Boards

supermarket chains really are the worst, aren't they?

But it did make me think. Most businesses it is a given that the staff try and encourage shoppers to spend. Some do little else, and have twat pressure sales staff. Supermarkets however the offers are just displayed for us to pick and choose, and the staff have to be reminded to try and get people to spend money. But what are they supposed to do? Walk up to people and suggest they get the organic apples instead of value?

Shocked and appalled.

Kind though of the guardian inviting us to get involved too: "What do you think about the mistake? Are you surprised retailers have such motivational posters for their staff? Will it put you off shopping at Sainsbury’s? Share your comments in the thread."

will ask you to do a degree of this. Whether it is disguised as 'good customer service' or however they sugar coat it, it all comes down to wanting you to increase your ATV, and their profits.
It's funny that this has clearly been put in the wrong place, but the backlash and tweets things I have seen like 'Disgusting! I'm going straight to the press' is laughably ignorant.

This is hardly despicable, although having a few posters knocking about it hardly going to encourage staff to do it. Supermarkets, remember. 90% of your frontline staff don't give two twelfths of a shit about you. Possibly even less.

Exception to this rule is Waitrose, who of course have a partnership system and are thus naturally incentivised, and rewarded, for good and profitable customer service.

Shows Sainsbury's to be strategically moronic, more than anything.

SUBTHREAD: What have you been forced to upsell?

Anywhere I've ever worked has been too disorganised to properly put the squeeze on. The best was working at Blockbuster when they did 2 haagen-dazs for a fiver. We'd desperately not mention it, obscure the signs etc so people wouldn't notice and we could get ourselves £1 tubs. God we were hopeless.

horrifyingly low target.

'have you found everything you intended to buy today?'

Has anyone ever said no? What happens?

I mean, it's quite funny, but it's not something to go into a rage about, surely?

Of promotions such as multibuys when asked about certain productss

The cheapest chocolate bar at the till is like 60p. What else are they supposed to say?
"Can I interest you in a pack of cigarettes, lighter or a painkillers"

you might even take a photo to show your mum. That would be it.

Super cool for not caring though, I mean if we all don't care companies can do whatever they want, so that's cool.

Crying with laughter #50pChallenge "Would Sir like some more biscuits?"

Served Victoria Beckham. Told her that Brooklyn's mini pretend trainers needed protection from the rain (he was a baby, barely walking). Sold her a can of this stuff. Later realised that it was shoe polish. Doubt she cared.

and our daily targets were to sell 3% handbags and 7% shoe care (the percentages being 3% and 7% of our total transactions for the day).

We were fairly pressured into up-selling to every single customer, especially when I worked in a Central London store, where they seemed to be insanely neurotic about pushing handbags and shoe trees at every poor customer that walked through the door. Felt sorry for them sometimes and some got arsey, which I don’t blame them for tbh.

definitely didn't just silently nod and let him have the goods anyway.

It's a tired, pathetic attempt by someone somewhere to motivate staff into making the company more money. Some chump has come up with this idea in a very boring meeting. It's the kind of thing people learn on away days. It's a shit solution to making the company more money - "er, let's just sell more yeah?". Crap. We should fighting against things like this ever needing to happen.

It's so, so lame.

They decided that if they could *just* get every customer in every store across the country to spend an extra £1.17, they'd meet some crazily high multi-million pound profit target. So every month, there'd be a different product that had its price reduced to £1.17, which we were supposed to hawk around to customers. I.e. "How about this lemon drizzle cake, madam? Just £1.17 this week."

It was weird actually. That was just part of this monthly meeting we had to go to, where we all had to sit around and watch this corporate video of Justin King (ceo at the time, who did do brilliantly for them tbf) visiting a branch and being treated like the messiah. And sometimes Justin would introduce "a sneak peak of Jamie's new advert" as if anyone gave a shit. Was the sort of video I imagine you get shown on your lunch break in North Korea.

...we had 'The Halfords Pledge™" printed on blue perspex which was mounted on the door to the shop floor. Think there we 4 points - can't remember what they are now - that were supposed to motivate you when you entered the retail environment.

One day, someone unscrewed it and put it back the wrong way up. Andy Wiggins (senior manager) went BALLISTIC as you can imagine!

"What if top brass from Head Office decide to wander in for a store visit? Huh? Not so funny then".

He also used to smash coffee cups against the wall outside if people didn't do the washing up in the staffroom.

Selling shit DVDs for £2 when someone spent £10 or more. Told them I wasn't doing it, the manager told me it was my job, so I just walked out. I don't care about the idea of it (although the greed is pretty sickening), but its crazily demeaning to the staff