Improve Your Management Skills in Time for Spring

<a href="http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?

image=11604&picture=book-tunnel">Book Tunnel</a> 

by Petr Kratochvil

                “I oversee every facet of this store,” said Tiffany S. Chapman, Store Manager of the Follett bookstore at Armstrong Atlantic State University. “I assure that my text manager does what he is supposed to do, that we are ordering the right things and receiving the right things from our corporate office. I handle the local marketing, all the local venders, all the offsite events, all the human resources, and payroll and people management.” Managing a bookstore means taking on a lot of responsibility. It also means more stress, and less room for mistakes. This spring, make the load a little lighter by improving your management skills in three easy steps.

                Be Flexible.  “There is no typical day,” Ms. Chapman said. Because she oversees so much that goes on in the store, she has to be ready for anything. Being a part of a corporation, she has to report to a higher office that looks to her for things like inventory checks where she needs to make sure the stock she has matches what they say she should be carrying, as well as balancing money between the accounts. If something doesn’t add up, she needs to be able to spend the time to figure out what went wrong. Due to a demand in supplies and small electronics, Ms. Chapman requested that the company allow them more space to carry what the students needed. “On Tuesday we had a soft remodel where they sent us new fixtures, which you can see when you walk around the store there are empty spaces,” Ms. Chapman said. A full day was spent assembling and readying the store for the new materials. Don't expect to be working with customers all the time, there is a lot of behind the scenes work that needs to get done too.

                Stay Organized. Follett supplies books to 993 stores between the United States and Canada. The books that are supplied to the stores are based on faculty demand: “Once they make their decisions, my textbook manager places the orders. So that’s an in-store process.” To keep up with the demand, staying organized is crucial. Students rely on the Follett stores to not only be carrying what they need, but to carry the exact edition of book that they need, and if it needs to be shipped into the store, it needs to get there in a timely manner. Not to mention all the other duties of a store manager; keeping tasks written in a notebook or planner is a good way to make sure that not only you will remember what needs to get done, but it helps plan your days so they aren’t unnecessarily hectic. “We will supply it if they want to buy it. That’s what we are here for. We are here to supply a service, not to make money. Make sure that students have what they need when they come in available,” Ms. Chapman said.

                Listen to Your Workers. “Part of my job is to keep my workers on task –and happy,” Ms. Chapman said. The hardest part of being a store manager is customer service, Ms. Chapman explained. This includes the employees and student workers. “I spent six years being the assistant manager of a store up in Ohio where no one else was willing to talk to the customers,” Chapman said. “I would get people screaming at me, from all walks of life, all ages. . . It is hardest to think the customer or worker is thinking badly of the store so that it can impact the store in a negative way.” Learning to listen to your workers when something is wrong is important in keeping the environment as conflict free as possible. The customers will notice if the employees aren’t working together, and that tension can lose a lot of sales. 

For more information on how to keep a bookstore marketable, see Four Steps to Marketing Your Bookstore.

Blurb:

When it Rains, it Pours: Four Ways to Keep Your Calm

• Breathe. Count to ten and chose your words carefully with your coworkers and customers, losing a sale or a good worker is more detrimental to the store than you can foresee. 
• Look for Perspective. Don't let your emotions run rampant. If someone brings up a problem with your management skills, listen to them and reflect: do they have a point?
• Delegate. Don't try to do everything yourself. Let a coworker or student helper take some of the load off. If they make mistakes, let them learn.
• Prioritize. It might feel like there are a million different things that need to get done. Don't do what's easiest first, do what is most urgent. If an order needs to be filled by 5 o'clock, don't wait until 4:30 to get it done.