A Thousand of Ones

The OSAT Renaissance Project Ep #8
November 17, 2014

A Thousand of Ones

Good Morning and Welcome to The OSAT Renaissance Project - a Daily Boost of energy, excitement and information to help lead OSAT higher to the absolute benefit to our customer!

Today I would like to offer a blog post from a guy named Doug Fleener.  This blog post comes from his blog “The Retail Contrarian” and it can be found at www.retailcontrarian.com.

Customer Service Training
May 23, 2012

One of Thousands, or Thousands of Ones

The best customer service/experience happens when I feel respected and/or appreciated, and my expectations are met or exceeded.  My expectations can be anything - good food, good service, a knowledgeable salesperson, a fast check-in, open registers, I’m not kept waiting, a product in stock, etc., etc., etc.

While many elements make up a great customer experience, there is one common theme:

Me.

As a customer, I’m the one that determines whether I’ve had a good experience or not.

I’m sure most, if not all, of the companies I do business with have a defined service approach and training for their employees, but there’s a big miss by virtually every one of them.

Me.

Companies talk about customers as if they’re all the same; as if each person who walks in the door is just another version of the person before.

If thousands of people walk in over the course of a week I’m one of thousands but in reality, customers are thousands of ones.

That is why delivering a personalized experience is such a great differentiator and the key to both winning customers and maximizing the sales opportunity.

Every specialty retailer should have a defined sales experience approach. It’s an important roadmap for the staff to add value to the customer’s visit and not simply clerk the sale. It’s also important that the staff be taught, and expected to, deliver the experience uniquely to each customer.

You’ve probably defined how to do this. The difference is in the details and the quality of the execution.

Saying “hello” is one of thousands.

Welcoming and acknowledging each individual is thousands of ones.

Talking to a customer is one of thousands.

Having a conversation with someone whose name you know and about whom you know something is thousands of ones.

Showing a product is one of thousands.

Recommending products based on the answers to questions you’ve asked is thousands of ones.

Giving good service is one of thousands.

Making sure your customer has the best possible experience is thousands of ones.

This starts with how the company/store leadership sees and engages their team. A staff can be one of many or many ones. When we teach and coach each individual person to learn how to deliver a more unique and memorable experience, we are well on our way to succeeding one customer at a time.

So let me ask, is your experience delivered to one of thousands or to thousands of ones?

---------------
Doug Fleener is a proven retail and customer experience expert that helps companies dramatically improve their customer experience and their results. Visit our website or call Doug at 866-535-6331 to discuss how he can help you create an extraordinary experience and results.


Read more: http://www.retailcontrarian.com/customer_service_training/#ixzz3JGoapMQS


Now let’s celebrate our great people!

461 - Angelo helped me get my groceries to my car after the wheels of my cart locked up.  Also both Jasmine and MArlan provided very friendly customer service at checkout.

484 - Flo in the deli is always a joy to speak with

436 - cashier Lynda and the bagger, Vance were friendly and funny!!!

212 - Valerie at the cash register was very friendly as was the bagger Roster.

461 - Camilla was amazing.  She had the express lane moving.  She has the oat pleasant smile

461 - Maurice our checker was very friendly

427 —service rep Johnay was nice enough to open up just for me.  She saved me a lot of time as I had to get home to help my son with homework.  I appreciate Kroger for associates with the passion like Johnay.  Employees like this are what keep me coming back

Trust Your Culture

The OSAT Renaissance Project Ep #7
November 16, 2014

Trust Your Culture

Good Morning and Welcome to The OSAT Renaissance Project  - your Daily Boost of energy, excitement and information to help lead OSAT higher for the absolute benefit of our customers!

Today I want to talk about culture - the culture of your store and how we need to trust it.

We often get soooo keyed up about the comments we received and…we want you to…in a sense - you know we send out the comments just about everyday…we want you to read them, to react to them but I don’t want an overreaction to them.

By that I mean “trust your culture”

Once you establish a culture of success - once you establish a culture that allows for success in your store - then, as you read the comments, you look for trends in the comments - you don’t look at the outliers and react to those.

What I mean by that is that you may have a comment that reads:

“Store was dirty and the customer service is always awful.”

Then the very next comment is:

“Man I love shopping in this store, this is my store and it is always clean and the service is fantastic!”

Two contrary comments

Which comment do you latch on to?

Obviously you will probably latch on to the very good comment and totally discount the bad one…human nature.  And you may allow this to cloud your ability to trust OSAT

I bet the truth is somewhere in-between but my point of this is that you are going to get comments that seem odd.  for example, You are going to get comments that you are out of stock on ad items all the time.

But do you see a trend in the comments - do you see a trend in the out of stock on ad comments?

Certainly as you read the outlier comment you want to take a look and see and really decide where you are at on that but if you know you’re pretty good on it then you file it away for another time.

And then if it comes up again and again…you have a trend and then you will have to delve into it deeper and solve the issue.

But far to often we are way too reactionary to the comments and it clouds our vision about OSAT.

I want to uncloud our vision and I want us to have a positive reaction to OSAT.  I am worried that sometimes when we hear OSAT it conjures up negative thoughts.

I don’t want this.  I want OSAT to be a positive thing.

I want us to trust our culture - trust the culture in the store and allow that culture to grow OSAT organically.

I know nobody likes a “When I used to do it” story but I’m going to tell you one anyway…so my apologies before I begin.

