Andrew Gonner’s Post

General Managers are the lifeblood of retail, full stop. Their ability to be shoulder to shoulder, create fun, lead by example, and inspire others is unmatched in other roles. It’s why any company that wants to succeed long term will fight for them and the support they need and deserve, authentically (GMs can spot fake a mile away). I’m committed to that in part because that’s the role I’ve spent the most years in during my career; I’m committed to ensuring Pentex Restaurant Group stands for that and coaching GMs to unlock their potential by leading and inspiring. What is this picture, you ask? If you look closely you will see a person, apron ties visible, amidst all that trash. It makes me smile because I used to tell my Del Mar, CA team not to worry about the trash during peak shifts and to toss it at the back door so they could stay focused on peak-but then it piled high and blocked the door! Their focus broke sales records. But then, the door was blocked. Solution? A running dive Superman style into the trash to reach for the doorknob, of course! “I’ll show you!” 😋 Fun, role modeling, team commitment-that I know every GM can achieve! #culture #peoplefirst #resultsmatter

Attention to Detail: The Key to Success in Your Career! 💼✨ Every little detail matters when you're striving to be the highest paid, highest performer, or highest influencer in your industry. As someone with almost 20 years of sales experience, I've learned that a company thrives off sales. Just like McDonald's needs to sell hamburgers to make money, we need to position ourselves strategically to achieve our goals. Are you paying attention to the small things that can make a big difference in your career? Let's discuss the importance of being intentional, humble, tough, and focused on growth. Don't wait until the next level, start positioning yourself for success now! 💪🚀 #AttentionToDetail #CareerSuccess #StriveForExcellence #SalesExperience #MotivationalSpeaking #GrowthMindset #PositioningForSuccess #GrowthProcess #SuccessIsInTheDetails

Recently in November I completed my first year at Best Buy and I want to share some of my reflections on my first year and a few months. 1. I've never stopped learning. From my first day to over a year in I have continuously learned new skills, roles, product knowledge, and sales approaches. This has made work exciting and rewarding because I love learning new things. 2. Being flexible has been super important over the last year. To date I have worked in most areas of the store. Warehouse, Customer Service and the Sales floor. Knowing how to work in all three departments makes my weekly schedule pretty diverse. I am primarily at the customer service desk but am frequently scheduled sales floor and can fill in the warehouse as need. This not only keeps work interesting for me but it also allows me to be moved anywhere in the store as needed, sometimes contributing to all three in one shift. 3. Retail is hard but having supportive leadership helps especially when things get stressful or customers need assistance that non-management are unequipped to handle. 4. Train how you want to be trained. When I first was trained there were some ways that I knew if I had the opportunity to train myself I would change the approach. That usually means walking through how to do something then watching from the side and having the person learn through doing. Also I make myself available through questions as much as I can. 5. Customers interactions can be super rewarding. Whether a nice comment left on a survey or emailed to our leadership team or being mistaken for a manager comments from customers are a good way to know that you're doing well and providing good service, which I pride myself on as much as my sales numbers. 6. I have been able to get leadership opportunities which include training new staff members, being one of two main customer service employees, being trusted to take on projects including preparing front end/customer service for Black Friday as well as rearrange displays on the sales floor and lastly leading the tear down of truck and all that is included with that process (validating manifest, putting product away, receiving truck). I've learned and accomplished a lot in little over a year at Best Buy including for several months being one of the top performers in selling memberships or card applications as well as being top three in a quarter for home theater and computing baskets (amount of additional product sold with a TV or Computer). I look forward to learning more and developing my skills further however long I remain at Best Buy. #BestBuy #sales #leadership #customerservice #warehouse #learning #retail #technology #training

"Jim, I'm giving you the freedom to fail." Those words from one of my great bosses, John Hardy, Atlanta Division Deli Merchandising Director. I'm the yellow chicken in the back. We were kicking off the summer 1986 season with a fried chicken promotion. For the record it took six rides on the Six Flags Over Georgia roller coaster to get the photo shot just right. I think everyone thought John was nuts when he said we were going to sell "cold fried chicken" in the deli cases at Kroger. That's right. Marinate overnight, fry the chicken, put it in the cooler overnight, display it in the case the next day. "A lot of people in the South like cold fried chicken the next day," John said. He was right. The chicken tonnage doubled in the Atlanta Division from this smart marketing move. This is one example of how he led me to experiment and be unafraid to try new ideas. One way I did that was to take our fresh-made pizzas and tilt them on display in upright refrigerated cases to catch the attention of shoppers on their way to the check-out lanes. That was a success too. By late August I was invited to fly with John to Louisville KY to the #1 deli in the Kroger company to see how to merchandise in the new European curved glass cases. We were met by the Cincinnati corporate head of Deli Merchandising. That kind of exposure never hurts. Looking back, I realize this was my first "sales" job. It wasn't line management like it was when I was a store manager. It was a role where you had to "sell your ideas" to other store managers and deli managers in order for them to improve sales and profits. We did over 15 grand openings of many new Kroger stores during my two-year merchandising role, from Rome to Newnan, Alpharetta to City Center. I realize it shaped how I would approach job roles over the years. I became the person my bosses would pick to pioneer new initiatives. And I succeeded. It's amazing what giving yourself the freedom to take calculated risks, the freedom to fail, can do for your mindset and your career. What initiatives have you taken while being unafraid to fail? Please share in the comments. #risktaking #merchandising #salestips #jimkerlinconsulting

