Your days in the shop may pass slowly, but the months fly by – before you know it, the next holiday, the next season, the next year is here. Maybe you meant to have your window displays planned in advance, or to increase your presence on social media, or to hire extra sales staff in time to get them trained before Christmas. These goals often get derailed by the necessity of dealing with the arrival of countless boxes of merchandise, or by filling in for an employee who has gone home sick.

There are various planners and templates that can help you keep the big picture in mind even when you get busy. You can use a paper or computer calendar (or both), and also tap into various services that are available online. There are many different task trackers if you feel that this type of program would help you stay organized, including Trello and ClickUp. Homebase can also help with employee scheduling.

Planning your staffing needs in advance is essential. While having a work schedule in place can’t prevent last minute glitches when an employee quits, or can’t come to work due to illness, it will make things go more smoothly for the store and your staff.  We encourage employees to notify us of planned absences far in advance, and post these openings for others to fill. (They are rewarded for doing so with a “sub shift voucher” that can be redeemed for a small bonus.) Changes to the basic schedule are noted on a calendar available for everyone to consult.

Having monthly meetings of our management team on our calendars reassures us that we will regularly have the opportunity to discuss important issues, and plan together for the coming weeks. Even if you’re a sole proprietor, it’s important to carve out some time once a month to get out of the store and take a look at what’s coming up.

While our customer communications are not rigidly scheduled, we strive to send out two email blasts a month. We also create an employee newsletter that is sent biweekly when payroll is posted. Keeping the staff in the loop is essential, and the newsletter also gives us the opportunity to highlight work anniversaries and celebrate birthdays.

Social media posts are something we’re working on planning further in advance. We’ve recently signed up to try PaddyPost in order to engage more regularly with Instagram and Facebook. We’ve read that predictable, consistent posting is favored by social media algorithms, so this should increase our visibility.

Our business association has a monthly event called First Friday on Monroe Street. When planning our promotional calendar for the year, this gives us a great start – along with other shared events such as Small Business Saturday and Holiday Glow on Monroe.  Additional events, such as our upcoming 50th anniversary celebration, are often planned with input from our staff.  Visual merchandising, including our main window display, is scheduled based on upcoming events, new arrivals of merchandise, and the changing seasons.

Hopefully managing all the different tasks involved in running a store will make you more successful. But it’s even more important that feeling in control should make you feel less stressed, and that will have a positive impact on your staff – and help create a calm atmosphere for your customers when they enter your store.

Happy Retailing,
Carol “Orange” Schroeder

Note: there won’t be a Specialty Shop Retailing post on October 6