The Day After!

Alright, it is the day after Christmas and I am going to guess you had the returns program worked out in advance and you can take a minute to sit and read this. Be certain that your staff is working on your sales promotions the Company has given you for, after Christmas. Be relentless in assuring the maintenance of the store is being addressed by the team. You need to have the store ready for business as quickly as you can so the customers are able to navigate your store in the way they expect to under normal shopping.

What I am saying is, if you had your plans in place you should have started moving your store in mode for the next season. Did you have the plans ready in time for your staff to know what you wanted to accomplish? Are they standing around waiting for your direction?  Remember I have been saying take your notes be ready for next year, but you need to have your after season plans ready as well.

Believe me when I tell you, if you took your notes well for last year you will not only have your plans down for the season, but you will also have the plans for what you want as you come out of the season too. It is called planning and organization, if you don't have it, you can't continue to grow your business. You can't grow yourself as a manager if you don't have a plan to work from. The failure of many managers is the inability to know where you are going. The management staff will have less experience than you and if you don't lead them, how can you expect them to learn.

It is small things like having staff meetings on a regular schedule, and store meetings to inform your team-members what your store goals are. These don't have to be long and boring or just fluff because the company says to do it. Staff meetings need to be short enough to give information, define goals and address any issues. You can then assign tasks and give direction for up coming programs. Meetings for the entire team should be informative but this is not the place to take on the individual issues of normal operations. If there is a problem with individuals this needs to be taken care of on a personal basis according to the companies standards. The last thing you want is to have your meeting turn in to a b---h session. Make them informative, let your team members know what you and the company expect and try to add a little fun. When I set up a contest between the managers and department heads against the rest of the team-members. We determined the losing team would have to do a hula dance for the next store meeting. Needless to say the losing team was the Managers and Department heads, they did a Rap-Hula and everyone loved it.

Take notes, know where you want to go, make sure the entire staff knows what you want to accomplish. Be sure you take the notes make the plans it is for your sake as well as the good of the store and company.

Take the NOTES! Please, it is for your sake. You will grow. You will succeed!

I hope I made that clear!

It's Almost Over!

Another Christmas season is almost over and I thought I would just give you a few quick thoughts. After forty season's I can honestly say one of the most rewarding days of the year is Christmas eve. In my stores where I had the authority to to it I made certain that we had an in store potluck lunch.

I would pay for the meat, and the remainder of the staff would normally bring in the rest of the goodies. There was a method for my madness. First it brought the team together, second the meal breaks were always difficult to get done and this way most everyone ate at the store. This way you keep more of the staff in the store to better handle the amount of business you are going to do that day. Now this is something the company has to condone, with issues of not paying in for lunch and breaks you have to do what is considered correct by your bosses. But if you have the option do it, this promotes good feelings from your team and when things become difficult your team knows you have done your best.

The Christmas season is always tough, and hectic and stressful, but as I have said in my last post it can be productive in ways that will improve your business in several ways. Remember make your notes and plans during and immediately after the season. You will be glad you did when the next season comes around. Take care of customer service, this is an ongoing part of retail, it is self rewarding in the sense that a good reputation brings continued business and it is virtually free! Pay attention to counter maintenance, if you can do well at this in this time period, there is no excuse for it not to be done the rest of the year. The best managers deal with the issues of the season because they are prepared for it.

When I left my store on Christmas Eve, knowing my team and myself did the best we could, it always made me proud. Retail managers are not necessarily made in college, they gain confidence in college, hopefully they learn to work with people, and learn many things that help with imagination. But actually working in the store they learn what really works on a sales floor, stockroom, or service counter, it is that experience that can really pay off in your career. Don't just go in and do the duty, make notes on all things, keep a record of what worked and what did not. Then follow your own plans, this is the key to success.

To all of you and your families I wish all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Ron

Christmas as a Retail Manager

Well it is another Christmas and you know that as the store manager it is the time of the season that you are "allowed" to work as many hours as you want. Sales are so important this time of the year! The inventory has to come into line with the Company expectations. The schedules have to be taken care of, to insure great customer service.

You know you will have to keep on top of the counter maintenance, and especially the customer service issue!  The check-out staffing has to be a priority, for customer service. The "Customer Service Counter " has to be manned with the top of line help to insure everyone is taken care of as expediently as possible why? Customer Service!

