Getting the Most out of Your Managers

One of the most common questions we hear in this business is ‘Where do I find a good manager?’

In this seminar, we will define the attributes of a good manager and discuss the values of these within the operations of our stores. Students build a job description of a manager. We will dissect the Pro’s and Con’s of hiring from within or hiring from the ‘outside’. Attendees will work on how to build a manager training plan.

Business Planning, Tracking and Analysis

Understanding your profit centers and being able to analyze their contributions to overall store profitability is key to long term success in the convenience industry. Operators today need to be able to react to inventory changes quickly: Be it shrink, trending shifts or profit margins. We will use FASTRAX©, the LJT developed trending and analysis software in this training track as an integral part of understanding your store trends, category profitability, and identifying shrink.

Financial Ghostbusters

Are you making money-or are you chasing ghosts? Ghosts are those profit dollars we can’t account for-we have no idea where they went or even if they were there at all. In this new take on an age old topic, this seminar will delve into the value of a good Profit and Loss statement and how that information can help you make better business decisions. Attendees will identify negative effects of not knowing the differences between a cash flow business and a profitable business. Exercises include a break even analysis, the use of the Key Business Formulas and a case study using model P&L Statements.

Introduction to Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, Four Square… Oh my! “What is Social Media and what can it do for my business?” Attendees will be introduced to the ever-changing world of Social Media and the importance of understanding the different options, how the options operate, and if they are a correct fit for their business. In class exercises include setting marketing goals and assessing return on investment.

Strategies for Adapting to a Competitive Environment

You have a store and you have a major competitor opening less than a mile away. What actions should you take prior to the new competitor opening? Active vs. Reactive response to competition is the theme of this training track. Topics also include: Building loyal customers who won’t be tempted to leave your business and go to your new competition. Pricing strategy for destination products are also a major topic of this training track and, of course, having Guestomer Service that can’t be equaled by a new competitor. In addition, the training track covers cross channel competitors and how to deal with non-c-stores selling similar products.

Growing Your Customer Base – gasoline, store, car wash-pricing strategies

The theme of this training track is CHANGE. If you always do things the same way, you will always get the same results. This training track engages an operator how to “Shake Things Up” to grow the business. Topics include customer loyalty, aggressive marketing, increasing the customer’s use of their loyalty cards, and branded credit cards. In addition, profit center growth includes implementing aggressive competitive killing programs for profit centers including QSR, Prepared Food Programs, and Car Wash. Attendees will develop a specific growth business plan in this training track.

Developing In-Store Training

New employee orientation effectively integrates a new employee into your organization and assists with retention, motivation and job satisfaction. You will establish the foundations of an effective 5-day employee training program. Because every person learns differently, you’ll also find out different methods of teaching while still being consistent. And, because you can’t do it all, you’ll learn how to train your managers to monitor and be accountable for training consistency of new and existing employees.

What’s in it for me?-Developing Employee Incentives

The key to successful employee incentive programs is they must be fair, rewarding, attainable and trackable. In this training track the retailer will learn how to construct an employee incentive program that interests their staff and can be rewarded with increased profits. Retailers will build a promotion, show how additional sales will fund an incentive program with no additional expense to the business.

Profitable Inventory Management

Out-Of Stocks? Storage issues? Small Footprint? No problem. In this training track, you’ll learn techniques to make the most out of the space you have in your store, everything from inventory turns, shelf space analysis, velocity reports, product placement, product variety and shrinkage measurements to gain additional profits through knowledge of your day-to-day operation.

Hiring Right the First Time

One of the biggest challenges owners/operators of convenience store face is high employee turnover. When operators are constantly faced with having to hire new employees the amount of time then can spend improving the operations of their location decreases and can potentially result in a business with lower financial returns. Many successful companies have consistent processes in place for recruiting, selecting, training, developing and managing employees. In this training track, we will implement the six step Employee Development Process.

Building Better, More Profitable Promotions

It is time to take control of your promotions away from your vendors. In this training track retailers will learn the skills to determine if promotions they offer are profitable. Retailers will learn how to use their vendor relationships to their advantage. Emphasis is on how to build and track a better, more profitable promotion and ways to encourage employees become a part of a successful campaign. Retailers will develop a promotional calendar for their site.

