If You Ain't Cheatin' You Ain't Am'zon
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Amazon has been up to some tricky stuff lately according to the Wall Street Journal.
Their story details Amazon's efforts to suborn a former employee of the Trader Joe's chain into revealing corporate secrets. Also, the article details how Amazon's competitive and cutthroat culture can lead to undesirable overreach.
My cheating allusion in the title comes from auto racing, NASCAR in particular, where it is oft twanged, If you ain't cheatin' you ain't racin' .
That is why each race car is inspected minutely for any deviation from the required standard prior to lining up. And, it is why at each pit stop at least two NASCAR umpires observe what is done while the car is stopped for new tires and gas, etc.
A decade ago when I was living in NASCAR country, in North Carolina, I wrote about the Chapel Hill TJs and their tendency for taciturnity when asked how they do so well what they do so well.
Secrecy aside, TJs offers an envious level of customer service and I can say that the Salem, Oregon TJs, offers even better customer service than did the store in NC, 3000 miles away.
Why?
I attribute part of the difference to the Oregon Way, an elusive cultural tendency to help others. Likely it stems from pioneer days and early agricultural communities.
Many Oregonians genuinely help others. It is not a corporate mandate; it just happens from the way people are brought up in Oregon.
Nor is that spirit exclusive to the Salem TJs; I find it at WalMart, at Winco, and several other stores I frequent, even on occasion at Costco.
Yes, there are exceptions (Californians moving north! and easterners moving west!) but for the most part, people of all ages see nothing wrong in going the extra mile.
So, it is interesting to read of Amazon (no slouch in regard to excellent customer service) and its sneaky efforts to uncover TJs trade secrets. Several comments to the WSJ story point out that ?everyone does this? and that there is ?nothing illegal? about trying to work a fast one on your competitor.
Still there?s an ethical plenty to think about.
Anyway, here is my revised and updated 2013 take on TJs service tradition, Customer Service Secrets from Trader Joe?s
Because of its tight-lipped ways, Trader Joe's can make for the wrong kind of story, all about the covertness of its new German owners. For example, this headline from a 2010 story in Fortune: Inside the secret world of Trader Joe's
It is true, TJ managers will not talk about the business side of the business, but the crew, as the staff are known, offers just about the best service in the retail grocery business. You won't get TJs kind of love at the Piggly Wiggly.
A TJ crewmember interacts with you more like a person than a consumer. TJ staff appear to understand the fundamental truth about retail: if you help people find what they are looking for, and make them feel good in the process, they will spend money in your store and they will come back.
The money from the sales, the profits, then can be used to further enhance the enterprise for staff and customers.
When I called the nearby TJs, inquiring about a discontinued item, I was put straight thru to the store manager. I told him about my dismay. When would the product be back? He expressed surprise, but in the time it takes to check a computer inventory, he confirmed the sad news. Both of us commiserated about the situation. However, when I asked him if I could come by and interview him about their excellent customer service, his tone became wary.
He?d have to check with headquarters. I offered to write a letter explaining my interest, who I was, and how I worked, but he said no, that was not necessary.
He would get back to me in a week. He never did.
So, as you can see, TJs strength is not in talking about the organization but in doing service better than most other food stores.
TJs plays its cards close to the vest, perhaps for their own right reasons when you have Amazon spying.
Still, you can derive much about a business by how you are treated. TJs staff have an obvious interest in what the customer thinks. Is this an inculcated empathy? Or, maybe that empathy is in the corporate DNA, an inherited gene from TJs California culture that new leadership has the smarts not to re-engineer.
Well, how does an organization establish a uniform friendliness toward its clients? Somehow, TJs staff can be spontaneous and not worry about getting yanked by corporate policy.
As much as I like Costco, the staff on the floor all too often avoid eye contact with customers. If the customer makes the effort and asks a question, the response is usually positive, but it is up to me to take the initiative.
TJs apparent policy is to look people in the eye and ask how to help.
Better, the policy seems to say, if you see someone who might need help, you help. You stop re-stocking the shelf and help the customer find what she is looking for.
You take the customer in hand, figuratively.
You do not leave me wandering around hoping for serendipity to come to my rescue.
I was pushing one of TJs tiny grocery carts - with several bottles of wine and olive oil rolling around - when one of the crew commented about the party I must be having. Then she asked if I could use a box for the bottles. Actually, she did not ask me, she got the box and put the bottles in it so I could continue do my shopping.
Nearby, a boy, age three or four, was imitating two TJs crew re-stocking a bottom shelf. This was fun for the little boy. Work as fun. Imagine that.
It is remarkable to me that the staff were OK with the little boy's playful interest instead of telling the parent TJs insurance does not permit children playing with the merchandise.
I wonder what TJs policy manual looks like? Is it hundreds of pages of detailed direction or is it one page with the simple statement, Help the customer!
I cannot confirm that, I can only admire how TJs helps their customers.
An outsider with some inside info might conclude that TJs good staff benefits package makes for good customer relations. No doubt it helps, but good pay is hardly the only reason. It is in the corporate culture. It is what is transmitted and demonstrated reciprocally to every crew member by every crew member.
When someone needs help, you help.
***********
STEAL THIS BOOK, if you can.
:
And, for examples of effective workplace collaboration with clients:
Leading from the Middle, is available at Amazon.
