December 5, 2006
Customers Go to Work for Retailers
Retailers are looking for knowledgeable sales help. So where are they going to find people who have some real insights into how it operates and the products it sells? The answer is literally right in front of their faces. It’s their customers.
An Associated Press report said retailers such as Best Buy, Target and RadioShack are among those who have begun recruiting future employees from the checkout lines in their stores.
Rick Beal, a human resources consultant for Watson Wyatt Worldwide, said companies are having to “go out and beat the bushes” to bring enough added staff on to deal with the holiday crush.
“We find that so many people who shop with us are enthusiastic and passionate about RadioShack, and they like to be in our stores,” said Erin Quillian, a regional human resources manager for RadioShack Corp. “We encourage employees to talk to customers and ask if anyone might be interested in seasonal positions.”
One of those hires, Carlos Penate, went into a store to buy a memory card for his cell phone and came out with his purchase and a new job to help him earn money during the holiday season.
In RadioShack’s home state of Texas, the chain has taken to printing help wanted ads on its sales receipts.
While the pay isn’t always that great for seasonal help, many are attracted by the prospect of being able to buy gifts for themselves and others at employee discounted prices.
“If you can see yourself first as a customer, it’s a lot easier to see yourself as an employee on a part-time basis,” said Mark Jaffe, president of Wyatt & Jaffe. “When a customer is buying, you somehow have to spin a web or create some magic or some kind of an intimacy with that buyer that makes them feel like this is a cool and not an undignified place to spend a few hours a week.”
Discussion Question: What are your thoughts on retailers recruiting customers to work in stores?
We know of a number of Trader Joe’s that have recruited shoppers on an informal basis to work in stores.
We were once offered a job when a store captain (manager, in standard retail-speak) working at a checkout heard a conversation we were having about how
to use a number of their products in recipes. Before being handed the receipt, we were asked if we’d like to work in the store. At the time, we politely declined but a few months
later took the captain up on the offer as we were doing research into the company. The several months we spent on the job at Trader Joe’s were one of the best and most informative
experiences we’ve had in all our years working in and around the retailing business.
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Beyond the oft-stated premise that a store’s best customers are highly involved in the products and/or environment, and therefore good ambassadors, is the old adage “birds of a feather….” A&F, Hollister, Claire’s, Aeropostale, etc. have long known that their employees served as de facto “models” for their wares and recruited accordingly. Other environments may not be as obvious as fashion, but this premise is still valid in other retail environments.
People are drawn to enthusiasm and sincerity. Victor Kaim, CEO, used this brilliantly in an advertisement for Remington Shavers back in the 70’s. “I loved it so much…I bought the company!”
What better way to infuse enthusiasm and passion to the new customer experience than using your best existing customers. Specialty retail and consumer electronics would seem perfect for this practice. Loyal customers at Best Buy, RadioShack and Tweeters would most likely be far more passionate and knowledgeable than passive employees.
It’s a wonderful practice that retailers should use all the time, not just for the holiday crunch.
Once again, a story about igniting passion. Hospitality people are known for this kind of recruiting and look at how Apple has taken advantage of it!
People want to do business with people who are passionate. Doesn’t matter if it’s retail or any other vertical play. Why not use the very customers walking the aisles to identify recruits that simply love your brand? Also, regarding seasonal, it seems fair to say that the part time, discount-driven help may offer better service via a positive attitude. Even if they aren’t as spot on with product knowledge, a smile and a genuine caring attitude goes far these days.
Recruiting customers can be a good thing for a number of reasons, most of which were mentioned in the various posts I see here.
One other is that many retailers offer product discounts to their employees. I know more than one retailer whose employees are there mainly for that reason.
I just attended a holiday party for a group of Brighton Collectible employees and met a salesperson whose husband makes millions, but she loves working at Brighton for the fun and employee purchase benefits.
I love to shop at this store at the mall; 99% of my clothes are from the same retailer. I had thought I would rather work for them on a part time basis to get the employee discounts. Once, while paying the cashier — who happened to be the manager — I was asked if I would like to work for them. I said I would love to, however, I realized I have a full time job that requires commitments and full focus. But I still think asking the customers is a great way to recruit part timers.
Old news. Most retailers have set up kiosks near the service counter years ago where customers can apply for jobs. There is such a shortage of retail workers in this country that any low cost way of recruiting is a good idea. The idea is to get warm bodies working in the store. The concept of listening to their ideas is just idle chatter. Few retailers would follow through with that concept.
