Tis the Season To Be Crazy

Some Ideas on Surviving the Holidays

– Don Capman, President, J.D. Associates

Well, here we go again. The season where most retailers make 70% to 80% of their annual sales is upon us. The blessings and curses of the 2006 holiday season are about to fall upon us without mercy. This time of joy (for everyone else) produces reasons for retailers to resort to lots of nail biting, multiple cases of Pepto-Bismol, and for some retailers, a double refill of Prozac.

Why do the holidays always have to be so crazy and out of control for retailers? We watch other people with "normal jobs" come into our stores full of the holiday spirit. BAH HUMBUG! When my business partner, John Deery, talks to retailers about how their "normal" day goes, he reminds them of the Ed Sullivan Show and the guy who used to spin the plates. That guy was spinning plates on sticks on almost every appendage he had, and he hardly ever dropped one. Sound familiar? Every successful retailer today is, in a sense, a plate spinner. Only today, the politically correct name for that skill and affliction is called "multitasking."

So, accepting the premise that retailers have to deal with multiple situations and make simultaneous decisions on a regular basis, the holiday madness multiplies the task list ten fold. You might be saying, “You know, you’re right, Don, but I’m going to stop the madness this year and really enjoy the holidays without stress.” Sure you are. That just ain’t gonna happen. So what can we do to minimize the stress during the holidays and, hopefully, carry over some of those stress-relieving actions after the holidays are long gone? The answer….WE’VE GOT TO HAVE A PLAN. We can’t control everything in our environment all the time, but we can control some things and that is where our focus needs to be when putting this plan together. I like to think of this plan as “The Craziness Prevention Plan”. It does not involve Pepto-Bismol or Prozac, but it does involve a commitment to the Plan. Begin by asking yourself just what stresses you out throughout the holiday season and write those things down. The following are stressors that most retailers experience:

• DID I OVERBUY OR UNDERBY FOR THE SEASON? This is a big time stressor. It is critical to the success or failure of your business. Folks, it’s not too late to renegotiate with your vendors. Look carefully at your outstanding purchase orders and don’t be afraid to cancel some. Did you overbuy because your vendor gave you a bigger quantity discount or better terms? More often than not, when the vendors offer deep discounts or much better than average terms, it is because they feel the merchandise will not move. Better to stick you with it than themselves. It’s often better to purchase merchandise for a little more and move it at a healthy margin rather than having to run a “fire sale” after the holiday. Negotiate, Negotiate, And Negotiate! You may even be able to negotiate a restocking plan with your vendors if the merchandise doesn’t move. I’ve done this successfully in the past. Vendors would rather move any quantity of their goods than get stuck with them after the season.

• ARE MY PROMOTION AND AD CAMPAIGNS IN PLACE? Don’t wait until the season is in full throttle to carefully plan your promotion and ad campaigns. By planning ‘on the fly’, you are exposing yourself to unknown, and often substantial expenditures without the benefits of vendor co-op advertising money. Prior to the season, talk to your vendors about your campaign ideas and have them fund most of them.
  
  Also, if you are planning “on the fly”, you will smell like an easy meal for every media sales rep sniffing out a sweet commission. When you don’t plan well ahead, and sales are slow, panic sets in and the “hungry gather for the kill”.
  
  Another issue that pops up when this happens is that the sales rep calls increase during the holiday and rob valuable time from you. Plan certain times during the week when you will speak with sales reps and hold the line.

• DO I HAVE ENOUGH STAFF TO GET THROUGH THE SEASON? The real question should be: “Do I have enough competent staff to get through the season?” If you have competent, well-trained personnel, you will probably need fewer people to staff you store. Finding good seasonal help is a huge problem. Perhaps if you pay a little more than other retailers, you can attract the crème de la crème. In the long run, you will make far more dollars with knowledgeable, helpful and courteous sales associates.
  
  Additionally, try to figure out what your busiest times of the week and day are ahead of time and plan accordingly. Many store owners or managers don’t think about this ahead of time. There are many times when I will walk into a major merchant and find more sales associates than customers on the floor….profits right up in smoke. Most point of sale systems will be able to give you this information to help you make your staffing decisions in a couple of simple reports. If you don’t have a point of sale system, think back historically to last year's staffing pattern. Was it correct or were you overstaffed much of the time with incompetent staff and running around like a chicken with your head cut off; at other times understaffed and watching potential dollars walking out of the door?
  
  Also, when hiring seasonal help, make sure to tell them that one of the requirements of the job might be coming in on short notice, if needed. Clearly explain what their responsibilities will be and provide them with training in advance. PLAN AHEAD.

• I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO THAT I CAN’T THINK STRAIGHT. IS THE TOP OF MY HEAD GOING TO BLOW OFF? Don’t you get the feeling, during the holidays, that you’re a passenger on the space shuttle and you have no control whatsoever? You have a million things to do, and there just isn’t enough time in the day. If you do some simple planning before the season and stick to the plan as much as possible, you may find that you’re the pilot of the space shuttle instead of a helpless passenger.
  
  My first suggestion would be that you try writing a job description for yourself. List everything you do during the week or month. Prioritize those responsibilities and delegate lesser responsibilities to someone else on your staff. Most of us find it very difficult to let go of even the simplest responsibilities, and we find ourselves always running behind.
  
  Secondly, there is no way to get rid of all of the craziness of the season, but there is a way to minimize the stress. Plan to get out of the store for at least a half hour a day. Be it a quick lunch or just a walk, you will find the effects can be dramatic and your productivity will increase. Beware of getting caught up in the pandemonium of the day and missing your half hour. Planning and discipline are very important to keep you on track.
  
  Thirdly, if you still find yourself “losing it” during the day, remove yourself from the situation, go someplace quiet, and take deep breaths for 5 or 10 minutes. This may sound like something your “shrink” might say, but it really works. Then you can return to your responsibilities in a calmer more organized way.

So, what’s the secret to having a sane and productive holiday season? PLAN, PLAN, PLAN and stick to it as much as possible. You will still be spinning plates, but you will break far fewer if you just make some simple changes.