This document provides details on a project to improve the My Client program at a Macy's store. The project focuses on increasing My Client sales and client numbers in the children's and intimates departments. A new coaching plan is introduced to motivate associates to focus more on My Client. Progress is tracked weekly over 6 weeks. Initial results are promising but regression occurs when the author is not present to coach associates. Challenges include inconsistent associate schedules and prioritizing My Client during busy periods.

1. Jonathan Barone
2015 Store
Management
Internship Project
Shaping the My Client model into a more efficient
system
56- South Shore

2. 2
The Business Plan
Increasing each facet of My Client in the Childrens/Intimates FOB
Part I) The Introduction
As it currently stands, My Client is a program which primarily benefits FOBs that include
items which require replenishment, or special attention (cosmetics and fragrances are
the 2 primary examples of replenishments, where an area such as suits or shoes is
tailored towards a specialist who has exceptional product knowledge). Therefore as
those FOBs tend to flourish with My Client, others have a more difficult time hitting
their My Client goals. My focus for this project is to primarily drive the sales from My
Client in the Childrens and Intimates FOB, while also using trial and error as a means to
determine the most effective methods to go about making My Client more efficient in
these areas.
The My Client results from June 2015 Week 3 will suffice as my starting point to which
I will compare all progress to. While the main figure I will trying to improve is My Client
sales, there will be a heavy emphasis on increasing the number of total clients for the
associates, as well as increasing the probability that client retention is maintained.
Part II) The Goal
The outcome from this project will be the successful implementation of a new process
to drive My Client, a learning experience of what does an d does not work, or a
combination of the two. Regardles s of the outcome, Macy’s Southshore will be able to
benefit in a multitude of ways by the means of trying something new in regards to
bolstering their struggling My Client initiative. Ideally what I am able to achieve will be
a reflection on how well the associates were able to accomplish the ma in focus of the
project. Therefore, my foremost goal is to establish a strong enough connection with
each associate to ensure that they will follow the required steps in order to successfully
measure the impact of the project. The goal here, is mutual understanding between
everyone in the hierarchy of Macy’s to help benefit everyone from the bottom up.
Part III) The Problem
As of Week 3 of the internship, My Client sales for the Childrens and Intimates FOB is
as follows:
At an underwhelming . 2% WTD, and . 6% PTD and STD, there is quite a large gap
between what the expected quota is at 3% and the actual results. There may be a few
key elements which factor into this:

3. 3
1. Excluding one of the new hires, only 3 of 8 associates have had any sales come
from My Client, with the total sales % of those associates My Client sales being
1. 7%, 1. 3%, and 0% for STD.
2. Over the last 12 months the two associates with th e lowest sales numbers
(excluding the new hire) have 0 clients. Only 2 associates in Childrens &
Intimates have more than 8 clients.
3. As previously stated, the nature of the FOB doesn’t necessarily warrant a
recurring clientele base.
4. There is most likely a divide between the associates and management in
regards to their expectations on the importance of My Client, and what is
expected of them to do.
Evidently the root of the problem lies in My Client, since currently it exists as a process
that isn’t sought after by the associates—taking into consideration their other main
tasks. To address this problem directly, it will be up to management to either create a
new stigma behind My Client, or to change the general approach to My Client from the
corporate level, which isn’t feasible for the project, but could have much more
considerable impact once conclusive results are gathered.
Part IV) The Solution
As briefly mentioned before, the only true way to have a measurable impact on My
Client in the allotted timeframe with limited capital and resources is to start at the
associate level, promoting the core competencies of Macy’s as a corporation . By
implementing a project that is supported with a “must -do” structure, ideally we are
looking to see a reduction in t he amount of associates who would normally prioritize
things of minimal importance over My Client. Hopefully with this limited sample size,
the time that is spent focusing more on My Client doesn’t take away too much from
other normal operations. This in and of itself will help disciple the associates to use My
Client, whereas the coaching plan will be used more for motivating and empowering
them.
The structure is going to be as described to act as a reference for how the solution
should implemented.
Each register bay will receive the following:
 One brief 3 page training/information guide (Attachment A)
 Thirty-five My Client project logs (Attachment B)
 ‘X’ Amount of blank Macy’s business cards “My Client Cards” ( Attachment C)
By introducing these new pieces at an associate’s workstation, they will be accessible to
the necessary tools to help track, and encourage My Clien t as a daily matter which will
be given as much attention as other tasks in their day.

