This week’s conversation about employee training and giving the customer what they want versus what they need reminded me of a story I’d like to share with you.
I’m on the road a lot, giving talks and presentations to other independent retailers and professionals in the pet industry and pet food industry. Now, if you’re going to know one thing about me, you should know that technology is absolutely not my thing. I’m in the breakdown lane on the information super highway. The only reason I have a blog is I have a magic blogging gnome!
But I was going to give a great presentation, and I wanted to record it. So I went out to buy a digital recorder. I went to Tweeters , whose tagline at that time was “A Boatload of Knowledge”
I drove past several of Tweeter’s competitors; past the Circuit City and the Best Buy. I knew I’d need expert advice, because I didn’t have a clue!
So I get to Tweeter’s. Guess what? Nobody there had a clue about digital recorders. Not the first idea. But they worked with me on it. We futzed around, until I had some kind of idea how to operate the thing.
Still, I was a little miffed. These guys touted themselves as the expert, and they couldn’t show me how to use their merchandise! Had these employees been trained, they could have easily demonstrated how the digital recorder works. Not only that, but they could have explained the difference between different digital recorders, recommend which one was best for me, and helped me make a more informed purchase.
But that’s not the kicker. Oh no. That didn’t come until I was back at my hotel room, minutes before I was scheduled to appear. That’s when I discovered that my great new digitial recorder didn’t have any batteries! Not only didn’t it not have batteries, but it took some special kind of battery I couldn’t just get from the hotel gift shop!
That’s when the boatload of knowledge sank.
Employee training is critical to ensure not only that the customer gets what they want, but that they get what they need! We don’t want our customers getting home only to discover they need batteries, cables, or other vital component that our crew could have easily reminded them of. We have to make sure that our crew remembers, no matter what industry we’re in, to ensure that the customer has everything they need to enjoy their purchase.
