Not Everything Needs the Same Amount of You — Weekly Retail Tidbits #261
Not Everything Needs the Same Amount of You
“The only thing worse than training an employee and having them leave, is to not train them, and have them stay.”
— Zig Ziglar
A teacher told me recently that the head of their school sends emails to parents and staff that are obviously written by AI. It has stirred up frustration, and quite frankly anger, among the teachers and the parents.
The information in those emails is correct, timely, and needed. So why the anger?
Not because AI was used. People expect that now. Because it feels like the human opted out.
Every message carries two things — the information, and the sound of the person who wrote it. In those emails the information showed up. The person did not.
Sounding like AI and not yourself says, “I did not want to take the time to write this myself, but I still want you to read it.” And then signing it as if you wrote it, well, that makes it all the worse.
The distinction is AI-assisted versus AI-substituted. Almost nobody minds assisted — it still sounds like you. Substituted is when you disappear.
Train it to sound like you, which takes real time. Or admit it.
I do both. I write these tidbits, then my well-trained AI team reads them. If they have good suggestions, I use them. I am completely in the loop. If you and I work together, you may have received an email from me that my AI team drafted. It was edited by me and sent by me. It sounds like me, for the most part. The difference is that I give credit: “AmyFay and Team 😉”
Which brings me to the part that is not about AI at all.
If you told a new employee to build the front display with little training, I am guessing it would not have your store’s look. You would tweak it. You might start over.
Or say you sent a buyer to market for the first time. She may have years of buying experience, but not for your store. What would you need to tell her before she wrote a single order?
Not everything needs the same amount of you. A routine reorder from someone who knows your formulas can run on its own. The display that greets people at the door cannot. Neither can a new order picking out new product — that one needs someone who knows all the rules that make you you.
This week: pick one thing you hand off — a display, a first order, greeting a customer — and ask yourself how well the person receiving your handoff is trained to do the job you expect.
The head of that school brought in help and never trained it. A new employee who has not been trained would give the same kind of result. Training takes real time. So does writing the note yourself. Both tell people they matter.
xoxo,
❤️ AmyFay
Technology Tip
Use Your Words
My 3 month old grandson is finding his voice more every day. “That’s right, use your words,” I hear myself baby-talking to him as he coos and goos smiling at me.
Guess what? Not only is it easier to “use your words” verbally instead of typing — it helps the AI understand you better when you do.
Simple, easy tip: Dictate, don’t type, when sharing information with AI.
3 Tango Tidbits
The Winding Road — Felt Anime Kitten Ornaments
|
|
How cute are these? Every piece is shaped by hand in a Kathmandu wool workshop where about 200 women are employed, earning for their families with their children’s school tuition paid. And moms and grandmothers love that these do not break — on a tree that gets bumped, or plucked for play.
ORI London — The Canfield Backpack
|
|
This is the one I actually carry, and I love how organized it makes me feel even when it is super stuffed and heavy. The founder got caught in a downpour with everything in his backpack soaked, then started watching how people carry a bag all day — to the office, to school pickup, out after work. So he built for all of it. Bright colors, weather resistant, a pocket for everything.
Bunnies by the Bay — Three of Our Best Sellers
|
|
Three of our best sellers — and two of them are books. What Will My Grandchild Call Me? Mumsy, Nonna, Tutu, Yaya, Mimi, GiGi, Poppy, Jiji, Zayde, Coach, to name a few. “Whatever you call me will sound special to my ears.” And Best Friends Indeed stars Skipit the pup. Classic quality you can count on from Bunnies by the Bay.
Featured on Instagram
One sized Italian clothing for a variety of heights, ages, and styles by Cobblestone Living 🤞
 |
| View on Instagram → |
“No writer long remains incognito.”
— E.B. White, The Elements of Style
|
The part you think is obvious could be the part you need to repeat the most. xoxo, |
|
June Market Fun
With our star eyes on, because Tango is exploding with great stuff! 🌟
|
|
|
|
| Shop Tango here → |
The Tango Showroom is open 10 to 4, Monday through Friday, at AmericasMart in Atlanta, Georgia. Come see us! 🌟
AmyFay Chandler
She reads all of this so you don’t have to. Based in Knoxville, TN, AmyFay is a wholesale sales rep for the brands she represents across Tennessee and Kentucky, and she oversees the D2C side for Sweet Tree Jewelry and Caroline B Cook — two of those brands — making sure brick-and-mortar retailers always come first. She writes Weekly Retail Tidbits (now in its 261st issue) because she’s living the same questions her retail customers are living, and figures things out alongside them. Her whole project: helping independent retailers stay human while the rest of the industry tries to automate them away.
Also from AmyFay
Two of the brands I represent run their D2C side through me, with brick-and-mortar partners prioritized at every step:
- Sweet Tree Jewelry — school-spirit polymer-clay earrings
- Caroline B Cook — children’s books (the Virtue Series, Church Kitty)
Wholesale questions? [email protected]
Don’t miss next Friday
Get the Weekly Retail Tidbits in your inbox
One long-form read every Friday morning — a story from the shop floor, and a point you can actually use. Read by 3,800+ independent retailers before they unlock the front door.
