Why is RETAIL STORE PLANNING IMPORTANT?

PLANNING

 IS THE SECOND MOST IMPORTANT THING

 A MANAGER CAN DO!

The most important thing is making the plan happen with ease.  Plan for everything.  I can't say that enough.  Retail store planning is important to more than just sales.  Want to know why employees say the boss doesn't care about them?  Don't plan for their needs just once and see what happens.  Biggest mistake a retail store manager can make is they don't think ahead.  I see it all the time from the main office to the local store.   People scratching their heads wondering what went wrong. 

 
Fail to Plan then your Planning to Fail!

Imagine  coming to work and your cashier didn't show up for work.   You give them a call to find out why.  Your cashier says it was their birthday and you told them they could have the day off.  But,  you forgot to plan ahead and get someone to work for them.   Now  the cashier thinks you didn't care enough to remember about them.  All the people you call to cover, think your hassling them because you forgot to do your job and plan ahead.  Even the nice employee who comes in every time you need them thinks you don't plan.   They come in because they can't afford to turn down extra money.  But that doesn't mean their happy to be woken up to come to work at the last minute. 

Plan ahead don't put yourself in this position!

This week I heard complaints from employees who's schedules was changed at the last minute.   Because of a holiday the stores  business pattern changed.  It was busy on a different day of the week then usual and closed in the middle of the week.  

The Store Managers forgot to plan ahead for the holiday business.  We all knew it was coming.  But they scheduled  help for a normal week.  So at the last minute people were asked to change their work schedule.   Everyone was upset! 

Unhappy Employees can make all the difference in good customer service and sale. 

The reason sales are down can be directly related to the managers not planning ahead for upcoming events!


So always think ahead.  Plan weeks in advance.  Planned changes may not always work out for everyone.  But,  everyone will know you thought about them and tried your best to make it work. 

Here are some tips to keeping your store running smoothly.

• Keep a list of employee day off requests.  Make sure everyone knows in advance that even though you will do your best, their request may not be met.  Example would be everyone wants the same day off. 
• Keep a list of when employees can and can't work on a regular basis and  keep up with the changes.   There's nothing worse than your employee not showing up for work becasue they had school.  
• Plan for scheduling changes for every holiday including days closed, days business may be slow or busier than usual.
• Plan for days schools out, you may be busier than usual. 
• Plan for known large deliveries.  You need to have help to unload a 400 case truck by hand. 
• Plan your schedule a month in advance and post it two weeks in advance.  This gives you time to adjust to problems and not fix them at the last minute.
• Keep track of business trends.  Your need to know how many employees you need and when.
• Re-order supplies and merchandise in advance so not to ever run out.   Have you ever gone into a resturant and were told they didn't have Coke or Vanilla Ice Cream.  I have, and I've never been back!  Don't ever use garbage bags in place of large shopping bags.  Its just wrong.
• Keep a clipboard hanging on the office wall with a check off list of things that need to be done  every week and make sure someone has done them. 
• Keep a list of need supplies to the person doing the order knows to order them. 

Don't post employee schedules on Thursday when the work week begins the following Sunday!  Thats rude to your employees and shows you don't care.  You would'nt like it done to you so don't do it to others. 

Fail to Plan then your Planning to Fail!

Plan for every event!
What's the worse that could happen?

 Plan for it too!

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