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If Ewing Kauffman ran a store

Growing your staff

Many years ago I remember a gentleman by the name of George Prescott who frequently came into our store. He loved to talk about baseball, and the most familiar comment I remember was George saying, “Gol durn that George Steinbrenner. He is ruining the game of baseball”.

Free agency had just begun and it appeared to George Prescott that George Steinbrenner had a bottomless wallet. There was also, Ewing Kauffman, owner of the Kansas City Royals. Kauffman was not in the financial league with Steinbrenner, just as Kansas City was not in the same league with New York City when it came to population and money in the area.

But the challenges of population and money did not stop Kauffman. In Sarasota, Florida, where our store was, Kauffman created the baseball academy. Kauffman’s scouts looked for outstanding athletes. Anticipating the best in baseball had been found, Kauffman was looking for an athlete who might not make it in pro football or pro basketball, but nevertheless, they were outstanding athletes.

Kauffman could not buy the best baseball players, but perhaps he could develop the baseball players that would be very competitive; like Frank White, also known as “Academy Frank”. He was an all-star as were two other players who came through the Royals Baseball Academy – Hal McRae and George Brett.

The academy aimed to use technological innovations and advanced training techniques to develop baseball skills in overlooked prospects with raw athletic ability. The academy produced 14 major leaguers from the 77 prospects that attended the academy in its four years of existence. 

Which brings us to your store. When you hire someone, are you doing so in the Steinbrenner method by looking at people in other stores and then offering higher dollars for their service? We ask this especially in this post-pandemic business world. You are seeing businesses with entry level jobs quickly approaching starting wages of $20 per hour; and that does not include the expenses you pay that are related to each employee.

Or do you approach new employees like Kauffman and develop the skills of the employees you have and those you hire?

Let me offer a secondary baseball note; counting spring training games, regular season games, and the potential number of games in the playoffs, a team could be in just over 200 games over a season. Yet, on the afternoon of the seventh game of the world series, the team is still on the field practicing.

When are you “practicing” with your team? In our store, every other Thursday evening at 8pm, every employee was paid and required to participate in a staff education class. We practiced our selling skills; discussed our principles and procedures; reviewed our job descriptions; and learned about the merchandise we sold.

This staff education program made a lot of difference in our business. While you might first think of increased sales and profits, as one who experienced it with our staff and our customers, I think about it as I shop today. I think of those I visit most often; I think of one in particular.

I can’t say it is my favorite store, but it is the closest to where I live. And being closest is the primary reason I go there. And every time I go in this store, I count how many employees I see – none of which ever call me by name, say hello or offer to help more than the usual, “Find what you’re looking for?”.

In the words of George Prescott, “Gol durn”.

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This article is copyrighted by Tom Shay and Profits Plus Solutions, who can be reached at: PO Box 128, Dardanelle, AR. 72834. Phone 727-823-7205. It may be printed for an individual to read, but not duplicated or distributed without expressed written consent of the copyright owner.