Can Setting Goals Help or Hurt?

I am sure we have all been given unrealistic goals. Goals set up by those in the home office that are seemingly impossible to attain. We will not go into the reasons the office sets those goals today but will look at what we can do about them as a store manager.

In the past I can tell you that I have set goals for my own store that have been different from what I was handed for the purpose of maintaining the morale of the store sales team. The reason for this is, when you set a goal the team knows they can't reach they are often beaten before they start. What I have done is to set my monthly goals the first of the year so we could overachieve. Then as we beat the early goals we had the ability to keep the momentum growing.

In most cases the company will give you a goal for a longer period(a yearly goal) we were then allowed to break this up in monthly numbers that would give us the yearly number. I always felt this was smart way to run the store because the company doesn't consider the value of the moral of the store when they decide how much your budget should be. Managers don't get down about this just accept it and move on. It is up to you to do what is right for your store that is why they pay you the big bucks.

I will tell you this you are the captain of your ship! I was opening a new store and it was opening day, the store was having our pre-opening meeting and we had two vice presidents in attendance the spirits were running high and it was my turn to speak. After going over the operational messages to the team I said for all to hear, my personal goal for our store was to beat the number one store in our region within the first year we were open. The response was an over-whelming cheer.

Two things came from this, one was we read our sales numbers in every morning meeting and compared them to the other store. The second was that one of the vice presidents in attendance that day became a help and inspiration to the store in our quest to be #1. I can proudly say that we became the number one volume store in the region in the first six months and I was well treated by the company for the accomplishment. I had been in Retail for many years at this point and had a very good feel for the store location before we opened so I felt this was a goal that was very possible, and the team had the desire to be the best they could be as well.

Goal setting needs to be SMART.

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

Think about this when you are setting the goals. And hopefully those above you will think that way too. But if they don't you need to be creative in how you approach them with your team.

The reason to walk your store!

As a store manager how often to you walk your store? Is this a lost practice? Do you know what your store looks like? Are there any areas that look bad and if they do, have you a plan to correct them?

Having managed stores that varied in size from 10 thousand square feet to 100 thousand square feet and from variety stores to big box discount stores and even a few home improvement stores. I can tell you the best way to be successful is to have personally walked those stores frequently. If your company doesn't have a system in place to do this, you need to create your own. Knowing what your store looks like is imperative to its success.

Do you have assistant managers do this? Do you make the fatal mistake of expecting them to be on top of the process, without your guidance. If you delegate this to them and not follow-up, how do they learn? We need to remember their title is assistant manager, they are learning from you. I am not telling you this because you need to stand over them or micro-manage them. You need to do this in a way that not only raises the level of appearance and operation, but it also improves their ability to recognize what it takes to run a successful store.

The very first big box discounter I worked for gave all managers a guide for doing store tours. When you visit these stores it is easy to tell which ones follow a system. Some managers followed the process when they felt like it, some made no attempt at all and it was very evident which ones had a plan that worked. I have always been a early riser and would generally get to the store well before opening and do a walk through when there was very few employees in the store.  Retail is not an easy job and it requires a lot of hours to be successful. Why not do the things that are rewarding. By rewarding, I mean the fruits of doing a tour of your store and taking action is increased sales and a better shopping experience for your customers.

Let me be real clear on what I am telling you.

1. It doesn't have to be a fancy system, but it has to be done consistently.
2. It needs to be used as a tool to keep the store looking great for the customer.
3. You need to use this as a training tool for your staff, not as a weapon to beat them down with.
4. It needs to cover all areas of the operation.

If this seems to difficult to get done, then you are approaching it the wrong way. Remember keep it simple enough to do, but effective enough that it is a benefit for the customers and the operation of your store.
While you do this you are training the assistant managers to become successful when they get their own stores. You ask why should I care if the assistants are successful? If they become successful in running their store well and the company thrives and we all keep our careers. Can it be any more important than that?