It’s a given.
If you are a consignment, resale or thrift shopowner, you are going to be a boss.
If not right away, pretty darn soon. There’s just too much work (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘success’
How good a boss are you?
Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged employees, small business, success on September 17, 2013|
When in doubt, sing the alphabet song
Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged consignment, consignors, customers, daily operations, profit, resale shopkeeping, success on September 16, 2013| 17 Comments »
WHAT’s productive when?
That’s a tricky question in our industry. After all, we have a minute-to-minute balancing act between incoming goods and shoppers… so which is more productive to ongoing success and profit
right this very minute?
Working with consignment, resale, and thrift shopkeepers I remind them that their merchandise is worth zero until someone buys it… so there is a priority which is always true.
I like to teach the mantra PQRST to help them decide focus on what to do moment to moment:
PQRST
= People and Quality (of interaction) first… Resale Stuff Thereafter!
What do you think? Would this be a valid part of not just your staff training, but your shop’s “corporate culture”? Agree or disagree? Let’s hear it, in the comments…
Illustration based on an original here.Only 100 Days! How will your shop do?
Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged christmas, holidays, resale shopkeeping, small business, success on September 15, 2013|
Back-to-School Time for Consignment, Resale, & Thrift Shopkeepers.
Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged daily operations, profit, resale shopkeeping, success on September 2, 2013| 1 Comment »
Today’s Labor Day, which means tomorrow is the traditional Back to School First Day for many.
Many, meaning YOU.
Click for some past BTS season ideas on Auntie Kate the Blog.
All of us, no matter how long it’s been since we were a real student, think of this time of year as the season to buck up, to polish our knowledge. (And to buy fun new school supplies, which I secretly still do!)
Here’s 5 easy ways to find the education you’d like (more…)
How to tell when you NEED a staffer
Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged employees, resale shopkeeping, small business, success on August 26, 2013| 3 Comments »
One of the causes of slow growth in consignment, resale and thrift shops is easy to diagnose:
Not enough hours in the day.
If you feel like you’re continually spending non-open hours in your shop playing catch-up, or if you find yourself getting impatient with shoppers or suppliers because your to-do list is getting longer by the day, it’s time to hire some help.
But hiring is scary. How can you justify adding payroll to your business overhead when you’re still not making a living yourself?
Some advice from Team Work: Staffing your Store
How to tell when you NEED a staffer
There are always warning signs that you need a staffer, or another staffer. The trick, of course, is recognizing these signs and acting on them before you start damaging your business, your income, or the morale of the other people involved in your shop.
Molly wrote:
We have been open for 6 months. The shop has been very well received. We’re still not making a profit. However, with the increase in customers we can no longer process much consignment during the day. I’m absolutely scrambling to keep up with processing. I often come in at 11pm when my kids are in bed and work until 3 or 4am. As a last resort I reverted to being closed on Mondays to catch up. I am trying to convince my husband that hiring a person will pay off in increased sales. He says my problem is that I’m not being firm enough in saying “No” to new consignment. I really disagree. Each consignment is a potential goldmine. I say my problem is not getting too much, but just figuring out how to process it quickly and sell enough of it. My husband is very reluctant to spend money on an employee. What do you think?
Marriette answered:
Do you do everything yourself, from checking the merchandise in to putting the
merchandise out? Plus take care of customers? When I started getting
overwhelmed with merchandise, I hired someone. Their responsibilities are to
wait on customers and put out merchandise. I do the sorting and processing.
They do the hanging and putting it out.
This is a great start to figuring out not only that you need help, but that it’s costing you. Working four or five hours past normal store hours? Closing a day a week? Both of those options are costing you way more money than any staffer could possibly cost you. Marriette suggests the next most important step: determining just what areas of your business you need help in. After all, how can you find someone to help the shop prosper, if you can’t define what it is you need a helper to do?
But can I AFFORD paid help?
Read more in Team Work: Staffing your Store
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