Are you getting the message? Yes this time of the year almost everything you do is going to be important to getting and keeping a great "Customer Service" reputation. For many years I worked hardest at Christmas and the time immediately following because when you have this many customers you want them to leave your place of business with, the thought of how well they were treated.

This is the time of the year a manager is in the position to improve his business by staying on top of the of the operation in his store. It is to your benefit to insure your store is operating at its peak in all departments. This is the tangible part of being a great manager that brings great reward for  for little cost, other than your attention to detail. You can't do it all yourself, you have to depend on the training and inspiration you have given your team to reap the profit that an excellent reputation brings you the entire year.

It would do well for the manager to remember all eyes are on you. Believe me when I say the customers learn to recognize the manager. The team-members watch to see how you react and the management staff takes their ques from you. If you respond to the situation that come up in a calm, efficient, proactive manner they will follow your lead and respond that way as well. Remember I said you can't do it all yourself, you need to have a plan of attack mapped out weeks prior to this season. Smart managers have a plan book for each season. If you take the time to plan ahead and then you record what works and what didn't you can face each season without panic.

The smartest managers don't necessarily work the hardest, but they do the things that make their job easier to do. You are the manager of your store, you need to understand, your boss doesn't care how hard you work, he or she just wants the job done. If you do things through the year, plan books with good notes about staffing, schedules, counter maintenance, and customer service issues, it becomes easier and less stressful when you get to these peak seasons. Why don't you take just a minute now and make those notes to yourself and put them in a file in your desk. Your life will be better for that little effort now, when Christmas comes again next year!

Did you just get sent to a failing Store?

Most of you in Retail Management understand that you will manage several store in your career. If you are a assistant manager or the general manager you will sometime be sent to a failing store. I was certainly the recipient of several failing stores. As a manager you need to have good eyes and good ears and most of all a good attitude. Your attitude is the first tool you will need.

If your supervisor wants you to take a transfer to one of these failing stores it is important for you to have the correct attitude. If you are unhappy, or mad, or just plain  disappointed just get over it. If you don't you will lose the ability to listen to what he is telling you, and then you may miss the settle hints he can give you to help improve the store. More companies are willing to not transfer managers than it used to be, however if the circumstance is right for you, you can make a very good reputation and good money. Managers in many companies now are not pressured to take these moves, and if you are in a comfortable position I would certainly say stay there and be happy.

Alright you have just made the decision to take another store, and it is failing. Your supervisor tells you, the store is not making its goals and he has had continuous conversation with the old manager. When there was no improvement the change had to be made. Does it make sense to try getting specific reasons from the supervisor(District Manager)? Yes, you need to get the best answer from him you can to have a specific goal the DM is looking for. It is possible you won't get the direct answer you want, however it gives you a path to direct your efforts.

In the past I have found there are three ways to get a quick boost in store results. First is "Customer Service" next is "Store appearance" and third is "Store Personnel". The following are three ways I have worked in the past and have good results. These examples will only work if you as the Manager are dedicated, involved and with a open mind and good observation skills.

1. I was asked to take a store that had not had a increase in sales for several years. On the first day I was in the store I was in my office putting my personal things away. The office was in the front of the store so I was  able to observe the Check-outs, and Customer Service counter. I had already been introduced to the staff working that day. I heard the team member at Customer Service page the assistant manager, she paged again a few minutes later. I stood up looked out the windows, and since I didn't see the assistant come up front I walked to counter to see if I could help. It was a small refund, the previous manager insisted all refunds regardless of size were to have a signature before money was given back. The company policy was refunds over a specific amount, but he had insisted all. Managers many times enhance company policy. You have to understand when you do this you create customers service issues. In this store I met with the management staff and we outlined the ways we could improve customer service. Since we had short meetings every morning before the store opened we immediately attacked the customer service standards in the store. Within the first 90 days we had the first sales increase the store had seen in several years.

2. I had changed companies and was about done with my training, and I received a call about my first store with this new comany. The DM for my training store gave me this description of the store I was about to take. On a store visit from a new President, who was traveling by car to the Company Headquarters stopped at this location and it was a disaster. To sum it up he said it was the worst looking store he had ever seen in his entire retail career. The DM met me at the store the first morning and after he introduced me to the staff we discussed the incredible disorder in the store, and early that afternoon he told me he would be back in two weeks to see what I could get done.  Maintenance of the counters was totally unheard of in this store. General maintenance was even worse, the store had 4 foot light tubes in the ceiling and nearly half were burned out. As I was looking around in the stockroom I found a Hugh pile of the light tubes for the ceiling. Easy fix since it was summer I brought two part timers in showed them the proper way to install the tubes and how to dispose of the bad tubes. When they were finished the store was so bright customers started to ask if we had remodeled the store.

