We started our journey at becco with the notion that if we gave store customers the ability to rate the performance of store associates, it would drive associate accountability to deliver consistently great customer experiences. Like what UBER did in the car service market.
Ratings are so prevalent in social media, we thought that we could extend the cultural acceptance of social ratings to the retail workplace. We were wrong. Store associates resented being rated and did not willingly participate.
Ratings imply that one person is rated or liked better than another person. Ratings imply subjective rankings. Ratings imply competition between individuals. That’s not the way the best retail operations work. Winning retailers succeed on the basis of their store teams working together.
Change focus from Ratings to Customer Feedback
As a result, we changed our approach from asking shoppers to rate store associates to asking them to provide customer feedback on whether store associates completed specific customer experience based actions.
For store associates it was a change from “How do you like me?” to “How can I better serve you?” The motivation for store associates became more about understanding how they could provide better customer experiences.
The results were dramatic. Store associates were much more receptive to participating in the program.
We all want feedback
Any employee who values their job welcomes constructive feedback that can show the way to self-respect, growth, achievements and advancement. In a Zenger/Folkman survey, 72% said they thought their performance would improve if their managers would provide corrective feedback.
At becco, we have found the way to collect the types of customer feedback that can help store associates improve their performance. To chat with Stuart about our experiences collecting customer feedback on the performance of store associates, pick a time here.