4. 4
The Coaching Plan
Leading Associates Through the Empowerment of Working Together to
Achieve a Common Goal
Part I) The Associates
Background
Within the Childrens/Intimates FOB there are 9 associates. 7 out of 9 are part -time,
with the other 2 being full time. The 2 full-time associates are the main drivers of My
Client within the department, which is going to serve as a plus in regards to the
coaching plan. The premise for the new coaching plan implementation is to ensure that
there is a mutual understanding between the associates and management on w hat is
expected from them throughout the duration of the process. Generally speaking, the
main opportunity to increase My Client sales would be focused within intimates, for the
nature of the FOB dictates that there is much more opportunity for associate -customer
interaction.
The Plan
The new coaching approach will be somewhat unorthodox by Macy’s standards, but for
the sake of having this opportunity to try a new coaching method I decided to go for it.
The plan to coach the associates will revolve around personal gain in regards to their
own careers; for instance, I have explained the incentivizing nature of what comes from
having a proven sales track pertaining to how that benefits the associate as an
individual. Therefore, by explaining to the associates that they will have a very rare
opportunity to show other individuals, especially top management, their sales
improvements over a period of time, that the chances that they will move up in the
hierarchy of Macy’s, or any other personal endeavors will be much greater. I feel like
this works particularly well with part -time associates, considering that as it stands right
now there is no My Client sales from them at all.
Alongside this unusual approach to coaching associates, a more traditional way of
coaching will also be implemented in order to ensure that everyone is seeing eye -to-
eye. For instance, within the first day of coaching each associate I anticipate that there
will be a full understanding from each associate on what My Client is, how to use it,
and why it is important for Macy’s, but also for their own benefit. This type of coaching
I plan on implementing daily, but will be careful to monitor that they are completing
their other tasks as well. The promotion of the MAGIC selling model will continua lly be
referenced to, as that most accurately reflects the core values of Macy’s as a whole.
Without that piece firmly in tact, which should generally be assumed of all associates
even though that sometimes is not the case, has to be perfected prior to uti lizing other
methods.
Part II) Management
The main component towards effective coaching will be through the relationship of
manager to associate. Within this particular FOB, the two managers are going to be
myself, and my mentor, whom presumably will have much of his time caught up with

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tasks on a larger scale, however he also will serve as the catalyst to getting the project
going due to his existing relationships with the associates. Furthermore, once I am
accessed to the way he interacts with the associates, I will be inclined to reciprocate
those actions to some degree, while also taking note of how each associate differs with
certain approaches, and carefully choose a method to coach each individual. Once
completed, I expect there to be a need for the associates to want to confront
management as much as possible regarding any questions or any changes they wish to
see within the project. If that communication is not there, a vital piece of the project
will be evident from all metrics recorded if communic ation is destitute. I will strive for
communication constantly throughout the day, but at the bare minimum once per hour
on the hour would be ideal to keep everyone up to speed with what is expected from
them.
Part III) Tracking Results
Perhaps the most critical part of this whole project will be accurately tracking results to
ensure that the changes made have some sort of impact. Therefore, using the My Client
Sales by FOB/Associate report on a weekly basis, we will be able to see how each
associate perf ormed to some extent for that week. However, it should be noted that
there are a few confounding variables with tracking these results:
 The short timespan doesn’t equate to a long -term depiction of what results
could have been. For example, the average Mac y’s customer comes 6 times a
year, using that statistic it would be difficult to assume that the same client
will come back in a 5 week span, especially during the same season.
 The hours each associate works will play a role in how their My Client sales
change. This will be especially challenging for the part time associates.
 The nature of the FOB—often times customers come in to Childrens to buy
clothing that they will eventually grow out of, a process which takes
considerable time. As with intimates too , it is unlikely that a customer will
come in twice a month to purchase these types of goods.
Overall it should be interesting to see how coaching will affect the My Client sales. My
prediction is that each associate should garner a much larger client base over 5 weeks,
but for truly accurate results this project should be double the length.
Weekly Progress
Tracking the project in a journalistic style on a daily/weekly basis
Week 1-3: Planning Phase
 There was no formal implementation of a new plan for My Client for the first 3 weeks of
the internship, as this was the phase used for learning about, and analyzing My Client as
a process in general. By week 3, the outline of the project had been completed, was
briefly explained to a few of the associates, and was ready to be implemented on Week
4.

