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A Brand Promise Undelivered

Posted by Sue Easby on Mon, Dec 07, 2009
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It really does fascinate me to no end how much money retailers spend telling their customers what their brand promise is. They promise to have the best selection of product. They promise to have the best price. Or they promise to have the best service. Yet somehow, someway, when we arrive at one of those stores we are inevitably disappointed by the fact that they really are not living up to their brand promise.

Why is that? Tons of dollars are spent each year in advertising, in logistics, even in customer satisfaction and analysis surveys. With all that data and understanding of their stores, I ask you, how much is spent on the staff that has to deliver on that brand promise? How much time, resources and even money is actually spent on retail training. In other words, how many frontline sales associates truly understand their retailer's brand promise and know how to live it on every shift?

It is scary to see how many retailers stop training after the first few weeks of orientation. Many have a great orientation program because they are "used to the turnover" or seasonal hiring cycles. The unfortunate thing I have found is how training tends to only be focused on orientation and/or for management. There isn't a lot of training or communication or coaching provided for associates (full or part-time) who have been with the company for 2 to 5 years but who have not aspired to or perhaps haven't chosen to go into management.

Retailers need to remember that the brand promise can be designed at head office or by the owner of a store, but it is the frontline associates who have to deliver that experience. In order to have associates truly walking the talk of the brand promise, training, coaching and communication have to be at the heart of everything retailers do.

Training does not need to be expensive. It does, however, need to be considered an ongoing process and not a single event. . How many of us actually learned to ride a bike by being shown once on a video and then told to go out and do it? Think of training more like this: message, practice, message, practice, message, observation, message, feedback, practice and start again. Training messages have to be communicated often and regularly and practice and coaching need to be an ongoing part of an associate's work life.

A brand promise is a beautiful thing when it is actually delivered on. What are you doing to ensure your associates are delivering on yours?

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Who really cares about Customer Service? How to get associates to care

Posted by Kasandra Clarke on Thu, Oct 08, 2009 @ 12:58 PM
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Have you ever been to customerservicescoreboard.com?...it can be very enlightening.View your results and have your store managers and associates go there to understand the impact...positive and negative... that their actions have on your reputation.

Most associates do not realize they can have such a dramatic impact.

How can you help your employees recognize and care about Customer Service.

1. Connect it to their pay

2. Connect it to their job satisfaction

3. Connect it to the job itself

 

1. Connect it to their pay

By helping a customer find what they need and suggesting all the appropriate accessories they will leave happy and you will have a bigger sale, which adds to your commission, bonus or spiff.

i.e. A girl comes in looking for a pair of jeans. By chatting with her you find out she needs the jeans for a big date. By learning that key piece of information you can help her to look really great for her date - by suggesting a top, belt and jewellery to create a whole new outfit. That creates a win-win situation, she leaves happy and it added $ to your pay.

2. Connect it to job satisfaction

Customer satisfaction makes the job more interesting and fun.  You need to be creative to find the best solution for a customer. There is much more variety in the job.

Referring back to the example above - the girl who came in for a pair of jeans. It became more interesting to try and find her the perfect outfit vs just grabbing her the right size of jeans.

3. Connect it to the job itself

If customers are not satisfied they will buy elsewhere and you will not have a job! Sometimes it is really that simple and employees need to be reminded of this. Many employees do not understand the basics of business and do not understand the impact that reduced sales have on their job. Give them an opportunity to be involved upfront when they can have an impact vs just letting them go once the sales have declined. Give them a real world example they can relate to.

i.e. If we sell 100 jeans this week we can give all of you 20 hours next week.  

Good luck, good service and good sales to you all. 

 

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