Latest / The Resilient Retail Game Plan - retail insights, retail trends and best practices / Retail Bottleneck: How to stop being the go-to for every question in your business

Transcript

Retail Bottleneck: How to stop being the go-to for every question in your business · The Resilient Retail Game Plan - retail insights, retail trends and best practices

• 0:00
  We've all been in one of those groups — whether it's the school WhatsApp group, your
• 0:04
  local neighbourhood WhatsApp, or a Facebook group — and somebody asks:
• 0:08
  What day are the bins going out? Or is it PE tomorrow?
• 0:12
  Even though it's literally written right there, or a quick two-second Google would
• 0:16
  have got them the answer.
• 0:18
  People don't look — they ask. And the exact same thing is probably happening inside
• 0:26
  your business and driving you crazy.
• 0:30
  One thing I often find when I'm talking to business owners is that they have become
• 0:41
  the source of truth in their business.
• 0:47
  So everything comes back to you. You're answering the same questions repeatedly, and
• 0:52
  you've inadvertently taught your team that if they want to know the answer to
• 0:57
  something, they have to ask you.
• 1:00
  So, for example, they're going to ask you: what are we focusing on this week? Has
• 1:03
  that delivery arrived yet?
• 1:04
  Are we promoting this or that? How do I process a refund? Should I be refunding this
• 1:10
  order? What should I say to this customer?
• 1:13
  And it can feel like constant interruptions, never being able to switch off, and
• 1:17
  everybody needs you.
• 1:18
  The reason this happens is — if you look at the way information is flowing around
• 1:25
  your organisation, you've created a wheel-and-spoke system of information.
• 1:29
  In other words, you are the centre of the wheel and everybody else is a spoke around
• 1:33
  the edge.
• 1:34
  So if they want to find out a piece of information — even from somebody else in your
• 1:40
  organisation — they're coming to you. They're asking you the question.
• 1:44
  You are then going out to somebody else who's on a spoke to get the answer, coming
• 1:47
  back, and then going back out to the original person to give them that information.
• 1:51
  So everyone else is the spokes. You are the centre. And the information is going in
• 1:56
  and out, as opposed to flowing around the business.
• 2:00
  What this results in is bottlenecks. If you're not available, are people going to
• 2:06
  have the information they need to do their job?
• 2:10
  So then you get delays, because nothing's happening — everyone's waiting to hear
• 2:12
  back from you.
• 2:13
  You get inconsistency, because not everyone is getting the same information at the
• 2:19
  same time.
• 2:20
  And to be honest, it's probably driving you completely crazy.
• 2:23
  It might feel like you're sitting at home relaxing, and then somebody will send you
• 2:26
  a message and you feel like you can't turn your phone off — because what if somebody
• 2:31
  needs you?
• 2:32
  And here's the thing: when you grow your team, when you're adding new people, it's
• 2:37
  not actually fixing the problem.
• 2:39
  It's actually creating more demand on you, because there are now more spokes to the
• 2:43
  wheel — more times when information has to flow into you and then out again in order
• 2:49
  for people to get the answer they need.
• 2:52
  So what you want to think about creating instead is what I call a single source of
• 2:56
  truth.
• 2:57
  The single source of truth is an information bank where key business information
• 3:01
  lives. Everyone knows where to go.
• 3:04
  It can help remove the guesswork. It can help avoid duplicated answers and
• 3:14
  conflicting information.
• 3:16
  And the interesting thing is, this isn't just a small business problem. I worked for
• 3:20
  many years in the retail industry for larger retailers, and one of the companies I
• 3:24
  worked for was Coast — which is women's occasion wear.
• 3:27
  It no longer exists in the form it was when I worked there. It's now a brand for
• 3:33
  Boohoo, but it used to be a standalone business.
• 3:37
  We had new management come in, and one of the things they decided was that they
• 3:41
  wanted to send all of the buying and merchandising teams — which I was part of — off
• 3:45
  on a training course.
• 3:47
  So we got sent away to work on all kinds of different skills that would help us in
• 3:51
  our jobs. And one of the things we had to do was write a final project.
• 3:56
  My final project was all about how information flows around the business. And what
• 4:02
  was happening was: we had multiple decisions being made, but they weren't being
• 4:08
  clearly communicated.
• 4:09
  So we had teams who were working off different versions of the truth. We had updates
• 4:15
  that weren't being passed on properly, and decisions being made on outdated
• 4:19
  information.
• 4:20
  For example, we had a lot of different external partners. We had concession
• 4:24
  partners, we had wholesale clients. And that information flow was not really working
• 4:29
  very well.
• 4:30
  So one team would have a conversation about what designs were going to be in a
• 4:35
  catalogue spread, or on the homepage of a website for a concession partner — without
• 4:41
  realising that style had actually been cancelled by the product team several weeks
• 4:45
  ago.