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 It is crucial to report that a lot of communication from myself to the associates
transpired within this timeframe, building a strong relationship with each individual. On
top of that, I was able to elaborate on what I planned that the FOB will be able to
accomplish when working together for a goal. This was the best execution method I felt
in order to get them on board with the project, but even prior to that a few associates
took it upon themselves to start focusing and reporting to myself about their day
pertaining to My Client, which showed a substantial increase from Week 1. In my mind
the project would only reinforce these actions.
Week 4: Implementation
 Unfortunately, the way it turned out due to the busyness of the store as well as a
varying work schedule made it so the project couldn’t be accurately explained to each
associate in the planned period of time to the level it needed to be.
 Sunday July 5th
2015 was the first day of the project, and with many of the associates
caught up with EMR as well as ringing, there was only some sufficient time for myself to
explain to 3 associates what the project entailed, and what was to be expected from
them. This was especially daunting because during Week 4 I would be out of the store
for a majority of the week, leaving the only feasible days to coach everyone on
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, which looked to be difficult as the weekends are usually
the busiest.
 Thursday July 9th
, 2015 consisted of coaching 3 individuals within Childrens FOB, all
whom showed motivation in adding clients directly after the coaching sessions. The
general consensus from the associates was that remembering clients was difficult to do
after some time has passed, therefore my attention shifted to having the associates
utilize the notes function more with My Client.
 Friday July 9th
, 2015 another coaching was performed, as associates showed the
willingness to comply with the project guidelines. As expected, the associates without
clients had to primarily focus on adding clients, where the more experienced associates
had clients coming in for the weekend clearance sale. One of these two experienced
associates even added a whopping 11 clients during this time. There was a lot of
promise going into the weekend.
Week 5: Preliminary Progress
 Thursday July 16, 2015 was the next day I came into the store following a 2 day intern
summit in NYC. Upon coming in I was able to analyze the Week 1 report for the month
of July where I came away with a few takeaways:
o My Client sales were up, while total FOB sales were down.
o # of Potential Clients added went up, however not to the extent that was
recorded on the My Client sheets on each register.
o My Client sales are still primarily driven from 2 associates within the FOB
 Mainly what I can tell from a week within project implementation is that a larger client
base from most associates means that there is a good foundation for increasing sales in
the future. Another important piece to all of this is that a total of 9 clients were called
back within the week, so there is now a good benchmark for the entire FOB to call back
their clients around once a week at least.
 The main problem going forward is going to be tracking how an associate adds a client,
because a few associates have recorded that a client was added, but it didn’t show on
the report. This will lead to some investigation on the root of the problem which most
likely will be addressed Week 6.
 A main takeaway from this week is that the vitality of coaching really helps drive the
project initiative to the associates who aren’t adept with the use of My Client. For
instance, because I won’t be seeing the associates this weekend when most of the
associates are in, I will assume responsibility on the two seasoned associates to help
drive the project to the others. Empowerment in this regard should prevail.

