Business is booming and you’re approaching your busiest time of year; things couldn’t look better. Then you get a phone call from your most trusted and reliable employee; she tells you that she needs to leave town for two months to care for her mother in Florida, whose fallen and broken her hip. And your part-time stock clerk has been grounded by his parents because his grades slipped. Suddenly your golden scenario has turned very ugly. You don’t have the time nor the resources to begin searching, interviewing and checking references for replacement help.

Two weeks ago I introduced the topic that I will be spending the next few weeks on. A topic that probably addresses one of the most important aspects of retail management. One that not only can generate revenue but also one that could potentially loose hundreds of dollars for your business. The topic that I am speaking of, is that of “Staffing”. Having a good staffing strategy will not only save you money, but will create an atmosphere that your customers will appreciate.

Almost every day we hear of a new incident of security breaches. National and larger regional retail chains are the usual targets of these attacks because of the size of the databases that they manage. While this might seem comforting to a single-store convenience store owner, it’s a mistake to get lulled into a false sense of security, according to Gray Taylor, executive director of the NACS-affiliated Petroleum and Convenience Alliance for Technical Standards (PCATS).

Having great employees starts with the hiring the right employees. As one friend, who specializes in human resources, very accurately put it – It is better to hire someone with the right mindset and great work ethic and then train them to do their job, than it is to hire someone who knows how to do the job but has a poor mindset and work ethic. In both cases a type training has to take place, but it is easier to train a skill, than it is to un-train a personality. Unfortunately, because of the busy nature of owners and managers, when it comes time to hire someone for your company you need someone ASAP and don’t have time to perform an extensive search and often time need to settle on the first qualified candidate to apply for the job. This ends up hurting your company in the long run because you end up with sub-par employees who may “work” but do not “Excel”. Instead of sending an inviting message to your customers you send a message that you don’t care for their valuable business.