First-Line Supervisor of Retail Sales Workers

Other Titles

Bakery Manager, Delicatessen Manager, Department Manager, Department Supervisor, Grocery Manager, Meat Department Manager, Parts Sales Manager, Shift Manager, Store Manager

Directly supervise and coordinate activities of retail sales workers in an establishment or department. Duties may include management functions, such as purchasing, budgeting, accounting, and personnel work, in addition to supervisory duties. First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers oversee the sales workers within a retail establishment. Their job is to make sure that sales workers are working effectively on a day-to-day basis. They must coordinate various sales activities in accordance with the sales goals of the retail establishment, reconcile cash receipts at the end of each day, take stock of inventory on a regular basis and ensure customer satisfaction.

Provide customer service by greeting and assisting customers and responding to customer inquiries and complaints.

Direct and supervise employees engaged in sales, inventory-taking, reconciling cash receipts, or in performing services for customers.

Examine merchandise to ensure that it is correctly priced and displayed and that it functions as advertised.

Monitor sales activities to ensure that customers receive satisfactory service and quality goods.

Instruct staff on how to handle difficult and complicated sales.

Assign employees to specific duties.

Keep records of purchases, sales, and requisitions.

Perform work activities of subordinates, such as cleaning and organizing shelves and displays and selling merchandise.

Plan and prepare work schedules and keep records of employees' work schedules and time cards.

Review inventory and sales records to prepare reports for management and budget departments.

Inventory stock and reorder when inventory drops to a specified level.

Establish and implement policies, goals, objectives, and procedures for the department.

Examine products purchased for resale or received for storage to assess the condition of each product or item.

Enforce safety, health, and security rules.

Estimate consumer demand and determine the types and amounts of goods to be sold.

Confer with company officials to develop methods and procedures to increase sales, expand markets, and promote business.

Formulate pricing policies for merchandise, according to profitability requirements.

Hire, train, and evaluate personnel in sales or marketing establishments, promoting or firing workers when appropriate.

Plan and coordinate advertising campaigns and sales promotions and prepare merchandise displays and advertising copy.

Establish credit policies and operating procedures.

Plan budgets and authorize payments and merchandise returns.

Active Listening→ Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Service Orientation→ Actively looking for ways to help people.

Speaking→ Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Coordination→ Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.

Critical Thinking→ Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Monitoring→ Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Social Perceptiveness→ Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Instructing→ Teaching others how to do something.

Management of Personnel Resources→ Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.

Negotiation→ Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.

Persuasion→ Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.

Judgment and Decision Making→ Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Time Management→ Managing one's own time and the time of others.

Active Learning→ Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.

Complex Problem Solving→ Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.

Learning Strategies→ Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.

Reading Comprehension→ Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Systems Analysis→ Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.

Systems Evaluation→ Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.

Writing→ Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Performing for or Working Directly with the Public→ Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.

Training and Teaching Others→ Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.

Making Decisions and Solving Problems→ Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.

Coaching and Developing Others→ Identifying the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills.

Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others→ Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.

Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates→ Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.

Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others→ Getting members of a group to work together to accomplish tasks.

Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships→ Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.

Getting Information→ Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.

Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events→ Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.

Communicating with Persons Outside Organization→ Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.

Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates→ Providing guidance and direction to subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance.

Developing and Building Teams→ Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.

Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work→ Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.

Scheduling Work and Activities→ Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.

Monitor Processes, Materials, or Surroundings→ Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.

Selling or Influencing Others→ Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods or to otherwise change their minds or actions.

Interacting With Computers→ Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.

Analyzing Data or Information→ Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts.

Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards→ Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.

Judging the Qualities of Things, Services, or People→ Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.

Performing Administrative Activities→ Performing day-to-day administrative tasks such as maintaining information files and processing paperwork.

Assisting and Caring for Others→ Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.

Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge→ Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.

Staffing Organizational Units→ Recruiting, interviewing, selecting, hiring, and promoting employees in an organization.

Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others→ Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used.

Answer customer questions about goods or services.

Greet customers, patrons, or visitors.

Supervise sales or support personnel.

Establish operational policies.

Examine condition of property or products.

Monitor sales activities.

Train sales personnel.

Assign duties or work schedules to employees.

Set up merchandise displays.

Develop marketing plans or strategies.

Clean work areas.

Maintain records of sales or other business transactions.

Sell products or services.

Coordinate sales campaigns.

Monitor inventories of products or materials.

Prepare financial documents, reports, or budgets.

Purchase stocks of merchandise or supplies.

Monitor work areas to provide security.

Monitor market conditions or trends.

Oral Comprehension→ The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Oral Expression→ The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

Speech Clarity→ The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

Speech Recognition→ The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

Problem Sensitivity→ The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

Deductive Reasoning→ The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

Information Ordering→ The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g. , patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

Near Vision→ The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Category Flexibility→ The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.

Fluency of Ideas→ The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).

Inductive Reasoning→ The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

Originality→ The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.

Selective Attention→ The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.

Written Comprehension→ The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

Written Expression→ The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

Customer and Personal Service→ Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Administration and Management→ Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Sales and Marketing→ Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

Language→ Knowledge of the structure and content of a language - English, French, Swahili et cetera - including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Education and Training→ Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

Computers and Electronics→ Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

Mathematics→ Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Personnel and Human Resources→ Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

Clerical→ Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.

