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Category: Leadership

What if the Coach is Wrong?

Everyone knows in sports you do not question the coach.

The coach says.. You do…

Everyone has to be on the same page for the team to be successful.

But what if the coach is wrong?

Every season someone ends up in last place. Someone is the biggest loser. Even though the team did everything the coach asked. Either the team didn’t have the talent or the coach was wrong.

But in sports, unlike retail, if you’re the biggest loser this year, that’s okay. Next season you start 0-0. In retail, if you go 0-16 this year you start next year in a deep hole. There is no reset.

Two quick lessons from this…

1) If you’re the coach, you better be right. You better have done your homework, planned for all contingencies and plotted a fabulous course. Then all you need to do is get the team to buy in.

2) If you have a coach and you know the coach is wrong you have to decide. Do you try to change the coach’s mind or simply do the right thing?

Yes, I do advocate mutiny. If your coach is obviously leading you into last place, you need to do what you can to change that, even if it means subordinating the coach.

There is no reset in retail. You carry over your wins and your losses from last year into this year. The bank and your customers will remember and judge you on your previous season.

When the coach is right, all is good. But when the coach is wrong…

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Before you choose mutiny, however, you have to understand. Following a coach into last or subordinating the coach are both going to lead to struggles. But as long as you’re playing to win, at least you have that to fall back on. And if you don’t know where your coach is leading you or why, you need to ask first. They may have a vision they just haven’t explained well.

Staying the Course

Another lesson from surgery…

In prepping for the surgery I had this past Wednesday, I read a 56 page thread on people recovering from this procedure.

Time and again the pattern of recovery emerged the same. The first five days get gradually worse before it starts to turn around.

Doing that research and having a realistic expectation of what will happen has made the last couple days much more tolerable. Today is day 4. If I hadn’t read that entire thread, I might be wondering why I’m not getting demonstrably better yet. I might be sweating things out and worrying too much (which wouldn’t help the healing).

Instead, I’m hunkered down doing what I’m supposed to do – take my meds, drink lots of water, get nutrients, and plenty of rest.

Do your research, be realistic, and stay the course (and take your meds, drink lots of water, get nutrients, and plenty of rest.)

Life lessons, business lessons.

Measuring Success

Last night was graduation for the fourth class of the Jackson Retail Success Academy. Eight weeks of Monday nights building the foundations for their success, culminating in a presentation by each student of what they learned and how they were going to apply it in their business.

How Would You Measure Success?
At the opening night I asked each student how they would measure success. How would they know if they had learned what they needed or expected to learn?

As they gave their presentations I went back to their comments the first night about measuring success. With each student I asked the question, “Based on how you said you would measure success, was this class successful for you?”

Some enthusiastically said Yes! Others said the content of the class made them completely rethink how they would measure success.

Most importantly, they all had a stick against which they could measure success.

Going Stickless
Too often we go forward with our business without having a stick, without having a way to measure our success. We plan our advertising based on the pitch from the latest ad salesperson. We base our product selection on the neatest thing our sales rep brings to our attention. We train our staff only after they make a major mistake.

Then we wonder why we aren’t getting the results we think we should. We wonder why our business seems to be sitting out this economic recovery.

Define It
Don’t leave it all to chance. Set a bar or a goal or simply a stick by which you will measure your progress and your success. Finish these sentences for your business:

I will have a great product selection if…

My advertising plan is designed to…

My staff will consistently…

Then set about figuring out how to make those sentences come true. Once you know how to measure, then you know what to manage. That is the true key to success.

-Phil

Who’s Pulling You Up?

There is a wall between you and your goals. You need to get over that wall.

Your peers can help you by pushing you and propping you up. But they can only get you to the point where you can reach the top of the wall. (And if your wall is really tall, they might not even get you that close.)

From there you are on your own. To reach your goal you have to do the rest by yourself.

Unless you have someone on top of the wall ready to pull you up. Someone who has been there and done that. Someone who has already conquered the wall. Someone who already knows what you need to learn.

