Even Retail Consultants Discredit Store Leaders
By the way, your comments are dog water
That’s it; I’ve had it with the disrespect. Retail leaders get no respect, not even from the people who claim to be helping the retail industry. Retail consultants are not in business to improve people’s lives in stores; they’re there to push the corporate agenda and make money. Period.
There’s a trend on social media where these retail consultants walk around taking photos of messy stores. Then they post them online, clutch their pearls, and go, “Ohmygod! Who would let a store look like this?” They blame the associates in stores. They do this so they can sell their services.
I call nonsense on this. It’s garbage because a messy store means there are messy leaders at the top of the organization. This means the people in charge have pulled back payroll and prioritized tasks.
I ran retail stores for twenty-four years, so I know how this works.
In the latest edition of my newsletter, The Voice of the Frontline, I call out this idiotic practice and ask these consultants to do better. I ask them to visit stores and take photos of neat, organized stores that look awesome. You can promote your services and do good at the same time.
When promoting this newsletter on LinkedIn, a retail consultant decided to try me. They said that a messy store is ultimately the responsibility of the store leader. Oh, really? Ahem, not so fast.
I pushed back and told them that my store ate $40K in returns in one week during one of my holiday seasons. That demolished our payroll allocation, and my bosses were fine with me running a messy store with no one on the floor, returns up to our eyeballs, and lines of customers.
The consultant told me to find another company to work for and wished me the “best of luck.” Mmmmm hmmmmm. Right. By the way, when people get presented with facts they cannot dispute and get all up in their feelings, they often try to get out of any further conversation by saying, “Best of luck.” I’ve seen it a million times.
So, I let her know that I was no longer a retail leader. I am a writer and author who gets DMs weekly from struggling retail leaders. These people are burnt out and barely treading water because their employers (many, many retail companies) have restricted their resources.
Guess what she did? She deleted all her comments, which, in turn, deleted my responses to her.
Sigh.
It must be my fault.
I know what you’re thinking. I should forget it. I should get on with my life. It was one person’s opinion. You’re right, and I will. However, this is what infuriates me.
This person is a “retail expert” who makes a living as a retail consultant. She has not worked in a store in almost two decades. But when I told her what it’s really like working in a store these days, she discredited me and told me to find another company. She told me, “Best of luck.” It’s only when I point out that I am no longer a retail leader but a writer and author that she felt like my words have weight. Only then did she feel like she’d been out-debated, got embarrassed, and deleted her comments.
These retail consultants cannot even get themselves to believe the first-hand accounts of a retail leader in a store. It must be my fault. I must work for the wrong company. There are better companies out there.
It’s only when I tell them I’m a writer (*credible job) and I get these accounts all the time they see that I’m right and that their argument has no weight. Then, they cannot even stand to learn the truth, so they delete their dog water comments.
I Will Never Stop
People who make a cushy living upholding the corporate caste system refuse to learn. I call out their hypocrisy almost daily. I motivate, uplift, and educate leaders in the field because we all know they’re not going to do it.
They claim they care about customer service and clean stores, but they prioritize tasks, speed, and online orders. They push bonuses out of reach and then make the store leader the scapegoat of every bad corporate decision.
Sometimes, corporate shenanigans weigh heavily, and today is one of those days.
I will never stop writing, advocating for, and educating leaders in stores. They need the support now more than ever. All these retail consultants need to enter the world of 2024 with the rest of us. They need to listen to the store leaders instead of telling them it’s their fault. Go find another company. Best of luck.
No. Not anymore. If this is your angle, you need to get out of retail. You’re not making it better; you’re lining your pockets and lying to yourself. You’re also misrepresenting your business because you just proved to me you have no clue.
See ya.
Kit Campoy is an author and retail expert with 20+ years of experience leading retail teams. She thrived on building relationships with customers and motivating sales teams. Now, as a ghostwriter, she leverages this people-centric approach to craft compelling content that resonates and ignites brand loyalty.
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The Voice of the Frontline right here.
