Have
you felt that the restaurant where you spent a few hundreds or even thousands
provided a great meal but the service was basic, if not atrocious?
Have
you experienced cashiers without any life at cash tills in supermarkets who
hardly look at the customers faces?
Have
you encountered sales staff at apparel boutiques who are not interested to show
you varieties of merchandise?
Have
you seen sales staff at a mobile retail store who are more engrossed in their
own smartphones playing games or watching Youtube than serving you?
There
are many such examples that we could discuss in detail and the prime reason for
this is that the Retailer has provided limited or nil empowerment to the staff.
I had a similar example this morning. I was at Café Coffee Day Ispahani Centre
(Chennai) with a guest and we ordered two cold beverages which arrived
fashionably late after 10 minutes. One sip and the Frappe was lesser by a
quarter. In 3-4 minutes my drink was over! And it was meant to be a cold drink.
After a while, I went to order a Cappuccino and again had issues with the staff
who were novices and were under training while the senior guy was not around.
When he appeared suddenly I told him about the cold-less Frappe and he just
gave me a blank look – nothing more. No apology, no offer to replace the drink,
nothing. I wouldn’t blame him. This is how most of our large Retail chains work
who are facing severe challenges in employee management.
While
we could debate what the staff in the above example could have done, I think
the issue should be addressed at the Corporate level than at the store level. Worldwide,
many retail stores, especially in services businesses such as food and
entertainment have given a lot of empowerment to their staff across hierarchies.
For example, walk in to a Starbucks and order a drink – if you didn’t like it
and inform the guys behind the counter, they would just replace it without
battling an eyelid. Yes, there could be some cunning customers who do it
purposely to give a try for some new beverages, but “Customer Delight” which we
discussed in the previous article is foremost for such Retail Brands than the
few sour apples.
Indeed,
many small and medium retailers have empowered their staff immensely and I must
give credit to such Entrepreneurs as well. It is not without a reason that some
brands have grown their businesses immensely while established ones falter.
Even large retailers are empowering their staff. Case in example: The Store
Managers at The Future Group outlets are designated as “Kartas” not without a
reason. Karta is the official name of the person who heads a business managed
by a Hindu United Family (HUF) and the Future Group has just taken a leaf out
of it. The Karta of a Future Group is fully empowered to take decisions
pertaining to his/her store, ofcourse what’s within their areas of power &
consideration.
There
is inertia among Business owners to empower their staff due to trust deficit
and employee dependability. However, with the right coaching & mentoring,
this can be very well be overcome and businesses can indeed succeed.
