Sales Strategy

Achieve Higher Profit and Happiness by Better Understanding Your Store Management Style February 12, 2021 (0 comments)

Green Bay, WI--What type of management does your jewelry store utilize? 

In my years in the business I’ve noticed 4 Styles of Management that usually directly correlate to how happy the store owner is, and that happiness is directly tied to PROFIT.     

The first style of management is usually tied to stores with under a million dollars in volume and it’s DAY-TO-DAY, take it as it goes management by the owners, not really doing much in terms of training staff, setting goals, looking at key metrics or setting up systems.

CLICK HERE or on the Video image below to watch the informative video that accompanies this article. But do read on as well to absorb the text below.    

Now, many people can be very happy with this management style and frankly can be nicely profitable if you keep your expenses and staff to a minimum.  But if not handled with the proper psychological temperament, this style can quickly lead to high anxiety, stress and a gradual moving away from the initial passion that brought you into the business in the first place.     

Next we have THE STORE MANAGER.  Usually this is a store doing over a million in volume with a person who is the manager.  Much like the DAY TO DAY manager, this person has a title of manager with the responsibilities ADDED to their sales expectations. In a sense, they’re a salesperson who is also in charge of scheduling, running meetings, promotions and hiring and firing. 

But like the DAY TO DAY manager, there’s usually very little structure here as well.  It’s more of a reactionary position providing leadership whenever possible.    

Next We have the SALES MANAGER.  Now this is a person who may or may not have a personal sales goal, but more responsible for the entire team and the STORE’S goals.   This is the style I started off in many years ago. 

The store was doing a solid $2 Million and as a Sales Manager I focused on key metrics, goals - daily, weekly, monthly and of course annual.  I focused on SYSTEMS, workflow, scheduling.  I focused on culture, getting along, teamwork, happy employees. 

There was training, a structured, managed training program every week.  And then of course hiring and firing.  The sales manager should be focused on the success of the TEAM. 

Now this position can be a leap of faith for a store owner.  How can I have someone just managing and not selling?   Well, in my opinion, this might be the key to your store breaking that glass ceiling because now this person’s efforts and rewards are based entirely upon the entire store performance.

Huh--kinda sounds like the owner’s situation as well doesn’t it?  This is the space of stress reduction and freedom, giving the owner the freedom to do what they DO best in the business or what they WANNA DO.  That may mean working on marketing or inventory management or--Golfing!

And then finally there’s the GENERAL MANAGER.  This is usually an ownership position where each aspect of the business reports to you but you’re NOT typically involved in the day-to- day. Rather you are an overseer of everything either in the store or from an office off site. 

Perhaps this is your goal.  It’s entirely possible.  It’s just a matter of goal setting and execution.  

So take a little time and think about where you’re headed, or rather where you WANT to be and then look at your store management style and ask yourself if you’re willing to take the next step in the evolution of your jewelry store, or are you perfectly happy and profitable right where you are?  That’s fine too.  

Next week, we’ll chat about how to find that perfect manager.  If you’d like to chat about any of this, feel free to shoot me an email, now I’m not a recruiter, but I may be able to help you chat through your situation.

James (Jimmy) DeGroot is a professional jewelry sales and operations trainer from the jeweler’s side of the counter. Having been in management and the jewelry business for over 20 years, Jimmy offers weekly training to jewelers nationwide via the website JewelryStoreTraining.com.  Jimmy is an AGS titleholder and specializes in training relevant and timely methods for jewelry teams. He can do a full training on making Bridal Presentations the best they can be, among many other regular training options. Contact Jimmy at jim@jewelrystoretraining.com or call 920-492-1191.