Store policies
From HelpDeskWiki
Are you starting a store or already running a store and would like ideas on how to improve things? Here's a list of things to consider, annoying things that stores often do, and so forth, in no particular order. Not everything applies specifically to computer stores, and some don't apply to computer stores at all.
Much of this is opinion.
Dan Thanh Dang of The Baltimore Sun has an article (http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:B2XwJZ2aIQgJ:www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1204785/the_baltimore_sun_consuming_interests_column_customer_service_thats_way/index.html) listing 8 annoying things that businesses do. She has comments on mail-in rebates, companies making it hard to get ahold of customer service or find out how to RMA something, waiting for no-show customer service visits (maybe they don't have that new-fangled thing, the "telephone", yet?), hidden fees and taxes, retailer charity requests, restaurant bill change, junk mail loopholes, and asking for unneeded personal info.
| Table of contents |
Cash
You go into the bank and withdraw some cash. The cashier generally carefully counts out the running total for each coin and bill, starting at the largest bill and counting down. You get bills that are usually in good shape, i.e., not terribly wrinkled, folded or torn. If you are getting change for something, or buying something from the bank, the cashier accepts your money, counts it out loud, including the total amount that you tendered, and puts it down where you can see it, and when counting change, counts it out onto the counter in from of him/her, then picks it up again and counts the money in front of you or into your hand, starts at the transaction amount and going up towards the amount tendered, lowest denomination first. Once the change is counted out, the tender amount is put into the cash register.
In both cases, you and the cashier both know that the money was counted correctly, unless bills are stuck together (which can usually be felt, especially when counting the money twice) or sleight of hand is used. Before calculators, cash registers, and computers, this was how cash was handled, and for good reason: it helps keeps everyone honest.
When you go to the mom&pop store, the cashier pulls out some bills, balances the coins on top of the bills, and plops it into your hand, and if you don't do the balancing act yourself, you get coins all over. You put the bills down so that you can count the coins, then pick up the bills, and count them to be sure that the clerk didn't short you (accidentally or otherwise), and then spend several moments straightening them out and putting them in numerical sequence so that they will fit into your wallet properly and neatly. You may feel rude standing there counting money, but once you move, you'll have a harder time disputing a short. This is service?
Every customer who leaves the store, and then looks in their wallet later and finds less than expected will wonder if s/he got stiffed, and will wonder about YOUR place of business. If the customer makes it a point to count the money at the cash register, and discovers that it's short, other customers will notice also, which may reflect badly upon the clerk and store with them. You have an image to uphold, right? It's better for the clerk to catch and correct shorts before they happen.
Every customer who walks out with too much change means that either the store or the clerk loses money, depending upon store policy. If the store loses money, that's self-evident. An otherwise good clerk who loses the wrong bills and has to cover the difference, may end up in financial trouble, and may be more likely to either leave your store to find a less-desirable higher-paying job, or to embezzle or rob the store somehow. You may want to say that you don't want the kind of person who will steal, but in reality, you shouldn't trust ANYONE who is starving or has a starving family.
Another reason to count out paper money is for the benefit of people who have no or poor vision. By counting it out into their hands, they know exactly what bills they have and what order they're in, so that they can fold or separate the bills as they need in order to mark the denominations.
Making it a point to keep bills flat and in order not only helps those with poor vision, but will help your image with other customers -- do you REALLY want to be handed a pile of crumpled, dirty, torn bills? If it's a bill that the bank is unlikely to give you, then you should try to avoid giving it to your customers.
Cash registers
Know those displays on cash registers which are supposed to face the customers? They're there for a reason: to help keep the cashiers honest, to keep them from ringing up one amount and asking for another amount and pocketing the difference. It's also needed by those who are hard of hearing, or when you have a clerk who speaks very quietly. With the proportionally-increasing number of senior citizens, the need for this is probably going to increase. Sometimes, the total amount does not always display; ensure that the clerks do whatever is necessary to ensure that the total always appears on the display so that the customer can see it.
Cashiers
HelpDesk says "I used to go to the store around the corner to get my fix. This is a military town, so there's a lot of turnover, and the new employees are almost always from other states or countries. Every single time a new clerk showed up, I was the one who had to tell them that there is no sales tax on milk in this state. One clerk tried to tell me that what I was buying was not milk, but instead was chocolate-flavored drink and therefore it was taxable. That was the last time I went there -- even after the place was sold. I now go to another store which is too far to walk to, but the employees get more than a few seconds of training and don't make up blatantly obvious lies."
