Sarah (from The Boutique Hub) explains six essential retail team roles owners should recruit or recognize: Leader, Initiator, Positive person, Devil's Advocate, Goal Setter (KPI-focused), and Personality (customer-facing glue). She frames the list with sports/team analogies, notes that individuals may wear multiple hats, and recommends ensuring all six 'buckets' are present for a productive team.
Hey guys, it's Sarah and I'm back today from the boutique hub to talk to you about hiring. One of the biggest things we see with boutique owners is it's time to hire and they're just not sure who they need to hire. Well, I've got six key players for your team. You know me, I love to talk about how sports and team relate back to business, Right? Well, so now we have a six person team. Keep in mind these six individuals can maybe wear a few different hats, but ideally, think about the best group of people. You surround yourself with the community that you work with, that you live with, that you hang out with. I'm gonna bet that one of these six people exist in that team. I shouldn't say one, but there's at least one of all six of these people that exist in that team. So let's get started. The very first team member you need to have is the leader. Now this can be you, right? This is the person that delegates and the person that shouts orders, the person that leads. We all know what a leader is. The number two person is the initiator. So this is the person that kind of just runs with the ideas. This is the person that gets things done. They keep people accountable, they keep people motivated, the initiator, they get things started, right? We all need somebody like that. A lot of times that leader can bark orders, but got to have somebody that takes those orders and does something with them. That's the initiator. Number three is we need a positive person. We need a positive person. Everything in our lives. But let's be real, retail can be tricky. It can be, you can get beat down in retail. You can just feel like today's not my day or this week is not my week, right? You need that positive person in your team and your business that can lift you up, that can find the positive and absolutely anything situation. Positive positivity breeds positivity, right? That one bad apple can ruin the bunch. We've all heard that negativity can breed negativity. So we need to have a positive, poly, positive Pam, positive, whoever, somebody in your team that can always find the bright side. Now the number four person I think is super important because as positive as you are and go getter and shouting orders, all that kind of stuff, sometimes we need to have that devil's advocate in your business, in your team that can look at things through the other side. Look at things through the eyes of the lens of a customer. Somebody that can see the holes in maybe your ideas or your systems or your processes or your promotions. In our store, every time we come up with a promotion or we'd come up with an idea, we'd always say what would so and so say? Because we had this lady that she would challenge absolutely everything we did and we knew if we could get by her that it was a pretty bomb proof idea. So your devil's advocate, you've got to have somebody on your team. Now, keep in mind, you don't want that person to bring you down. Don't look at that person questioning you as them bringing you down. But it's making sure that there's no holes in your bucket, that there's no holes in your system or your process. So that number four person is really, really important. Even though he or she might not be your absolute favorite, they are testing you for a reason. All right, number five, your goal setter. Now this is person that, you know, they're always reaching for the stars. They're, they're giving you the limits, or not the limits, but the ideas, right? Taking those and measuring them, goal setting. This is your KPI person. This is your person that doesn't just take what the leader and the initiator say go do. They are measuring it, they are giving you a baseline and where do you want to attain your roadmap, how you're going to get there and measuring it along the way. So call this your goal setter, your goal attainer, your KPI reader, however you want to look at it. But just barking orders is one thing. But why? Why are we doing this? What is the goal at the end of the day that we are wanting to reach? Often your leader in your goal setter are not the same person really when you get down to it. So a goal setter, this person has their eye on the prize. This person is going to take all the initiative, take all the direction, take all the positivity, take all the questions that the devil's advocate's asking, and they are going to help the team reach their destination through their goals. Right? All right. And the last person, the last person everybody needs, and I know you have this person in your friend group and you know, if you're like me, you have this person in your family. It's just one person. And on our team at the store, we had this person, we have this person in the hub, right? It's the personality person. It is the person that people are drawn to. It is the person on your team that people relate to, the reason they keep coming back. Right now you might have more than one personality in your team or in your store. But ideally this person feeds the rest, right? This person brings the energy, this person brings the companionship. This person is the glue. So lots of times this is the voice of your team. Also to I guess narrow it down to one word, this person is usually pretty dang fun. We all need fun. So that's different than your positivity person. Keep these things in mind. These are 16 members that I feel really complete that full unity right now. I will say sometimes the same person can wear a couple of these hats. But ideally to really get the most and the productivity out of the whole team as a unit, these six buckets should be filled. So that's our recipe for success on building a full team. I'm not sure exactly where I learned this, but I've had this written down in my notes for a very long time. I didn't come up with these 100% on my own, that is for sure. As I've taught entrepreneurship and I've managed many different teams. Everything from rodeo team to basketball team to retail team. It's funny, I've always had these six key players to make the best team possible. When our team wasn't productive, we were usually missing one of these six. So that is my tip for you today. You guys take it, leave it, whatever you'd like. Drop your comments below. I'm curious what you think. Identify your team and identify which ones you're missing or if you have them all, how successful you're being. Alright guys, for more hub tips, please ask questions lot you know, let us know, email us, Facebook message us, drop them below. You can always find us@theboatichub.com and we're here to help. So until next time, I'm Sarah and we'll see you later.
