Jessica Morales — the owner of Aura Bazaar, a small chain of size-inclusive fashion stores in the Midwest — always has believed that the key to happy customers is happy employees. It’s a lesson she learned from her days as the manager of an IHOP and then her time as an operations manager in the insurance world, managing claims and teams. Neither was an easy job, but what made her loyal to the companies was the way the leadership teams treated her, making her feel both recognized and important to the work. At both places Morales, saw that “when you take care of your people, your people will take care of you,” she said. So she made staff contentedness and workplace morale a foundational principle of Aura Bazaar. Your employees, she explained, “are branches of your brand, so you want to make sure they feel good about where they work.”

In the below Q&A with ICSC Small Business Center contributing editor Rebecca Meiser, Morales talks about the origin of Aura Bazaar, how she incorporates lessons from the restaurant and corporate worlds in her business and the question she asks at every interview.

How did the idea for Aura Bazaar start?

I’ve always been a bigger girl, and it was always hard for me to find fashion in my size. I have always loved to stand out and wear something that was different than what was out there, but back in the 2000s, the only stores we had available were Lane Bryant and Ashley Stewart. Big-box stores really didn’t care about 21-year-old, plus-sized females who wanted to be trendy or fashion forward. The idea for Aura really began when I went to a wedding, wearing this cute dress from Lane Bryant. I was feeling really good, really confident. And then across the floor, I saw another girl that was around my size who had the same dress as me. That was like death by 1,000 cuts. Having to struggle to even find that dress and then seeing someone wearing the exact same dress from the big-box store was devastating. It led me to start doing research online on different bloggers who were also plus-sized and struggling with where to buy their clothes. That was mostly overseas, so I started shopping and buying clothes from brands overseas. And then I started getting a lot of compliments for my outfits, with people asking: ‘Where did you get this?’ I started sharing information and started styling people. That led me to see: “Oh, there is a deep gap in the market. I can make money out of this and open up a store and bring in vendors and start selling this product.”

You’ve said that the secret to your success is cultivating a staff that’s like family and cares for the business as much as you do. How did you create that culture?

Coming from the corporate world, I knew that a huge part of retention is recognizing your folks, and I always wanted to create a culture where people come first. But all that doesn’t work, of course, if you don’t have a good product to sell, that people feel proud of. And you need to make sure your people feel valued in terms of their salaries, too. To be successful, you always want to pay above what everyone else is paying, even if it’s 50 cents or $1 more. You need that incentive to attract good talent.

How do you make your employees feel recognized?

It starts with the onboarding. Something I noticed when I first started was that a lot of other boutiques didn’t have processes in place to help support their team. They’d hire people, then tell them what to do but didn’t tell them the why behind what they were doing. For us, that why is really important. From the beginning, we talk about the vendors we use, explain our products and why we chose them. Spending all that time investing in our team makes them feel valued and better team members. And just like in the corporate world, I have one-on-ones with my team, talking through “How did you do this week? Where are the places we need to improve?” though I use the word “opportunities.” I ask them: “Where are the opportunities to do better?” And I use real data, benchmarks and metrics. I talk with them about their conversion rates and the number of people they got contact information for. This shows team members that you really see them as individuals, not just people to fill vacant roles. These sorts of models may be lacking in smaller businesses like mine.

What kind of incentives do you offer your salespeople?

We have selling goals, like a lot of retailers, but I don’t just offer incentives for sales. I also offer incentives for things like who gathered the most contact information, who received the most positive feedback from customers on social media. We also have fun incentives, too. [Recently], we did this social media challenge where I highlighted an item we were selling and team members could win prizes for posting that picture on their account. Our prizes range from a $25 gift card from Amazon to a free meal from the food court or not getting scheduled on a Saturday or Sunday for one weekend. We also might offer an additional employee discount to purchase something.

The culture starts with the staff you have. What is your hiring and vetting process like?

It’s really about getting the right people on the bus, and then it’s about putting the right people in the right role. You might have one person who’s really great at selling, who is high energy and loves to talk, or you might have an introvert who’s really good with numbers. Sometimes people forget that you need a person to take in inventory and make sure that the store looks right, who likes steaming the clothes and making sure the merchandise is folded and tagged, so it’s really about vetting out your applicants and putting them in the right role.

Are there specific questions you ask to vet people during interviews?

The key thing is role-playing and asking behavior-based questions, so I ask things like: “How would you handle a customer who comes in who is rude?” And I ask them to use real-life examples. Based on their responses, I can tell if they’ll be a good fit or not. I’ve had people say: “If I have a customer that is rude to me, I just won’t talk to them or I’ll escalate it to the manager.” You don’t want someone like that. Our tagline is: “Where we make you feel special.” Other than our clothing, we’re also known for our service. It’s what sets us apart from some of the big-box stores. We have experts who will take the time to style you, to help make sure we are assisting you for whatever milestone you’re looking for and whatever service you need. So I want someone that, instead of immediately handing the customer off, would offer suggestions [during the interview] like: “I would ask them questions, see how I can help them and try to get beyond that negative vibe. Maybe offer them some water.” That’s someone I know who gets customer service.

Is part of the reason your staff is loyal to you the way you relate to them?

Absolutely. It’s very important that even though I’m the boss quote-unquote, employees feel like they’re heard and engaged and respected in the process. Having the first store and then expanding has been a learning experience for me, so I look at my team to share their own information and experiences from different stores they’ve worked in and work together through the pain points. I think that they respect that and feel that they have a hand in the game that way. I also make a point to share any positivity we’ve received like: “Here was this bad customer that gave you a hard time for two hours, but look what she said about you. You made their day. And it turns out she was getting ready for a funeral, and look at the impact you made.” The team really needs to understand the purpose behind what they’re doing instead of clocking in and clocking out.

How do you keep this same tight-knit relationship with employees now that you have three stores, in Yorktown in Lombard, Illinois; in Fashion Outlets Chicago in Rosemont, Illinois; and in Southlake Mall in Merrillville, Indiana?

It’s been challenging, but again, it goes back to having the right people on your team and offering them advancement opportunities. When I started expanding, for instance, I had a girl on my team who was not a strong seller but she was very reliable; she was always on time, she never called off and she loved the operational pieces. So I was able to give her a raise and have her be an operational lead for all three stores. Now she goes into the three stores for me and makes sure the tags and the inventory are right, so with a small budget, I’ve been able to able to leverage the talent around me and fill gaps.

So having three stores offers more opportunities for your team members to advance?

With three stores, I’m able to expand the brand, expand the customer base and expand networking.  And with hiring, I can say ask my team whether they want to work at Yorktown or Rosemont. They have more of an opportunity to grow and advance. And they’re excited, as well. They feel like it’s their brand, too. They are proud when we open a new store and expand, so even though we have some pain points with inventory and some of the operational pieces, it’s overall beneficial.