This isn’t new — how do you think anyone got hired in the 19th century? A sign was placed in the window and people came in and talked. Customer or not, this did indicate an interest. Mass recruiting is a horror in that many employees are hired without ever meeting the person they will be working for. We all know about “chemistry” issues in the workplace. If managers do their own recruiting and hiring (with help where needed) the turnover will go down, training time and supervision time will decrease and both management and employee will be happier. Can you imagine the horror of a manager being sent an employee they have never seen or talked to before to handle the most critical job in the organization — first point of consumer contact?
It’s a great idea but I agree that it’s hardly new. I find myself helping fellow customers in stores all the time, and store managers who are looking for passionate staff should train their employees to spot those people and recruit them.
There is no one best place to find potential employees. Finding places where people use your products, express their enthusiasm about your products, or demonstrate their knowledge of their products would all be sources of potential employees.
Recruiting store associates from the checkout lines is taking one step beyond posting “Help Wanted” signs in a store entrance. Certainly stores like Best Buy have more sophisticated data mining tools available to identify potential associates when they check out (in Best Buy’s case, its Reward Zone members are probably its most loyal and “engaged” customers). And plenty of department stores with proprietary credit cards can reach out effectively to their preferred customers as potential employees, through e-mail, billing inserts, telemarketing, etc.
It’s only a good idea if you listen to them.
I have to share a story on hiring your customer. I was doing a program for a retailer this past fall and one of my recommendations was recruiting their best customers. We know they’re passionate about the products and they already know the people and a lot of the processes. One of the store managers raised her hand and said, “I always thought this was a great idea too until the time I recruited one of my top customers for the holidays and she failed the pre-employment screening. You can imagine how challenging it was to handle that one!” I’m guessing the customer either couldn’t afford to be a top customer or became a top customer using someone else’s money. Either way, it did show there can be some risks and challenges of recruiting your customers. Overall, I still think it is a smart strategy.
Since the dawn of retailing, who hasn’t seen “Help Wanted” signs in stores, gas stations, and on delivery trucks? Who hasn’t seen job applications used as tray liners in fast food restaurants?
Recruiting a retailer’s customer is a natural. It’s surprising this hasn’t been done a long time ago. A retailer’s regular customers sometimes know more about their stores and the products it sells better than their employees. It’s good to hear that retailers are helping to eliminate their employee shortage with this new way of recruiting.
Great idea. Customers work and customers may be working in retail. Why not try a new recruiting technique? Kudos to whoever thought of this.
I began working at Best Buy about 3 months ago after owning my own business for 3 years and becoming quite burned out with “paying to go to work every day.” I’m in my mid 30s and have been in the tech industry in one form or another for my the majority of my working career (15 years). I work with a bunch of kids who fall into 2 categories…the 20-something don’t give a craps (it’s a job), and the 18 – 23 year olds who are very into their jobs and are happy about getting a decent start in life while completing their education.
Many of the supervisors and managers in my store have been with the company several years and have worked their way up.
From what I can see, one of the best things that retail could do to attract part-time employees is to highlight why retail can be a great part-time/supplemental income for those who are looking for just that. If people are shopping at an electronics store/clothing store/whatever and are relatively frequent shoppers, taking some of the stigma of retail work out of the picture could encourage people with broader backgrounds into the retail environment. As a result, the retail staff could identify with the customers in said environment in a different way.
Although I’m new to retail, I’m not new to customer service and treating people right. In an economic environment where people are demanding more product for less money, building brand loyalty comes from several different perspectives.
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Beyond the oft-stated premise that a store’s best customers are highly involved in the products and/or environment, and therefore good ambassadors, is the old adage “birds of a feather….” A&F, Hollister, Claire’s, Aeropostale, etc. have long known that their employees served as de facto “models” for their wares and recruited accordingly. Other environments may not be as obvious as fashion, but this premise is still valid in other retail environments.
People are drawn to enthusiasm and sincerity. Victor Kaim, CEO, used this brilliantly in an advertisement for Remington Shavers back in the 70’s. “I loved it so much…I bought the company!”
What better way to infuse enthusiasm and passion to the new customer experience than using your best existing customers. Specialty retail and consumer electronics would seem perfect for this practice. Loyal customers at Best Buy, RadioShack and Tweeters would most likely be far more passionate and knowledgeable than passive employees.
It’s a wonderful practice that retailers should use all the time, not just for the holiday crunch.
Once again, a story about igniting passion. Hospitality people are known for this kind of recruiting and look at how Apple has taken advantage of it!
People want to do business with people who are passionate. Doesn’t matter if it’s retail or any other vertical play. Why not use the very customers walking the aisles to identify recruits that simply love your brand? Also, regarding seasonal, it seems fair to say that the part time, discount-driven help may offer better service via a positive attitude. Even if they aren’t as spot on with product knowledge, a smile and a genuine caring attitude goes far these days.
