Confusing and badly timed communications from head office are the last thing disturbs busy shopfloor staffs. Pathetic staff and bad service can often be a direct result of head office’s failure to engage shopfloor staff with its vision. In the current climate, communication between head office and stores is more important than ever.
When it comes to the motivation to achieve sales or to ensure the best customer service, effective communication between head office and staff on the front line is critical because they have to deliver the brand promise that the retailer may communicate externally via its marketing communications.
Of course, the best method is direct and one-to-one dialogue with their line managers. It helps to know how changes impact on them, so by having the dialogue they can ask the questions. That’s the most effective way of communicating. However, in a busy trading environment where shift patterns and circumstances as well as sheer scale of the business can prevent that happening, a retailer needs other methods of communicating.
Its store intranet system that allows content such as store management tool, newsletters and in-store marketing information to be accessed through an internet browser, either in the back office, at the till or a hand-held device. It has enabled store managers to spend more time on the shopfloor serving customers and driving sales. It has also helped to gain a consistent execution of tasks across all stores.
Ensuring a message has been received and understood is vital.
At shop/stores they haven’t got time to read reams of information so it has to be slick.
Choose the way in which we communicate with store teams very carefully depending on the audience. If intend for issuing communication to all store staff it should be done through staffroom poster or newsletter to ensure everyone could receive the message. If the communication is aimed at store management teams this would be done through a store management tool or internal mail service. Even some has their own radio stations it is a channel for staff news, views and dedications, while during trading hours the station broadcasts music and customer messages & on non-trading hours broadcast news for staffs.
Ensuring store colleagues not only listen to you but that you also listen to them means you are one step closer to not only being heard, but understood.
Steps to successful communication
- Purpose or Objective.
Decide if it is to inform, get a response or generate an outcome.
- Message Type & How It Should Be Perceived.
Often retailers know the message they want to communicate, but they don’t tend to give as much thought to how they want it to be received. A communication about restructuring can send out a very negative message, but if it is accompanied by a statement of how this will safeguard jobs in the longer term and make the business stronger, it can limit concern.
- Target Audience & Media Type.
This is one of the great challenges in retail. There are many locations and people of differing backgrounds and seniority in the business, which means there may need to be different levels of communication to address specific layers of the organization. Similarly, change may affect each level differently and the channels of communication open to them will be different too. Management may have e-mail access when shopfloor staff do not, so picking the right message and the right method of communication is vital.
- The Perfect Time.
Of course, sometimes you can’t choose the timing of a message, but where there is some control it is best to avoid times when the business is already implementing a lot of change, such as a new season launch, a Sale, and so on.
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