[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Publication1.gif” _builder_version=”3.0.101″ max_width=”33%”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.101″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”21px”]I walked into a co-op a few months ago and asked a charming clerk who was stocking if they had small 8-ounce containers of almond milk.<\/p>\n
He politely said they did, walked me over to a grab and go case and pointed to some small cashew milks then gasped and said, “Oh wait that’s cashew milk who would pay that price; let me show you the almond milk quarts.”<\/p>\n
I didn’t buy either. The cashew milk because I just could not overcome feeling stupid if I bought something so statedly “overpriced.” (which, honestly, I didn’t think it was) in front of this very nice young man. And the almond milk because I only needed a small container due to traveling.<\/p>\n
Another time in a different co-op I overheard a cashier tell the person in front of me, “It is so great that you want to become a member. You can pay for the whole membership all at once, but you don’t want to do that. Or you can pay for it in smaller payments over five years.”<\/p>\n
I think you probably see where I’m going with this.<\/p>\n
These employees were warm, friendly, and we’re trying to serve their customers with very good intentions.<\/p>\n
And at the same time an important context was missing.<\/p>\n
Let’s not assume that staff know what we mean by friendly and helpful. There are a lot of staff in co-ops who are able to be friendly and helpful and yet they still need some guidelines on how to make this work in a business environment.<\/p>\n
We need to outline what being professional means and help them keep in mind how our words and demeanor impact the co-op.<\/p>\n
Let’s help staff by coaching and role playing in our trainings what professional customer service looks like. Let’s give them a more highly defined picture.<\/p>\n
We certainly don’t want to dampen anybody’s enthusiasm let’s just be willing to shape and direct it bit more.<\/p>\n
After all we certainly don’t want anybody walking out without their cashew milk.
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I walked into a co-op a few months ago and asked a charming clerk who was stocking if they had small 8-ounce containers of almond milk. He politely said they did, walked me over to a grab and go case and pointed to some small cashew milks then gasped and said, “Oh wait that’s cashew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":915,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"
I walked into a co-op a few months ago and asked a charming clerk who was stocking if they had small 8-ounce containers of almond milk.<\/p>
He politely said they did, walked me over to a grab and go case and pointed to some small cashew milks then gasped and said, \"Oh wait that's cashew milk who would pay that price; let me show you the almond milk quarts.\"<\/p>
I didn't buy either. The cashew milk because I just could not overcome feeling stupid if I bought something so statedly \"overpriced.\" (which, honestly, I didn't think it was) in front of this very nice young man. And the almond milk because I only needed a small container due to traveling.<\/p>
Another time in a different co-op I overheard a cashier tell the person in front of me, \"It is so great that you want to become a member. You can pay for the whole membership all at once, but you don't want to do that. Or you can pay for it in smaller payments over five years.\"<\/p>
I think you probably see where I'm going with this.<\/p>
These employees were warm, friendly, and we're trying to serve their customers with very good intentions.<\/p>
And at the same time an important context was missing.<\/p>
Let's not assume that staff know what we mean by friendly and helpful. There are a lot of staff in co-ops who are able to be friendly and helpful and yet they still need some guidelines on how to make this work in a business environment.<\/p>
We need to outline what being professional means and help them keep in mind how our words and demeanor impact the co-op.<\/p>
Let's help staff by coaching and role playing in our trainings what professional customer service looks like. Let's give them a more highly defined picture.<\/p>
We certainly don't want to dampen anybody's enthusiasm let's just be willing to shape and direct it bit more.<\/p>
After all we certainly don't want anybody walking out without their cashew milk.<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"project_category":[3],"project_tag":[],"class_list":["post-914","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-m2m"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":917,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/914\/revisions\/917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project_category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_category?post=914"},{"taxonomy":"project_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_tag?post=914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}