C-Store Operations Best Practices

C-Store operations best practices evolve with experience, technology and creativity. Retail competition is high. Therefore, smart owners and managers seek new ways to serve customers. Naturally, they want to provide new items that are desired. Obviously, they desire higher margins for higher convenience and value.

New products, faster service, cleaner shopping, home delivery, choices, and sometimes just simpler options are all included. Successful C-Store operations best practices make use of hot products as well as long term service excellence. Monitoring results, listening to customers and measuring ROI are all part of choosing the items of value.

In addition to great merchandise and service, operations have a direct impact on results. Operators that achieve high growth, stable margins and increasing loyalty operate well. Technology, management and training drive operations success. Best practices apply to technology selection. Of course, management is critical. Top performers have the same items as the bottom performers. Different cashiers in the same store have different outcomes. Stores are the same. Management and execution make a difference.

C-stores that thrive study best practices. They measure their results with POS scan data analytics and compare themselves internally and externally. The use of data is an objective way to find areas of strength. Of course, objective data will show weakness as well. The key is to know the actual status and focus energy on the priority work that drives sales and provides control.

8 Steps Consultants Use to Increase C-Store Sales

Consultants Use 8 Steps to Increase C-Store Sales

C-Store Analytics & Scorecards | C-Store Control | C-Store Growth | C-Store Operations Best Practices | C-Store Promotions Analysis | Managing C-Store Change & Accountability
August 8, 2018 — 

Sometimes familiarity and routine can block easy changes that can increase your c-store sales. That is why operators say that consultants increase c-store sales. Getting a fresh set of eyes to work with your team can be a quick  way to find a few break-through changes that can increase sales. Habits and history can sometimes …

C-Store Employee Retention - Two Birds with One Stone

C-Store Employee Retention – Two Birds with One Stone

C-Store Growth | C-Store Operations Best Practices | Managing C-Store Change & Accountability
July 18, 2018 — 

C-Store employee retention is a must-measure goal for any successful operation. A nice benefit of working to retain employees is that often the very work that helps keep them also makes them a better asset to the company. C-Store training programs are like the stone that gets two birds. It makes the employee work more …

C-Store Shift Planning - Getting Labor Hours Right

C-Store Shift Planning – Getting Labor Hours Right

C-Store Growth | C-Store Operations Best Practices | Managing C-Store Change & Accountability
July 5, 2018 — 

C-store shift planning – getting labor hours right – is one of the most challenging jobs. Having the correct hours allocated by shift ensures you can maintain the customer experience while keeping costs in line with store sales. Getting the labor hours right is a key to ensure you have good operations with the labor …

Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing Is Key to Grow C-Stores

Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing Is Key to Grow C-Stores

C-Store Growth | C-Store Operations Best Practices | Managing C-Store Change & Accountability
May 4, 2018 — 

Steven Covey stated ‘the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.’ Kevin Kruse argued in his Forbes article that this practice has the power to change one’s life. For many C-Store managers the main thing is to grow. They are expected to keep the store running and growing. But there is …

Things Preventing Me From Getting Stuff Done

Getting Stuff Done for C-Store Performance Services

C-Store Operations Best Practices | Managing C-Store Change & Accountability
April 10, 2018 — 

Getting Stuff Done for C-Store Performance Services is our mission. BandyWorks provides C-Store Performance Systems to help companies get better results with less effort. Our culture calls for us to work the same way our clients to work. Some call this approach dog-fooding. We review our own work to mirror the work we suggest to …

Five Minute C-Store Expectations Plan

Five Minute C-Store Expectations Plan

C-Store Growth | C-Store Operations Best Practices | Managing C-Store Change & Accountability
April 3, 2018 — 

There was a long hard time when I kept far from me the remembrance of what I had thrown away when I was quite ignorant of its worth. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations. Given the impact your store manager has on your store performance, many think helping them to choose daily work items wisely, is a …

Grandma's Secret Sauce for C-Store Accountability

Grandma’s Secret Sauce for C-Store Accountability

C-Store Operations Best Practices | Managing C-Store Change & Accountability
March 19, 2018 — 

The C-Store accountability secret is not a secret to any grandparent. Kids, parents, employees – really just all people – want to know what is expected. They want to succeed. They want to be treated fairly and most of all they want to be appreciated. Well, if we know what we expect and can tell …

C-Store Performance - Accountability - Trust or Bust

C-Store Performance Accountability – Trust or Bust

C-Store Operations Best Practices | Managing C-Store Change & Accountability
February 22, 2018 — 

To achieve top C-Store performance accountability trust must be strong. In order to operate remote stores well, there must be a level of trust. This trust must be bi-directional. Employees must believe they will have the resources they need for success and HQ staff need remote operations to perform as required. That is why many …

C-Store Operations - Keep It Simple - The Hard Work

C-Store Operations – Keep It Simple – The Hard Work

C-Store Operations Best Practices | Managing C-Store Change & Accountability
February 8, 2018 — 

C-Store Operations – Keep It Simple – The Hard Work never ends. While simple is desirable,  it’s not easy – it’s just better. Simple means clarity. Clarity is worth the work required to find and follow the simple path. With simplicity comes focus that brings action. C-Store Operations – Keep It Simple – The Hard Work in Motion …

C-Store Accountability – Do You Have to be So Mean?

C-Store Control – Do You Have to be So Mean?

C-Store Control | C-Store Operations Best Practices | Shrink & Loss Prevention
January 9, 2018 — 

C-store control- Do you have to be so mean? C-Store managers often discuss accountability when stores are not performing well. Perhaps even more often when money or inventory goes missing. It is easy to become frustrated when employees do not perform as desired. When supervisors get frustrated or angry they may even think the employees …

Clean Bathrooms - Do They Really Impact C-Store Performance?

Clean Bathrooms – Do They Really Impact C-Store Performance?

C-Store Growth | C-Store Operations Best Practices | C-Store Tips
December 20, 2017 — 

Clean Bathrooms – Do They Really Impact C-Store Performance? I get asked this question a lot these days. I was interviewed recently. The reporter asked the question whether having a cleaning bathroom really made a difference to store sales or overall customer satisfaction. She admitted that it mattered to her and she believes that most …

Tips from the front lines, now collected in one book

C-Store Tips – If You Have Time to Lean

C-Store Operations Best Practices | C-Store Tips
December 19, 2017 — 

Tom Bandy has written a book about C-Store Tips – If You Have Time to Lean. These tips are collected in one book. Winning C-Store customers and keeping them is the result of smart work by everyone who works in a convenience store, from the team who keep the coolers humming to the owner. We’ve …