The Retail Doctor's Blog

Retailers often fear an employee quitting because it will come at the worst time: before a sale, during the busy period or right when they start a new retail sales training program.

How many times have you been blind-sided when one of your best employees comes to you in the middle of a project, a record month, you're about to go on vacation and told you they were quitting?

We've all had that nightmare. In hindsight, were there signs you should have seen from your employee?

Could their quitting have been prevented?

I was training a group of about twenty store retail store managers on personality styles.

I was highlighting the differences between the four personality types; the Driver, Analytical, Expressive and Amiable.

I spoke about extensively the Driver personality style. That's because I am one.

Characteristics of the Driver include a bit of an aggressive nature, results oriented, "cut to the chase" mentality. (Think: Donald Trump.) These are strengths that can lead others to see the Driver as blunt, domineering and risk takers.

We were all to go out to a local restaurant. The client's coordinator had us fill out one of four choices of entree and soup or salad and dressing choice by noon and faxed to the restaurant to save time.

When I was in college, I worked nights and weekends in a department store. I was there for the the guys shopping on Christmas Eve and for the after holiday sales.

Later, I changed jobs and quickly became the manager of a retail store.

My part-time retail job became my career.

Mind you, I had no training to become a retail store manager. I had sold product really well. I showed up on time. I pitched in. I got good reviews and had loyal customers, but nothing prepared me for managing people or what the season would be like as a manager.

Looking for why it is important for employees to connect? Read on...

Have you ever gone to visit one of your favorite retailers only to discover an empty store with a For Lease sign posted in the window?  

I’ve read many interviews of store owners on their last days who often blame their store closing on the economy and online competition.  But, what’s really happened in most instances is the owner and their managers made bad choices about crucial items; some even before they opened.

Have you heard of the runaway success of the burger franchise Five Guys?

What's one of the big reasons Five Guys is wildly successful? They send mystery shoppers out twice a week to all locations. The brothers who run the operation also constantly visit the restaurants.

Five Guys knows you need to inspect what you expect.

High standards each and every day ensure the right employees do the right things.

Training new retail employees to 100% and then making them work for managers who don't run the shifts up to high standards is spinning your company’s wheels and lowering the brand perception in customers’ eyes.

Last night I saw the film, the Hobart Shakespeareans. It is a documentary about an extraordinary elementary school in Los Angeles and the teacher Rafe Esquith.

From the time I was in seventh grade until I graduated Glendale High, every summer I toured with my church's youth choir.

To make it financially feasible, we stayed in host families' homes for the night before we went off to our next destination.

One of my earliest retail consulting clients was a coffee house.

One day I noticed the tip jar had $5 and $10 bills in it.

While one could dismiss the large bills as a result of making change for the register, I had to find out the truth myself.

One morning I stationed myself at a table that had a clear view to the register and tip jar.

I came to find out those $5 and $10 tips were in exchange for items ordered but not rung up. Since they were all doing it, no one told the owner.

That’s why We're Stealing From You is the first thing your associates won’t tell you.

In the Wall Street Journal article, What’s Wrong With the Teenage Mind? Alison Gopnik takes an in-depth look at two trends affecting the maturation of teenagers.

She has found puberty is kicking in earlier and earlier, and that teenagers are taking on adult roles later and later.

She says in part, “In the past, to become a good gatherer or hunter, cook or caregiver, you would actually practice gathering, hunting, cooking and taking care of children all through middle childhood and early adolescence.

But you'd do all that under expert adult supervision and in the protected world of childhood, where you would have experienced the impact of your inevitable failures and learned from them.”