As your shop grows, having staff, whether paid helpers or volunteers, is vital. One person, even the most motivated shop owner, can’t do it all, and do it well enough to make the shop truly grow and succeed. Many entrepreneurs have a difficult time “managing” people, but it’s really just common sense, as these tips, from Team Work: Staffing your Store, show.
To build a good crew that’s happy and productive, assign staffers where they are most effective. One person may be very good at dealing with one type of customer. Another might be more of a detail person, good at keeping your records straight. Perhaps that shy member might love to do displays or change hangers and mark down and straighten stock. Don’t force someone to do a task that he or she cannot handle. Watch for subtle clues that a worker does or does not enjoy a given task.
A coffee maker, microwave and refrigerator will save money, encourage healthy eating habits, promote staying in-store for lunch, and save time by cutting down on “Can I run get a Coke?” requests.
Have your staffers been working long hours for something special going on at work? Send the staffer’s spouse/partner a thank-you gift when your staffer has been spending an extraordinary amount of time away from home. Flowers or a “dinner-for-two” certificate will tell that spouse that you appreciate her or his patience!
Now INCLUDED for one low price in our Product for The Professional Resaler, our TGtbT Resaler’s Resource List: Your Employee Handbook . A compilation of sources to help you write your employee handbook.
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
I thought of another one – no matter what you sell, a good “picker” / “garage saler” could work hours in exchange for putting a certain # of merchandise items in the store for sale 90% to her. Just figure out an average sales price, like $10/item or whatever and how many hours she’d work per week to earn a certain # of items. 10-5 on Sunday and Monday = 14 hours @ $10/hour = $140/week x 4 weeks a month = $560/ month. If your items are baby clothes that average $5 each, $560 div. by $5 = 112 items of clothing per month. She could still consign other items at the regular split, like a stroller or whatever. Her pay would be in the 90% consignment split she’s getting on the 100-130 items she can put in the shop each month (on her OWN time, of course! – and make sure you let her know which morning she can come in early or stay late to use the tagging stuff so she’s not interfering with your work hours.)
Anyone ever try this? It’s kind of like what we do ~ also, she’ll need to track her income herself , since she’d be like a contractor of sorts and she’ll be responsible for filing her taxes on her own income.
LikeLike
We hired our first employee about a year in. She wanted to rent space and we needed some hours covered so we made a trade ~ space for work, This may or may not work for you, and you’ll have to talk to an accountant about how to keep track of the payroll part but maybe instead of actual pay, you can work out some other compensation? A mom who has kids in school might work 1 day a week in exchange for store credit? It’ll cost you half as much. Or maybe someone who makes hair bows or cloth diapers or purses or jewelry ?? whatever you want to sell in your shop and she will trade some time for a peg board on the wall next to the register to sell her things (90% to her and 10% to you to cover credit card fees and handling) Just alternatives – keep thinking and don’t give up. Ooh! How about a helpful grandma who wants store credit for Christmas gifts. Okay, I’m done. lol. Hang in there!!
LikeLike
thank you! i did find someone who wants to just work for store credit…maybe just tag or hang…some of the busy work, vacuum at night, etc…i love the “space idea” too…fabulous…there are always so many people wanting to sell what they make…my brain is working, THANK YOU 🙂
LikeLike
I’d like to add… It won’t be good for business if you are tired and you do burn yourself out. You should take a look at what your are bringing in, what your break even point is, what it would be if you hired someone, etc.. See if you’re making enough to pay someone. It might be good just to get someone else in there to give you some help to prevent you from getting burned out. Maybe you could just teach them to handle the register and how to intake and hang and then you go in a couple hours a day or every other day and enter items and tag. ?? Just a suggestion. Also, if you aren’t making enough to really warrant paying someone(which, I’ll tell you, hiring was the best thing I did, although, sometimes nerve racking) see what your slowest days are, whether it be Sundays, Mondays or Wednesdays(whichever) and close those days and take a day to crawl into a ball and eat a pint of ice cream (or 1.75qts) or veg out.. or take a hike or go somewhere or do something… Don’t get burned out, your business will suffer as it’ll show to your customers…
I just know Kate is seeing what others have to say about this before she comes in with her wonderful words of wisdom and waves the wand and fixes everything, she’s pretty awesome like that! BTW: break evens and stuff are discussed in her manual, which, I’m sure you have already.
