Does everyone have to do this or is this something we're only doing in my zone?
It's a thing that happens 3 times a day where we have to drop whatever we're doing (putting on an order? Who cares? Frozen product sitting out in the open? Who gives a sh*t!) and talk to the customers for 5 minutes out on the floor.
Everyone freaking hates it but management said that our zone manager is pushing this crap and if he hears that someone doesn't do it, we're in trouble.
We don't have that (yet), but recently there's been this thing that plays on the speakers that asks us to face the entire store and it plays every hour or something and I'm like goddamn Kroger I've got other **** to do.
I'm sure the customers are going to love that. I'd hate to be the only customer in the store and be accosted by every single employee in the store. When I go shopping, which is extremely rare, I want to be left alone. Now, if I need help, I want somebody there to assist me. Otherwise, leave me alone.
I work in the Midwest and we had to have meetings other day about this customer connection. I have my doubts about mystery shoppers because the last time we had them some mystery shoppers told lies on employees. I cannot believe that they want to bring this back. what is corporate smoking lately? I want my old Kroger back. we never had to do this crap. we could do our job treat out customers nice without being spied on. these idiots in corporate needs to actuallt work in the store and get a taste of what we do and what we go through with and I think they would change their ways pretty quickly. what happens if a mystery shopper tells that somebody did not engage? you will be fired? you do not have enough help now andyou are trying to get people out as fast as you can and you are so tired that sometimes you cannot think straight and a mystery shopper is going to have power over you and accuse somebody of not being friendly. I have 27 years with Kroger and the only thing that is keeping me sane is thinking I have 11 months until I can check into my retirement and signing my retirement papers. I feel for the people that cannot retire because they do not have enough time in. my old Kroger is gone forever and this new Kroger is not right. god willing I will get enough money from my pension and social security so I can retire.
You know why they're probably doing this? Corporate is starting to panic over how the target OSAT score of 80% will never be met by the start of 2015, so the logic seems to be, engage, engage, engage! I can't wait for the complaints to start pouring in how customers are being bothered by employees almost constantly, further pushing the OSAT scores down. There are customers that will take the survey and complain about how they can't shop in peace, just as customers still write in to complain about the highly satisfied service bells on the front end. Good luck reaching 80% highly satisfied status on the OSAT when all the focus is on stuff customers don't want. Right now, where I'm at, our OSAT score has been stuck between 61%-67% for a very long time and that's not going to be positively impacted by every employee engaging every customer repeatedly.
Customers want low prices. The lower the prices, the more product they will buy.
Customers want speedy service. Less wait time at the deli/meat market/front end, the more likely they will be to return.
Customers want a well-stocked, clean store. Being able to buy what they stopped in for while shopping in a clean store will make them happy.
It's not that hard to figure out, but the corporate executives somehow manage to be clueless and instead try to force stuff that few customers want, like Taste of Mexico and Engagement, onto customers, and they keep trying more and more idiotic tactics all the while they wonder why only a little more than half of the customers that shop at Kroger are highly satisfied (at least where I'm at) and the rest are not.
WTF is up with all of these gimmicks lately? I mean, when I was a co-mgr, we were ass deep in Key Retailing (2004-2011), but this is just pathetic. It sounds like more and more that GO is just tossing **** at a wall to see what sticks. The problem with that is, you've got associates who don't have clue one what the important thing to work on is because you have so many programs. Now it seems like your up to Key Retailing, Refresh, OSAT, Taste of (x), Engagement and what ever other programs I don't know about.
If I was king of Kroger, I'd say back to the basics: clean stores, full shelves, great service (including enough people in the building to serve the customer). 99% of people want to go shopping in a clean building with shelves full of what they want with helpful and fast service. Price can even be a secondary concern for most. I'm sure everyone here knows of a store that they visit because of those three things, not price. Selling groceries isn't rocket surgery, but GO keeps insisting that it is.
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My views don't reflect those of anyone, not even me. I may not have even made this statement. It's all lies, all of it!
