Building a successful business? Putting systems in place for our retail outlet has been critical.

We didn’t realise how important having systems in place was until we opened our second store. From a tight team of seven staff to a team of 20, with some going between the stores, it became very clear we needed the same procedures and systems in both. We already had a manual, but it was gathering dust and hadn’t been updated for a few years, so we dusted it off and it became the Brava bible, not just for current staff but as a staff induction tool.

The issues we experienced from not having documented procedures was wasted staff time and frustrations and, in the end, it indirectly affects the customer because the less time we spend on errors, the more time we can spend nurturing our customers.

It’s also important not to rely on one staff member to know procedures in case she/he leaves with it all still in their head, it does no good to the business there. Now, with our third store and 30 staff, we have a customer service manual, an operation manual as well as a human resource manual which includes our complete 3-month induction and training program.

During the documentation process we upgraded our point-of-sale system, Retail Express to version 2 and that caused all sorts of problems and the manual had to be rewritten. If you are a growing business systems and procedures often change, and they need to along with new software, new roles and the changing environment of business.

We encourage our staff to write notes in the manuals when they feel improvements can be made. One of the biggest challenges is keeping them updated.

Having procedures documented saves so much time - for example our online co-ordinator documented the many steps to adding products to our website so when a new staff member started, she used it as a checklist. Manuals are also great to refer back to, so if staff make an error due to not following the correct procedure, we can refer her back to it.

Recently, we had a customer complain that no-one greeted her - she ended up walking out of the store. In our manual it says customers must be greeted within 30 – 60 seconds of walking through the door, so there was a crack, how did this happen? We spoke to staff, gathered feedback and adapted the manual to minimise the chance of it happening again. I believe the reason we rarely get customer complaints is because our standards are documented, it leaves very little room for error, but when an error does occur, it stands out which means it can be rectified by re-introducing the manual contents.

My Favourite Tech Tools

Evernote - has replaced many of the copious amounts of emails, it is the main form of communication between our store managers and buying team, so feedback is being documented to ensure our buyers are not only performing data analysis on our stock holdings but also listening to feedback from the girls on the floor. I’m an Evernote fan. I have 4 set up, one for personal goals and ideas, another for my buying team and store managers, another between my web team and our web company and also for others I am helping with their business. It’s a great tool to keep everything in one place and to reduce emails.

Dropbox - we use it to share all relevant documents from stationery to manuals to meeting agendas.

All of our systems are in the cloud, from Xero - our accounting software, to Retail Express for our stores, Evernote, Dropbox, all of them are accessible from anywhere, anytime. I recently went away for two weeks, and I was able to still check in on the business, it’s important as a business owner to be connected.

I have come full circle when it comes to productivity and organisational tools, I drove all the staff crazy for a full 12 months experimenting with tools like Tom’s Planner, Todoist and Trello and in the end, there were just too many platforms introduced with just too much for staff to learn and to think about in an already busy environment. It was a good process to go through though because, in the end, I felt confident we were using the right tools with Evernote and Dropbox.

The more we grow the more important it becomes to really fine-tune our systems and procedures.

We do have plans to grow which means continually tweaking our procedures. It’s important to be adaptable in the ever-changing world of business.

Communication is Critical

I would encourage all business, no matter how small to document all their systems and procedures and also to continually seek staff feedback. Often, staff have great ideas but sometimes they need permission to express them. All it can take is to say to a staff member ‘how’s this new procedure working, any thoughts on how to improve it?’ I’ve found it’s amazing how much staff don’t say unless they are asked.

Maxine Windram is Director of Brava Woman, a retail outlet for women’s lingerie, sportswear and swimwear.