Checkout lines
You go to the mom&pop store, get what you want, and then find a spot near the cash register where you can stand without being in anyone's way, and wait your turn. The person at the second register leaves and... some other person, who walked up after you and stood right in the way of everyone coming in the door, is closer, and gets there first. Or what about the time when you stand in line at the supermarket and the cash register starts acting up, or a price check is needed, and you end up waiting for far longer than anyone else. Do you really want your customers treated unfairly like this? Places like the Post Office have a single line for everyone to stand in, instead of one per cashier, which completely avoids such issues, ensuring that only the customer at the checkout in question has a long wait when there is a problem.
Self-checkout
Self-checkouts are nice ideas -- or rather, would be, if they were implemented with any kind of common sense. Users of self-checkout systems will find themselves dealing with all kinds of idiotic problems, such as a request to put a huge bag of dogfood into a 1.5 gallon plastic bag, refusal to accept new-style US money which has been around for longer than the self-checkout equipment, requests to place standard-price items on the scale (such as a pair of glasses, which are very unlikely to be sold by weight), and so forth. It's like someone set the system up, but no-one in the entire store chain has a clue as to how to maintain or upgrade it.
Parking lot lines
Parking.JPG
Corner cutting
It may or may not be good business to have police cars sitting in your parking lights with their lights flashing, but that may be better than the hazards of cars taking a short-cut through the parking lot of a corner store. Post a couple of No Tresspassing signs so that they are prominently visible to anyone about to turn into your lot, and ask the police to enforce it against anyone who detours through your lot simply to avoid a light. If you're lucky, they might actually be able to do so. Better to have offenders ticketed than to have one of your customers leaving horizontally, or exchanging insurance information. If you sell gasoline, then you especially do not want vehicle accidents near the pumps. Ditto if you typically have a lot of children in the lot.
Take a number
HelpDesk says "I was at the hospital a few years ago, getting my hearing checked to see if a hearing aid would be worthwhile. Every area in the hospital seems to use pagers to notify patients that it's their turn. These pagers both ring and vibrate, which means that you can go to the restroom or wander around without concern of missing the call. Except, of course, the Ear-Nose-Throat department; there, someone comes out to call people, and it seems to always be someone who isn't very loud. So much for common sense.
"Other places I've been to have a take-a-number system, but instead of a display, they have someone calling the number out over a loudspeaker that they must have been paid to use. I've heard loudspeakers like that at fast-food places too, which distort voices to the point of unintelligibility."
"Did you sign in? No? You need to sign in, and we'll get to you in order. Yes, I know you've been here an hour, but since you didn't sign in, that means you're not in line. Oh, the sign-in sheet is over there at the back of the room, behind that display stand; you can't miss it!"
A fresh eye
Every week or so, try to look at your store from the viewpoint of a customer. Fix anything that you see wrong. If something needs to be replaced, try to replace it with something better, so that your store is constantly improving. Make a schedule for various kinds of work, repair, or inspections.
Spelling and grammar
If you have trouble with spelling, be adult enough to admit it, and have someone else either proofread what you write, or do the writing for you. You should always have someone else look at something likely to be seen by customers. I'm sure that you've seen those places which are the laughingstock of the town because of a silly typo on a sign.
Pay
If an employee does good work and you want them to stay, make sure that they're paid an amount that compares well with regional industry norms. Don't forget to give a cost-of-living raise every year at the very least. If they don't deserve at least a cost-of-living raise, then replace them. If they do deserve it, but you can't afford it, then either you have excessive expenses elsewhere (maybe your own paycheck) or you need to charge the customers more.
You've heard about CEOs who get paid millions of dollars, even when their company is going down the drain in a hurry. Make sure that people are paid proportionately for the skills that they use and the amount of work that they do. An efficient, professional ditch digger who works 10 hours a day should get paid more than a CEO who is killing the business.
Consistency
HelpDesk says "I used to go to lunch at a certain restaurant with a co-worker about once a week. One day (which happened to be Valentine's Day), we went in, had the usual buffet, and when we checked out, we were surprised to be charged TWICE the usual amount, because they were having a Valentine's Day 'special'. We paid, but never went back again, and we make it a point to tell others about how 'nicely' this place treats their customers."
Advertising
"You may have already won $100,000,000,000,000.00!!".
