Welcome to the Retail Playbook

Okay, so you work in Retail . . . say no more. The truth is, most people in America DO work in Retail.

The purpose of this Blog is to help you dethrone, conquer, checkmate, force to abdicate, and very literally transform your retail world. That might mean transform your retail place, or it could mean transform yourself within the retail place.

This Blog will endeavor to provide the tools, tactics, and strategies to survive, have fun, get paid more--a lot more in time if you like--solve problems you encounter, and avoid the disastrous pitfalls that may cause your well-meaning friends to wince when you say, "I work in Retail".

I will confess at the outset, I have set up a rule for myself, one I am binding myself to follow in my posts: Everything I lay out here, (the great, the good, the bad, the ugly, the tough and the easy), each post will always be constructive for us and also for our employers. Now, if your retail job is more like a retail career, I'm sure you've seen your share of frustrations. One author titled a book, "Retail Aint Brain Surgery, it's Twice as Hard!" I agree. Being constructive is the only way thrive in any environment, more in Retail.

In another day, country, and age, the "proletariat" (low-wage workers) rose up against the "bourgeoisie" (the middle-class) because EVERY proletariat worker labored not under a glass ceiling, but a low, impenetrable ceiling. In this day of Capitalism and business, with the right tools, a hard work-ethic, and using savvy smarts with a strategy, our goals can be achieved in retail far more than they might in other endeavors. This is not to say "idiots" and "idiotic behavior" will be excused from a good scathing here . . . but I only mean to say that this Blog will not (hopefully) bring up these things without also attaching a tangible application today.

Also, I want you to share stories, ask questions, and contribute here. Help make this a great Blog that can, in time, turn into a pugnacious little website devoted to those of us who are in the trenches, working retail "on the front line" in order to carve out a good life.

But who, I ask you, (who besides us illustrious few reading this Blog), work Retail? Actually, it's better to think about what Retail is. Retail work is any place that sells 'products' to customers who interact with a store structure in order purchase those products. I compiled an eclectic mix of Retail places you--or anyone--might find yourself working; some are obvious, others, not so much. Here's very meager A-Z list:

-Art Gallery, (Connoisseurs aside, Art is Retail)
-Bakery (Baked Goods IS retail)
-Coffee Shop (Retail)
-Dog Grooming (Service IS retail)
-Eat at Joes, (Restaurant IS retail)
-Furniture Store (Hey, furniture is Retail)
-Greenhouse, (Selling living products is Retail)
-Hardward Store, (the nuts and bolts of Retail)
-Inns, (Hotels and Inns, customers come to you,  so Retail)
-Jelly Bean and Candy Store, (Yummy Retail)
-Kiln-Fired Pottery Store, (Crafty Retail)
-Lemonade Stand, (.25/ cup is Retail)
-Mulch Company, (sell it or come and make it: Retail)
-Nails and Manicures
-Optometrist, (glasses are products)
-Peanut Butter and Jelly Bistro, (sticky retail)
-Quick Trip, (Gasoline is nothing, its what's inside that is Retail)
-Restaurants are Retail
-Suit and Tie stores, (looking sharp is always BIG retail)
-Ukulele repair store, (walk in, drop off, service is Retail)
-Vintage Clothing Store, (It's always Hip to be Cool in Retail)
-Water Filtration Store, (Bring Your Own Bottles--one in Topeka)
-X, Y, Z (How about Zoo Gift Ship--Totally Retail)

Lots of Retail going on!

And what will the Blogs be about? Well, a hundred things over time, and off-hand here are the rough sketches of the Blogs getting pieced together now, rough titles and themes that will be refined and made better with your input and experiences:

1. "I'll Get Back To You." Why Some Retail Managers "HATE" hiring you if you have other Retail experience, why this is so, and how to turn this into an advantage.

2. "Click the Clique" Cliques, quite a little contagion in any group environment, but unavoidable; to survive in Retail we must know how to spot them, navigate around them, and AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE. Plus some cool strategies of your own to deal with the personalities engaged in clique-building on company payroll.

3. "Okay, Customers are NOT always right, but . . . " One of the most unpleasant realities you face is the snarky, disgruntled customer, or one whom simply expects the impossible and seems to hold you personally accountable to achieve it. Here, we'll give you some handy tools that will want to use.

4. "Taking Applications." Beware the Taking Applications signs when literally no one else is hiring. That's like putting "under new management" on a hotel--it screams PROBLEMS (ie. problems which may or may not yet be resolved).

5. "Sizing up your Date!" This Blog really gets into the nuts and bolts . . . that is, the nuts and bolts laying all around your floor as you dismantle the company from within. (I told you this is rebellious!). Actually, this is something more of us should do: learn about what makes your company tick, positives and negatives, how it will look to come home each day/night from this company--so, it's a date!

6. "We All Die Young!" Why do people not last more than six months on average in Retail, and what this should be SCREAMING to you, (good or ill).

7. "Lady and the Tramp". Okay, from taking hundreds of applications over my years in management, the most common reason why most people left their last job was: management. Hey, wait a minute! (Why management often "sucks" and what you, personally, need to do about it).

8. "Uniform Conformity". I have to wear a uniform? What conformity means and the "hidden" agenda of your retail establishment! (Okay, okay, there's likely no conspiracy or agenda embedded within the EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK, but uniformity is expected: this is amazingly beneficial for us in retail, if you know how to leverage it into a positive point!

9. "QBQ!" A review of John G. Miller's book and why EVERY person in retail work should read and live the QBQ!"

10. "Keeping it in the Family". This is a different group dynamic than a clique, but though it has potential benefits, it is also ripe for causing the greatest division--and loss of skilled performers--in the workplace.

11. "Stick it to the Man!" Sometimes we encounter the "Us vs. Them" mindset that has, like a toxic leak dripping into good drinking water, poisoned many working units or teams. Here we will address the origins of the "our team" vs. "management" or "against corporate" mentality, and what we need to do to navigate through these waters. After all, sooner or later, the axe will fall and you DO NOT want to be on the wrong side when it does.

12. "Customer DONT buy product, they buy Value". What does this mean and what happens when we forget it!

Anyway, these are just a handful of topics you will encounter on this blog in time, and I hope you will send many more ideas! I encourage you to Please subscribe yourself, or forward this to ANYONE you know that is building a career in a retail setting. The benefits may well be life-changing!

All the best,

Jeff
(F/T Retailer)