Coaching, Mentoring, Training and Developing Managers

The key to leading a best in class team is an ongoing process. This training track will teach coaching techniques that are easy and effective in everyday operations. The objective is for the manager to perceive the retailer as the ship’s captain while keeping the store dynamic on an even keel. This session will work with better implementation methods of developing a manager into a leader. Retailers will establish the foundations of an effective 5-day manager training program. Because every person learns differently, they will also find out different methods of training while still being consistent in their message.

Increasing Profits with a Loss Prevention Program

When questioned about store losses the first response from most is shoplifting. In the convenience retail environment there are several larger areas of loss that contribute more towards lost profits. Attendees will learn how improved personnel practices, cash controls and implementation of store policies will help reduce shrink. Exercises include auditing procedures, vendor controls, how to identify shrink.

Creating a Safe Store Environment

Keeping your site, staff, and customers safe is a priority. Whether it is robbery deterrence, food safety, or even how to lift heavy items correctly, it all falls under the category of site safety. Retailers must understand their role in the importance of developing a site safety plan and incorporating it as part of all employee training. This seminar will start them on the development process and give them tips training their staff. They will learn steps to avoid trouble as well as develop an incident procedure if the unforeseen happens.

Sexual Harassment Training

Manager Training in sexual harassment in the workforce is mandated by most states. Not knowing or being trained the laws is not an acceptable excuse to the courts. Using the Policy Manual as a tool to understanding the importance of Harassment in the workplace is instrumental. Also covered is, how to word questions in an interview process that comply with legal strictures, and how to conduct an internal investigation if a complaint arises.

Managing Merchandising Activities

Merchandising is a verb. A verb requires action. This training track focuses on the four main activities at the store to make the customer’s buying experience both enjoyable and profitable for the company. We will identify the 4Fs of merchandising and show examples of why they are important to the success of the convenience store. Retailers will look at the store through the eyes of a customer and see how effective store merchandising creates a better and more profitable buying experience. Exercises include slide show examples of actual merchandising opportunities plus ways to coach managers and employees on merchandising basics.

The Impact of Suggestive Selling

Your ultimate goal is to increase your bottom line. One way to do that is to improve sales by coaching sales associates to become more sales oriented. This interactive training track will cover upgrades, related sales, up-selling and basic marketing of your store specials as well as loyalty cards. Exercises include calculating the impact of an add-on sale, identifying types of purchases and bundling opportunities. Retailers will use role playing to better understand how to train the LJT Management ‘Tell them don’t Sell them’© upselling approach.

Preventing Complaints through Better Communication Skills

Complaints cost the business in both long and short term. In this training track, we will take the pro-active approach of preventing complaints from happening to avoid the time consuming and frustrating job of handling complaints. We will look at what it takes to satisfy a customer and how to retain them in the event there is an issue on-site. Exercises will include how to diffuse an angry customer, and the role of the CSR. Retailers get insight into developing a training plan for their employees to help them be better communicators and representatives of their business.

Managing Your Premier Guestomer Service

The goal of this training track is to have the retailer to view the business through the eyes of your Guestomers and make changes in your operation that will improve Guestomer loyalty and sales and profits. Competing with chain convenience stores in today’s environment many independent operators believe they don’t have the resources available to grow their business. In this interactive training track, retailers will determine the “needed nine” why a customer chooses a convenience store to shop. Retailers will be trained on how to look at their store from a customer’s perspective and to develop a plan of action to implement systems and processes to execute a consistent positive guestomer experience each and every time a they visit.

Training Employees on Knowledge of Your Core Products

From the Customer’s perspective, the one behind the counter should be the one with all the answers. This trainng track will introduce the retailer to train basic product knowledge of the promotions and products they sell. Based on the type of c-store, we will discuss brand loyalty, fuel and oil basics, credit and loyalty card features as well as how to use existing store programs in place. Videos, quizzes, and FAQs will be used to enforce the take-aways in this training track. Retailers will learn how to train managers, new and existing employees on ever changing offerings