Use today's notes as a blueprint for tomorrow's success

The stranger with a narrow, elevated tray table and a laptop pushed his way into the exam room during a recent doctor appointment.

“Mind if he joins us?” my doctor asked. “He’s my scribe.”

I got it instantly. “Of course. I love the terminology,” I said.

It reminded me of watching history documentaries on ancient Egypt. Scribes back then were important people who “committed speech to writing that made the words real and true” — according to one Google search. I like that. In my doctor’s case, the scribe’s purpose was much the same: to help ease the doctor from excess paperwork.

Which raises the question: Do you take notes in your produce department?

Well, do you? In my first assistant role, I worked with a produce manager who kept a spiral notebook in the little produce desk drawer in our back room. He meticulously kept a record of our daily and weekly sales. On his way through the store each morning, he stopped at the cash booth and got a “reading” as he called it — a printout of the previous day’s sales.

He called me over to the desk frequently, and in his mentoring way he would say, “Armand, take a look. Our sales are up $3,000 over last week. We’re up over last year same-week sales by $22,000 and up, quarter versus last year’s quarter by nearly $78,000. Our sales-to-store percentage is also up nearly two points overall. Our sales are practically a week ahead of last year, with five weeks to go until quarter-end.”

“That’s, um, great!” I said. “So, how do you know all this?”

That’s when he opened the spiral notebook to reveal more. His notes included all the information cited and could quickly flip back to the previous year and, in fact, the last several years. He explained this was information I would need to know whenever I managed my own stand someday. “When the suits (supervisors) stop in to review our store, you should be able to say not just generally how we’re doing but say exactly how we’re doing. Like I just showed you.”

At that moment, I realized if I could follow this example, my name might even inch up a notch or two on the old promotion list.

I’ve learned taking and referencing notes is a big part of a produce manager’s success — and especially sharing results with the crew, who likes to know where a department stands.

I worked with another manager, who always sat down after a holiday while details were still fresh in his mind as he made lists of what went wrong and what went right; events that affected sales; and even the weather conditions. He noted how many key items sold well and on what days. He included a copy of the order guide for the week, a copy of the ad, along with a copy of the labor schedule. On these were notes written in the margins of what changes might be made for the next year. Information is key.

He then placed all the notes in the filing cabinet for easy retrieval next year.

You’d think everyone would do these things. As a manager, I followed the scribe examples; though these took a little time, I was always glad to reference and to refresh my memory, and in the long run, found that keeping notes helped my merchandising, my orders, and in the long run it saved me time.

Later, as a specialist, I was surprised to discover how very few produce managers bothered to keep track of anything: dollar sales, case or unit sales, sales percentages or labor hours. I frequently heard the excuse, “I’m too busy to keep track.”

Everyone is busy, no doubt. However, It’s a core management tenet: You must know your business. Keeping a work diary, if you will, is essential.

So, whether you take notes and keep them in a computer or use an old-school spiral notebook stuffed in your produce desk, taking pertinent notes will help you see how your business is trending and how you’re managing each aspect, and it will engrain details that will help you guide and manage your business. It will help you to strive to meet your goals.

“The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.” — Lee Iacocca
Armand Lobato works for the Idaho Potato Commission. His 40 years of experience in the produce business span a range of foodservice and retail positions.

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