No. At the booth she can smile and say hi and offer samples and appear ready and available. There is a wiiiiide gap between aggressive offputting sales and her dumbass strategy. She looks unavailable and is absolutely costing you business.
If it’s actually a slow period at the market then I’d have no problem with it. If she was ignoring customers who are trying to get her attention (not just browsing) then it’s a different matter.
Just let her read
If your sales person is leaning on your product to sell itself, then let it. Reading for personal gains while getting paid to do something else is wrong.
Maybe an appropriate question for r/AITAH
Standing down and letting people engage with your space/wares and then fully but casually engaging is indeed a sales strategy that can be appropriate for this environment and can create significant sales and customer goodwill.
It’s probably not a great strategy for every personality type, but sales people with external feeling (Meyers Briggs) can sometimes pull it off with significant results creating not just immediate sales, but also initiating a long term customer relationship.
I wouldn’t try to micromanage them, or you’ll be replacing and re-training a new person. If her numbers are good, that is what matters. If you replace her, would you expect their numbers to be better if hers are already similar to yours? I hate pushy sales, and I am less likely to buy from someone that pushes.
As a customer, I’d be much less put off seeing someone reading a physical book or kindle instead of a mobile phone or tablet.
You need to focus on influencing positive outcomes instead of attempting to control using fear-based micromanaging. Set goals and require a daily activity summary. Provide bonuses to incentivize exceeding goals.
Focus on encouraging behavior you want instead of grinding your employee into a demoralized pile of nothing by attempting to punish behaviors that don’t affect anything.
If the employee hits the targets you set and they can provide a full summary of the daily activity, why are you bugging?
I am from old-school sales. As long as the numbers are coming in, I don’t care about much else.