Investing in Employees Equals Investing in Customers
A common topic of conversation at 1to1 (not surprisingly!) is how much of a difference engaged employees make to the customer experience. I remember when Gap first opened a store in my neighborhood years ago. Its manager drew from the same pool of people as other stores in the neighborhood when first staffing the store; many of those retailers' associates were disinterested at best. Yet every employee in that Gap store was upbeat and helpful. The positive experience made you want to return to the store.
Top retailers know this. "Investing in associates equals investing in the customer experience," Chip Molloy, senior vice president and CFO of PetSmart, said during a panel discussion at National Retail Federation's annual convention, Retail's Big Show. "Finding the right talent and training those associates is a great opportunity."
Molloy explained that employees are trained, for example, to move dog owners shopping for dog food "up the aisle" from grocery brands to mid-priced "bridge" brands to premiums brands. Since pet food accounts for the bulk of PetSmart's revenue, having engaged employees who are comfortable with and trained to move customers along the value chain can make a significant impact on the bottom line.
For this reason, training associates remains a high priority for PetSmart, even in the current economy. "We have to maintain our differentiators," Molloy said. "That's what's critical in today's environment."
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