LikeLike
honestly, i’m closed sunday & monday, so i get the rest…but by friday at, oh let’s see, 3pm, i’m beat, done, toast…i have a very small shop, but it’s still just a ton of work & it’s BUSY (which is amazing…) i know i’ll need to take the leap this fall, i want to open on sundays for more availability to shoppers…and i’m not a super hero (shhhh, don’t tell my son…) your advise is awesome & i thank you…
LikeLike
We hired our first employee about 3 months in. We opened a children’s & maternity store and had 2 young boys, about 1.5 yr old and 3 yr old. I completely thought I’d be able to keep them at the store. I had built a play room, got a dvd/vhs player, plenty of toys, etc… We opened and after about the 1st hour, neither kid would stay in the play room. Fail! So then my wife would watch the kids at home until she had to go to work and then would drop them in daycare until I got done. It was working out fine but shortly after decided to hire someone. We were paying the daycare the amount it would cost to hire someone(at least their hourly, of course there’s taxes, workers comp, etc on top of that) and I’d be able to stay home with the kids. Our first employee turned out to be our BEST employee ever. We hired her initially to work those hours that we would have put the kids in day care, which were about 8-15 a week. I trained her for about a week and a half, pretty much full time. Then she was to start her normal 8-15 hours a week, but, never went down in hours. She’s been working 35-45 hours a week since then. She’s been with us for over year now. Since hiring her, we had hired a lady who was going to work a couple hours after we closed to enter things in the computer and tag them, no customer interaction, no money handling, simply entering. She could not get the hang of it after about a week so we fired her. At the time we had our system down to where anyone could intake and tag and it’d all be the same, with only knowing the brand and what type of item it was. Since her, we hired a high school student, which… hrmMMmmm… was, well, let’s just say, she was a high school age girl and what I learned about this age of employee in my business class was/is very true(at least she fit it to a T).. She’s great if you have a really long, never ending list of stuff to do, otherwise she holds down the counter and keeps it from walking off. She complains she doesn’t have enough hours but can never work any extra hours, etc, etc… She is still currently with us. Since hiring her, we hired a lady that we liked because she has an ebay store and knows how to sell online. Although, we haven’t really gotten around to doing online selling except a few items here or there… I gave her extra hours by attending the local Farmers Market with a booth that I came up with and she can sell some product, show off some things we carry and hand out coupons. We also joined our local chamber, mainly to get discounts on events such as the farmers market, but I’ve had her going to the meetings alone to represent my business. She represents us well and loves to jump in there and promote our business. We’re looking to expand to double our size, from 1500 to 3000 sq ft and hiring another person so we can have 2 people in the store at “most” times… Because it’ll be larger and harder to watch everyone but also to give more excellent customer service that we try really hard to provide as well as to get buyers and sellers out quicker and happier. Ok, looking back up, I don’t know if I answered your question at all, but, hope that my very long post will help you or someone else out somehow. 🙂
LikeLike
It’s very valuable, BB, for other shopkeepers to hear about your experiences, so never hesitate to chime in! Thanks for participating.
LikeLike
thank you BB…very useful information…and being in retail for eon’s i totally get the people part, you have to find the right fit…thank you so much for your insight…
LikeLike
I have had my shop for over 18 months and my cash has yet to flow to allow help. I do have one good friend that helps me when I absolutely have to be away which is not very often. I give her a 50.00 gift certificate to use in the shop. I am closed on Monday’s so that helps me get things done. I would love to be at the point to be able to hire someone but I don’t see it yet. I’m going to pay myself before I pay someone. I know that when I do hire someone, I won’t be able to leave because I will constantly worry if they are doing what I want them to do. I hope to see help in the future, but not yet. For now I’m all the help I can afford.
LikeLike
any suggestions on WHEN most shops hired their first employee? i’m new, 7 weeks in, & small (700 square feet) and currently doing it all myself…i’m tired & need a haircut….
LikeLike
Jackie, my answer would be to look at your business plan. Had you figured on taking on help at this point? Does your schedule allow time to find, interview, choose, train? Does your cash flow have the elasticity in it to do so? Let’s see what the consensus of experience is. Anyone care to help Jackie out here by sharing your story?
LikeLike