Copyright all text John Lubans 2024
Their story details Amazon's efforts to suborn a former employee of the Trader Joe's chain into revealing corporate secrets. Also, the article details how Amazon's competitive and cutthroat culture can lead to undesirable overreach.
My cheating allusion in the title comes from auto racing, NASCAR in particular, where it is oft twanged, If you ain't cheatin' you ain't racin' .
That is why each race car is inspected minutely for any deviation from the required standard prior to lining up. And, it is why at each pit stop at least two NASCAR umpires observe what is done while the car is stopped for new tires and gas, etc.
A decade ago when I was living in NASCAR country, in North Carolina, I wrote about the Chapel Hill TJs and their tendency for taciturnity when asked how they do so well what they do so well.
Secrecy aside, TJs offers an envious level of customer service and I can say that the Salem, Oregon TJs, offers even better customer service than did the store in NC, 3000 miles away.
Why?
I attribute part of the difference to the Oregon Way, an elusive cultural tendency to help others. Likely it stems from pioneer days and early agricultural communities.
Many Oregonians genuinely help others. It is not a corporate mandate; it just happens from the way people are brought up in Oregon.
Nor is that spirit exclusive to the Salem TJs; I find it at WalMart, at Winco, and several other stores I frequent, even on occasion at Costco.
Yes, there are exceptions (Californians moving north! and easterners moving west!) but for the most part, people of all ages see nothing wrong in going the extra mile.
So, it is interesting to read of Amazon (no slouch in regard to excellent customer service) and its sneaky efforts to uncover TJs trade secrets. Several comments to the WSJ story point out that ?everyone does this? and that there is ?nothing illegal? about trying to work a fast one on your competitor.
Still there?s an ethical plenty to think about.
Anyway, here is my revised and updated 2013 take on TJs service tradition, Customer Service Secrets from Trader Joe?s
Because of its tight-lipped ways, Trader Joe's can make for the wrong kind of story, all about the covertness of its new German owners. For example, this headline from a 2010 story in Fortune: Inside the secret world of Trader Joe's
It is true, TJ managers will not talk about the business side of the business, but the crew, as the staff are known, offers just about the best service in the retail grocery business. You won't get TJs kind of love at the Piggly Wiggly.
A TJ crewmember interacts with you more like a person than a consumer. TJ staff appear to understand the fundamental truth about retail: if you help people find what they are looking for, and make them feel good in the process, they will spend money in your store and they will come back.
The money from the sales, the profits, then can be used to further enhance the enterprise for staff and customers.
When I called the nearby TJs, inquiring about a discontinued item, I was put straight thru to the store manager. I told him about my dismay. When would the product be back? He expressed surprise, but in the time it takes to check a computer inventory, he confirmed the sad news. Both of us commiserated about the situation. However, when I asked him if I could come by and interview him about their excellent customer service, his tone became wary.
He?d have to check with headquarters. I offered to write a letter explaining my interest, who I was, and how I worked, but he said no, that was not necessary.
He would get back to me in a week. He never did.
So, as you can see, TJs strength is not in talking about the organization but in doing service better than most other food stores.
TJs plays its cards close to the vest, perhaps for their own right reasons when you have Amazon spying.
Still, you can derive much about a business by how you are treated. TJs staff have an obvious interest in what the customer thinks. Is this an inculcated empathy? Or, maybe that empathy is in the corporate DNA, an inherited gene from TJs California culture that new leadership has the smarts not to re-engineer.
Well, how does an organization establish a uniform friendliness toward its clients? Somehow, TJs staff can be spontaneous and not worry about getting yanked by corporate policy.
As much as I like Costco, the staff on the floor all too often avoid eye contact with customers. If the customer makes the effort and asks a question, the response is usually positive, but it is up to me to take the initiative.
TJs apparent policy is to look people in the eye and ask how to help.
Better, the policy seems to say, if you see someone who might need help, you help. You stop re-stocking the shelf and help the customer find what she is looking for.
You take the customer in hand, figuratively.
You do not leave me wandering around hoping for serendipity to come to my rescue.
I was pushing one of TJs tiny grocery carts - with several bottles of wine and olive oil rolling around - when one of the crew commented about the party I must be having. Then she asked if I could use a box for the bottles. Actually, she did not ask me, she got the box and put the bottles in it so I could continue do my shopping.
Nearby, a boy, age three or four, was imitating two TJs crew re-stocking a bottom shelf. This was fun for the little boy. Work as fun. Imagine that.
It is remarkable to me that the staff were OK with the little boy's playful interest instead of telling the parent TJs insurance does not permit children playing with the merchandise.
I wonder what TJs policy manual looks like? Is it hundreds of pages of detailed direction or is it one page with the simple statement, Help the customer!
I cannot confirm that, I can only admire how TJs helps their customers.
An outsider with some inside info might conclude that TJs good staff benefits package makes for good customer relations. No doubt it helps, but good pay is hardly the only reason. It is in the corporate culture. It is what is transmitted and demonstrated reciprocally to every crew member by every crew member.
When someone needs help, you help.
***********
STEAL THIS BOOK, if you can.
:
And, for examples of effective workplace collaboration with clients:
Leading from the Middle, is available at Amazon.
Copyright all text John Lubans 2024