Set Yourself Up for Success!

The easiest way to be confident going into a store visit to collect the required data is to practice at home and be prepared.

Give yourself ample time to prepare, read through the various help aids, look over the datasheet(s), sample survey(s), and any other guides that have been provided to increase your effectiveness.

1. Put your data collection tool into your phone. If you plan to use Evernote, download the app and practice navigating to your datasheets and entering data.
2. Turn off your phone's internet and try out your data collection tool: Be familiar with your data collection tool and how to use it. Don't wait until you are standing in the store to try out your tool!
3. Practice collecting the specific methods you will collect around your house: If you are collecting linear inches, walk off the length of your kitchen counter or the back of your couch. If you are collecting style counts, count how many styles of Black shirts you have in your closet. The more confident you are in *how* you will collect your data, the more successful you will be in the store!
4. Flex your math! If you have 4 stacks of shirts with 8 shirts in each stack, figure out how you want to capture that data, including if you want to just do the math later!
5. Get a lay of the land: When you walk into your store, do a quick lap to learn the layout – Where are the items/categories located? Are the collections consolidated in the same general area? Are items on promotion all in one place or scattered around? After you figure out the layout of the store, you can dive into effective data collection.
6. Recall your training, but you don't have to remember it all: You don't need to memorize all of the data points you need to collect, you just need to be confident in your data collection tool.
7. Take a deep breath!​:Your first visit will likely feel a bit "strange" - this is totally normal because you have likely never gone through a store like this before. But, remember, while there may be a lot of data to collect, the data is easy to find and to record. By your second visit, you will be a pro!

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