What Retail Companies Are Missing About Their Frontline Leaders
It's more than you think.
Dear (most) Retail Companies,
You’re doing it wrong.
Like, really wrong.
You’re squeezing the life out of your retail leaders, and they are burning out. And it’s only September. You’re just starting all your holiday planning, schedule writing, and hiring. What do you think is going to happen come December?
The leaders of your buildings - who you REALLY need - will be crispy little French fries. They may be calling out sick from all the stress or straight up quitting.
Is that what you want? It’s where you’re going.
You know what that means?
It means less sales for your company. It means you’ll lose profits.
Here’s what you need to do now.
Stop Micromanaging Store Leaders
Stop making them send ridiculous emails every day like this -
“Hi. It’s 11:00 p.m., and I’m writing to let you know that we didn’t meet our sales goals today. We didn’t make them because the company planned us +30% and took away 10% of our weekly payroll. We’re currently working with a skeleton crew while we unload ungodly amounts of shipment. We can barely help our customers. But, you knew that. I guess we’ll try harder tomorrow.
Goodnight.”
It’s stupid. You know it’s stupid.
Stop making them communicate every tiny little detail.
Let them do their jobs.
Here’s what you’re missing.
Retail Leaders Kick Ass
Retail leaders in the field kick some serious ass. They are some of the most savvy business people I’ve ever met. They can do their job and your job without breaking a sweat.
They’ll plan their entire holiday at the cash wrap in between ringing people up, greeting, answering the phone, and chatting in their sales associates.
They are masters at getting shit done because they have zero time to waste. Every minute during the day is spent pushing the business forward.
Got a customer with a problem? On it.
Mall managers in the building? On it.
Buyers popped in unannounced? Got it.
Roof leaking? Already got the buckets and called maintenance.
Closer called out? Got the shift filled.
The flexibility and sheer grit that retail leaders embody are staggering. The companies that are failing big time are failing because they don’t get it. The don’t understand that this brilliance exists.
So companies, heads up.
Do These Four Things
Get rid of all the busy work.
Stop making them send 90% of the emails.
Allocate more payroll.
Give them the freedom to work and get it all done without all the hovering and checking in. Believe me, it will all get done.
I could go on, but these four things are paramount.
Your retail leaders are not low-skill employees that you need to keep an eye on. They are experienced business leaders; if you treated them as such, you’d get far more ingenuity, productivity, and investment from them.
You’d also make more money.
I thought you’d like that part.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Sincerely,
Kit
MAILBOX
I received this message this week.
“I started my career in retail 15 years ago and went on the journey from an hourly floor associate to a regional manager. Honestly, I want to quit every.single.day.
The pressure is too much.
I wake up working and go to bed working, spending every day off doing office work I have no time to do on my work days.
The unattainable goals (double or triple from last year), micromanagement till the nose bleeds, and the demand to work every weekend. Where does it stop?”
Where does it stop?
Let this brilliant leader do their job. Listen to your employees and understand what no longer works.
Times change; expectations and processes need to change too. Otherwise, you won’t have a company left to work for.
LEVEL UP
Get support in your corner.
I know you’re tired.
I know you don’t have time.
But hear me out.
Last week, I finally met with a creative coach for an hour, and it was super-duper, way-tremendously helpful. There are like five million things I’m trying to do, and she helped me narrow the focus so I can GO.
And she made me a spreadsheet. Yay!
Now, I have a partner. Now, if I’m feeling like, “Is this weird?” I can ask her.
Check it - if you didn’t know - I host a membership group like this for retail leaders.
(It’s also less expensive than my creative coaching.)
Because I want everyone to have access to coaching & support.
For just $10 month/$60 year, you can join The Break Room.
Why?
Because in five minutes a day, you can:
Connect with other leaders.
Network.
Lean on each other.
Learn best practices.
Ask me anything.
Hop on a training/video meetup once a month. (The next one is tomorrow!)
I’m creating new resources for this space every month, so what are you waiting for?
Invest in you.
I wish I’d done it sooner.
Side note: This is the lowest price this group will ever be; it will only go up from here as we add to it and continue building it.
Once you’re in, I’ll never raise the price on you.
You can quit any time.
Thank you for being here. If you dig my writing, please share this email.
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You're the absolute best.
Burn out is real. My company has us over worked and understaffed because of the square footage of our store and external things we can't control, like the size of our parking lot. We are working at the full capacity our staff can do without total burn out and we could make more sales if we had more staff, but they won't give it to us because of above. We are adjacent to a college campus and are heading to our superbowl, Homecoming weekend, and all I want to do is sleep for 3 days.
SO timely and needed!!! I especially like that you gave the companies a simple list they can follow. They need it. It's easy. They just need to stop doing what's been done for decades that does nothing except demean and punish employees.