Congratulations! You have been promoted. You are now the new retail manager. Of course, you deserve all the credit for it, but don't become too complacent now. Being the new retail manager is no cakewalk. In fact, running a retail establishment is quite challenging and there are a lot of common mistakes that new, inexperienced retail managers make. Add to that the challenges of dealing with people who were earlier your peers but are now your sub-ordinates and the new job just becomes that much more difficult.However, it is easy to deal with this job if you just learn how to handle the following three of the biggest challenges of being a retail manager.
Time Management: As a new retail manager, you will be swamped with requests for your time and attention from all quarters. There will be customers demanding to speak with you, floor attendants wanting your attention to clarify doubts, vendors calling you with questions regarding your orders and their payments, and the list goes on. So, learning how to prioritize and making the most of the 12 hours of work you put in are essential skills for survival in the job.
Stress Management: Of course, transitioning into the new role and that too such a demanding role will add stress to your life. Further, being responsible for the daily fire-fighting on the shop floor and off it will take its toll. Moreover, if you have a sales commission component in your pay, your finances may take a hit as you may not be able to concentrate completely on sales like you used to earlier and the sales may go down. All this is common and expected. Hence, in order to deal with such stresses, start getting increasingly involved in the day-to-day operations of the store before you apply for your first retail management position. Doing so will prepare you for the stress related to the job before you even take on the job.
Also, ensure that you are in a comfortable financial position so that the dip in your pay check does lead to unpaid bills and thus undue financial distress.
Team Management: One significant problem that most of the new retail managers face immediately when they start their new job is becoming the boss to people who were previously their peers. Further, if this set of peers consists of long-standing friends, things may just get more complicated. Hence, it is important for both the new managers and the team members to understand and keep their personal and professional relationships separate. This will ensure that the managers get their due respect on the floor and have fun with the same set of people off the floor.
At the end of the day, as a new retail manager, your primary responsibility would be to ensure that the store runs smoothly. In order to ensure that this happens, you will need to take a lot of quick decisions and ensure that your orders are carried out. Hence, don't be afraid to make mistakes or worry about taking wrong decisions. It's OK to err provided you do not repeat your mistakes and are ready to take responsibility of the consequences of your decisions.
Good luck for the new job!