Economics and Accounting→ Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

Accounting software -- e.g., Odoo; Sage; Quickbooks

Analytical or scientific software -- e.g., Data analysis software; SAS; IBM SPSS Statistics; Minitab; The MathWorks MATLAB

Business intelligence and data analysis software -- e.g., Zoho Analytics; MicroStrategy; Tableau; Qlik Tech QlikView; IBM Cognos Impromptu

Calendar and scheduling software -- Scheduling software

Computer aided design CAD software -- Computer aided design and drafting CADD software; Autodesk Revit; Autodesk AutoCAD; Graebert Ares Version CAD Software; Bentley MicroStation; Dassault Systemes CATIA; Dassault Systemes SOLIDWORKS; PTC Creo Parametric

Customer relationship management CRM software -- Contact management systems; Contract tracking software; Microsoft Dynamics CRM; Sage SalesLogix; Xero; Microsoft Dynamics; Salesforce software; Oracle Eloqua

Database management system software -- Relational database management software; MySQL; Amazon Data Pipeline; Amazon Kinesis; Apache Cassandra; Apache Flume; Apache Hadoop; Oracle PL/SQL; MongoDB; NoSQL; Teradata Database

Database user interface and query software software -- Data entry software; Microsoft Access; Structured query language SQL; Microsoft SQL Server; MySQL; Amazon Redshift; Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC; Amazon Web Services AWS software; Oracle JDBC; Transact-SQL; FileMaker Pro

Data mining software -- e.g., Google Analytics

Desktop publishing software -- e.g., Adobe Systems Adobe InDesign; Adobe Systems Adobe FrameMaker; QuarkXPress; Microsoft Publisher; Scribus; Corel Ventura; MadCap Flare; MadCap Software MadCap Flare

Document management software -- e.g., Adobe Systems Adobe Acrobat; OpenKM; DocuWare Cloud; Bitrix; Xpertdoc; Papertrail; Document Warehouse; GreatSoft’s online document management software; EMC Documentum

Electronic mail software -- e.g., Google Gmail; Mozilla Thunderbird; IBM Notes; Microsoft Outlook

Enterprise resource planning ERP software -- e.g., Sage; Xero; Sapama; ebizframe; Odoo; Macro 2000; SYSPRO ERP; QuickEasy BOS; TrueERP; Microsoft Dynamics; NetSuite ERP; Oracle Hyperion; SAP

Financial analysis software -- SWOT Analysis software; Forecasting software; Profitability analysis software; ClicData; Float; Oracle Essbase; FreshBooks; Infor F; BankSense; Sisense; Delphi Technology; Oracle E-Business Suite Financials

Graphics or photo imaging software -- e.g., Adobe Systems Adobe Creative Cloud; Adobe Systems Adobe Illustrator; Adobe Systems Adobe Fireworks; Adobe Systems Adobe Flash; Adobe Systems Adobe Photoshop; Corel CorelDraw Graphics Suite; Corel Painter GNU Image Manipulation Program GIMP; Microsoft Visio; Trimble SketchUp Pro; SmugMug Flickr

Human resources software -- Personnel scheduling software; Human resource management software HRMS; Time card software; Sage; Aruti; Peopleplus; Impax HR Pro; HR Master

Internet browser software -- e.g., Apple Safari; Microsoft Internet Explorer; Google Chrome; Mozilla Firefox

Inventory management software

Object or component oriented development software -- e.g., C#; Apache Groovy; Advanced business application programming ABAP; C++; Python; Scala; Oracle Java; Practical extraction and reporting language Perl; Microsoft ActiveX

Office suite software -- e.g., Corel WordPerfect Office; Microsoft Office; Google Workspace; Apache OpenOffice.org

Operating system software -- Handheld computer device software; Microsoft Windows

Point of sale POS software -- Point of sale POS bookstore software; Point of sale POS parts and services software

Presentation software -- e.g., Google Slides; Apple iWork Keynote; Corel Presentations; Microsoft PowerPoint

Project management software -- e.g., Confluence; Sapama Projects; Sciforma PPM solution; Xero Projects; Microsoft Project; Easy Projects; Microsoft SharePoint; Oracle Primavera Enterprise Project Portfolio Management

Sales and marketing software -- e.g., Google AdWords; Instagram PeopleMap; Marketo Marketing Automation

Spreadsheet software -- e.g., Corel Quattro Pro; Microsoft Excel; Google Sheets

Time accounting software -- Payroll software

Video creation and editing software -- e.g., Adobe Systems Adobe Premiere Pro; Adobe Systems Adobe AfterEffects; Apple Final Cut Pro; Apple Final Cut Pro X; Avid Technology Media Composer; YouTube

Web page creation and editing software -- Social media sites; Wordpress; Facebook; LinkedIn

Word processing software -- e.g., Corel Wordperfect; Microsoft Word; Google Docs

Adjustable widemouth pliers→ Hammer pliers

Adjustable wrenches

Bar code reader equipment→ Barcode scanners

Cash registers

Desktop computers

Electronic funds transfer point of sale equipment→ Money order terminals

Ladders

Laser fax machine→ Laser facsimile machines

Laser printers

Magnetic stripe readers and encoders→ Credit card processing machines; Magnetic card readers; PC magnetic card readers

Personal computers

Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers→ Personal digital assistants PDA

Point of sale payment terminal→ Telecheck processing terminals

Point of sale POS terminal→ Point of sale POS computer terminals

Screwdrivers

Security cameras→ Security monitors

Security tags→ Sensormatic systems

Video cassette players or recorders→ Video cassette recorders VCR

Enterprising→ Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Conventional→ Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Social→ Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Integrity→ Job requires being honest and ethical.

Stress Tolerance→ Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.

Cooperation→ Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.

Leadership→ Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.

Dependability→ Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.

Adaptability/Flexibility→ Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.

Self Control→ Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.

Attention to Detail→ Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.

Concern for Others→ Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.

Social Orientation→ Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.

Independence→ Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.

Initiative→ Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.

Innovation→ Job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.

Analytical Thinking→ Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.

Persistence→ Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.

Achievement/Effort→ Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.

Independence→ Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.

Relationships→ Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service.

Support→ Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.