You Need To Hire A Retail Manager!
A couple of years ago I wrote about leaving corporate retail behind in search for a better working environment. Now that so many retailers have shuttered their doors due to COVID, I wanted to re-examine the value that retail managers have and why you should consider them for your company.
THEY UNDERSTAND HARD WORK
Want to get your steps in? Need to hit 6500 to feel productive for the day? Retail Managers are always on their feet, always busy. Most weekdays, managers would get 15,000 steps in their lengthy ten-hour shift. Weekends? Try 20,000 steps. I bring this up because retail managers are no strangers to hard work. They do what it is needed to ensure the company’s initiatives are being executed flawlessly. Whether that be moving gondolas at 2am or stocking neverending freight through the night. They understand what it takes to get the job done and are no stranger to working nights, weekends, and Holidays. All of this for something they most likely don’t personally believe in. Imagine what would happen if this same individual believed in what they were doing daily. They’d be unstoppable.
THEY UNDERSTAND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
The dreaded ‘Manager-on-duty to the front check lane’ is paged over the walkies. Uh-oh, it’s Karen, and she’s pissed. If you just chuckled a little, it’s because you’ve been there before, and most likely many, many times. Retail managers get the pleasure of dealing with customers on their worst day. After a few years (and a few layers of skin) later, the ability to de-escalate conflict becomes second nature to a retail manager. That is valuable experience that no amount of school will get you. Retail managers develop the skill set that allows them to deal with the most difficult customers or vendors and resolve the problem peacefully. This should go without saying, but that is incredibly valuable for you and your business.
THEY UNDERSTAND MANAGEMENT
I’ve now been out of retail for five years and the one thing that is glaringly absent from so many people in leadership is experience managing others. Learning how to manage your teams’ personalities, motivations, strengths, and weaknesses takes time. Most retail managers have to start at the ground level. They learn from the great people around them and they develop great relationships with peers and mentors. Eventually they mentor others. They see the right way and the wrong way and they adjust. Juggling countless tasks and priorities is daily life in the retail world. Retail managers understand how to prioritize between critical and important and will ensure their teams will too. Choose a retail manager because that individual will know how to lead a group of employees and will confidently prioritize tasks for execution.
YOU WON’T REGRET IT
Sure, the guy or gal that runs a department store may not know how to develop a sales pipeline or set-up a marketing plan, but I guarantee that they can learn. When they do, that retail manager you took a ‘chance’ on will pay off, and in dividends. Give a chance to those hard working folks that have to deal with the worst of the worst customers and get 20,000 steps a day. You won’t regret it.