• 4:46
  And therefore everything that we had done — all the information that had been passed
• 4:49
  on — was incorrect.
• 4:51
  So it can cause a lot of confusion. There was a lot of back and forth, and a lot of
• 4:54
  strained relationships.
• 4:55
  In fact, I was looking back over the project, and I had identified £100,000 worth of
• 5:03
  lost wholesale revenue that came from poor information flow.
• 5:09
  So all of that is to say — this is not just something that happens in small
• 5:14
  businesses. It happens in big businesses too, and it's something they have to
• 5:18
  tackle.
• 5:19
  You might not lose £100,000 in one go, but you will see it in missed sales, wrong
• 5:26
  stock decisions, poor timing, wasted effort — and also in your own frustration
• 5:32
  levels.
• 5:33
  So it's not really about being organised. It's more about thinking about how the
• 5:37
  information is flowing around the business, and whether or not you have become the
• 5:41
  bottleneck.
• 5:42
  So what are some of the things you can include in your single version of the truth?
• 5:46
  The easiest thing to do is to start with the questions you get asked the most.
• 5:50
  Some of the key categories are going to be things like your weekly focus. What are
• 5:56
  we selling, promoting, talking about this week?
• 6:00
  What are some of the key things your team all need to know about, be aware of? Can
• 6:05
  you communicate that once, in a document? Put it into a central planner so that
• 6:09
  everybody knows where to go to find that information.
• 6:12
  Key dates — so new product launches, when new deliveries are coming in, when you're
• 6:19
  running promotions, what dates those start and end.
• 6:24
  And also any key sales drivers for your customers. If you've got people selling on
• 6:29
  the shop floor without you there, have you given them all the information they need
• 6:34
  to really think about what kind of occasions your customers might be buying for?
• 6:40
  What are some of the key triggers for them, or key conversation starters they can
• 6:47
  use with customers?
• 6:49
  Stock and order trackers are also really useful. If you place an order with a
• 6:54
  supplier, can you have a central area where you record that information?
• 6:58
  You're able to let people know what you've ordered, whether or not it's shipped,
• 7:02
  been received. And it can be really helpful if you've got multiple teams working.
• 7:07
  For example, you might have somebody who's putting products live on your website. If
• 7:11
  you can have a central document where you're recording whether something's been set
• 7:15
  live or not — that can also help you get the information you need without having to
• 7:20
  check in with everybody all the time.
• 7:23
  You can give them information about priorities. What are the things that absolutely
• 7:28
  have to be done? What are the key tasks you really want them doing each week?
• 7:35
  And another key area for your single version of the truth is your processes — how
• 7:41
  things get done. This is so helpful to have your SOPs, or Standard Operating
• 7:46
  Procedures, mapped out in a document.
• 7:49
  It will help you enormously when you have new people coming in, if you've got to
• 7:53
  train somebody. You've already got everything documented, telling you what they need
• 7:57
  to know, what they need to do, how they're going to do it — with pictures or videos
• 8:02
  showing them the exact screens they should be looking at, or little scripts to help
• 8:06
  them understand exactly what to say to customers.
• 8:09
  Or a flow chart to help them understand whether or not they should be giving a
• 8:14
  refund and what the various criteria are. Those are all examples of having your
• 8:19
  processes mapped out — and it makes it so much easier to bring people in and train
• 8:24
  them when you've got it all documented.
• 8:27
  The key thing to remember though is that people will not use this information
• 8:31
  automatically. This is one of the hurdles I see people stumble at.
• 8:36
  I've worked with lots of clients where we've done this kind of work — putting in
• 8:41
  these processes, putting in the single version of truth — but they're still getting
• 8:45
  the teams coming to them and asking questions.
• 8:48
  And they said: okay, well obviously this isn't working. They're not really able to
• 8:52
  access this information.
• 8:54
  And I was reminded again about the neighbourhood WhatsApp group example. In our
• 8:58
  neighbourhood WhatsApp group, different people will ask very regularly: is it the
• 9:02
  black bin day today or not?
• 9:05
  Because it's not every week, it's every other week. And somebody will always
• 9:09
  respond, pasting in the link to the council website, which everyone can access,
• 9:14
  which tells you whether or not it's the week for the black bins.
• 9:19
  Does anybody ever actually just think, oh, maybe I'll Google that or look it up on
• 9:24
  the council website instead of asking? The answer is no — because it's the path of
• 9:29
  least resistance. They feel more confident because they can ask somebody. And
• 9:33
  they're not going to go and get that information.
• 9:36
  You might have seen this as well. This is the absolute classic in the parents'
• 9:40
  WhatsApp group — what are the kids wearing to school tomorrow? The information's
• 9:44
  there. They could get it.
