So here is the master plan to save the world. Stores on Mon, Wed, and Fri will get facetime calls from Mark Johnson, Lenna Musical, people from Eddies ESL team to discuss with the store managers their financials and what they are doing about them and then doing a store tour. There is so much heat and threats going to the stores. People aren't going to put up with this cräp anymore. I thank god every min of everyday that my store was on this recent list of closings.
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Great idea, except that everyone you mentioned, except Mark, has no clue how to run a retail operation so they would not have a clue as to what any SM told them. Now if the discussion was about selling a credit card or some PA, then they would understand.
The network in my store wouldn't be able to support FaceTime..
and I'm tired of using my personal paid phone for work when my state requires an employer to pay partial credit for a plan if a personal paid line is used.
Good luck with this
nd this is why Sears is in the state they are in-- no plan....what can they ask the store managers now that has not been gone over in the last 6 years? get your 7's ready
@1qyg Most companies do have their customer-facing employees selling extras. I don't dispute that at all, but some companies only want their employees to give it their best shot and ask once. Look at Target. I have a long-distance friend who is an assistant manager at Target. When I told her how Sears is run she thought that the pressure Sears puts on its employees to sell warranties and get people to sign up for credit cards and rewards was over-the-top ridiculous. Over there they do have a rewards/credit card and they do sell service plans on some things. Here's the kicker. They only ask of the employees to ask each customer just once and give it their best shot in doing so. That's it.
If 250 customers went through a checkstand and none of them said Yes, there would be no worries as long as the managers knew they asked and they tried. The managers might pull employees aside to tell them how they could increase their chances of getting a Yes, but as long as they are asking, there are no write ups or threats of termination. They don't pressure the employees into putting the customer on the spot in having to explain their reasoning for saying no. There are no threats of PIP's or terminations if you don't "make the numbers", all you have to do is ask and give your best effort. The managers have more time to run their departments and develop their people. Fair enough, and it works out really well for Target. Where is Target in sales, profitability and growth compared to Sears and Kmart?
Sears' sleazy tactics didn't work out all that well for Sears. The biggest complaint that customers have about shopping with us is the fact that the employees are relentless in getting them to sign up for the rewards or thr credit card, or to get them to buy a PA. A simple No the first snd only time is not good enough, and so interactions with customers become awkward at best and argumentative at worst. Ever wonder why our sales have dwindled into nothing over the last few years? This could be one of the big reasons why!
Suffice it to say I am DESPERATELY trying to get in somewhere like this, and not just because I want to escape Sears metric hell! Other retailers aren't about to liquidate! Other retailers offer better pay and advancement opportunities! Other retailers would be more appreciative of somebody with a good work ethic!
All businesses/professions are sleazy to some degree. Some individual ones are more sleazy than others in the same field. You need to find out how much sleaze you can live with and work in the appropriate place. No car dealer is anything but sleazy. Some are just f---ing crooks. It's like everything in life. How low can you go?
@VPyZbp7-mjm 200 Kmarts
And people actually wonder what went wrong.
Dish network and other service providers require selling behavior in addition to repairs. Sorry boss is making you do fairly normal work...perhaps this job is too much for you. I could give you some contacts in my janitorial services network...
@axo-- See you in the unemployment line with the rest of us. At least we deal in reality.
RE this mo--n_ I don't a problem with having techs repair and sell warranties or cashiers ring people up and promote other products. I guess you might need to learn how to walk and chew gum.
Most companies expect their employees to do this, sorry you are feeling lazy.
The problem with social media is you can say anything you want without any facts to back your low IQ remarks. No, most service company's in the service industry expect good quality service and repair with appropriate metrics. You obviously have a job in the janitorial arts and have no experience or knowledge of quality repair work. Good luck in life mo--n!
I don't a problem with having techs repair and sell warranties or cashiers ring people up and promote other products. I guess you might need to learn how to walk and chew gum.
Most companies expect their employees to do this, sorry you are feeling lazy.
Don't they have other things to do besides sitting in front of a webcam all day to grill store managers? I thought that the district and regional managers were supposed to do those things.
There are roughly 700 stores left. That's s lot of "facetime".
What an incredible waste of time and resources. This is the most id--tic thing i've heard in a while. If people aren't thinking about quitting, I bet they will be soon !
@cie - Good for you! I know a few A&E service techs, and they are very friendly and knowledgeable. It's too bad that Sears has found a way to put even the service techs through the wringer in having to meet all these BS metrics.
I think that satisfying the customer and fixing their problem is sufficent enough. Sears gets the revenue from the customer or the manufacturer and rapport is built. Win-win, but apparently that's not creating enough "value" for the company so they make selling warranties and addons your primary job, everything else is secondary, just like store employees. The priority of a cashier, for example, is to get their customers to sign up for a Sears card. Ringing up transactions or handling basic customer service issues is a distant secondary.
re: I swear corporate bigwigs are the most worthless f---ers on earth.
There seem to be new tactics across all the divisions as well. I work for Sears Home service, ( appliance tech.) I received a call from my district manager regarding the five star ratings we get. ( In this division its all about selling home owners home warranty plans and additional services that are not related to repair work. The star rating is a way for EL to get top dollar for his division when trying to sell this asset. I was told mine was below par and that I either need to leave or he will find some reason to terminate. My response was, Then fire me. He backed down because Sears tries to avoid unemployment. All middle level managers on up are inept and completely useless and reflects the ideals that only hastens the demise of SHLD. I shouldn't use his name because that's just so unprofessional right.
Good luck during the layoffs Todd Hoffman!
It is ridiculous that these executives are still getting their big paychecks. The FaceTime is another waste, the store visitation is a waste! More wasted money on travel expenses to have executives come out and ream you for the empty space on your shelves ‘cause you can’t get the merchandise into the store. You are told to flex and fake out the POGS. How about getting merchandise into the stores. What really is their master plan. Is it to continue to have the stores full of “faked” out shelves for the executives to walk by or FaceTime with the SM and say “good job”.Seriously, what is their plan to come out of Chapter 11!
VPyZbp7-xbp I agree. Like the sm’s don’t have enough to do already. I’m on Kmart and the dm is an my sm’s a-- everyday to cut payroll but unload and get all freight out of receiving but cut payroll but get your syw penetration rate but cut payroll but get credit cards. Ridiculous! Oh wait we can’t use the pacts for anything but necessities but Corp wants us to have a costume contest and fun zone and general b---s--- and dm saying don’t use the Picard we are in bk. Nothing but id--ts at the top!
LOL.
They've figured out that everybody is quitting, and that nobody in the stores gives a damn any longer.
Like typical sociopaths, they think they they can reverse this trend via terror.
They can't.
Please tell Leena, Mark, and all members of the ESL team that they are each evil and are a waste of oxygen. If there IS a hell they will all be burning brightly for an eternity for the lives they have ruined. They are traitors to Sears, and the hundreds of thousands of hardworking people that built something great. It's far easier to take apart and strip out the value, than to build something. None of them are smart enough to do anything but what they are doing.
I remember watching our SM do facetime walkthroughs of the store while another manager frantically went ahead of him moving things that shouldn't be there out of the way, straightening, and generally trying to hide any problems. Always made me laugh.
Jesus Christ has there ever been a company with dumber policies than Sears???
Great idea...so their plan is to annoy the SM every three days and threaten them with shutting down their stores...truly this will save the company!!!
Like I said many times Drain the Swamp. This is exactly why everyone in Hoffman needs to go
I swear corporate bigwigs are the most worthless f---ers on earth.