Simple Tips for Motivating the Team!

Simple Tips for Motivating the Team!

In today’s business it is a must to become an effective manager. One must be a good administrator and develop a keen sense of the teams basic needs. The ability to motivate and grow talent in your staff will become essential to your growth as a manager. The following are some of the ways I used in building my staffs.

Insure the peoples basic needs are met. All people have a various needs such as pay, job security, and basic working conditions. Failure to meet these needs will lead to dissatisfaction and make it impossible to motivate your team. Taking an interest in the team needs will help your chance of motivating the team to improve their performance.

Promote Pride. People are more motivated if they feel they are contributing. If you are the manager you need encourage the team and ensure them the success of the store is a tribute to themselves. It is amazing what this will do for the teams spirit and self-confidence.

Listen intently. As a store manager a strength of your personal make up, needs to be the ability to listen carefully what your team is saying. Being very busy with many tasks going on is not an excuse for not listening to your employees. When you are in meetings or on the floor you need to slow yourself down enough to really hear what they are saying.

Instill confidence. Many people are insecure and this can cause anxiety which will impede motivation. So you made need to help them to gain confidence. The cure for this is to recognize them when they do well. Confident teams are always more productive because they are not questioning the easy things and are willing to take on bigger challenges.

Be available. Managers need to be assessable to the team. You can't lock yourself in the office and avoid contact with your employees. The best managers are out and about on the sales floor with the team. They put themselves in a position to interact with the people that are working. If you must be in the office leave the door open and if someone comes by, encourage them to speak. Building rapport with the team increases motivation.

Develop trust. Giving your team the opportunity to show them you trust them will improve motivation. It is important to build the trust factor in the store, because this will improve team work. It will be your approach to making decision-making in a fair, balanced, and constant manor that will increase the trust in management.

Delegate decisions. Making all of the decisions as a manager stifles the motivation, confidence and pride of the people. Empowering the team to make certain decisions will also improve the service in stores by making things faster and more efficient. Why hold up team members from going ahead with something when they are following your guidelines. Give them the ability to make decisions and watch their overconfidence grow. Confidence and motivation go hand in hand.

Following these steps will increase the motivation in your store. It will improve the working relationship of staff and management. This will improve your results. I know I have followed these simple examples and have been reward with better results, higher rewards and a much more peaceful work place.

Keep Your Focus and Get Your Goals

Keep Your Focus and Get Your Goals



The secret is to have sustained focus. This keeps your eye on the ball and your attention on what needs to be accomplished. Your energy is then concentrated on what needs to be done. Your chances of success are tied to the focus you have on them.

It is not hocus pocus, it is keeping your eye on the ball. The key to success is focusing on the things you need to get done. When I was given goals I would break them down in what was easiest to achieve first and then going to the harder tasks next. I always felt that those early successes would give myself and the team momentum. As you accomplish the easiest task you gain the confidence to take on the more difficult ones. You also can devote more resources to tackle the progressively tougher goals.

This is what I would do first. I would list the goals in order of the most doable first. Then in order of the degree of difficulty I would list from one to whatever the number you needed to get done. Some people would say this is a cop out but in my opinion it gets the ball rolling. Then I would identify if the first goal was a total store goal or a goal that was relevant to a section of the store. So if the first goal was to insure that everyone in the store greeted every customer as they came within ten feet I would put my focus on reaching a high level of participation on that. If the next goal was for the stockroom to insure every order placed for shipment was sent out each day. I would work with the sales team and the warehouse to set a plan in motion on how this could be done and then I would monitor the process to be certain we procedures in place that would assure its success.

The goals all have accomplished. But there success is better gained by breaking them down so they are doable. You can take the list of goals to be achieved and get the easy ones out of the way first. As I said when each goal accomplished it gives your team more confidence to tackle the next one. The goals don't have to wait to be fully achieved before you start the next one but you need to not start too many at once. If you have too many things going on you will risks confusing your staff and team members.

Remember the process is to go from the easy to progressively more difficult. As you accomplish each goal you must set up a system to insure that your progress is maintained. You might make one of your staff in charge of maintaining it until it is habit or ingrained in the store culture. From then on you just have to monitor on a regular time frame. As each goal becomes more routine you have more assets to help you attain each goal.

With your plans laid out it has to be your focus that brings the energy to get each task done. You have to set up focus triggers to keep on track. I would put up several reminders in my office, a sign on my door, a picture frame on my desk with the goals, I have even gone to the printer and had my goals printed on pads that I used for meeting notes. It is what works for you, but you have to be honest and realistic with yourself on how you are to be reminded. Just putting a sign on the inside of your door won't be noticed if you have a open door policy and rarely close it.


So here is the way I would do this:

1 Arrange the goals in descending order from the easiest to the most difficult.

2 Have a plan for attaining each goal.

3 Implement the first goal and as you see it is working start the next.

4 Avoid starting too many at one time. This will lead to confusion.

5 Focus. Most importantly you need to be focus daily and do the things to keep your focus on the task

This would be a good time to set a personal goal the sense of accomplishment at work would probably carry over to your personal life and help you reach those goals as well. Stay focused use good reminders.

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?

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.