5 Ways Business Owners Can Jump-Start Their Retail Operations
This year is proving to be a year of growth for many retail businesses, and there's no reason yours can't be a part of that. Here are five straightforward but important steps that you can take to help reinvigorate your retail business’s performance and get it on track to achieve your long-term goals.
1. Clarify your direction. It's critical to clearly understand where your business is headed. Look at your current situation with a fresh set of eyes, then establish goals for where you'd like it to be. Don't be constrained by what you think is likely to happen. Consider what you want, what you really want, first.
Of course, every owner wants to become successful and build a profitable business. But start with realistic, “stretch” goals. You might consider making it a goal to spend an extra 20 minutes analyzing your metrics and retail data for new opportunities, for example. Push yourself just a little, then break your goals down into pieces while designating milestones to measure progress.
2. Create accountability. Once you've decided your goals, build in accountability for yourself. How will you ensure that these things will happen? What systems, processes or people are you going to put in place to drive them to completion? If you're not willing to put such checks and balances on your own actions, re-examine your goals. Without true accountability, you may be setting yourself up for mediocre results. However, if you can create these assurances with meaningful deadlines, you've taken an important step to improving your business.
3. Open up. When you’re heading up retail operations, it's easy to get stuck by yourself at the top. With no one to talk to about the business, your own blind spots, knowledge gaps and shortcomings can get in the way of success. Let’s face it, nobody does everything well. The problem is, many business owners prefer not to rely on others — they have an urge to try to do it all.
