1. Macy’s “MEDP” Sales Manager - Keystone Assignment
By: Brett Robertson
If you had askedme a fewyearsago, I wouldhave saidthatI neverthought I would be involved
inretail. However,nowthatI am a part of the MilitaryExecutive Development Program (“MEDP”), I am
honored. I am thoroughly impressed with how much goes into selling merchandise, and what great
leadersare inthe store. I am especiallygrateful forsuchstrong senior leaders in my store. Every day is
a learningexperience forme inbothlearningthe nuancesof retail andre-toolingmyexistingleadership
abilities into the Macy’s methodology.
My firstdayat Macys, as a general statement, waslikelandingon another planet. I had to learn
the language, newwords,acronymsandlingo,findmywayaroundthe store and immerse myself in the
‘Macy’s way’.However,Inoticedthatthe store leadershipfunctionedalmostidentical tothe military,as
did the associates. Macy’s leadership structure is similar to the Military in many ways. The same
foundationandbasicprinciplesusedin leading Soldiers can be applied to leading store Associates and
Managers. I feel that my military background prepared me for many of the assignments in the MEDP.
For example;myfirstshadowingassignmentwasSalesManager, and around week three I began to see
how a Sales Manager role was almost identical to a Squad Leader in the infantry.
“As an Infantry Squad Leader in a Light Infantry Company; responsible for the welfare, fitness,
morale anddiscipline of nineSoldiers;responsible forthe individual trainingandmaintenanceof
their equipment; primary instructor and advisor in the matters of tactics, personnel
management and junior leader development; directs his Squad's tactical employment during
offensive anddefensive operations; responsible for the accountability and maintenance of all
assigned equipment.”
“As a Macys Sales Manager, you will drive sales and selling with focus on the Macy’s customer
using Stores Own Sales and My Macy’s processes. All activities related to presenting a clean,
neat and organized shopping environment for our customers are under your direction. With
training,coachingand development,ateamof Associateswill grow following your leadership.”
SalesManagers have to juggle many things along with being delegated additional tasks, like if
there is a store visit. The role of Sales manager comes down to how well you plan and prioritize tasks

2. and alsoeffectivelymanagingyourteam.After spending time learning the Sales Manager role, I began
talkingtothe Sales Managers about observations I made and started discussing ways to fix them using
my coachingskillslearnedthroughthe Military,justhow Iwouldcoacha Soldier.AtfirstIdidn’t realize I
was actually followingthe PACTcoachingmethod, beforeI even learned what PACT was. As a Company
Commanderinthe militaryI often coached and mentored my Platoon Leaders (similar to the Assistant
Store Managers, “ASM”) using the very same techniques implemented with Macy’s PACT coaching.
Coachinginthe Militarycan be done invariouswaysusinga multitude of techniques. The three
mainwaysare; througha formal counselingstatement(good or bad), leadership development classes,
or on the spot corrections. As a leader in the Military I typically did not give many on the spot
corrections for Soldiers, but would address these with the Platoon Leaders, unless there were safety
issues or leadership was not around. Most of the time I would note an observation and discuss it with
theirleadereitherthoughfastfeedbackor coachingdependingonthe situation.Thatleaderwouldthen
come up withan actionplan to correct or prevent if it was an issue, or continue if it was something we
wanted to sustain.
In the Military, formal counseling’s are done monthly and as needed. The types of counseling
are Performance/Professional,orEvent-Orientated. The basic format of a formal counseling statement
is;purpose (prepare),keypoints of discussion (ask and listen), plan of action (collaborate on an action
plan) and leader responsibilities, and assessment (take action). When compared to PACT coaching, a
military counseling statement is extremely similar.
If a Soldier does something excellent it is also to be recorded using a formal counseling
statement,thisallowsforthe Soldiertobe recognizedandtoletthemknow theydidan exceptional job
at a specifiedtask.These counselingstatements are thenusedto write the Soldier’s evaluation reports
and become auxiliary evidence of exceptional orneedsimprovementbulletcommentsassupport.There

3. are other forms of non-formal recognition to commend a Soldier’s exemplary performance such as;
releasingthem to go home early, bring them in front of a formation and let everyone know what they
did, give them an award if it was above and beyond, or a commanders coin.
Both Macy’s and the Military continuously drive to seek continuous improvement, recognize
and promote those whoexcel,andseparate the poorperformers(behaviors) thatfail tobe coached and
mentored. Justlike at Macy’s it is important to document everything with your Soldiers and give them
every opportunitytosucceed.The Macy’s coaching process has really impressed me for a few reasons,
first, Associatesare coachedtoMAGIC and Executives are coachedwithPACT.Inthe military there is no
guide forcoachingif you are not followinga formal counseling statement. It is left up to each leader to
develop his/her own coaching plan, both formal (counseling statement) and informal (in the field
coaching) forSoldiersand Leadership. When I came into my unit as a Company Commander (similar to
Store Manager) I studiedand evaluated my unit for a month, then sat with my leadership (comparable
to ASM’sand SM’s) anddiscussed areas that needed to be improved. We devolved a process for what
wouldbe trainedasit pertainedtoLeadership Development at all levels, and how we would focus our
coachingand mentoringprocess, also how we would change the culture. I stressed to my leaders that
we need to get Soldiers to want to do the right thing and want to excel, not just meet standards. This
model whichInow see iscalledPACT,wasusedinthisseniorleadershipmeeting.Mygoal as a Company
Commander was to develop a Company of 135 Infantry men to fight and win in combat.
The techniques used for motivating employees at Macy’s is in many ways similar to the
technique I used with my company in the Military. In the Military I was able to create an atmosphere
where Soldiers wouldwanttodothe right thing, they had passion and drove themselves and others to
be the bestnotonlyas an individualbutasa teamand as a whole.Itisa challenge tochange the culture
of a whole team but when it does change it is monumental. This type of motivation can be directly