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Week 6: Regression With a Cause
 The Week 2 report for July was pulled the Tuesday after it came out. The result of not
being in the store for 3 of the possible 5 days of July Week 1 was that My Client numbers
dropped across the board. Total clients added went down from 15 to 7, while sales were
cut more than in half from 1.7 to 0.7. This most definitely can be attributed to myself not
being in the store most days last week to monitor progress, as well as the associates not
feeling empowered enough to continue with the project. This week will once again prove
to be an uphill battle, especially because I will be unavailable during the weekend, which
is the busiest days that would drive My Client sales.
 More specifically, the problems arise with coaching associates who are not in the store
the same hours as myself. This has caused a rift between associates who claim they have
added clients on the My Client sheet, but it is void from all reports. Once again, this can
only be addressed when our schedules align, poising to be a challenge which should be a
relatively easy fix however.
 July 23, 2015: Upon compiling data, a fellow colleague of mine helped me solve the
ongoing issue of associates adding clients while they do not show up on the My Client
Sales report. By cross referencing each associate my client database, with the reports
that stated how many clients each associate had prior to the project, we were able to get
a more accurate picture of which associates added how many clients. This was
particularly useful when tracking associates that did not have many clients to begin with
at all.
o This week also has been especially time consuming with the advent of a
storewide cleaning, and recovery operation. Most of the managers have their
attention directed towards those tasks, with secondary focuses being on credit
which has been averaging around 50% to goal for this entire week. Prioritizing
My Client has been a challenge, so with that being the case I decided to
incentivize the use of My client for the weekend, by promoting a free lunch to
whoever can get 5 clients in one day. A very achievable and rewarding goal I
hope would suffice as enough motivation during this busy time to still drive My
Client.
o Another colleague of mine also wanted me to mention that by adding clients
there is no just way to define the violability of that customer as a potential
repeat visitor without the proper acumen of the an associate making a
connection. Inflating numbers can seemingly falsify the reality of a situation
such as My Client being one that is “long-term.” Therefore incentivizing the
action of adding clients is seemingly obsolete when associates are not utilizing
MAGIC selling. While I always felt MAGIC was the most crucial part of this
operation, I realized it would not drive metrics the way other methods would.
With that being said however, it is the core of Macy’s as a company, and
remains the most important part of this business. MAGIC cannot be recorded,
for it is not tangible, and can only be assumed by others that it has or has not
taken place.
Week 7: Results and Reflection
 The Week 3 report for July was pulled on Monday July 27th
, and showed unfortunate
results. My Client sales dropped to the second lowest it had been in 7 weeks, at a flat
0.0, with total sales being -$17.00. This was particularly shocking, because I myself
purchased items through a My Client transaction using one of the associates who added
me previously, and it didn’t show up on the report. Had this shown up on the report, total
My Client sales would have been 0.7%, which is a step up from where the department
has been lately. Also, to put everything in perspective, to get the My Client sales goal that
Macy’s aspires from its departments, out of the $35,753 that was sold in the
Childrens/Intimates FOB, $1,072 was the goal for total My Client sales for the week. With
My Client transactions ranging from $54-580 over the last 8 weeks, with an average of
$232 spent per client transaction, the idea would be to get 3-4 clients to come in per
week and spend that average amount. When broken down like this, I could tell an
associate this.
o Call all of your clients and inform them of the latest promotions within the
stores. Your goal would be for one client to come in per week out of your list.