What is on your name tag? I don't like titles. Assistant Store Manager of retail departemnt in the third quarter of the next phase of the moon. Whew! That's a long one. Being a leader requires you to build up the people around you to help carry the same weight of work you do. Notice I did not say responsobility? I don't expect my staff to to carry the same weight of responsobility, however, I want them to carry the same weight. I see so many managers with long titles on their name tags sitting back, feet up on the desk, not engaging. Get off your duffs! Get out on the sales floor, the work area, wherever you are and get your hands busy with some work. When your staff sees you work - they work. The want to help carry that weight. So jump in! You want to take some credit for growth or change - be a part of it. Throw away the stupid name tag with the long title. Try it . . . it will feel good.

I get asked alot of times on what made me successful in running my businesses. My answer was simple. Rule #1: Take care of your people. If you take care of your people, your people will take care of you! Rule #2: Take care of your customers. If you take care of your customers, your customers will take care of you!! It's not rocket science! But so many people and companies get caught up in projects or the numbers and sometimes forget about these two critical things. If you always focus on these 2 things, everything else will fall into place. I promise! 😉 Because if you take care of your people then you build a culture where your people love to come to work at. Where they view each other as family. Where it is a TEAM TEAM TEAM mentality. Which the customer experience is the recipient of getting a positive more wonderful experience. Because they see people who truly care about them and all pitching in to take care of them. Plus, this leads to people wanting to join this "team" and be a part of this winning family oriented culture. I can testify to this as well as many of my past associates or customers. I am not saying that we were perfect. No. But we strove for perfection. And we had very little to no turnover. Extremely high promotions from within the program. Many who went from part-timers to full-timers to supervisors to upper management. And I have had a handful that became store managers (mostly women). Over the last 10 years, while many businesses struggled to hire, we were blessed to always have a strong base and a waiting list of hires. Typically only replacing my part-timers from high school and/or college after they finished school and went away. Hiring was never an issue. Thus, culture matters! And at the same time, I was also very blessed by God to also have successful year after year in sales. A result of taking care of our people! Anyone who knows me knows those are my 2 biggest passions. Because I firmly believe in being an advocate for my people and my customers, always! 😉

Job-seekers, I often talk about understanding your audience and respecting the knowledge they already have about the companies you've worked for and the types of positions you've held. That's important - otherwise you're wasting their time. So if you're a store manager, ask yourself - will the person reading your resume probably already know the basic elements of what you're responsible for? If so, don't waste time telling them that you're responsible for driving sales, ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction, hiring and training staff, controlling shrink, etc. It provides no value. Same goes if you're a district manager. Do you think the reader already understands that you conduct store visits, set targets, recruit leaders, develop succession plans, etc? If so, then leave that stuff out and tell them about your particular district, the challenges you faced, and the achievements you had. That will provide the reader with much more value. #retail #retailcareers #resumes

Retail leadership involves managing a team and making decisions that ultimately affect the success of a retail business. This includes overseeing staff, setting goals, creating strategies, and making important business decisions. Effective retail leadership is essential for maintaining a strong team, meeting financial objectives, and providing customers with a positive experience. It requires a combination of strong communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, as well as a deep understanding of the retail industry and market trends.

🌟 Dive into the brilliance of this article! 👏 A captivating exploration of Retail Leadership that unveils powerful insights. 💡 Couldn't resist sharing this well-crafted piece! ❤️ #LeadershipUnleashed #MustRead

I can say with total confidence that this is 💯 percent factual. I started the first half of my career as a retail (healthcare) operations manager and babyyyyyy…that is why I get so much done now and don’t feel as challenged as others and it’s 100 percent why I am so passionate about recruiting and HR initiatives…I have been through the below and more so preach friend preach! “Running a sales floor with sixteen people on it is far from easy. You have to ensure all those people stay where they're supposed to be, stay on task, and send them on break on time. You have to do that while you ring someone up, answer the phone, and give directions over a walkie. It's a ton of shit. My last store was a multi-million behemoth with sixty employees. I ran it well and helped make it more profitable than ever. Guess what? This is the norm. This is what retail leaders do across the country. Most retail leaders view their stores as their own businesses. They'll work overtime and even overnight if it sets the store up to be in a better position. It's blood, sweat, and tears, friends. We do it all with a smile on our faces and a spring in our step. The truth is, most people wouldn't last a week on a retail floor.” #retail #management #healthcare #leadership #work #hr