Shane Madden is General Manager at the Retail Liquor Specialist Group (RLSG), an Australian company that has a family heritage of independent retailing spanning four generations over 117 years. Along with Tanya Madden, Shane owns and operates 11 IBA bannered stores in NSW and ACT, with a team of dedicated and passionate staff.
This year, the RLSG’s Cellarbrations Gunnedah store took out NSW Liquor Store of the Year at the 2016 Retail Liquor Industry Awards for Excellence, and its Cellarbrations Tamworth store awarded Excellence in Customer Service.
Sandy Winsor, Store Manager at Cellarbrations GunnedahRLSG’s success is testament to what can be done when you build a strong team. Speaking on the 2016 Retail Liquor Industry Awards wins, Shane said, “I have no doubt it is due to having passionate staff that have an eye for detail. Sandy Winsor is our Store Manager at Cellarbrations Gunnedah and has been with us since that store opened 3 years ago. RLSG have won a number of awards over the years but never the big one, a great honour and a fantastic effort.”
“Stephen Young is the Manager at Cellarbrations Tamworth, the team there work very hard on the customers’ needs, whether it be carrying their boxes or engaging in tastings or simply educating and talking about products. Another great effort.”
Shane says finding the right staff is “imperative”, though not easy.
“It’s not a simple task, I know that’s not exclusive to us, though. Over time we have changed our key requirements, I think we are now attracting and retaining more specific skill sets. It takes up a large parcel of my time, it’s something we have gotten better at and we have plans in place for this to continue improving,” said Shane.
More than a business owner, Shane says he is involved in some aspect of each and every store, every single day, and regularly spends days to weeks on the road, working and training with Store Managers and staff.
When asked about RLSG’s current business model, Shane says there’s no real secret to the achievements so far, “it’s simply hard work”. But pair this with an open and passionate team and a comprehensive IBA framework, and the secret might be in there.
“RLSG have a very flat structure, Stephen Young, Melissa Ashmore and of course Tanya Madden and myself are readily available to all of our staff regardless of the position they hold within our business. We have Store Managers obviously in all stores and Area Managers in strategic locations who fulfill more than one role. Add to this the comprehensive framework that IBA provide us via Cellarbrations and The Bottle-O, overlap that with local knowledge and understanding as well as a passion for customer satisfaction and you are starting to make some progress,” said Shane.
And the trick to holding on to great staff once you’ve found them? “I feel that it’s about relationships, about open communication, staff should have a clear understanding of expectations. Most importantly, be sure to give credit where and when its due,” said Shane.
Top image: Tanya and Shane Madden
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