10 Tips To Take Care Of Your People This Holiday Season
Ready for some really real retail advice?!
The holiday season can be HARD! Like hard core non-stop work that drains your people on your team, and sometimes even the people that shop with you from decision fatigue and overload!
The holiday season is really exciting for some. But for others, it may be a sad time of the year when they previously experienced loss or miss a loved one more than ever.
We don’t know what our team may be experiencing , but we must be able to listen to them, stay aware, and make sure they’re taking care of themselves too. (I’ve honestly had to learn this over the years).
This year, we discussed our goals prior to the start of the holiday season so in addition to our team work goals, we knew everyone’s personal goals as well. And since for us in retail the holidays always gets absolutely crazy and the speed triples, we had to figure out other ways we could take care of ourselves so we’d feel prepared and stay well with the changes that always occur in quarter #4.
The problem and the solution for some of things we discussed, we freely share with you hopes that it helps you prepare in your business and take care of your team! Or if you are a shopper, it will help you empathize and understand why some small local businesses make changes this time of the year. What we like to say in house is whenever we have a problem, we like to “make it bittersweet” or in other words, turn the bitter problem into a sweet solution.
Here are 10 tips from us:
Problem: Customizing chocolate boxes can take really long and cause frustration for shoppers waiting for others who ask for an explanation for each flavor and need time to make decisions.
Solution: To keep the smooth flow in the busy season, we temporarily take our custom options off the menu for the holidays and provide wonderful recommended gift sets for quick grab and go instead.Problem: Inventory counts are so hard to keep track of. As soon as things are literally coming out of our chocolate kitchen, folks in the shop want to grab them before we are done wrapping them. Or when we upload them online, they disappear sometimes seconds afterwards.
Solution: We offer pre-orders before things get crazy and then what you see is what you get. There’s less confusion and margin for error if we don’t do holds during this time because that can get us into trouble since counts change too rapidly. First come, first serve seems to be fair and something everyone understands.
Problem: People don’t know what to get!
Solution: We help you decide based on your needs. We’re always ready to offer a recommendation and try to offer something at every price point for varying budgets.
Problem: No one likes to wait, but sometimes it’s inevitable.
Solution: Make the waiting experience enjoyable and provide an option for “no wait time.” We’re planning shaded/covered seating, decorations to bring festivities to the waiting area, and a hard copy menu with photos, descriptions, and recommendations to browse prior so you know ahead of time outside, what’s available when it’s your turn inside! As for the ones who don’t want to wait, online ordering and name provided at pick up is priority speed!
Problem: People sometimes cut. :p
Solution: Number system. We have found pulling a number is a simple system everyone understands, it’s fair, and it eases the anxiety of those waiting so they don’t feel like they have to stand right by the door so someone doesn’t cut in front of them and then have the awkward task of speaking up to them. We do that. :) We call in number order.
Problem: The time flies by before our eyes.
Solution: We have to keep planning ahead. Since we’re in the thick of things in December, we often forget about January so need to make sure January is set before December. Then the new year doesn’t sneak up on us and make us feel “behind” at the start of the new year.”
Problem: Everywhere else gets busy and lunch break times are filled up with waiting in someone else’s line and adding more stress to your time meant for rest.
Solution: Since it seems more people are out and about, we plan our meals ahead of time with home lunch, or pre-arranged meals for the team delivered or on a rotation of pick up with easy stuff everyone likes like pizza, musubi, manapua, bento etc.
Problem: Everyone seems short staffed. A big concern for us this year is we don’t have as many people to do as much as we’ve done in the past.
Solution: We have to say “No, not this year” to some of things we love and have done before, but can’t this year like the Manoa Christmas parade and pop ups. We didn’t overbook ourselves so we can be our best selves at our home base, the chocolate kitchen and shop!
Problem: Everyone gets tired and need breaks. We’re human and we do get tired and need time to rest and refresh.
Solution: We are monitoring our work schedule, making sure we have time off, and closing on Christmas Eve since we all personally said it was important for all of us to spend time with family, so we will sacrifice the sales for the relationships that matter most.
Problem: It’s a grind and some days, we’re all so tired we need something to look forward to.
Solution: We have bonuses, incentives, gifts, and plan a fun outing for right after Christmas to celebrate a season of hard work! This year, we’re looking at going on a ropes adventure course?! (Although that might add more anxiety than fun for some! LOL! Me…but it was the holiday team leader’s final choice!)
*There are many more bittersweet moments for us, but hope these 10 give you some peace as you plan and prepare for the retail business this holiday season!
Finally, a quote that I recently heard and love by James Clear is “A great deal of time and energy is spent thinking about how to increase effort, but there is a lot to be gained by reducing friction.” All year, we plan for this season. We train and practice and increase our efforts for this and over the years, we’ve learned to also reduce the friction. It’s the season that shows us what we are made of. How strong we are together. It can bring out the worst in people, but we also have seen how it can bring out the absolute best in people!
erin’s tip
Do everything you can to prepare, talk it out with your team, and set yourself up to be your best for EVERYONE!
