John Genge has ten top tips for bosses wanting to beat the Monday morning blues.
Do you ever get that Monday morning feeling? How about your staff? Many a business that I have visited on that day seems to have a lethargy that lasts until lunchtime and of course by that time 10% of the week is gone! So, a clear and focused Monday morning mind can make all of the difference to your business. Here are ten essentials; questions, actions or considerations which, if made part of your Monday morning routine, will make a massive contribution to your success.
1. The focus is on the boss. If you turn in late, look sleepy, appear unenthusiastic or worried, then your staff will react negatively. So, literally, keep that chin up, be there as the staff arrive, look pleased to be there and greet each person by name. Find a reason to compliment them or otherwise encourage them to be positive about the week ahead.
2. Stay with them for the early Monday rush. Avoid any meetings, activities that remove you from the coal face. Work with them, set the pace and demonstrate the work standard. Be the first to answer the phone, be the one who moves quickest.
3. Know the target. You must have a sales target for the week. This target should have been shared with the staff the Friday before. Remind them again and stress that this is achievable with effort. Remind them of their rewards for achieving target. Have an A1 size white board with the weekly target set up in red and broken into daily increments. Show them the effect on sales of selling one additional incremental part per customer order. Have your top ten offers at the front of everyone’s mind and ensure that all know and are excited by them.
4. Anticipate your problems. There are always problems but many of them can be seen coming. Don’t wait until they arrive, talk with your team and identify them all first thing Monday so as a team you can prepare your strategy ready for dealing with them. Ensure that every staff member knows their responsibilities and that you are there to help and support as required.
5. Check customer behaviour. View the month to date sales to your 10 largest customers and compare that to the previous whole month. Is it what you expect? If sales levels have fallen put in a call to their buying manager to assess problems.
6. Look at your stop list of customers who haven’t paid and whose credit is suspended. How much sales will be lost through this? Call them and arrange a payment on account or other suitable way to get their supplies moving.
7. View parts back order list. If the stock can be sourced this is an instant sale. Look again at supply chain to see where supply issues are worst. Put pressure on suppliers, they will not want to lose your custom.
8. Review your past weeks sales history. Look closely at margins/ discounts checking for unauthorised levels of discount. Are customers being given trade where no proper account facility or discount structure has been set up?
9. Check your lost sales report. Your system should have the facility to detail where a line was enquired on but not sold. Assess whether this was through no stock, or whether the staff failed to sell. Look for patterns. Do you need to revisit your staff’s sales process skills or correct your stock mix?
10. Priority post. A lot of mail comes through on a Monday morning. A lot of it is junk and a lot of it can be quickly dealt with. On the basis that a stitch in time saves nine get your desk cleared quickly. Ensure that mail not dealt with cannot become a distraction later.
Of course, many would argue that these ten essentials are appropriate for any morning and they would be correct. But by having a structured approach to the beginning of the week and making this approach habitual, ie you do it every week, it does stand more chance of becoming the norm. And of course I would suggest that a similar review of these same points on a Friday afternoon or Saturday morning would indeed provide even more focus. Common sense? Of course, but in my experience not always common practice.
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