Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

The other day I was in a large grocery store chain.  I won`t mention names but it`s the one that forces every checker to call you by your name by reading it off the bottom of the receipt - which is funny because I use my parents` club card but my debit card so they never know which name to call me.  Half the time I get my mom`s name and half the time I get mine. 

They also force their employees to greet you if you come within like 2 feet of them.  It`s all fake and annoying to me because it`s all so insincere.

So, I`m over at their bakery looking a the large array of artisan rustic breads trying to decide which one would be the perfect topper for my French Onion Soup and the bakery gal says comes within 2 feet of me which prompts her to ask if I need help.  I really didn`t, but I said, "Oh, I`m just trying to decide which bread would be best on my french onion soup."  She was like, "uh, okay..." and then turned around and walked into the back.   I stood there thinking, "Wow - you really missed the boat.  You`re the bakery expert and you could have picked up any loaf and handed it to me and said, `this one would be perfect` but instead you acted like I was a moron for talking to you."    Yet, I`m supposed to believe this chain truly teaches their employees to be interested in me because they greet me like automatons when I enter their personal space.  I did grab some bread but I left just feeling okay about them, not feeling any special love about their fancy-schmancy bakery section. 

I think listening and responding appropriately to a customer is an art.  Is it an art you`ve developed?  Can you share a time when you listened to a customer and got rewarded for doing so?  I think it`s what sets GREAT businesses apart from mediocre ones. 

~Kim

I listen everyday, every project. 

Being in the visual development business just isn`t about pretty pictures and spatial relationships.  I had an interesting conversation with an account executive about a pending (rush) project.  Since she has conversations/meetings directly with the client, listening to her gives me insight into managements style, likes/dislikes, ideas not conveyed in an email, etc. 

More importantly, that single conversation, allowed me an opportunity to offer advise and gain feedback on new techniques and creative strategies I`m implementing this year.  AND, that one single project had turned into another. 

Remember, conversation is a two-way vehicle in which both parties listen and respond to each other. 



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Joann Sondy
Creative Aces
Designing visual communications to enhance your company & its story.

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Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

My favorite is when you get to a checkout counter and they ask you, "Did you find what you were looking for today?"

I always say, "No."

Then they`re stumped. They have no idea what happens next. So they stop, think for a bit, look at me, and say, "Well, I hope you find everything you`re looking for today." LOL!!

Rote training....it`s a wonderful thing. :-D

What I find funny is that you all talk about training. Why do people need to be TRAINED to help customers at their place of employment? I will never understand why it is so difficult for people to provide customer service. I don`t mean to be a jerk, but I sometimes tell these people thats why you work here and make $8 per hour. And they wonder why they can`t move up in the world.....

I think the reason for focusing on training is that most businesses today are being handed young adults, ready to work, just out of school, who`ve learned nothing whatsoever about how to survive and thrive in the real world. We could just accept that they`re not learning anything in school, but that wouldn`t help much in terms of finding someone to do the necessary work today.

Keep in mind that there`s only 1 reason to hire anyone at all into a business, and that`s because real work *must* be done in order for the business to continue. The owner/operator of the business can`t do it all themselves, so the choice is either get help or go out of business (or severely limit the nature of the business).

Back when the school system was closely related to the functioning of the larger, surrounding society, it was pretty much taken for granted that graduating students would be prepared for that society. Since the school system has been split off from both reality and society, students are pretty much completely unprepared for anything useful in the larger world.

So what: just accept that, write them off, and find those who are prepared? Where? Many companies are finding those prepared employees from the immigrant pool, or are going overseas, where the educational system still functions.