During countless trips through numerous stores over the past few weeks we couldn’t help but notice a predominant and very disturbing trend … it’s next to impossible to find a manager on the sales floor! Can you believe it? The most important retail ‘show’ of the year and the cast and crew are running around without any direction or guidance from the most critical player of the performance … the director!
Where are they? Somewhere in the back room … buried in a mound of ‘vital’ paperwork behind the till … permanently tied up on the phone resolving goodness-knows-what. But certainly not in front of a customer or with another staff member where a shopper might be served or a sale made. Why not?
Look, we know there’s a lot going on in your store (boy, do we know it!) and we empathize entirely with the strenuous and unending demands of the manager’s world, but let’s get something straight before another moment goes by. To excel in this job you simply must get organized and focus on the right things at the right time.
Get your paperwork done during off hours or delegate it to someone who doesn’t have your experience and leadership ability. This is the time to be out on the floor, directing traffic and maximizing sales opportunities. When things get busy, if you’re not facing a customer or an employee who is trying to serve someone, you’re in the wrong place doing the wrong thing!
Remember, your job is all about driving sales and service through your staff. If your customers are on the floor and your staff is out there with them, don’t you think that’s where you should be too??!!
