3 Tips to Help Your Independent Store Run Smoothly

For years, you’ve aspired to open your own store. Having grown up with parents who worked in the service industry, you developed a healthy appreciation for retail at an early age. After devoting a substantial portion of your life to working for other people’s establishments, you decided it was high time you went into business for yourself. All the sales-related skills and knowledge you acquired during your time in retail have truly made you a force to be reckoned with.

Now that you’ve been approved for a small business loan and located the perfect store space, your lifelong dream is very close to reaching fruition. However, as a first-time business owner, you’re experiencing some understandable reservations. What if the store doesn’t receive enough foot traffic? What if your managers and sales associates can’t be trusted? Although it’s perfectly normal to worry about these things before your grand opening, there are a number of steps you can take to prevent these anxieties from becoming realities. To ensure that your fledgling enterprise runs smoothly from day one, put the following tips into practice.

Hire Managers Who Share Your Professional Ideals

Since your managers are essentially your second-in-commands, it’s imperative that you fill these positions with people who share your approach to customer service. Additionally, when looking for good candidates for managerial slots, limit your options to people who have at least a couple years of sales experience under their belts. Although experience isn’t always the best indicator of success, people who have never worked in retail are liable to find themselves overwhelmed by the many duties managers are expected to carry out. Furthermore, when recruiting store managers, it pays to check references. Even if someone seems like the perfect fit for your business, it never hurts to listen to feedback from their previous employers.

Promote Your Business Locally

A surprising number of small businesses go under because people simply don’t realize they exist. In many cases, these failures can be traced back to a lack of promotion. To ensure that your store doesn’t fall victim to the same fate, make a point of promoting it across local media well in advance of the grand opening. For starters, you’ll need to place ads in your local paper. Even with the print industry in peril, newspapers continue to thrive in small towns across the country. So if your business is based in a quaint community, don’t hesitate to buy ad space in your local paper. In addition, you should look into purchasing ad time on local television and radio outlets. If you don’t have any experience producing commercial spots, enlist the aid of a highly-rated marketing firm. Lastly, remember to maintain a presence on social media by creating Facebook and Twitter accounts for your business.

Invest in Quality In-Store Signage

Investing in top-of-the-line in-store signage is an effective way to create an air of professionalism in stores of all sizes. Not only will good signage enable customers to easily find their way around your establishment, it can also be used to alert patrons about upcoming sales events. Having signs printed up also gives proprietors a chance to flex their creative muscles. Many sign manufacturers openly welcome input from business owners and flawlessly integrate their ideas into the final products.

Owning and operating a business is seldom an easy job. Overseeing employees, addressing customer queries and keeping track of your inventory is guaranteed to keep you consistently busy. Fortunately, by recruiting reliable managers, advertising across multiple channels and investing in quality signage, you can ensure your store’s long-term success.

About the Author: Chantelle Spencer owns and manages a successful health food store in Topeka, Kansas. Whenever her establishment is in need of in-store signage or sales tags, she enlists the services of Pangea.

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