Have you identified that person (or persons) yet?

Anyone can set goals. Anyone can get their peers to cheer them on and support them in their quest, to push from the bottom. But without a hand from above, most of those people get stuck.

Who’s pulling you up?

Here are some of the people pulling me up…

Roy H. Williams, aka The Wizard of Ads – I have read his books, attended his classes and followed his teachings. Much of my best work is because of what he has taught me about advertising and business in general. The starting point is the Monday Morning Memo and his books The Wizard of Ads Trilogy. (these are not affiliated links – just the best darn business books I have ever read)

George Whalin – George taught me so much about managing a business, about hiring & training employees, and about dreaming big. He has been a wonderful resource for all things retail.

Philip H. Conley – My grandfather and the founder of Toy House, Inc. His mantra is simple, “Plan for Success.” It has worked for him and I am making it work for me. I meet with him regularly for advice and always get exactly what I need. He did it first, he did it well, and what he did still works today. I couldn’t ask for a better mentor.

There are others, too. Many more than I can mention in one post. I am always on the hunt for the people above me that might be willing to lend a hand.

You need both; your peers and supporters pushing from the bottom, and those who can help you from above. Find them and you’ll scale every wall between you and your goals.

-Phil

Urgent, Important or Both?

My wife just bought a new Franklin Covey planner loaded with ideas to help you manage your time better. One of the best methods is a system I use regularly.

Priorities
Draw a horizontal line and call it Urgent.
Then draw a vertical line intersecting your Urgent line at the midpoint and call it Important.
Everything you have on your To-Do List then gets plotted on those two lines based on how Urgent it is and how Important it is.
The truly Urgent and Important items will end up in the upper right quadrant. Do those things first.
The Important but not so Urgent items will end up in the upper left quadrant. Do those next.
The Urgent but not Important items will end up in the lower right quadrant. Delegate them.
The not so Urgent and not so Important stuff ends up in the lower left quadrant. This is where the fun usually ends up. Your choices here are to forget about them, or set aside a little white space in your life to have a little fun, to do the stuff that is neither Urgent nor Important.
Me? I prefer the latter.
Creating White Space
But what if there is more than you can handle in that upper right quadrant? Usually that is because we place too much importance or urgency on the things on our list. Ask yourself two questions…
  1. Can someone else in my business do this?
  2. Will the world stop spinning if I don’t get this done today?
The first question helps you sort out how important it is. If someone else can do it, then it isn’t as important as you think. Let them do it. They’ll love the extra responsibility.
The second question helps you sort out what is truly Urgent. Although it is often good to get tomorrow’s tasks done today, don’t do that when you have to sacrifice time for yourself.
We can’t be all-business-all-the-time and expect to succeed. The burnout is too high. Find some time to do something in that lower left quadrant (as long as it is fun).
-Phil
PS – Yeah, writing this is in that lower left quadrant for me. Not really Urgent, only kind of Important, but a whole lot of fun.

Neighborhood Kids Causing Trouble? Involve Them in Your Business

My grandfather served on the USS Arkansas Battleship in WWII. Fought at D-Day and Okinawa. Shortly after the war, with three kids and nowhere in town to go for toys, he opened our store.

The original Toy House was not in the best shopping location, but rent was cheap on the edge of downtown near the residential neighborhoods.

One of his friends told him, “Phil, you’re crazy for going there. The neighborhood kids will vandalize the heck out of your store… when they’re not in shoplifting you blind.”

Oh, my grandfather was crazy. Crazy like a fox.

Every morning he raised the flag outside the store. Every evening he lowered the flag. And he did it with all the pride and honor of a decorated WWII veteran. Oh yeah, and he included all the neighborhood kids in the routine. Taught them how to say the Pledge of Allegiance, how to stand at attention and salute, how to fold the flag and pay it respect. Showed them how to raise the flag quickly and lower it slowly. A true adolescent color guard.

