Whether your retail stores are nationwide, regional or within a local area, efficiently communicating with regional, district and store managers is critical to the success of your store operations. Holding a weekly conference call to make sure everyone is on the same page has been a time tested and effective communications strategy for retailers across the country. Conferencing lets everyone hear the same thing, the same way, sharing new ideas and strategies while avoiding having to pull people out of the stores for meetings.

Drive Revenue
Recognize key performers each week to create a culture that is revenue driven and success oriented. Reporting the week's sales results on a team conference call creates healthy competition, recognizes performers and gives you the opportunity to talk about sales strategies that work. Start your conference call by recognizing the store manager and associate that had the highest revenue week, sold the most promotional items, and made your operation the most money. Let them share in their own words how the did it.

It is critical for the success of a retail operation to constantly work towards improving the efficiency of employees, the way they approach the customer, and how the create an environment where the customer wants to buy today and return tomorrow. Conference calls are the best way to ensure those goals are met.

Ensure Consistent Merchandising
Merchandise and store sets are changing constantly in an effort to draw customers into the store and move merchandise quickly. Managers and associates need to be on board with the latest promotion, the merchandising strategy, and the sales focus. Conference calls allow you to gather your team and preview the promotion, discuss the merchandise displays and review strategies to generate customer interest. If you are planning to advertise, send email promotions to your frequent customers, or feature the promotion on your website, it's important for the team to know in advance.

Because promotions are generally very time-sensitive, reviewing progress on a weekly basis is critical. Conference calls can invite a store manager who is moving the promotional merchandise to share their success as well as have the store manager who is struggling receive advice. It's important for store managers to collaborate on where the inventory shortages and excess inventories exist so they can maximize sales.

Discuss Loss Prevention Strategies
One of the key challenges a retailer faces is the loss of inventory to shoplifters as well as employees. Coaching store managers about how to deal with those situations is important. Conference calls help store and field managers learn how to identify shoplifters and shoplifting methods, create a less attractive environment for shoplifters and how to put policies and procedures in place to protect their store against theft.

Often inventory shrinkage comes from those that work inside the store, not a shoplifter. Use conference calls to make sure that all management is aware of company policy, and know how to manage through situations as they occur. Conferencing discussions can train managers how to deal with an employee who is taking merchandise and how to create that delicate balancing act so that they can better understand how to manage and de-escalate the situation.

Use the conference call to recognize store managers with good loss prevention track records and ask then to share how they successfully dealt with employee and customer theft at their store. Preventing shoplifting, stopping employee theft and reducing shrinkage can help ensure the retail store is keeping the most revenue possible.

Discuss Staffing Strategies
Staffing the operations with the right type of employee and maintaining those people is one of a store manager's biggest challenges. Attracting employees who are consistent, good with the customer, and will be there longer term requires knowing how to source those people, interview them, and get them to work for your operation. Store and district managers who have been effective in hiring the right staff can share where they found them and how they attracted these employees to their company. Profiling successful performers and where they came from can generate ideas about how to identify and hire the right people.

Many retailers find that having a regular all hands meeting in the store is an effective way to manage and motivate the team. Store managers who have been on conference calls have great examples of how to run those meetings, create excitement, and deliver a message that is consistent with the company's strategy. Conference calls are a good forum to discuss employee incentives, motivational strategies, and management techniques.

Turn Customer Service into Sales
No matter how wonderful your products are or how committed you are to provide the best customer service, sometimes customer service problems do occur. Use conference calling as opportunities to arm the team with strategies that can diffuse a situation and possibly even save the customer, as well as the sale. Walk your team through ways to keep the stores neat and clean, the merchandise orderly and the dressing rooms clear.

Have managers use conference calls to talk about how they have managed through difficult customer returns, dissatisfaction with associates, or their customer experience so others can learn from their experience.

Brainstorm Creative Approaches
If retailers rely on the marketing or merchandising department to deliver all of the creative ideas to move merchandise and maintain customer loyalty, they will miss the expertise of the associates who are closest to the customer. Invite your great associates on a conference call with the management team to share their thoughts on how to market and promote within the stores. What contests would motivate them? What promotions do they think the customer would respond to?

Conference Calling ' A Plan for Success
Weekly conference calls with the store operations team ensure consistency, the right sense of urgency, and managers who are trained and developed to meet their goals and objectives. Mondays are generally the best day for retail conference calls with the regional or district teams having their calls first and then having a round of conference calls that include the store managers. Other departments such as merchandising or loss prevention within a retail operation also find that conference calls helps them keep in touch with the management team in the field gathering ideas and offering feedback on their programs.

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