Customers want a well-stocked, clean store. Being able to buy what they stopped in for while shopping in a clean store will make them happy.
We have had a few customers mention in the OSAT survey that our store is a little dirty.
It is our parking lot, the place looks like s-h-i-t.
Utility is supposed to clean it up a little bit while emptying corral trash cans but they usually don't have the tools or time.
And as a courtesy clerk I don't get paid to pick up garbage especially since the store provides no gloves. I see garbage in our parking lot, maybe I will pick it up if it is not a dirty diaper or if it's a cola bottle or something. Everything else, bring someone out to sweep or hire a cleaning service of some kind.
Granted the inside of our store sometimes has had problems with looking clean but I am sure those results who have mentioned dirty have specifically targeted our parking lot.
It's called Friendly Fresh, and we're doing it too.
We're having corporate 'spies' come in for the next several weeks. At 3:00, 5:00, and 7:00 we stop stocking our aisle and condition the first 10 feet around endcaps ('friendly fresh' check). And we're supposed to greet every customer in case they happen to be from corporate. Yes, corporate drones in plain clothes, not mystery shoppers.
So how can we do this while stocking in bumper-to-bumper cart traffic on Sunday? Just use some common sense to read into the customers.... if it's a family with 3 screaming kids it probably isn't a drone, just a customer. If it's an old lady with a cart full of groceries, probably not corporate either. If it's a loner with a near empty basket paying you lots of attention.... BEWARE!
^ Be nice to every customer, but if you're fairly sharp, you can spot the spies.
-- Edited by Pizza1029 on Wednesday 25th of June 2014 09:11:11 AM
It's called Friendly Fresh, and we're doing it too.
We're having corporate 'spies' come in for the next several weeks. At 3:00, 5:00, and 7:00 we stop stocking our aisle and condition the first 10 feet around endcaps ('friendly fresh' check). And we're supposed to greet every customer in case they happen to be from corporate. Yes, corporate drones in plain clothes, not mystery shoppers.
So how can we do this while stocking in bumper-to-bumper cart traffic on Sunday? Just use some common sense to read into the customers.... if it's a family with 3 screaming kids it probably isn't a drone, just a customer. If it's an old lady with a cart full of groceries, probably not corporate either. If it's a loner with a near empty basket paying you lots of attention.... BEWARE!
^ Be nice to every customer, but if you're fairly sharp, you can spot the spies.
-- Edited by Pizza1029 on Wednesday 25th of June 2014 09:11:11 AM
Thing is though, you pretty much have to engage with every single customer, whether or not you suspect that person is a "spy" because these spies will be watching employees from a distance to see if the employees are engaging any and all customers. If they see an employee isn't, or only engaging some and not all customers, then that employee is marked as having failed the Three A's rule and then gets reported to management. You can't "selectively engage" with only those you spot as being potential spies.
-- Edited by GenesisOne on Wednesday 25th of June 2014 07:27:54 PM
we had engagement blitzes or whatever they were. the "happy" song would play and we were supposed to accost customers and chat them up. it was asinine but probably begat the three As except Walmart also has three As and we know how great they are...
Just going out on a limb here, but does every customer REALLY, really want to be bombarded by associates? The guy talking on his cell phone - should we interrupt his personal/business life? How about the dude rockin' out on his iPod, should be pulling him out of his zone? Maybe a group of 5 or 6 talking about their upcoming church activities? Time to interrupt? (very rude)... Or maybe the shoppers that don't speak english at all.
Friendly fresh has just no grounds in common sense... as in, watch for eye contact, and throw out a 'hi how you doin... can I help you find anything?' And do what's resonably necessary to make the customer satisfied. These customers don't want to spend 10 minutes comparing every preserve in the store... they want in and out... and that in and out is the MAIN reason they are at Kroger at not Wal-Devil.
Did corporate bother to ask the customers if they wanted to be bombarded by Kroger employees trying to strike up a conversation with them? I can just imagine every customer having to stop and talk to every Kroger employee they happen to run into.
