Execute Well and Win; Execute Poorly and Lose
Here is what I believe:
Excellence is a choice.
Choose to execute well, and you give yourself a much better chance of getting strong results. Execute poorly, and it becomes much harder to win.
Of course, we do not always choose poor execution intentionally. Sometimes we are having an off day. We may be stressed, distracted, frustrated, or simply burned out.
If you catch yourself slipping, stop and address what is happening.
Left unchecked, poor execution can affect your reputation, your team, and ultimately your career.
The ten actions below are part of a formula that has worked for me over and over again. They are also a strong foundation for becoming a successful Store Manager.
1. Focus on Talent First
As a Store Manager, talent should be one of your first priorities.
Get the people right, and everything else becomes easier.
Start by evaluating your current team. Your strongest associates can help train, coach, and reinforce the standards you want across the store.
What you need is a team willing to create remarkable experiences every minute, every hour, every day.
If someone is consistently disengaged, distracted, or unwilling to meet expectations, address it.
Waiting and hoping is not a strategy.
Always partner with your District Manager or Human Resources partner when considering significant staffing changes.
2. Create Remarkable Customer Experiences
There are no shortcuts to creating great customer experiences.
You and your team have to stay focused on the customer throughout the day.
Most retailers already have a selling model or customer experience standard. If your team is not consistently using it, start there.
You do not need to reinvent the wheel.
A team that can execute consistently and still have fun with the customer is much more likely to succeed.
When your team enjoys the experience, customers notice.
3. Availability Matters
Ever heard of Right People, Right Place, Right Time?
Staff availability is critical to store performance.
Your strongest, best-trained people should be available during peak traffic periods when the store needs them most.
If you consistently have shifts that are difficult to fill, talk to the team before automatically hiring more people. There may be opportunities to adjust availability or scheduling.
Hiring more associates while existing team members cannot get enough hours often creates another problem: turnover.
The goal is not simply more people.
The goal is the right people working at the right times.
4. Merchandise Cannot Sell From the Backroom
Product has to flow from the backroom to the sales floor.
If the store looks empty while the backroom is packed, you are making it harder to achieve your sales goals.
As shipment arrives, get as much merchandise to the selling floor as possible before backstocking it.
That reduces unnecessary handling and helps customers see more of what you have available.
As older merchandise comes out of the backroom, make sure pricing and markdowns are accurate as well.
Customers cannot buy what they cannot see.
5. Fill In From the Backroom
Do not stop at simply sizing the store.
Make sure key sizes, colors, and styles are represented on the sales floor.
Sales are lost when customers cannot find what they need, even when the product is sitting just a few feet away in the backroom.
With limited payroll and busy stores, teams do not have time to constantly run to the stockroom to check for sizes.
A well-filled sales floor makes the shopping experience easier for both customers and associates.
6. Execute Floorset to Standard
The store should consistently reflect the company’s visual and merchandising standards.
If it does not, address it quickly.
Touch the windows, walls, fixtures, and displays.
A well-merchandised store is easier to shop and helps customers understand how products work together.
Visual teams put significant thought into floorsets and merchandising direction.
Use those standards as your starting point and maintain them as inventory changes.
Make your store work for you.
7. A Dirty Store Can Kill Your Business
Cleanliness matters.
The fitting rooms, cashwrap, sales floor, windows, and backroom should all reflect a well-run store.
One of the best ways to evaluate your fitting rooms is simple:
Walk into one and imagine you are the customer.
Would you feel comfortable changing in there?
Then stand on the customer side of the cashwrap.
What do you see?
Piles of returns, overflowing hangers, clutter, or trash all send a message about how the store is being run.
Customers notice more than we sometimes realize.
8. Establish Role Clarity
Put clear roles and responsibilities in place for every manager and make sure they understand what they are accountable for.
All managers should contribute to achieving the store’s sales and customer experience goals, while also owning specific areas of the operation.
For example, one manager may own visual execution while another owns backroom organization, markdowns, or merchandise flow.
The specific assignments will vary.
What matters is that ownership is clear.
A simple way to test role clarity is to ask a manager to write down what they believe they are accountable for while you write down what you believe they own.
Then compare the two.
If the answers are very different, you have a clarity gap to address.
9. Run the Cashwrap Quickly and Efficiently
Checkout is one of the final moments of the customer experience.
Customers do not want to end a great shopping trip by waiting in a long line or feeling ignored.
The team should move with urgency while still making the interaction friendly.
Every associate should also be cross-trained to use the register when appropriate.
You may not plan to use everyone as a cashier regularly, but there will be days when having that flexibility makes a significant difference.
10. Utility Players Are the Name of the Game
A utility player is someone who understands how to perform multiple roles in the store.
Part-time associates may have areas of particular strength, but they should still understand the basics of the broader operation.
Cross-training creates flexibility when traffic changes, someone calls out, or the store suddenly needs support in another area.
That flexibility helps create a more consistent customer experience.
Time to Take Action
That is a lot of information.
Walk through your store using these ten actions as your lens.
Ask yourself:
Which areas are already strengths?
Where are the biggest execution gaps?
Which one or two improvements would have the greatest impact right now?
What does your team need from you to execute more consistently?
You do not need to fix everything at once.
Start with the fundamentals that will make the biggest difference and build from there.
If you want a practical system for becoming a stronger Store Manager and improving execution across your store, 30 Days to Running Great Stores gives retail leaders a step-by-step roadmap they can put into action with their teams.
I would love to hear what you learn and the successes you achieve. You can always reach me at Ra****@****************es.com.
I am rooting for you,
Rachel
