Keeping Busy

[Masterpiece]

I'm in the process of opening my second frame shop. It will be a satellite store where frame orders will be taken, and the actual production will take place at my current store.

There will be a store manager who will help customers select framing and take orders. Since he won't be assembling frames at this location, I was hoping to get some feedback from fellow grumblers on ideas about what he can do when not assisting customers. I'm trying to develop specific tasks for him to work on ... the last thing I want is for him sitting around waiting for the next customer to walk through the door. I have some ideas, but I'm looking for fresh suggestions. Thanks!

[jframe]

Work on a newsletter

Enter data into the computer

Call customers to pick up from both stores

Be an officer or committee member for local PPFA

Work on a website for the store

[FrameMakers]

Sending out thank you notes etc...

The truth is he will be spending a lot of time reading and playing computer games. The more to do the more excited people are about doing it. THe less there is to do the easier it is to push it of till tommorow. There's always another tommorow.

[Tim Hayes.]

Handwrite and mail THANK YOU notes to customers who have picked up their orders.

Clean the shop, vac & dust

Barcode corner samples that do not come that way.

Research framing prospects on the internet. New office, hotel and restaurant construction/renovation.+

Develop a procedures handbook for the business. Daily duties, sales techniques, bookkeeping,
opening and closing, etc.

Make a binder which contains biographies of all the artists that you carry.

Make a list of contacts: landlord, utility companies, art conservators, "where we get stuff"(all the various supplies used in the store).

[katman]

I had a very good employee working in a somewhat similar "unsupervised" environment. Thinking up "projects" for the downtime so I didn't feel I was paying him to talk on the phone was one approach I used, but some employees don't take well to the project approach. If you anticipate considerable downtime, Jo's suggestions on data entry, website management and other household chores like development of promotions are important tasks that always cut into the owner's "free" time. I also got my employee involved in assembly and shrinkwrapping our in-house readymades, and the shrinkwrapping work we did for some commercial customers.

[JFeig]

I would suggest that there be some "simple fitting" done on site. Even if it is just for a fine tune adjustment or removing a spot if dust that was missed in the main production location. Or a quick glass replacement etc.

[MerpsMom]

Teaching him to do French mats, panels, lines, and other mat decoration? Kathy and I agree these are great time fillers. smile.gif

[johnny]

Make sure that gallery has a full set of graphics catalogs and put the manager in charge of graphics and artwork ordering for your entire operation, "cc"ing you with copies of the purchase orders. When you get a customer at your store who says "I'm looking for something about yea big with lots of red and birds in it" you can put your person on the task of coming up with suggestions and emailing them to the potential client. Saves me loads of time and sometimes it only makes sense to put the effort in if someone would be playing pogo.com otherwise.

[DTWDSM]

If you don't have anything for this person to do why are you opening another location???

[jframe]

If those suggestions don't work, move your washer & dryer to the shop and have him do your laundry.

[briank]

Tim's got it right. The position shoulds have enough inherent duties that you shouldn't have to make things up for him/her to do. Otherwise you don't realy need that person to be there. I would think that as your store is opening the time would be best spent marketing the new location though.

[Sherry Gray]

Matt, on Friday I signed a lease for a satellite location, where no framing will be done. I decided to do this for several reasons. 1. Even though business at my original location is growing (last year 29%) we still are not at full capacity (technology does that); and 2. I'm tired of standing on my feet doing the actual framing. I want to concentrate on customer service, marketing and the business end of things; 3. I live in Mebane where the satellite location is, and there is no frame shop here. It is the seventh fastest growing town in North Carolina.

I too have struggled with duties for the Mebane manager to do and keep busy. So far I've come up with writing thank you notes, writing press releases and sending them out on a regular basis, attending two separate business organization meetings, designing mailings, doing the actual mailings. I also believe I will send/pay for her to attend marketing classes at the local community college and let her study during work time. I've also installed dsl and she can play on the computer. If I can find space for the shrink wrap machine, it's definitely going to the satellite location!

Good luck to you,
Sherry

[Baer Charlton]

Sherry,

I also believe I will send/pay for her to attend marketing classes at the local community college and let her study during work time. I've also installed dsl and she can play on the computer. Can I go to work for you? :D

Send her to class on how to set up a newsletter...
That ought to suck out about 10 hours a week.

With DSL, she could email as well as snail mail.

A class on website mastering, could have her doing up a very interactive, constantly changing website. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

[johnny]

I'm down to one main location and one satellite. An employee from the main location helps out at least 1 day a week at the sattelite. She HATES it. She's so bored with no framing to do. Another employee, back from when I had more satelites, moved to the main location when one closed up. I still remember her saying, "You want me to work THERE? That's where they do all the work!" She wasn't thrilled. Compensation was big issue. She won't work in the remaining satellite though.

The point is, if you want to keep this person busy do it from the start. If you hire the position and try to add things later it can be difficult, depending on the person. They could also expect more in compensation for taking on additional responsibilities, even if in your mind you're just trying to fill their day. And if you think that stating that you'll be adding things later during an employment interview takes care of this, for a whole lot of personality types it doesn't. Figure out the additional responsibilites and implement them at the time of hiring and you'll save yourself a lot of potential grief. And that's about the best advice I can give from someone who's run up to 5 locations and 35 employees at a time.

[Ron Eggers]

I never had a second location. I just kept moving the first one around until people starting thinking I was EVERYWHERE.

But I do remember expending a lot of energy keeping everyone busy all the time. Sometimes it was an exhausting full-time job.

Some very labor-intensive work, like French mats, do not lend themselves to an environment where one person, working alone, will hopefully be interrupted on a regular basis.

I like the idea of an area devoted to modest fitting and refitting for people who come in and say, "Could you get that cat hair out from under the glass?"

[Masterpiece]

Thanks everyone for the great ideas!