If you try treating your customers-to-be like, well, human beings, instead of gullible walking wallets, you may find yourself getting customers who will actually recommend your business, which is the cheapest advertising that you can't buy.
As the saying goes, it's far cheaper to keep a customer than to get new ones. Treat them right and they'll recommend you to others.
Electric carts
Those electric carts in grocery stores are a nice touch for disabled folks. Unfortunately, the people who get the most benefit from them often can't even get to them easily; have to get that big walker out, hobble into the store, find an electric cart, and... what to do with the walker? Oh well, the electric cart will just have to wait for someone else, unless a shopping cart happens to be close enough to the disabled parking spot (don't bet on it) to be usable in place of the walker.
Something that you could do is to make sure that there's a cart return next to the handicap parking spot, and have employees make sure that there's always at least one (regular) cart in it, so that those who need something to lean on can use it to get into the store. Yes, some stores deliver groceries, but then the people with trouble getting around don't have an incentive to get exercise -- which is an excellent reason to ASK if help is wanted, instead of just automatically helping, as some people do.
Loyalty, and the revolving-door effect
It seems like an increasing number of organizations are unconcerned about loyalty to their employees. If the upper management does not take steps to encourage employees to get along well with each other, enjoy their work, look forward to occasional promotion or raise opportunities, and in general, have an incentive to stay with the organization and their job, a revolving-door effect may occur, in which new employees are inefficient and ineffective while learning their jobs, and as soon as they learn their job and become reasonably efficient and effective, they move on to another position or another organization. This person gets replaced by someone who is handling the job temporarily in addition to their regular duties, and thus not able to do either properly (or worse, no one handles the job at all, so that a large backlog piles up). Later, a new employee is finally hired to handle the position, and the cycle restarts anew. Also, in some jobs, continuity is important. Few businesses would be willing to have to replace every person in an office all at once, not just for reasons of lack of productivity, but also for reasons of loss of continuity. This is efficiency and saving money? Unless it's simple labor that requires little training and little opportunity for extra efficiency as a result of experience, it's probably better to give employees incentives to stay.
Even in a storefront environment, some customers may continue to come to a store because they like being able to talk to the same person, especially one that they feel that they can trust to treat them right, and don't have to explain a situation over and over again. If employees tend to come and go fairly quickly, this type of customer may start looking for a store that's more stable -- and any recommendations will leave with the customer also.
Tips
Do you want a tip? That $100 bill that I'm giving you for the $10 meal may be the smallest bill that I have on hand (some ATMs give $100s for a withdrawal over $100), so if you want a tip, you might want to be sure that there's enough smaller bills and change to leave you either 15% or 20%. Unless, of course, you just don't want a tip. And, no, if you're not my girlfriend, you're not getting a $90 tip on a $10 meal, so don't be dumb enough to ask, unless you're clearly teasing or are really interested in becoming a girlfriend.
Standing around
I've noticed that some stores don't seem to believe in stools for cashiers to sit on. Is there some reason for this? I'm sure it's not good for their feet, as opposed to employees who get to walk around, etc. I'm surprised that there hasn't been more complaining by physicians on the subject.
Good-quality equipment
No matter what equipment you get, you'll often find yourself regretting not getting the next better model, or the one after that. Don't be stingy with your tools. In many jobs, the tool IS the job; without adequate tools, you may not be able to do your job well, or take far longer to do it. Try to find the best tool which is priced a bit higher than you can justify, then hunt around online for the best price for it, to see if it'll come in under your limit. Don't forget to see if a used item might be good, especially if it's still under warranty.
Tips (again)
Tips are stupid. It's a way for supervisors to avoid doing their job properly, and it's a way for upper management to avoid paying a fair wage, and wait-staff basically have to hope that customers are fair and not forgetful.
Cutting expenses the wrong way
It happens all too often: A new store, such as a restaurant, opens, looks good, has good food, good staff, etc. Months later, you go to eat there, one of the first customers of the day as usual, and you notice that the food looks and tastes like leftovers. A few more months later, the restaurant closes. People don't go to restaurants for leftovers; they can get plenty of that at home. And, with the news full of people getting sick from improperly-handled food, trying to save money this way may be foolish. If you have leftover food, let your employees take it home or give it to a local food charity; you might be able to get a tax write-off for it.
