In case you are unaware, Lowe's has an event currently running through 12/15. QSP is a "Quote Support Program", where when customers buy in bulk they get larger discounts. The minimum is $1,500.00 to qualify.
So corporate likes to periodically run QSP events where sometimes the min. threshold is lowered to 1k, or like the current one, they get an additional 5% off.
Sounds good right? WRONG! Here is why, and these mistakes, oversights, and wrong focus is rampant throughout Lowe's but Ill use just the one PRO QSP example to make my point.
Everyone knows what MARGIN is right? The amount Lowe's makes per sale after COST (what we pay the vendor). The higher the margin, the more we make per sale. When corporate comes along and does these promotions, its intended to boost sales. An extra 5% will attract those on the fence with QSP quotes pending to possibly reconsider and buy. Okay, makes sense.
Well keep in mind, QSP is just that already! Its a tool to help close sales. Associates ARE NOT supposed to be throwing every $1500 sale right into QSP. Yet, when your corporate district team throws these events these seemingly very naive and dumb people seem to forget all these facts!
They send threatening, and cheerleader rah rah rah emails to store managers (SM) saying they EXPECT to see QSP quotes and selling and in turn the SM will fwd that email to the ASM, then he to the DM, and then specialists and staff. Blindly.
Here is the rub, the real skinny.
Who do you think corporate would find the better salesman?
Specialist A. - Sold $30,000 in one week, but not one sale using the QSP Event and his margin for week was 42%.
Specialist B. Sold $1,800 for the same exact week but through QSP. His margin was 17%.
The answer is B!
Corporate loses focus like this constantly. The empty suits would rather see their precious "idea" of the QSP event being seemingly successful rather than real, concrete figures. They focus on minutia, rather than the big picture. And this is not just with this QSP example, its everywhere. Another example is getting PRO Business Credit Cards and new accounts. They push push push! Demanding a subjective, arbitrary amount of new cc's per week and make threats and unrealistic expectations WHILE simultaneously ignoring facts such as 50% + of all accounts we open (because we are running around begging people to open like crazed crack heads) NEVER get called! Yet they are again, focused simply on the CC with no thought of service, follow up, or the very fact that most of these "forced" accounts are not even contractors, that the account will go no where, that they agree and open the account for the deal going on at the time and will never be back, or that the store will never even call the customer. We have an ungodly amount of accounts in the status of "never contacted!" Yet corporate regards this as "success."
You see? Our corporate directors are chasing shadows, have lost sight of what truly matters (profits and service), and expect employees to follow their lead and be punished and threatened even if they have valid reasons and facts not to. Even when they have Lowe's best interests (maximize profits) in mind and in action, they are chastised all because Marvin Ellison and his egotistical pack of clueless, self righteous narcissists want their whims satisfied. With no reason, explanation, or facts to even justify their actions.
And, to further complicate things, we are not even supplied with operational tools and resources we need along w/ glitches that cause vast down times and customers waiting. One such problem is contractor bulk pricing + QSP!
As stated, $1500 qualifies for QSP. So when a customer comes in and buys 100 sheets of sheetrock that totals 1k, he does not qualify BUT, hes eligible for bulk discount pricing / contractor pack price. (ex: but 32 get 20% off). So now he adds another 800 in miscellaneous items (spackle, tape, etc) to his sale that totals his sale to $1800, and now qualifies him for the QSP min.
BUT, because the sheetrock is bulk pricing which is a larger discount off than QSP is, you cant run the quote through QSP! You cant put the sheetrock on a different sale, because you need it to make the min of 1500. You cant put it on another PO because then the 800 worth of materials doesnt qualify either for QSP yet the customer IS eligible to get QSP discounts off the materials of 800.
Its all a big, stupid, illogical mess! We bring these issues up to our corporate team, and a year later we still have no answer or resolve. But they show up each week demanding QSP estimates and CC's! They are literally, crazy. Mentally insane.
This is a system and team of managers who breeds and pushes failure. Its Busch league, unprofessional, and why Lowe's is losing and will continue to lose. And, its rampant in every single layer of operations. IMS, CPO, XPO, PRO, IRP's, you name it! Management are blind, illogical, perceptual automatons reciting cliche statements like pet shop parrots. There is no conceptual thought or any brain storming. No original ideas, resolve, or attention to facts or details.
Employees are treated like Auschwitz prisoners. Forced to work under this cloak of never enough, threats, intimidation, and irrational dictates with a smile, and obedience. Even when every fact says its the wrong approach. We are not allowed to even respectfully arise these matters, or offer advice without fear of being labeled a non-conformist, troublemaker, or free-thinker. Things Lowe's despises.
Lowe's has cart-before-the-horse syndrome, and focused on minutia. The small picture. They are focused on whats going out the front door, when 5x as much is leaving through the back. Chasing shadows. Lowe's is a ship, lost at sea, in a storm, with an insane crackhead at the helm.
Its impossible for any employee of character, conviction, intelligence, ethics, and rationale to do his job in the environment Lowe's provides.
I commend everyone that is being forced to work under these conditions, and understand what I am saying. I encourage you to all write your woes, observations, and factual and constructive criticisms in comments on this thread. It wont do any good though, because Lowe's corporate has such a large ego, and cant see past their own noses and refuse to listen. Lets hope something hits home, that rights this ship while there is still a slight glimmer of hope, which is fading fast.
Respectfully,
A dedicated employee who cares and wants success.