Selfies (pictures of oneself) are all the rage: sexy and not so sexy. They feed off and into the obsession with living life publicly. They are facilitated and encouraged by the ease of sharing through social media.
The easy access to cameras on phones and other portable devices make selfies easy, allowing people catch moments they would in past years have only had a memory of.
Why not selfies of your newsagency business? … pics of your business, you and your people in your business. Not thought out too much, not setup, not for any reason other than catching moments in your business.
Here’s my management tip, yes, management tip, for today: take selfies of your business every day for a month. Don’t look at them. At the end of the month, scroll through them be open to what the photos tell you about your business. Look for opportunities in then images: opportunities for product placement, new products, better engagement with your business and other changes.
My experience is that the photos will show you thinks you have not seen before in your business. This is why taking selfies of your business is a management tip.
If a month is too long and you can’t wait – do it for a week.
Yes, this is unconventional management advice. We are in unconventional times. Think about it. years ao, the lines between the different types of retail businesses were clear. Today, the lines are not clear. Specialist retailers are challenged by department stores and others stepping into their space, we newsagents are stepping into other retail channel space. This breakdown of specialisation requires us to look at our businesses differently and any idea is worth trying if it shoes us what we have been missing. This is why I love the idea of selfies of your retail business – it will show you thinks you’ve not seen before.
You could take the seflies idea and give it to a team member. In fact, it would be ideal for a younger team member. Tell them to take the photos and not show anyone for a week or a month. See what they see. This could be gold – being able to see your business through the eyes of someone of the selfie generation.
You could also get a customer engaged – or all your customers: make a competition out of it. But don’t let them submit photos until the month is up. make sure they know you don;t want setup photos.
The more I think about this idea the more ideas flow. Play with it … see what you can learn about your business and consider how you can use that to grow your newsagency in 2014.