What is an action plan?
When the district manager walks a store/location as part of the retail audit, she is bound to find issues. Even the best and most diligent operators make mistakes occasionally.
Brand standards exist for a reason: they protect the brand and make locations more inviting to guests and more profitable.
The action plan is an opportunity to apply corrective actions to problem areas. It designates an individual responsible for rectifying each problem (anything deemed substandard or non-compliant by the district manager during the visit) and a target date for resolution.
Accountability and Efficiency
The action plan fosters ownership and accountability at store level. It also allows district managers and franchisees/store managers to work together towards a shared goal: making each location more performant and profitable.
The action plan breeds efficiency. It allows for corrections to happen with no time wasted with back-and-forth communication between the franchisee/store manager and the district manager. Find a deficiency, assign it as a corrective action, fix it…done!
Don’t just Find Problems…Fix Them!
How good is finding issues at store level unless you are committed to correcting them? Is it in your interest to just find problems or are you better off weaving continuous improvement into the process? How good is problem discovery without resolution and closure? Finding problems is good. Fixing them is better. That’s where the action plan comes in.
Close the loop on store execution
At its core, the action plan is a vehicle for improvement. Success in retail hinges largely on execution. The action plan is execution.
The action plan is the continuation of the visit, the key to getting resolution and closure. If problems are ailments, the action plan is the cure. Don’t leave the store without one!
OTHER RETAIL EXECUTION RESOURCES
Refer to Retail Execution category for how-tos and best practices for retail and hospitality execution of brand standards and programs.
OTHER RETAIL AUDIT AND INSPECTION RESOURCES
Refer to the Retail Audits and Inspections category for how-tos and best practices for retail audits and inspections.
LEARN MORE ABOUT BINDY
Refer to the Bindy category for more information on how the world’s leading brands use Bindy to execute brand standards with inspections, corrective action plans and tasks.
