Here’s an Idea

August 3, 2008 · Filed Under Opinion · Comment 

Is it too much to ask for when you expect an employee to know the product on sale? Retail outlets for clothing, accessories, home decor items, foot wear and restaurants seem to have it figured out. Only in rare cases do you find an employee unaware of where the brand section is, or what the dish contains.

The trouble however arises when more diverse products are on sale. Books for example. Nothing impresses more when the employee knows the book by title, authors name, availability, release dates etc. But that is rarely the case. So how do we achieve this? It is definitely far more complex than remembering which size of jeans goes in which section of the store.

A possible solution -compartmentalise. Not the store, the employees. Instead of having all 10 employees handle the customer traffic at random, allot each of them one genre of books. Each employee trained to specialise in her genre, she knows the authors, the latest releases, the biggest bestsellers, the rare publications, prices and hardcover releases.

Sure, all this can be done with a click on the internal search engine. The idea is not to do what everyone does, but to do a little more. The idea is to cross from being good to being great.

Catch Them Young..

January 31, 2008 · Filed Under Opinion · Comment 

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Every business seeks a loyal, intelligent and “chatty” customer base – people who can be wooed into liking you, people who will choose you over others for some reasons and most importantly people who will talk about how great you are.

Which section of the human population fits this bill with added benefits like a longer life span, less inclination to research other brands offerings and low maintenance expense?

Children.

Reliance fresh holds educational trips of it’s outlets almost everyday.Children from various schools visit the outlet where an employee tells them about the superior fruits and vegetables stocked, strict quality standards followed, year round discounts – perfect for mommy.The ’tour’ ends as a baker finishes telling the kids about their extra delicious cakes as they walk through aisles of freshly bread.

Catching them young or Pure brainwashing – whatever the strategy, it is almost perfect and costs next to nothing.