When it comes to succeeding in business, there are two main factors to take into consideration. The first factor is independent of your performance and consists of luck, good timing, randomness, entropy. You might have opened a store in the right place at the right time for unfolding events to be favorable to you. You might have met the right people while attending an event, while your competitor missed the chance because, say, a family member was sick. You might have had a grandparent leaving you money to finance your new enterprise. In fact, randomness plays a far bigger role in success or failure than one would like to think.
Nevertheless, there is a second factor you can influence and use to your advantage, and this is the way you adapt to these random events and turn them to your favor; the way you manage your people, your product, your time and your tasks. I’m sure that many of you have been to business school and have learned most of these topics. I personally haven’t been to business school; all my knowledge comes from practical experience through my demanding position as an assistant store manager, although I have also gone through some basic training as a part of my job. Perhaps my view adheres less to standard BA models and more to practical, day-to-day issues that I learned while climbing up the scale.
I have decided to create a small series of posts suggesting smart ways to boost your business or enterprise, focusing on things such as:
Your Product
Advice on having the right product at the right time, as well as how to calculate your capacities, address overstock or understock issues and manage space allocation.
Your People
Suggestions for the creation of a motivated team. How to coach and coordinate your employees, handle conflict, create team bonds and provide training in product knowledge.
Your Customers
How to pick a service style and connect with your customers. How to create trust, inspiration and a positive attitude; and how to handle complaints and difficult situations.
Performance Monitoring
Instructions for how to analyze key retail store metrics to measure performance and which actions to focus on in order to improve overall results.
Inventory Accuracy
Useful steps to ensure stock count is always up to date through handling stock delivery and/or transfers, defective stock, item returns and stocktake procedures.
Minimizing Loss
Strategies that will help minimize store maintenance costs, internal and external theft, return rates and defective items, as well as handling staff working hours and monitoring markdowns.
Leadership Skills
How to choose a leadership style, handle conflict and divide tasks fairly and efficiently.
Advertising Campaigns and Presentation
Ideas on how to properly present your product adjusting store layout; how to create focal points and how to choose a theme for an upcoming campaign.
Smart Discounts
Suggestions on ways to conduct smart sales that leave customers happy but protect your profitability at the same time.
Time Management
How to schedule your tasks and set priorities for a more efficient time management.
Office and Computer Hacks
Smart ways to organize your folders, replenish office supplies, and use simple programs to help you keeping track of tasks.
@kyriacos for the cool illustration cover! 