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Inside Outdoor | Summer 2015 36
Meeting Demands
The store meeting is one of the
most important forms of direct
communication between owners,
managers, buyers and sales as-
sociates. Once a regular part of
the work week during the era of
mostly full-time employees, this
long-held tradition seems to have
fallen by the wayside. Taking its
place is communique in the form
of texts, emails, conference calls
and notices posted by
the punch clock or in
the break room.
Admittedly, the
scheduling of store or
department meetings
is a bit more chal-
lenging today then in
year’s past due to split
shifts, days off, vaca-
tions, and the increas-
ing use of part time
employees – all of
which makes the store
meeting that much
more necessary.
Timing and Notice
Some stores can get by with
regularly scheduled monthly
meetings, while others wait for
circumstances to dictate a store-
wide get-together. Either way,
remember to provide ample no-
tice and pick a time when most
employees are able to be pres-
ent. If store management deems
the meeting mandatory, hourly
workers will need to be compen-
sated for their time, whereas
salaried workers do not.
The ideal time for a meeting
ally depends on the size of the
operation. A small store with few
employees can perhaps get by with
as little as a few minutes on the
floor when business is slow. Larger
operations will sometimes have
meetings before the store opens or
after it closes. I work with a particu-
lar store that has a stor wide meet-
ing “every single day” prior to the
store opening, and has for years.
Store executives would tell you
that this form of communication is
one of the secrets to their success.
They back up their claim
exceeding $1,200 per square foot,
margins of 55 percent and a stock
turn of four times annually. The
meetings are so informative that
employees who end up missing a
particular meeting – due to a day
off or a staggered starting time
– feel that they have missed out
until they are brought up to speed.
Meeting notes are provided to
those employees unable to attend.
In multiple store operations,
it would be impossible for owners
and even buyers to attend each
individual store meeting. Howev-
er, it does lend a feeling of inclu-
siveness when an owner makes
the effort to attend branch store
meetings on occasion.
What to Cover
Be sure to keep meetings
relevant and positive so that
those attending feel that their
time is being productively used.
There are an array of topics that
should be covered regularly in-
cluding customer service issues,
policies and procedures,
shrinkage control, busi-
ness goals and objectives,
sales training techniques,
upcoming ads and promo-
tions, and definitely fea-
tures and benefits of new
merchandise arrivals.
If you are the meeting
organizer, one of your goals
will be to get as many peo-
ple involved in the meeting
as practical. Role playing
when dealing with sugges-
tive selling or sales training
techniques works well in
this situation. Something I
meetings was a con-
versation starter called, “What’s
Hot, What’s Not.” Each buyer or
manager would bring two items to
the meeting and be prepared to
discuss both. During the “What’s
Hot” portion, each buyer would
share with the group the item that
was curre tly the hottest in the
department. This discussion in-
cluded vendor, quantity purchased,
sell through, initial markup, reor-
der possibilities, how the item was
being featured, and just what it
was that made the item so “hot.”
The procedure was then reversed
during “What’s Not.” Buyers would
take turns presenting the item
In this age of digital and fragmented communications,
store meetings still matter
by Ritchie
Sayner