 My first night I closed I found there was no program in the store for recovery at the end of the day. You can imagine the team members surprise when I told them we had to straighten and face the store before we left. OK, since it was such a shock to them I had them concentrate on one area of the store making certain they understood this was what the entire store should look like every night when they left. Keep in mind there are many ways to run a good recovery program, the important thing is you have to have one.

The district manager returned in two weeks and he was absolutely amazed at the progress we made. Let's be honest here, if you set the example and show the people it can be done, then it can be done. With this in mind it is up to you to find the right approach, the correct attitude and the fortitude to set the standard and insist that it be kept. The great benefit from this quick action was the DM gained confidence in me at once, the team members were proud of their work, and the sales started to get better.

3. Personnel is probably the most difficult problem to correct when you take a under-performing store. I have never been one to take someone else's opinion as gospel. When you are dealing with these issue's I always realize this can effect a person's life. My feeling is, a person should never be surprised at the annual review. With this in mind when I was given stores with what was termed bad personnel the best thing to do is be sure the people understood what was expected. Since I have always believed in communication as a foundation for good performance our morning meetings were focused on what the expectation was.

This covers the first principle, do they understand what they are to do. Second if they know, have they been properly trained?  If you are sure of the first two, then are the people just indifferent to what you want done. If you come to the conclusion they met the first two you should take the proper action to let them go. I have found situations where employees have been put in positions that they were wrong for, and have changed them with success, but this is tricky and caution should be taken. It very important that when you are dealing with personnel that you proceed cautiously and if the company has a district or regional personnel, you use their guideance in making the changes.

To conclude I would say the upside in taking a store with problems is very great. The rewards are truly beneficial to your reputation and pay scale. Making a problem store an asset to the company is good for all parties concerned.

First Day as a Manager

Well it is your first day as a new manager. The question is what do you do first. That of course will depend on what the circumstance was that brought you here. Is this a new store, maybe a natural progression promotion, or are you replacing a manager that was replaced for reason? Lets look at these possibilities.

If you are the manager in a new store situation, you will likely be involved in the hiring process. Remember if you are hiring new help I would look for these traits first. Experience in most cases can be helpful because it transfers. So if you can find similar skills you can use them whether its cashiers, stockers, or department heads, give this serious consideration because it will help get you started well. If you are given responsibility for layout and stocking the store then look for experience this is critical. Many companies have store opening managers that travel and set stores, most times they do the layout and stocking. The important thing here is to make sure you take cues from him for how the company thinks about layouts for the time you are responsible.  Getting a store started out on the right foot many times is the difference in a successful store and struggling store.

If you are taking over the store from a manager that has been promoted then it will probably be best to spend that first day looking over the crew, the store, and the past P&Ls. If the manager before you was promoted then he or she was probably doing things well. So don't jump in like a "bull in a china shop". Look around see what is good and what can be better. Take a few days and let the staff get used to you before you make too many changes. The reason I say this is we know that if you go in with a critical manner they will go on the defensive an not even listen. Communication is critical in the event you are replacing someone that was well thought of and liked. The first few days are important, however if you spend the first few days getting to know the team, it also gives you time to set your plan of action. You also can determine the best way to make any changes, or time to consider if the changes are really needed.

Taking over a store that has been successful is a delicate task because you want to make your mark. But you have to be careful of the previous managers reputation. Be sure those first few days are not wasted because of mistakes that could be hard to correct. So talk to the team, and your staff plan the moves you want to make and be cautious not timid. The 30 day point is important to have your plans made, and the timeliness set for action.

In my early years as a manager I seemed to continually replace managers that were fired or demoted. This will give you a great opportunity to make a fast reputation or continue the mediocrity from the stores past managers. I remember my first store was in post riot Detroit. I went in with a very good training as an assistant manager, so I was prepared. The first week I got to know everyone, the second I started working with my assistant to determine what immediate changes to make. Third and fourth week we made those changes and shortly after that we started to increase sales. The store had a huge invisible waste (shrinkage) and the easiest way I have found to correct waste, is to follow policy. We reviewed the things that had slipped in the past, corrected them and held the team members accountable for their actions. We also became assessable to the team, from a communication level. The increased team work and the people being more receptive to new changes also increased the appearance and customer service in the store.