Recruiting customers can be a good thing for a number of reasons, most of which were mentioned in the various posts I see here.
One other is that many retailers offer product discounts to their employees. I know more than one retailer whose employees are there mainly for that reason.
I just attended a holiday party for a group of Brighton Collectible employees and met a salesperson whose husband makes millions, but she loves working at Brighton for the fun and employee purchase benefits.
I love to shop at this store at the mall; 99% of my clothes are from the same retailer. I had thought I would rather work for them on a part time basis to get the employee discounts. Once, while paying the cashier — who happened to be the manager — I was asked if I would like to work for them. I said I would love to, however, I realized I have a full time job that requires commitments and full focus. But I still think asking the customers is a great way to recruit part timers.
Old news. Most retailers have set up kiosks near the service counter years ago where customers can apply for jobs. There is such a shortage of retail workers in this country that any low cost way of recruiting is a good idea. The idea is to get warm bodies working in the store. The concept of listening to their ideas is just idle chatter. Few retailers would follow through with that concept.
This isn’t new — how do you think anyone got hired in the 19th century? A sign was placed in the window and people came in and talked. Customer or not, this did indicate an interest. Mass recruiting is a horror in that many employees are hired without ever meeting the person they will be working for. We all know about “chemistry” issues in the workplace. If managers do their own recruiting and hiring (with help where needed) the turnover will go down, training time and supervision time will decrease and both management and employee will be happier. Can you imagine the horror of a manager being sent an employee they have never seen or talked to before to handle the most critical job in the organization — first point of consumer contact?
It’s a great idea but I agree that it’s hardly new. I find myself helping fellow customers in stores all the time, and store managers who are looking for passionate staff should train their employees to spot those people and recruit them.
There is no one best place to find potential employees. Finding places where people use your products, express their enthusiasm about your products, or demonstrate their knowledge of their products would all be sources of potential employees.
Recruiting store associates from the checkout lines is taking one step beyond posting “Help Wanted” signs in a store entrance. Certainly stores like Best Buy have more sophisticated data mining tools available to identify potential associates when they check out (in Best Buy’s case, its Reward Zone members are probably its most loyal and “engaged” customers). And plenty of department stores with proprietary credit cards can reach out effectively to their preferred customers as potential employees, through e-mail, billing inserts, telemarketing, etc.
It’s only a good idea if you listen to them.
I have to share a story on hiring your customer. I was doing a program for a retailer this past fall and one of my recommendations was recruiting their best customers. We know they’re passionate about the products and they already know the people and a lot of the processes. One of the store managers raised her hand and said, “I always thought this was a great idea too until the time I recruited one of my top customers for the holidays and she failed the pre-employment screening. You can imagine how challenging it was to handle that one!” I’m guessing the customer either couldn’t afford to be a top customer or became a top customer using someone else’s money. Either way, it did show there can be some risks and challenges of recruiting your customers. Overall, I still think it is a smart strategy.
Since the dawn of retailing, who hasn’t seen “Help Wanted” signs in stores, gas stations, and on delivery trucks? Who hasn’t seen job applications used as tray liners in fast food restaurants?
Recruiting a retailer’s customer is a natural. It’s surprising this hasn’t been done a long time ago. A retailer’s regular customers sometimes know more about their stores and the products it sells better than their employees. It’s good to hear that retailers are helping to eliminate their employee shortage with this new way of recruiting.
Great idea. Customers work and customers may be working in retail. Why not try a new recruiting technique? Kudos to whoever thought of this.
I began working at Best Buy about 3 months ago after owning my own business for 3 years and becoming quite burned out with “paying to go to work every day.” I’m in my mid 30s and have been in the tech industry in one form or another for my the majority of my working career (15 years). I work with a bunch of kids who fall into 2 categories…the 20-something don’t give a craps (it’s a job), and the 18 – 23 year olds who are very into their jobs and are happy about getting a decent start in life while completing their education.
Many of the supervisors and managers in my store have been with the company several years and have worked their way up.
From what I can see, one of the best things that retail could do to attract part-time employees is to highlight why retail can be a great part-time/supplemental income for those who are looking for just that. If people are shopping at an electronics store/clothing store/whatever and are relatively frequent shoppers, taking some of the stigma of retail work out of the picture could encourage people with broader backgrounds into the retail environment. As a result, the retail staff could identify with the customers in said environment in a different way.
Although I’m new to retail, I’m not new to customer service and treating people right. In an economic environment where people are demanding more product for less money, building brand loyalty comes from several different perspectives.