4. appliedtoMacy’s where we drive the associates towanttosell the most,open the most Star Cards, and
make evercustomerwhowalksoutthe door feel happierthanwhen they came in. Everyone is working
together as a team to drive the customer experience and sales. It takes a lot of tact as a leader to
motivate, and to learn what drives each associate, get to know them personally, and how to approach
each situation to help everyone learn and create a customer first atmosphere.
As a Sales Manager I learned that I was able to deal with customers very well, both the happy
ones and the ones that surely would have been detractors. In a two week period I received over 5
customer letters regarding how I was able to help them, and make them a happy Macy’s customer.
From the Military I learned how to read body language, and now at Macy’s I use this skill to pick up on
signals that a customer is not happy. I am able to listen, make them feel appreciated and they often
leave happy complementing many things. As a Sales Manager I learned you have to be an active
Manager and “manage”, not become another associate on the floor recovering the floor for any large
portion of your time. During my first short time as a Sales Manager, I felt as if I needed to help the
associates recover so I would spend a large portion of my time recovering the floor making my areas
look better. Quickly I found and saw as a Sales Manager you can’t spend time recovering your floor
(aside frombefore orafterthe store opens) because if youare, that means there is an associate in your
area hidingbehindaregister, ortalkingtoanotherassociate while youfix the areatheyare supposed to
be recovering. The SMcoachingstandardssuggests“75% of each dayactively leading the sales floor.” I
consistently walked the floor, worked side by side with associates, looked for opportunities to set
expectations, helped Associates with connecting and MAGIC selling, coached on the floor, recognized
goodbehaviors,redirectedbehavioralopportunity andfollowedup.While acting as a role model things
began to be much easier and customers were more satisfied with Macy’s service.

5. Every morning at the beginning of my day I read through all the customer letters. I rarely see
lettersrelatingto “howmessy”the store was, butI do see detractors relatingtocustomerservice “assist
and connect”, “associates notavailable atcheckout”,and of course “not accepting coupons.” As a Sales
Manager youhave to planyour day andthe Associate’s breaks,lunches,recoveryshifts,fittingandother
aspectsof the associate’sday. Withoutadoubtthere are numerous tasks a Sales Manager has to juggle
duringthe day alongwithMAGIC walksthatwill happentwice during a shift, dealing with associate call
outs, trying to look for coverage for open shifts for the rest of the week, coaching, and other special
events. I quickly found it is important to empower strong associates who can help you while you
accomplish other tasks. This is very similar to what I told leaders in the infantry which was, “if you are
shooting(asa leader) whois actually leading?”Asleaderswe have many things we must prioritize, and
we must stayfocusedon the whole picture anddirection of the Store Manager. If we get tunnel vision,
somethingwillnotbe going as planned and in the end we will struggle to accomplish goals. It is just as
important to make sure that we don’t only have a plan but, other Sales Manager’s plans complement
our plan in order to support one another. As a Sales Manager, when you are not here the store is still
open,there isnopause button, youneedtoensure otherSalesManagersare onthe same page and will
cover when you are not there.
I was surprised howmuchgoesintosellingmerchandise.Itisnotas simple as puttingclothes on
the floor by brand like I thought. There is a lot of hard work, logistics, detailed steps, many hours and
handsthat touch the merchandise,frominitiallyreceivingmerchandise toputtingit onto the sales floor
presentedinawaythat appealstocustomers.Overall, the most beneficial aspect of the Sales Manager
role was shadowing the SM and then walking in their shoes. I benefited from seeing each Sales
Managers point of view, along with having discussions with the VPSM and ASM’s. I found that
shadowing Sales Associates was not beneficial and I learned the most from observing, doing and
discussingmythoughtsandobservations instead. It is important to understand what the Associates do

6. and who you are leading, however, you still gain that knowledge over the 10 weeks and learn from
them.
In orderto be successful Ibelieveyouhave tohave a supportive teamof Senior Executives that
take you in as one of their own and show you the ropes. Through my experience with Macy’s so far I
have confirmed my philosophy that I can relate, and re-tool my Military Leadership skills to be just as
successful as a Leader at Macys.