• 9:46
  But for whatever reason — whether it's a confidence thing, or just that it's the
• 9:50
  easiest way — they're not going to actually go and get that information. It's human
• 9:55
  nature.
• 9:56
  So your team will do this too. You could put in a lot of effort setting up all of
• 10:05
  these documents, and it may well be that your team members are still going to ask
• 10:12
  you those questions.
• 10:14
  So if that happens — if you've set those up or you've already done this exercise and
• 10:18
  you're thinking, well, Catherine, this just didn't really work because everyone's
• 10:21
  still asking me — then it's going to be time to take a more direct approach with
• 10:26
  your team and really set your expectations.
• 10:28
  It's not just a document. It's not just a repository for all the information in your
• 10:32
  business. It's actually a new way of working.
• 10:35
  Can you get people together in a team meeting, or have one-on-one conversations,
• 10:39
  where you explain: this is where the information lives?
• 10:42
  And — in the nicest possible way — I actually won't be answering questions until you
• 10:48
  can tell me you've checked this documentation. And if it's not there, then ask.
• 10:54
  So the first question should be them asking themselves: do I know where to find this
• 10:59
  information? Yes. Okay, have I checked? Yes. Okay, am I still not sure? Now I can
• 11:05
  ask the business owner.
• 11:07
  You definitely want to be making it clear to them that you are not going to be
• 11:13
  entertaining the questions. The information is already available.
• 11:16
  So make sure you've walked them through it. Obviously, make sure you're showing them
• 11:20
  where things are, how to use it, give them examples.
• 11:23
  This is where you find this week's focus. This is where you check the deliveries.
• 11:27
  This is where you find the flow chart for what to do if a customer comes in asking
• 11:33
  for a refund.
• 11:34
  This is where you find the documentation that tells you how to dispatch an order.
• 11:38
  Make sure they know where this is.
• 11:40
  But then, after a while, you have to put the emphasis back on them. They have to be
• 11:45
  able to self-serve with that information.
• 11:47
  Make sure you're repeating that, and make sure you are reinforcing it. So this is
• 11:53
  really the key thing: holding the line.
• 11:56
  When it does happen, instead of answering, redirect them. Say: have you checked the
• 12:00
  planner? Have you checked the tracker? Have a look and come back if you can't find
• 12:04
  it.
• 12:05
  Yes, it feels slower initially, but most people will get the point sooner or later.
• 12:11
  And hopefully it will create independence.
• 12:14
  Because nobody likes being micromanaged. Nobody. Generally speaking, people prefer
• 12:17
  the feeling of being independent and self-serving. So why not encourage them to
• 12:21
  stand on their own two feet and find the information they need?
• 12:26
  It can reduce the constant interruptions, the reliance on you, and the accidental
• 12:30
  micromanagement. Because that's the thing — as a business owner, you may find
• 12:34
  yourself having to check in with people and ask them questions if they haven't
• 12:39
  recorded that information somewhere easy for you to access.
• 12:42
  So you should get people asking you fewer questions, doing things quicker. You
• 12:47
  should get them taking more ownership.
• 12:50
  And you should be able to have some visibility of what's happening without having to
• 12:55
  be involved in everything — and without having to send endless checking-in messages.
• 13:00
  In terms of where to start — it can feel really overwhelming. It can feel like a
• 13:04
  really big job. Certainly something like mapping out your processes is something
• 13:07
  that can take some time.
• 13:09
  So my suggestion is: start small. Start with what you get the most questions on.
• 13:15
  What is the number one most commonly asked question you get from your team? Start
• 13:22
  there.
• 13:23
  Is it going to be about this week's focus? Maybe that's something you end up telling
• 13:27
  them the most, and you feel like you're constantly having to remind people about
• 13:32
  something. Is it key dates? Is it a simple question about how to do something?
• 13:37
  Whatever it is, start there. Get it documented, or get some way of people coming up
• 13:41
  with the answer that doesn't involve asking you. And then hold your ground.
• 13:46
  Explain kindly but firmly that this is the way you're going to be doing it moving
• 13:50
  forward, and this is the information they need to access.
• 13:54
  Because if everything is living in your head, then your business depends entirely on
• 13:58
  you. It makes it harder for you to take time out. It makes it harder for you to have
• 14:04
  downtime.
• 14:05
  It makes it harder for almost everything to happen, because it just feels like you
• 14:09
  are the middle of this wheel — and the more people you bring in, the more spokes you
• 14:14
  have around you. So this whole information flow isn't getting easier — it's only
• 14:19
  getting more complicated.
• 14:20
  Thanks so much for listening. Thanks so much for watching.
• 14:25
  Don't forget to like, follow or subscribe — depending on where you get your podcasts
• 14:28
  — and you'll be the first to know about each new episode that comes out on a
• 14:33
  Thursday morning.