Retail Leaders are Masters at Planning
Especially in October
October in retail means a dip in traffic and sales. Back-to-school is over, and consumers are getting back into the swing of kids in school and work ramping up. Summer vacations are over, and people haven't started planning for the holidays yet.
If you think this time of year is when retail leaders get to kick back, you’d be wrong. We never get to kick back. We’re either mobbed with customers or planning our butts off.
Some companies run inventories during late September or early October, which is a ton of work. After that, we’re hunkered down with schedules and calendars planning out the next three months.
If you ever want to get a lesson in planning, talk to a retail leader. They are masters. All retail leaders have a black belt in organizing.
OMG
Every fall, the corporate office sends out a holiday guide.
The guide tells you what marketing has planned, the theme for the season, and includes a hiring guide. Whenever I'd see this guide sitting on my desk, I'd take a deep breath before I opened it.
I was typically never ready to begin holiday hiring. My summer sales associates had just left, and now I had to consider hiring again. OMG.
Each season, we had to hire twenty seasonal people. That's a lot for a team of four managers.
We'd host weekly group interviews and onboard four people every Sunday morning. Onboarding four people a week will take five weeks to reach twenty people.
Start now.
Some weeks, you won't find people to interview. Some weeks, you won't find people to hire. It's tricky. It's a grind. It's a push every day until you get staff levels up. By then, you're in the middle of holiday - you're flying.
Get Ready
Plan now with your hiring manager. She and I would meet in the stock room, calendars spread out on top of folding carts. We each had pencils, binders, and the holiday planning guide.
It was a massive collaboration with tons of communication.
We'd map out when the interviews, orientations, and first shifts would be. We'd discuss what we thought was best for the business and the team. Then we'd write on the whiteboard in the office what weeks we were hiring and how many people.
That way, when I was writing mass amounts of schedules (to get ahead, sometimes I'd have to write three in one week), I could glance at the board and see how many more people I needed to add to the schedule.
If you've never written a schedule with ten mystery people - oooooooooo - it is something else. You have to let go of perfection and focus on the most critical shifts. Fill in the rest.
You also have to ensure that you don't schedule a team of all new hires one day. You need to create an even mix of core staff and seasonal staff. Some days, I wanted to chew right through my pencil while planning all this.
That's when the dad in a suit walks by and says, "Huh. You guys just fold clothes all day or what?"
Right, man. Right. That's all we do.
Like a retail store isn't seen as a business somehow.
Sorry, I digress -
But I always got all the planning and scheduling done, and our holidays ran smoothly - every year. We always pulled it off.
You will, too.
And if you want the inside scoop on how I write excellent schedules in sixty minutes, click here. ⬇️
I've written thousands of schedules and I spill all my secrets in this quick reference guide. It’s six pages. Zero bullshit.
Save time and say goodbye to guessing.
MAILBOX
This lovely message landed in my inbox recently.
"Hey Kit, thanks so much for being in the audience today. I really appreciate you being there and your engagement…"
I attend retail talks as much as possible, and I showed up the other day.
The best thing about retail is the people.
The best thing about writing about retail is the community.
Retail people are the best kinda people no matter where you find them.
I made a new retail friend this year, Steve Worthy. Steve is a coach for retail leaders looking to advance in their careers. Company leadership training days are good but will only get you so far.
If you want to keep moving up in retail, you need to further your leadership training and make new connections in the industry.
I didn't know that when I was in it.
I had no idea.
My career might look very different right now.
Steve is hosting a webinar called Ace Your Next Interview, where he shows you how to prepare and crush your next interview. You need to check it out. Steve comes from frontline retail, and he knows what's up.
He's the retail leadership coach you didn't know you needed.
I'm not an affiliate for this. I make no money from telling you to sign up for this. I believe in it and know it's 100% worth your time.
Don't wait. It's all happening next week!
LEVEL UP
One thing you can do today to be a better leader.
Celebrate others and give credit where credit is due.
When you hog the spotlight, people tire of you. Nobody wants to listen to you talk all day. Share the responsibility of leadership. Share the spotlight. Listen to other people's ideas and share them. If they're good, tell the world who thought of it.
There's no downside to celebrating other people's successes. If you do, people will think you're cool. If you don't, people will think you're a selfish jerk.
Your move.
We Are Better Together
Have you checked out The Break Room? It’s my community for retail leaders. It’s a safe space where we can all hang out, ask questions, and help each other.
In just five minutes, you can:
Hop in
Connect
Vent
Get support
Ask me anything.
Every month I do a live training so we can meet in real time.
There’s a resource library (including my schedule guide) and lots of group chats.
Access is $10/month or $60/year. Once you’re in, I’ll never raise the price on you.
This is the lowest price access to the group will ever be.
So, get in here, friend. A community of like-minded people is here.
Thank you for being here. If you dig my writing, please share this email.
Click the 🖤 so more people can discover this on Substack.
You're the absolute best.
Love the vibe of "black belt in organization." And what goes on this time of year in retail that others never know. Whew!