In her 25-year career, Barbara Zinn-Moore’s most notable accomplishment to-date may be transforming Lord & Taylor’s Fifth Avenue flagship from frumpy into a beauty destination. Zinn-Moore, a 2011 CEW Achiever Award winner, talks about what it takes to be a retail success story.
Take on those daily reviews and learn from them. Retailers receive a report card every day on the prior day’s results. Newbies are often surprised that retail is as numbers-oriented and analytical as it is. “You either get a knot in your stomach or you’re smiling. But it also helps me to figure out our strengths, helps us strategize. Seeing those numbers keeps me focused.”
Successful merchants start from the bottom up. “You need to have a clue about what it takes to work on the floor. Otherwise, you sit in an ivory tower and make decisions that may not make sense.” All roles within retail make for a well-rounded executive, from receiving to looking for collateral to keeping a clientele registry. “You have to really like the tasks and the pace of retail,” she says.
Know how to speak to colleagues at all levels. “You have to be able to talk to your peers, your direct supervisor, their bosses, the many sales support teams, as well as the beauty advisors. We also have a huge amount of interaction with our vendors on a regular basis. Working well with everyone at every level is critical.”
Relationships are key for future success. “I think one of the keys to my success is my relationships both with my teams over the years and my vendors. You’re not going to be friends with everybody, but you need to have mutual respect for each other and really get to know each other.”