Take the Pulse of your Business! – Part II

Part one, last week, addressed those “pulse points” of business on a “macro level,” best defined at the broad brush across the board points as at pertains to a group of stores. Part two, will address those “pulse points” at the individual outlet level and could apply to a single outlet business!

As we write for the Salesheads blog, please remember that there are points that can be addressed at the ownership or management level along with things to be digested and applied by individuals employed in the retail business or those seeking employment in the opportunistic retail genre as well! Business owners or management that seek more input in planning their business can garner direction on business structure or for a broader approach! Anyone interested in a career in retail can locatea few in the links provided!

At the individual store level, there are several key 'pulse' factors that should be measured to determine the sales “health” of that unit. These are areas that the particular manager and staff should be aware of, accountable for and evaluated making them an expectation. Of course the tool(s) to measure these areas, the training and accountability must be in affect if the “pulse” is to be meaningful. As the saying goes, you can't manage it, if you don't measure it.!Also, you can't expect associates to execute a selling skill unless they have the knowledge to use it, hence the training of the associates. These are a few of the store “pulse” factors, I refer to.

Productivity of associates. A sound Point of Sale system should provide sales by associate, including, but not limited to, total sales, number of transactions, average amount of each transaction and separate accounting of any area important to the operation, i.e. accessory totals etc.

Items per transaction. A retail operation can realize substantial revenue gains with less customers and even less transactions, by simply concentrating on taking the “pulse” of the items per sale and increasing it by associate, or in total.

Departmental sales as a percent of sales to the total store. Taking the “pulse” of individual departments or even a total segment of buying, such as footwear, apparel, equipment etc. as a percent of total business is paramount to the health of the business. This measurement or “pulse” can surface the need to make changes, in presentation, positioning, buying and even assignment of personnel! For instance, if a given area is producing 25% of the store's business, and only 18% of future buy is in that area, it becomes obvious that shifts in future buys need to be adjusted to maintain the sales in the area!