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 As a manager I would strive for 4 of my associates to get a client to
come in for that week. To meet the average for the store in all FOBs
excluding cosmetics and fragrances, it would have to be 2 clients with
an average sale to meet the 1.6% sales goal.
 The other piece to My Client which presumably isn’t known uniformly
throughout the management level of the store is how to make My Client
sales appear on the report. Initially it was thought that by breaking up a
transaction, all subsequent items would be part of the My Client sales goal,
however I had tested that in July Week 1 to no avail. Meanwhile, as stated
previously, on Saturday July Week 3 I bought items totaling $250 from an
associate whom I have been their client for several weeks now, and as I
pulled the report this week, there were no My Client sales for that
associate. Nevertheless, I felt as if that should be a suitable reasoning to
have My Client sales for that transaction, and as such I’ve added that into
the report unofficially. This adds an interesting perspective towards how as
a store we could add client sales in different ways using different methods,
yet at the corporate level in there is little to actually vouch for how
associates are going about this task. As management it is hard to look at
opportunities to really drive the metrics of My Client using some of these
unorthodox techniques, as chances are upper management will not be able
to really differentiate the meaning of their My Client sales in the short-
term, but long-term it will be interesting to see if the sales from My Client
are actually a reason total sales are going up.

9. 9
Results/Conclusion
The condensed findings and analysis on the project as a whole
Throughout the project I was able to gather the following data over the course of
the internship:
Childrens Multiple FOB
Weeks 1-4 (Before Project)
Childrens Multiple FOB
Weeks 5-7 (During Project)
My Client Sales %: 0.6% of total sales My Client Sales %: 1.03% of total sales
Average Clients added: 8 Average Clients added: 10
With all due diligence the increase in numbers is the least important aspect of this
project, and here is why.
Metrics are very important when looking at the big picture of a normal store, but in
Macy’s, we have MAGIC. MAGIC, while it can be tracked, is not particularly quantifiable by
any means. Once I learned the true value of MAGIC throughout the course of this project,
my vision had shifted completely.
MAGIC refers to the associate interaction with a customer that makes their visit
meaningful. As the advent of e-commerce grows quicker than many can keep up, Macy’s
chose to stay true to how their stores operate, and continued to push the value of
MAGIC.
As it refers to this project, My Client is a MAGIC based initiative, which completely relies
on the experience that a customer had shopping with a Macy’s associate. How do we
measure MAGIC. We don’t. The customers do, and they can show for it by coming back
to the same client and relive their experience. At its core MAGIC simply promotes the
core competencies of the company as a whole in what they wish to convey to everyone
who walks into the door. And while MAGIC may be vital to the stores success, the results
don’t often show for how much or how little MAGIC was exhibited throughout that day.
While a great associate can make someone’s shopping experience something like they’ve
never experienced before—there is no true formula to get them to shop again at a certain
time, in the same location, with the same associate. These are the challenges that were
made crystal clear throughout the project, and had been confronted with a plan to
overcome them.
At the end of the day, what we as a company wants may differ from what the customer
wants. Maybe they have no intention on coming back at all, but that is something we as a
company must try and change. Our talent needs to want to make these connections with
clients and encourage them to come back, almost as if it were their own store they were
visiting. That was noticeably the second biggest challenge was to motivate the associates
to make those calls, to step out of their comfort zones, and to really want this for
themselves. While some thrived with this, others could not care less it seemed like.
Another important point to mention post-project is how the initial coaching plan didn’t
work universally. While expected, it was increasingly interesting to hear what motivates
each associate, and also find out that some instances have shown some associates are
simply motivated by money. This was somewhat shocking to me, and really made me
reconsider the overall coaching approach I took, as this was an opportunity to separate
the motivation I was giving associates, to a more formal discipline of telling them what

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to do to increase My Client. However, upon doing this I realized that would be
counterintuitive and proceeded to strengthen the better connections I had with
associates.
Overall this experience was eye-opening to a very poignant business challenge that a
large company faces. While a 3 week time period seemed too short to gather enough
data on how this business could be driven, it was enough to learn a considerable amount
for an initiative which will be pushed more and more into the future. With time, and
enough concentration, I am positive that My Client will achieve the success it should as
long as MAGIC continues to live on.