If you have retail stores, or franchisees, you need to send and receive information from stores. How to do this effectively is less obvious. Let’s dive in.
From head-office to the stores
Head office needs to communicate information to all/some stores, in all/some regions. These packets of communication travel “downward” and may be used to announce upcoming seasonal programs, in-store initiatives, product recalls and planogram changes. Some are “actionable” (require the recipients to complete an action) while others are simply informational.
From stores to head-office
Stores (typically the franchisee, manager or assistant manager) often need to ask questions, raise concerns or document issues with head office. This information travels “upward” and is often actionable as it requires Head Office to acknowledge receipt, take and action and communicate the outcome back to the store. This is often accomplished by email or by calling a support hotline.
Phone and email are not meant for this…
Phone and email communication, while widely accessible, were not designed to handle bi-directional, actionable, traceable and reportable information. They are slow and they create friction. “Send and forget” is not how you execute your way to success. There has to be a better way.
Centralized two-way communication
The solution is communication software that centralizes communication and works in both directions. It works whether information travels upward or downward, whether a communication packet is actionable or not and whether it concerns one store, one group of stores or all stores.
OTHER RETAIL TASK MANAGEMENT RESOURCES
Refer to the Retail Task Management category for how-tos and best practices for retail and hospitality task management.
