Managing Details for Better Retail
As a small retail business owner, your ability to manage time, staff, and just about everything else are vital to growing a profitable business. It is important to work on team building and ultimately be ready for change. You ownership duties may seem endless, but with the right management skills your business and employees will thrive.
The small business owner is often a Jack-of-all-trades. Your retail stores must be stocked, and the stock rotated. Customers must be served, inventory maintained and accounted for, and – well, the list is almost endless. Couple this with the fact not many retail managers actually have training in management, and you begin to see the problem. It helps to have an eye for detail, in addition to the ability to see the overall picture. Weakness in either of these areas can create problems, even to the point of costing you your business.
Manage Time
Time management is an entire science on its own. Studies are conducted to this day, affecting everything from mail delivery to assembly lines. In your retail stores, time management keeps your store displays fresh and reduces waste.
Problem-solving skills are crucial to managing time. Basically, there are three ways to handle problems: face them head on and solve the problem, delegate, or ignore it until it resolves itself. Too many ineffectual managers choose the latter and find themselves in trouble with the results. For more efficient time management, take care of problems as soon as they arise. In many cases, someone on your staff can take care of the problem for you. For example, let your accountant know of payroll problems, or have a qualified employee rebuild a display.
Interruptions can be the bane of a manager’s existence. Train your staff to take care of customer questions and requests, and to work as independently as possible. This allows you to take care of managerial duties that no one else can handle.
Manage Staff
Managing your staff can be even harder than managing time. Make sure you communicate your expectations to your staff and expect them to comply. Be specific, and evaluate the outcome. If you have a dress code, speak directly to an individual who does not comply. Blanket announcements in meetings about “some of you are not following the dress code” are ineffective. The person who is not following the dress code is oblivious or doesn’t care, and the rest of the employees feel slighted.
This management style applies to all aspects of an employee’s duties. If you allow one employee to arrive late on a regular basis or clock out early, the other employees will eventually become lax in their job attendance. Maintenance of store displays, updating customer loyalty cards, and greeting customers as they enter are all policies that should be clearly outlined and enforced on an individual basis.
Some people do their job properly for the praise. Some employees are not motivated by anything but a paycheck, and may learn to excel at their jobs in order to keep that paycheck. Learn what motivates each employee. Yours is a small business, so you have the opportunity to personalize your management style.
Be realistic in your expectations. You may never be able to coach certain employees toward excellence. At that point, you have to decide whether or not to continue investing time in them, or letting them go.
Team Building
A good manager should be good at team building. You have your own managerial duties that demand the lion’s share of your time, but you need to use a portion of that time to teach your staff to work as a team.
Cross-train your staff so that they, at a minimum, understand all of their coworkers’ jobs. Some employees will excel at designing store displays while others are awful at it. Other employees may be quick at the checkout counter. By identifying individual skills, you can delegate responsibilities. This makes each team member feel appreciated and increases employee satisfaction.
You can also set goals for your group of employees. Set a goal of increasing store sales by five percent for the upcoming month, and give them the tools to accomplish this. If they achieve this goal, reward the group. Be aware, however, that one employee may have been responsible for this achievement, while the others let him or her do all of the work. If this ends up being the case, make sure you have a “Plan B” ready. Reward the individual, and make sure the group knows that you are aware of what happened.
Be Ready for Change
Just when you think you have it all figured out, everything changes. The retail industry fluctuates according to wants, needs, and taste. As the manager, you should study trends and be prepared for changes.