Treeline Tips and Tricks: A Quick Tip From a Great Buyer

By Joe Foster, Edelweiss/Treeline Education and Outreach Coordinator

One of the more useful tips I’ve heard illustrates what, in my mind, separates a good buyer from a great one: Communication. There are a lot of buyers out there who are great at picking out those great, great books from among the thousands of titles they sift through each season. That’s the job description, after all. The hard part, though, is communicating with your staff so they not only know what’s coming, but so they’re also as knowledgeable about those titles as you are. Doing this consistently can be a challenge and, as with most things, coming up with a system can be incredibly useful.

Here’s a quick tip from a buyer who does this well:

When building an order in Edelweiss, if you come across a title you’re going to buy in larger quantities than usual, throw a tag on it. This buyer simply uses the tag “Big Books.” If she buys a case or more (this will depend on your store’s buying habits), she tags a title, which essentially adds it to an ever-evolving list.

You can find more about Tags here.

Each month, this buyer goes to her Tags tab, clicks in to the Big Books tag, which has become a large list of titles that she has invested in. She filters that list to show titles coming out that month, like so:

That usually creates a relatively small list of titles. She then prints this list out, using one of the PDF options available in her Actions menu, and puts it on the back counter so the store’s staff can check it out when they have some time. Just like that, they have a clear idea of what’s going to be piled high in the next few weeks. This buyer also quickly discusses these titles as part of a monthly staff meeting.

This is a pretty simple but effective way to alert your staff to upcoming books about which you’re excited.

Questions? Contact Edelweiss support at [email protected].