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A custom visual standards guide will detail and

explains how a store should look and how to keep

it looking that way.

A good guide/manual allows room for change and it

teaches the store employees how to access their

creativity while staying within

the boundaries of the stores image and brand.

 

Visual standards include everything that can be seen from the street throughout the store to the back door. It includes: lighting, signage, flooring, all surface materials, fixtures, merchandising the fixtures, displays, focal areas, aisles, wrap desks, daily maintenance, safety standards, back room standards, washroom standards and office standards. 

 

Once the guides are distributed, the company has a written

directive and image that can be enforced. Once the standards

are in writing, it gives management something to refer to

when working with team members on the selling floors. It is a training

tool as well as a tool for maintaining standards.

                                                                                                         

It is 100% customized to the needs of the clients company.

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What will you miss if you don't have a Custom Visual Standards Guide?

A CVSG is more than a training tool. It's a clear, concise reference book that helps a chain of stores upgrade and maintain their look.

 

Standards must be maintained in order to retain an image and feed the brand. Each person has his or her own style of creativity. Some of those ways may not be in keeping with your image. A standards manual clarifies your image and gives clear direction and boundaries to the various styles and quality of individual creativity.

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Who needs it?

If a chain of stores (of any size) has an image that requires presentation standards, or they are recreating their image and want to re-train their employees, a manual is one of the first steps to making this transition happen consistently and successfully.

 

• A good guide is a secondary form of training for new employees (on-floor training comes first.)

• Any chain of stores (two or more locations) can benefit from having this training manual.

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Some retailers who have benefited from these guides/manuals written by Linda Cahan include:

Saks Fifth Avenue

Singer Sewing Machine Company (This was sent to the international Regional Directors for 900 stores)

United Rentals (to teach/train all employees/managers how to present and sell merchandise related to their rental equipment)

American Express Travel Related Services Company (for their 112 locations in the USA)

Lancôme Cosmetics (train in-store employees in PWP and GWP displays and case-line set-up)

BPAA (Bowling Proprietors Association of America)

Totto, Bogota, Colombia

Armi Studio, Bogota, Colombia

RORI, Caracas, Venezuela

Alamar Uniforms in Omaha, NB.                                                             

Each manual was written to train existing and new employees.

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NEW SEMINAR:

KEEP YOUR IMAGE & BRAND FRESH, CURRENT and MEMORABLE:

How to develop a Visual Standards Guide for Your Company  (1 hour) 

Learn the step-by-step process to create a Custom Visual Standards Manual for your company from the CVSM expert.

Why bother? When you have a manual (in written or digital format), your new and old employees know how to maintain the look and feel of your store/s. Once it’s in writing, there are no excuses why one store looks great and another, sloppy. Employees learn and understand the “why and how” of excellent merchandising that defines your brand and image. Plus, learn how to build in the ability to change and evolve the manual along with your company.

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