Vic Smith, owner of independent beds retailer Vic Smith Beds, talks about how to keep staff morale up following the Christmas buzz and festive comedown.
So, Christmas is over, the main rush of the sale period is done and now is the time you should be taking stock of your business, analysing what sold and what didn’t. But it shouldn’t just be your opinion. Open slightly later one morning and have a coffee with your staff – an informal staff meeting, or even after closing with some pizza. They are the boots on the ground, and their feedback is invaluable. What were customers looking for, and what did they not want?
Using these tools should hopefully make your trip to the January Furniture Show a lot more rewarding, as we all know it’s hard taking time out of the business, but let’s make this year the year we speculate to accumulate.
We all know how frustrating it is to make that visit and think we haven’t found the right products for our business but hopefully with a greater insight this should help. And listening to your staff is always good and key to a successful business.
Staff morale always needs boosting this time of year too – we’ve had the buzz of Christmas, the busy sale period, and now comes that long gloomy January slump. Very often, we have our staff Christmas do in the new year – trying to get a good date pre-Christmas for everyone to make is always hard. Everyone has far more free time in January, and it’s much better for team building if they can all make it. It helps them work better together and puts back some great motivation. People like to feel appreciated, and if you’re taking on board their views and opinions, it’s a great tool. Trust me – try it and see how much more motivated your staff are.
You also need to forward plan – look at a calendar, see when the big dates of the year are, when’s Easter, when’s Mother’s Day – be your future friend and have some marketing pre-planned for all these big dates. It’s more about acting than re-acting – remember fail to plan, plan to fail. Because even if you haven’t, you can bet your competitors will, and that’s where you need to have the edge over them.
Go over last year’s calendar and compare it to your sales figures – what worked, what didn’t? Or you can just sit at your desk and moan that business is tough and that no one is buying. It’s far too easy to make it everyone else’s fault.
Another idea that we run here is called the £50 idea. It’s a nice friendly competition to get all the staff on board. We challenge them to come up with a sales idea, and which ever one gets picked, and shown to work, they get the fifty pounds! After all, isn’t it a good idea when your staff are motivated to help you, and then it’s not just the boss that thinks outside of the box?
It’s another way of looking at the business with a fresh pair of eyes. And whoever’s idea it is, well, they are going to make sure it works. It could be a good way to kick of your January? It certainly is for us. So, go on, turn the January blues on its head!