Other places try to cut down on the number of employees. That may be a good way to get rid of deadwood employees and encourage the others to find more efficient ways of doing things, but after that point, all you do is discover that you've proverbially shot yourself in the foot because you don't have enough employees to serve customers.
And mow those weeds! If I want to walk through weeds on the way to dinner, I'll eat at home!
Consistency (again)
Some reastaurants seem to have trouble preparing food the same way from day to day. The big chains have set recipes for a reason, so that customers can be assured of getting what they expect, instead of something substandard. The same goes for the supplies.
Surprise!!
Don't give the customers negative surprises. If there's something that they may not like, tell them up-front, while they can still say "no" without feeling guilty. Unhappily-surprised customers do not make for good word-of-mouth.
Know what you're deciding about
Some managers make decisions about things with little or no knowledge of what's actually going on, and without asking the opinion of those who obviously do know (the people who actually do the job; hint, it's not the managers). Hint: whatever it is, it'll usually take noticeably longer and more money and cause more problems than you expect. As the saying goes, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.
Comment cards
Comment cards are those things that you fill out to let management know that there's something that you think they should look at, or to tell them that you especially liked something. Most people don't bother with comment cards, so if someone fills one out about something, management should take close look at it BEFORE the business goes down the drain, and BEFORE the goose with the golden eggs is cooked. Depending upon the type of business, you might be able to easily give each customer a comment card when they pay their bill or something like that (put it down for them to take if they want, tell them what it is).
Blame
If you place blame, place it where it should be placed, which might be on yourself for not enforcing standards, and not making sure that you actually have enough personnel to actually do the work. Don't be stupid enough to expect one person to do the work of three people in a proper and timely manner, unless those three people are Larry, Moe and Curly.
Reasonableness
Some managers seem to not notice the burdensome side-effects of their decisions. The effects of a decision are often multiplied by each employee.
Ensure that changes to procedures are worth the bother of making them, especially if they are intended to fix a problem that rarely occurs.
If procedure doesn't get followed, get rid of it. If you need it, then either adjust it to make it more reasonable or make sure that there's more oversight. If a procedure requires more time and money to implement (i.e., personnel spend an extra hour per customer), then ensure that the time and money is available before trying to enforce procedure.
Tips (again, again!)
With food prices spiking, it seems that many people are no longer leaving tips. Some restaurants apparently make it a policy to not mention the possibility of tipping the waitstaff. Get a clue and either change your policy, or pay your people more, or both. Tips are not legally required, but the piddling amount that you pay your people is based on the presumption that they get a reasonable amount of tip income. In fact, employers in the US are required to ensure that restaurant staff receive tips of at least 8% overall.
Computer-related stuff
Computer inventory
Consider doing a complete inventory of each system that is brought in, so that both you and the customer have a detailed list of what parts are in the computer; this helps keep both sides honest, so that the customer can't claim that there are missing parts, and the store can't claim that a part was never in there. There are several programs that seem to do a decent job of this, or if the computer isn't working, open it up and start writing, or if it's a returning customer, compare it to the previous inventory. Sometimes the inventory itself will show the problem, such as a third party making changes to the computer.
- Belarc (http://www.belarc.com) Free personal and commercial network versions.
- EVEREST (http://www.lavalys.com/products.php) Free personal and commercial network versions, formerly known as AIDA32.
- Intuit Track It! (http://www.itsolutions.intuit.com/default.asp) Commercial network version, part of a helpdesk application.
- SiSoft Sandra (http://www.sisoftware.net) Free personal and commercial network versions.
- Son of Snoop on Steroids (SOSOS) (http://www.dpw.hood.army.mil/ftp/sosos) Free, for both personal and network use, includes full source code.
See it (not) working
Hook it up and watch it run, while the customer is there. This keeps the customer from bringing in a dead system and then claiming that it wasn't dead when they brought it in. Computers do die during transportation, on occasion, both to and from the store. This also keeps a dishonest employee from swapping out a customer's perfectly good board with his/her bad board of the same model from home, and claiming that the customer's system came in dead. Showing it before it leaves also avoids problems with the computer dying on the way home.
Complete backup
You should seriously consider doing a full image backup of all systems before doing anything else, just in case an 'oops' happens.
Service log
You might consider doing a service log for each computer, which is kept with the computer. This way, assuming that the customer brings the service log in with the computer, you don't need to look up what work you've done before, and if someone else has worked on it (and bothered to update the service log), you can see what they did. It's more for the benefit of the customer than for you, but it looks good.
