The holidays can turn even great customers into customonsters. Here are seven tips for handling difficult and demanding customers when the pressure's on.
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At the most basic level, every successful retailer must know how to display merchandise, schedule staff and take inventory. But those basic retail skills are only part of the picture when it comes to owning or managing a store.
"Champion" store managers also possess an array of personal attributes that transform employees into top performers. "Great store managers first and foremost have people skills," notes Shep Hyken, a St. Louis-based retail consultant. "Managing on the store level means meeting and motivating the retail staff." Continue reading...
Back in the day, Main Street was lined with storefronts and dotted with vendors on carts. Then came department stores. And now, "big-box" stores, systematically knocking everyone else off the block. Or are they? Can independent retailers survive and thrive in this era of deep-discount giants? Continue reading...
Spend money to make money, the saying goes. But sometimes you have to spend money to keep making money, or to keep out of trouble. Sometimes you have to buy an expert's time and know-how. Continue reading...