At first there were a couple kids involved. Then a few of their friends joined in. Pretty soon it was a small crowd of young patriots standing at attention with their hands over the hearts.

Vandalism? Never a problem. Shoplifting? Are you kidding? He had an army of young men that took pride in the success of Toy House. No one was going to hurt the store on their watch.

How are you reaching out to your community and getting them to stand behind your store?

-Phil

Plotting the Course and Raising the Bar

We all do this. Plot our course for the next year. We are all busy making Sales Projections, Expense Budgets, and Marketing Plans.

But have you done a Training Plan?

Raising the Bar
Have you worked on a list of skills you want to teach or improve in your staff? Have you made a list of strengths and weaknesses for each individual and your store as a whole? Have you chosen a topic where you wish to raise the bar in your customer service this year and then plotted a course for training the staff to that new level?

One mistake I used to make was to think that just by telling the staff where I wanted them to improve, they would figure out how to do it. Big whoops!

You need to not only identify where to improve but also figure out how to train to that new level.

One Topic per Quarter
It takes time for your staff to grasp new concepts. It takes time for them to learn something new and be able to implement it in their daily routine.

Therefore, I always pick just one topic each quarter on which to focus. Then I plan all my trainings during that quarter on teaching the staff more about that topic. If we are successful in raising the bar then I will pick a new topic for the next quarter and plan all those trainings around that topic. If not, I go back to the drawing board and find new ways to teach the first topic.

For instance, last year we focused much of the year on Communication – communication between employee & customer, communication between employee & employee, communication between employee & me. Yeah, it was a big topic and took up most of the year. And we made great strides in raising the bar on the first two. (But unfortunately not the last point. Somewhere I failed. If the staff doesn’t learn, it is never their fault, always the fault of the teacher. So I’ll figure out something new and keep working on that point this year.)

Moving Forward
The focus at the beginning of this year will be on improving our merchandising skills. I could just tell the staff to do better, but nothing much will change. Instead, we will be working each month on a new skill such as how to use signage (who it is for, what it should say), building attractive endcaps, thinking like a customer.

My goal is to eventually empower the staff to recognize the difference between a customer-friendly display and a stocker-friendly display and know that they have the authority to make changes as necessary to keep the store fresh and exciting and move more merchandise.

But without a Training Plan, this doesn’t get accomplished.

Training Plan Made Easy
Sound like too much? Make it simple on yourself.

  • Write down a list of your staff’s overall strengths and weaknesses.
  • Pick two items on that weakness list and prioritize them.
  • Teach something on that highest priority until the staff gets it. Then move on.

You’re the leader. So go lead the staff exactly where you want them to go.

-Phil

PS Need help planning your meetings/trainings? Here is a FREE eBook on how to do that easily and effectively. (Don’t forget to download the worksheet too – but read the eBook first!)

Don’t Alienate Your Fans

At the Michigan Downtown Conference two speakers talked about sign ordinances. The first was Sheila Bashiri, City Planner from the city of Birmingham, MI, a well-to-do suburb of Detroit nestled in amongst the other wealthy suburbs.

Because Of or In Spite Of?
Birmingham has the most strict sign ordinance in Michigan, so strict that some of the slides Sheila showed us of attractive signage wouldn’t even be allowed in her city. Yet many retailers want to be part of that bustling downtown. And Sheila claimed that her sign ordinance was a main reason for their success.

I guess the dense population of millionaires is only a secondary cause of the businesses thriving there.

The next speaker, Robert Gibbs, mentioned how much he liked the Birmingham sign ordinance and how all communities should adopt it for their business districts. In a private conversation afterwards, he went so far as to tell me that all existing businesses in those districts should be given 5 years to change their signs or move out.

Does he really believe Frankenmuth should tell Bronner’s and their two million visitors a year to take down the billboards or get the f*** out? Or that Ann Arbor should give Zingerman’s a remove the ugly trailer and all that neon outside the Roadhouse or else ultimatum? Hugely successful, yet eccentric retailers are what give our cities their character.

