We Just Let Darlene Do It.

“Darlene, our store manager, and her sister, Jolene, at our other store, set up all the retail price changes and specials. We never have to do that work at our home office,” said an office manager during a recent meeting.

Yes, our poor fictitious c-store heroine, Darlene, who didn’t order the turkey and cheese sandwiches last week, now is the one the company is depending on to set the pricing. Again, this is a true story (although names have been changed to protect the innocent).

No wonder Darlene doesn’t have time to work with customers…..she is stuck in the back office doing the paper work to set up proper pricing. What’s more is the huge leap of faith being taken that she is even changing prices to assure expected gross margin.

Here is the wild part: this particular company actually has a complete retail software system in place with a centralized pricebook --- and it is not being used! What a waste of money! Just another company that has invested millions of dollars in their stores, but not in their business processes.

Many business owners are simply distracted. Especially this year, considering the spike in fuel and credit card fees. The focus on fuel and fees are justified. Unfortunately, in-store product prices are also rising and managing that process is more involved than changing fuel prices.

Now is NOT the time to abdicate responsibility of the $80,000 c-store to Darlene and Jolene. They should be too busy with customer service and employee management to push paper.

CMIsolutions produces and sells software to meet the needs of the industry. CMI does consulting work to review business processes. Software without the proper process is just a wasted investment.

It may be time to fine tune your processes or, in the case of Darlene’s company (and it really has become “her company” as she is the one running a multi-million dollar investment), it may be time for a complete overhaul.

You do not have to be a CMI client to take advantage of our process consulting services. Give us a call and let us help you see the ROI you should for your investment.

To learn more about pricebook and inventory management solutions, call Joe Terranella at 800.211.5980 x2504 or visit our website http://www.cmisolutions.com.