Gail and I have been participants in the Independent Achievers Academy for many years and we greatly value what this has added to our business. The Retail Profit Guide provides us with a very useful tool that helps us to benchmark ourselves and know what is important to our customers, helping us to keep above the curve so that we can improve and maintain standards all the time.
We certainly see the Retail Profit Guide as an audit tool to be used all year round, not just for participating in the Independent Achievers Academy. For instance, after hearing that Sherston Post Office had made the IAA Top 100 last September I downloaded the benchmark pages as an aid to review where the store was since undertaking the whole store benchmarking. Rechecking the store against the 12 category benchmarks ensured that the store really was going to be seen at its best for the next stage of the IAA process and by our customers.
We followed this by arranging a celebratory night out for our staff in October. Whilst our staff thoroughly enjoyed the night, it became apparent that they did not fully appreciate the extent of work required across the various categories to achieve the accolade.
After the IAA Gala Dinner in early December our staff were delighted that the shop was recognised for the Customer Service Award. However, it still left us with the nagging feeling that some staff did not fully appreciate the extent of ‘the extra mile’ required to achieve and to retain this standard.
In January, we held our ‘after Christmas staff party’, a yearly event that we always try to make as light-hearted as we can. This year we decided that we could use part of the evening as a training opportunity to help our staff understand how the IAA and the Retail Profit Guide helps us improve our store standards.
The Retail Profit Guide was used as the basis of some quirky and humorous entertainment at the party. We took a television to the pub with us and showed a video of the IAA awards evening, including Gail and I going up on stage and being presented with the trophy. We all had a glass of champagne so that all the staff were included in the celebration of the achievement.
We then went through the twelve benchmarks and picked two or three great examples where members of the team had done something out of the ordinary and the person got a round of applause.
One example was about ensuring that the outside of the store is inviting. We have a classic floor-standing sign saying Village Shop with an arrow on. One morning a member of staff displayed the sign with the arrow facing wrong way. We took a photograph of it and said that we were rather concerned that another convenience store was opening in the village. The message got put across!
I know that I am not perfect so I am happy to pick holes in 
my own failings. We added to the amusement by poking a bit of fun at myself. We showed a video of me that illustrating how I poor I am at creating in-store displays – I really am rubbish! The video then moved on to show Liz, one of our members of staff and an artist who adapted and improved the display. I wanted to show how, with Liz, we are very professional and that I cannot achieve that by myself.
It was all aimed to bring the whole team into play and understand, in a humorous way, what we are looking for all the time – and it worked very well! It is surprising what one can achieve when you take the team out to a nice venue and get some wine down them!
Using the IAA Retail Profit Guide as the basis of explaining more about how we run our store and packaging the message in an amusing entertainment worked well, but the key underlying message is that it’s standards all the time!
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