The Most Significant Challenges When You Are a Manager - Essay Example

Assignment Introduction As the manager of a store which has recently changed hands I would try to maximize the sales and profits for the store by utilizing the basic principles which drive the retail market. The store already had loyal customers before changing hands. Here, I will have to bring back those customers and utilize the word-of-mouth method of publicizing my store. My employees will be my best resource in helping me achieve my objective. Since I have got a good mix of fresh graduates and experienced employees, I would utilize it towards transfer of knowledge from one employee to other and thus creating an efficient group of employees. All this will indeed be a challenge for me but utilizing the gained knowledge will help me overcome the challenges and make the store a profit center. Discussion What are the most significant challenges facing you as manager of this store? For me as the manager, the most significant challenges can be enumerated as follows: Low volume of Sales: As the manager of the store, the most important thing for me to keep the store afloat would be the finances. The store cannot operate at a loss and to ensure that it is not at a loss, sales are the most important criteria. The store will have certain fixed overheads and certain variables. Fixed overheads include salaries, electricity, rent, telephone expenses etc. These are the costs the store has to bear even if there is no sale. These components are discounted by the profit which is generated out of sales. In the event of no or low sale, the fixed expenses stand as it is and proves heavy for the store. Variable expenses also are a part of expenses which are incurred in case of sale. Suppose freight charges for delivery of products etc. So this cost is only incurred if there are sales and is directly proportionate to sales. So in case, there is low sale, my store will have to bear the fixed overheads at least. There needs to be a minimum amount of sale to cover the fixed costs and be at zero profit at least(Berman, 2007). Manpower issue: Since the store is not doing well, the manpower cannot be more due to their costs. The plus point here is that the store has a good blend of experienced and fresh manpower. So to utilize maximum potential from them, the experienced ones should provide some training to the fresh ones and always back them up during sales. The attrition rate also has to come down to save on training time and cost. Branding and Advertising: Since the store once enjoyed loyalty of customers in neighborhood, the goodwill re-building would not be so difficult. I should focus on how I can harness the goodwill already built among certain groups of people to attract them to be our customers at the shopping mall and to promise them that the quality of products and services are same irrespective of change of hands of the store. What steps would you take during the first 90 days as manager to address these challenges? In the first 90 days, the steps I would take have been described below: Since the employees include high school and college students, I would harness their contacts to boost my sales. I would plan an incentive for each employee if they give me a minimum amount of business. Example: An employee will be offered x% of the sales value if they give a minimum of x amount of business. Since they are college students, offering only a small amount will be enough to motivate them to bring in business. This will be done keeping in mind the profitability of business. Once we have customers, they can be converted to repeated customers later on through schemes and good service. Specifically aimed promotion: The store needs to be promoted in such a way that the people who were already loyal customers can connect to the promotion activities and believe that the store is still the same as they liked it even after change of hands. The erstwhile loyal customers will be the first ones whom I would like to be my customers as they will be easy to convince. Once they are back, word-of-mouth will play its role in multiplying the customer base (Kotler, 2003). Letting people know the positives: My job in the first 90 days would also include informing people that we are at their service and so we are open for longer hours than before. This would highlight the service oriented intention of the store and people will have the store timings registered in their mind and they won’t have to think about store timings before visiting the store. Once people visit the store, the employees will assist them with a smile to give that personal touch and thus creating a happy repeated customer. What will be your management style - how will you lead, motivate, communicate, establish a team, etc.? Since my team comprises of a mix of different age group employees, my style to deal with them has to be such that all of them can connect. I would train my employees whatever I have learnt from my school to achieve good customer base and profitability. I would teach them the basic principles of selling and how a happy customer is the key to growth of business. I would tell them that the customers coming to our store can go to any other store too but we have to ensure that does not happen. A customer visiting the store once should go back with such an experience that not only he visits again but also the spreads the goodwill of the store to others also. One satisfied customer would result in gaining multiple customers. Now it is our responsibility to convert the multiple customers into repeated customers and also ensure that they spread the positive aspects of store to others. In retail, the word-of-mouth method of communication and advertising plays a significant role so we will need to utilize it to the maximum. Conclusion All in all the basic motive is that I will have to plan my course of actions to be taken to get the store back to profit yielding. These have to be carefully planned keeping in mind the ultimate objective. The stores needs proper promotion to the target market and deliver to the promises in order to create happy, repeated and loyal customers who will be the key to driving the store towards profitability. Work Cited Berman, Joe. Retail Management: A Strategic Approach. Pearson Education: Upper Saddle River. 2007. Print. Kotler, Philip. Marketing Insights from A to Z: 80 Concepts Every Manager Needs to Know. John Wiley & Sons: New Jersey. 2003. Print. Read More