Businesses do not thrive because of sign ordinances. They thrive in spite of them because the city has the population base to support them and the stores are taking care of that population. Period. End of story. Sure, a well-crafted sign ordinance can give a city a uniform characteristic and look, but that does not draw traffic or grow business. The stores draw the traffic because of who they are and what they do. And signs are what help you find those stores.

It is no wonder that most downtowns are struggling. There is a huge disconnect between the city leaders/planners and the businesses that pay their taxes. Both of these speakers advocated not having businesses in the discussion for things like sign ordinances. Both believed that only city leaders should make decisions on what they want their business district to be.

A Business Lesson
That would be the same as you not listening to your customers. You wouldn’t do that would you? Of course not! You will value some customers’ opinions more than others. But if you aren’t listening to your best customers, they won’t be your best customers for long.

Don’t make the mistake others are making. Listen to your best customers. Include them in your plans. Not only will you make better plans because of it, you’ll empower those same customers to become evangelists for your business. By giving them a say in the matter, they will be your strongest advocates, and give you incredible word-of-mouth exposure.

Not everyone has an unlimited supply of millionaires. Take care of those who are taking care of you. That’s a lesson for retailers and for cities.

-Phil

To Labor on Labor Day or Not

Are you open this Monday? We aren’t.

Labor Day & Memorial Day are paid holidays for my staff (along with New Year’s Day, Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas).

We’re also closed Sundays of Labor & Memorial Day weekends.

Why?

For my staff. They deserve a break. I expect a lot from them and so I need to reward them from time to time. Giving them paid holidays and long weekends is one way I tell them that breaks are important and family time is a priority and that it isn’t always about chasing the almighty dollar.

Plus, in our town it just isn’t a big shopping day for anyone but the Transactional Customers looking for a Labor Day sale. And I’m not going after them.

You may have your own reasons for being open or closed this weekend. That’s fine and good by me. Just thought I’d tell you mine.

Happy Labor Day! (wanted to tell you that now, because Monday I’ll be sleeping in:-)

-Phil

Stopping Employee Theft

According to the National Retail Federation, 44% of your shrinkage is caused by Employee Theft. Yep, your own staff is stealing you blind!

Quit being in denial and do something about it.

Here’s what you should do…

Background Checks – It starts with the people you hire. Did you look up their court records? (They’re available online for free.) Did you call references? Did you verify employment? One of the best applicants I ever interviewed had a string of “retail fraud” charges a mile long. If I hadn’t checked, I would probably have been added to her list of conquests.

Training – How well trained are they? Are you sure? Have you gone back and tested after the initial training? Sometimes employee error, not theft, is the cause of your shrinkage. The more thoroughly you train them and also evaluate them, the less likely you’ll have this problem.

The Golden Rule – How well do you treat them? It is no stretch of the imagination that employees who are treated well will be less likely to steal than disgruntled employees. It also makes sense that the type of behavior you model is the behavior your employees will follow. Are you stealing from your own store in front of them? If you’re taking product off the shelf, they’ll begin to believe that it’s okay for them to do the same.

Supervision – When the cat is away, the mice will play. Who watches the store in your absence? Do you have a trusted supervisor that will keep an eye on the mice? Having that one trusted person who serves as your backup eyes and ears works well as a deterrent.

Checks & Balances – It is vitally important that you have a system of checks and balances for counting your cash drawers, verifying sales receipts, and double checking deposits. Sticky fingers get caught quickly when you have a system to double check your money.

Video – Sure, it’s the last line of defense. Yes, it can cause feelings of distrust and suspicion. No, I don’t recommend it for everyone. But the bottom line is the bottom line and if all the other methods haven’t slowed down your shrinkage, this just might be the ticket.

The key is to hire honest, ethical people in the first place, treat them with respect, and model the behavior you want to see.

Do this and your shrinkage will go down and your staff morale will go up. Win-win!

-Phil