From the simple fact that store appearance and customer service brings the quickest change in a sales trend. Store managers can attain the fast turnaround in stores that have not been well managed by heeding those two things. Unless there is a physical reason (road construction, or something of that nature) or the shopping area is in a tail spin, I seriously hope you try the simple effective plan. "Clean store, Great Customer Service."

Are you sure you want the schedule!

If you are in retail you need to understand the schedule has its drawbacks. You are not going to work 9-5. The schedule for managers is normally more than 40 hours and and the nights and weekends go into the schedule. When someone calls in sick you will be responsible for getting someone to cover the shift. If you can't get someone else it may be you. What to do in these situations is sometimes difficult. Frustration is tough if you have to stay but you need to understand it has to be done. You see you can do your best to make the customer experience what it should be, or you can go home and enjoy, at the risk of losing customers for the future.

A former head of a company I worked at always said when he viewed customers, the satisfied ones had dollar signs on the foreheads, because they would be back. The dollar signs represented the value of each customer meant to your future sales. The manager is the key, he has to create the environment that promotes great customer service. Customer service is replacing the employee who called in, instead of letting the store be short of help. Unfortunately many managers would just think about saving payroll, that is not bad thinking on a short term basis, but if you do this all the time you need to be careful what happens when customers tell everyone your store is one you can't get waited on.

You need to think about the fact that retail stores are open many hours, they include nights and weekends. I will tell you now, I have found some companies look at the management teams and expect nothing less than 60 hours aweek, remember you will be salaried that means no overtime pay. These companies have come to expect young managers are going to do whatever it takes to get ahead. Not everyone wants to spend their whole life working long hours. If you are one of those young eager-beavers go for it. Just remember a new girlfriend or new bride may not have the same thoughts.  As a general manager I wanted my management team to get their time off, because I felt they would do a better job while they were in the store (and I expected it).

I am not sorry about all of the hours I put in, I was generally well rewarded with promotions, raises and bonus's. Their were things I missed with my daughter, but  I was able to attend most of them. It is important that you understand these demands because your success or failure could hinge on the attitude you have. Most of us will work many years and trust me when I say your company may appreciate you but the fact remains. "They hire you, pay you and at the end of the day they are not your family" I started with one of the largest retailers in country when I graduated from school, after 17 years, I left them and they paid me every thing I had coming. But I was replaced in a matter of days and they moved on. Work at a job you love! Don't waste your time if you can't endure the bad with the good.

I said before I worked in Retail Management for more than 40 years I not try to discourage you, I just want you to go in with your eye's open!

Simple Ideas for the Retail Manager!

Is your store meeting the goals set for you. Are you fighting fires instead of productively looking for new ways to improve your store? Do you spend your time doing things that don't lead to sales? Are you getting the productivity that should lead to increased profits?

Having spent more than 40 years in retail management I would like to help you find simple ways to improve your sales. Make your stores look better. Would you like to see your employee's take more interest, in their jobs, treat the customers better, and improve their own performance?

First of all it starts with you. In these modern days with the companies turning out cookie cutter stores, many times the performance of your store is dependent on you and your ability to make a difference. It is you that manages the store and is the key to the personality of the store. If you think of this logically you will understand that it is you that the people in the store look at for the leadership of the store on an everyday basis. It is not the company that the people turn to on a daily basis it is you.

Things continue to change in the retail world and you need to be able to keep you eyes and ears open to see those changes happening. Change is the one thing you can count on. The boss changes, the policy's change,
the employee's change, your management team changes and we all know the store layouts and assortments are changing all the time. Take it from a guy that started on a cash register that was manually operated and watched as they went electric, and then the computers came and we suddenly had inventory updated with each sale. It has been fun, interesting, frustrating and very rewarding.

I intend to give you some of my own ideas, opinions and things I have seen and done in those years that helped me to have a successful, interesting and rewarding career. I will honestly tell you the things that did not work as well as the things that did. I was not always my boss's favorite manager but in nearly all cases I was the manager that did the best with the cards he was dealt.

So this is a blog for those of you wanting the real experience of years on the sales floor. This is not a blog written by a PHD. So if you are looking for clinical text book style advise this is not where you want to be.
My promise to you is practical real experience and knowledge earned from being where it happens.