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Holiday Comes so Fast....It's Almost GONE!!

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All the hiring and preparations you have made so far this year have hopefully lead to you enjoying a fun and mostly stress free holiday season.  Your store performance is doing great, your staff is keeping your store ready to do it again day after day and before you know it....it's 2013!!

This is where the top managers take a step back NOW and start preparing for next year.  Typically, I would start to formulate a checklist to close out my holiday and the year.  Sometimes it may seem tough to take a step back right now, but I promise you - PLAN now and you will have the most productive January of your career (this works at all levels!)!!

I usually would try to have a checklist for each component of my business.  My list might include things like these:

People -
    Temp vs Regular Staff evaluations - Did I luck out with any temp rockstars?  Did a regular team member prove to not be as strong as I thought?  If you have that rockstar, tell them your intentions NOW!
    Anyone have vacations coming up?  Don't get caught off guard when you have extra people now!
    Reviews? Are they set a certain time of year? or from date of hire?
Merchandise -
    Inventory time happens for most companies in January.  Start getting organised and clean now! (Chances are, your shipments are about to slow down).  Pack the floor, the worst thing is to miss a sale due to product in the stockroom!  Another way to look at inventory - If the product is in your store, your store has PAID for that product the emptier your shelves, the better your profit!! This is especially true for supplies, so don't order unnecessarily.  This along with scheduling are huge! Make your checklist for these areas as detailed as possible.
Signage -  
    Sales are coming! Either you should be receiving or have the same annual signage. Locate it now. Ensure that it is in good shape.  This is also a good time to re-work your signage, my guess would be that this time of year lead to it getting a little out of shape!
Scheduling - 
    What events do you have? Floor Changes? Inventory? Post Holiday Deep Cleans? Vacations? The most crucial part to all of this is proper business forecasting and managing these activities during this time.  Your daily sales will be just a fraction of what they are now.  People too quickly get lulled into "it's so slow I have nothing to do".  Plan your activities now and January will keep your team just as busy as December.



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