November 26, 2023
Top C-Store Managers start with a daily plan. “What would you rather me do? Take 5 minutes to know my store or just start to work?” This was the answer given by a successful c-store manager to the question – “Do you have time to plan your day?”
C-Store Management Made Simple
Using time well is not easy, but if you had a set of key information, would it make sense to take a little time each day to organize? If your managers have a good daily plan, what would happen?
If they manage the important work – staffing, stocking, cleaning and customer service, then good results will follow. Those that believe managers can control store activity, know they must have a plan to succeed. Using time well is the key to growing profits. Good managers control the work in their stores. They resolve problems, fix inventory issues, open the store and schedule labor. It takes knowledge of the situation and the ability to manage the resources. Providing the key information makes managing more effective.
So what information should be provided to make it easy for a c-store manager to have a great daily plan?
Many think helping them to choose daily work items wisely, is a key to success. Providing key facts allows a manager to assess the store performance and then assign the work to get the needed results. Making it easy to see the key indicators for store results allows the store manager to focus attention and make things happen. Here is a list of things used to make decisions that help improve store performance.
C-Store Daily Plan – Prioritize, Fix & Grow
- Same day sales – same day of week, last week or last year
- Monthly sales – year over year comparisons
- High-risk shrink activity
- Underage Selling alerts
- Top selling items
- Items that sold last week but are not selling this week
- Categories that are going up or down compare to the same period last year
- Planning orders to keep hot movers in stock yet avoid excess inventory.
- Customer feedback
- Store inspections
- Store maintenance items
Daily C-Store Plan – Make It Easy!
If there is a place that the most important information can be found so that the manager is not spending time gathering the information, then it becomes a quick check to decide what things need attention. Creating a list of actions and getting them done becomes a short task each day and leads to success. Knowing where to find the answers is a big part of the job. Make it easy!
There may be missing information, but having a regular scan to keep an eye on the big things helps find small problems before they become large. Of course, there are other things to manage and address. Hiring, training, new programs, holidays and sick leaves will alway keep managers busy. Making sure the regular items that need attention every day are not missed, help to keep a manager’s day less stressed and a bit more managable.
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