Checklists Can Make Running a Dollar Store Easy

One thing you need to understand while running a dollar store is that you cannot do it by yourself. You will need to employ people in various departments to help you run your business. Of course you will be anxious about the way they handle their duties and whether they would perform the tasks assigned to them as efficiently as you would have. Well you need not worry because in the next four steps you will understand how you can achieve results consistently from your employees.

Step1 – Set Standard Operating Procedures
Although the task does sound daunting and time consuming but this is the most basic task for all businesses. It is also the most overlooked one. You need to analyze and document each and every step that you follow in a dollarstore.

Step2 – Train your employees
Standard Operating Procedures will help you in training all your employees the exact same way. This ensures that there is standardization of procedures and no room for any deviation. You can train employees on only those tasks which they need to perform.

Step3 – Delegate
Once you train your employees you need to show faith in their abilities and let them handle the responsibilities individually. A standard training ensures that all employees have the same knowledge and follow the same procedures to assist you in running a dollar store.

Step4 – Prepare checklists  
Checklists help in noting down the flow of work sequentially. They also help in keeping a visual check on whether all steps are followed in the order and manner in which they should be performed. Checklists are important tools in running a dollarstore. You can prepare different checklists for different departments. For example you can prepare a checklist for the inventory department. This will quickly help you identify if fast selling items are in the process of being ordered or ordered and waiting in the storeroom due to lack of shelf space. A quick look at the checklist can help rectify this problem. A checklist for the billing department could list down the steps involved in a credit card transaction. This will ensure that no matter which employee handles a customer’s credit card, there will be uniformity in the steps followed by each one of them.

Checklists can really help in avoiding any mistakes and facing financial losses due to these mistakes. In the dollarstore business every dollar saved is a dollar earned. So you should always find ways of preventing losses due to human errors and checklists are a great way of ensuring this.