The biggest thing affecting store managers is....

The biggest thing affecting store managers is getting people/staff to do what they need to do.

Below are the results of a survey conducted with about 100 store managers, and the results are clear.

I have heard this time and time again from my Mystery Shopping clients when clients say ... "we stuggle to change behaviour".

So what can you do about it?  That's going to be the focus of a number of follow-up articles.

The biggest cause of the problem is not the staff, but the managers themselves, and one of the main causes of the problem for managers is loneliness.

It's lonely being a store manager.  You can't talk to your staff, to your boss, or friends. So often, managers have to work it out for themselves.

I've got something special in the pipeline to help managers overcome their biggest obstacle - but more about that later.

In the meantime, consider surveying your own store/department managers, and don't focus on things that don't worry managers (like competitive pressures).

If you have any insights on how you've tackled this problem, please feel free to email me directly.