How to Hire Passionate Employees

Passion is an elusive and incredibly diverse concept. For some, passion is inspired by nature, and others by art. Some discover their passion in accomplishment, and others in relationships. Some are inspired by thought and others by experience. My objective is to inspire passion for tea in every customer who walks through the door. Accomplishing that requires insight, skill, knowledge, and passion!

A good interview question is "What are you passionate about?" There is no wrong answer. It can be anything from cooking to shopping to traveling. It does not matter. The key is the follow-up question. "Tell me why you are passionate about it. What about that excites you? Pretend that you know nothing about it (gardening, music, art, whatever) and explain it to me." If an employee can't compellingly communicate their passion, they can never inspire a customer to be passionate about tea. It is possible to teach someone what they need to know about tea, but you can't teach passion, and you don't have time to teach the basics of communication.

Once you have a team capable of getting excited and communicating effectively, the next step is to understand the customer. The key is to teach your employees (and yourself) to identify what drives a customer quickly and then to see the world through their eyes. Speak their language, share their passion for knowledge, romance, or sensory experience, and thereby feed their love for tea. Misreading a customer or approaching every sale with the same template tells the customer that their passions and interests are either wrong or not as valid as yours. A passionate employee who fails to speak the language of the customer may come across as impressive, but will never transfer their passion to the customer.

We open stores to give the customers something they want. Everyone in the tea business needs to understand that customers are not looking for tea. They are looking for an experience (flavor, relaxation, education), feeding an identity (cultured, relaxed, healthy), or pursuing a goal (health, knowledge, etc.). The most loyal customers are those who identify on a personal level with your product. That is your mission.