At 443 when I was running it we always called ourselves ‘The Happiest Place on Earth”…that was the culture we tried to establish.  Did we ever get there - of course not.  You can probably think of many other places happier than a grocery store in Loganville, Georgia but that was the mindset we had.  The Happiest Place on Earth was the culture that we tried to establish and I think we went a pretty good ways toward establishing it because our OSAT was generally not bad.

And by establishing that culture we when we got some bad comments we analyzed them, we looked at them but we didn’t over-react to them and we didn’t let them get us down.  We didn’t let them cloud our view.

We also didn’t get too super-keyed up over the really good comments either because we knew the truth - we knew what we had to work on…we knew ourselves.

We looked at the comments for trends…reacted when we needed to but we mostly trusted the culture - that we were “The Happiest Place on Earth” and we continued to strive to become the Happiest Place on Earth and watched the OSAT grow organically.

That’s all I am asking you guys to do - establish a culture in your store…be true to that culture and then trust that culture as you are working your way through OSAT and allow it to grow in your store.

Let’s Celebrate some Great People today!

461 - Maurice was so friendly and smiled - that is very important to me.  Makes my day!

354 - The cashier Sarah was very professional and very customer service oriented.  She was very polite and knew her job well.  She is an asset to this establishment…a very important person to keep.

488 - enjoy the friendliness of this store.  This time Reginald and Sanika spoke, smiled and are always helpful with everything I need.  Reginald checked me out and as usual was wonderful.  And, especially Sanika at the customer service desk - what a great attitude, esp when people are mean and impatient.  She and Reginald are both assets to this store.

370 - the produce associate Abdould was very polite and helpful

679 - Friendly cashier and bagger - Stephanie and Cheryl were great!

445 - the cashier had excellent customer service.  Hat’s off to Breanna

212 - my checkout clerk, Valerie, was really courteous and friendly

461 - I accidentally left $50 at self-checkout and Ms. Corliss found the money.  She told me to bring my receipt in and she would have the money.  I did and Ms. Corliss had told customer service to expect me.  I am so thankful for the honest and responsible staff - especially Ms. Corliss.  Thank you!

461 - Jasmine P the cashier was very pleasant

And there are a lot of great comments that didn’t mention associates by name.

Thank you!

Tomorrow we start with you guys - the stores - taking over a portion of the program.

I cannot wait to hear your thoughts on how to grow OSAT.  The suggested topic is Acknowledgement and how we can improve it but you can speak on anything related to OSAT that you wish.

The Line-up is:

Monday - 651
Tuesday - 370
Wednesday - 436
Thursday - 483
Friday - 488
Saturday - 212

Our Job - Revisited

The OSAT Renaissance Project Ep #6
November 15, 2014

Our Job

Good Morning and Welcome to The OSAT Renaissance Project - a Daily Boost of energy and excitement to help lead OSAT higher to the absolute benefit to our customer!

If you joined us for the walkthrough at 475 on Thursday or have followed me on yammer/yodel you have heard or read a little bit of this before but I thought I’d re-visit it today because I really believe this is how we can achieve the renaissance - the cultural shift - we are looking for.

As a store manager I was often asked...

What do you do?

I usually reply that I walk around and try to look like I know what I'm doing and hope that nobody notices that I have no clue and that I’m making stuff up as I go along!

But...

That's only partly true.

When asked again I reply that...

My job is to create an environment that allows for success.

Then, if asked for clarification I answer...

My job is to take an egg, incubate it, hatch it and help it grow into a fully formed, well-rounded being...be that the store...the associates...the team.

My job is to create a village...a community center...that just happens to sell groceries.

My job is to tweak the thermostat of the store keeping it at the perfect temperature to allow everyone to have an environment that allows them to do what they do...turning the temp up or down as needed.

My job is to be careful not to de-motivate the great people we have - starting from the 1st day courtesy clerk to the 40th year produce guy - and give them the tools they need to be successful then get the heck out of their way and let them do what they do.

My job is to trust.

My job is to build and strengthen the bond between the store and the community.

My job is to create a culture of energy, excitement, achievement and service.  Service to both our external and internal customers - and of course…each other!

My job

is to

Create an Environment that Allows for Success

(and then walk around and try to look like I know what I'm doing!)


Let’s take a look at some of the comments from yesterday

483 - Robyn the cashier was very personable and friendly - Highly Satisfied

427 - Amber was spectacular.  Hats off to her - Highly Satisfied

436 - Lynda my cashier was really sweet and Vance my bagger was very friendly and efficient - Highly Satisfied
And Lynda was mentioned in a couple of highly satisfied comments received yesterday!

320 - Stacy was very patient and kind - Highly Satisfied

461 - I had a fabulous experience at your store.  I couldn’t find the organic juice and was standing there looking confused and the security guy walked up to me.  Now I thought he thought I was stealing or something but lo and behold he is the nicest person I have EVER met.  He went into the back room and got what I needed - HIGHLY Satisfied

461 - I love, love Justin and Shanita.  Justin always greets me and asks about my family.  What can I say about Shanita, she is by far one of the people I look forward to getting my day started - Highly satisfied

436 - Haley, while shy, was very friendly and professional - Highly Satisfied
Haley was mentioned in a couple of comments yesterday

These are our Yays of the Day!

So let’s lead OSAT today and change the world!

While it’s a little cold outside it is still a beautiful day - go enjoy it and enjoy your business!
Thank you and I’ll talk with you tomorrow!

The Power of Positivity

The OSAT Renaissance Project Ep. #4
November 14, 2014
The Power of Positivity

Good Morning and Welcome to The OSAT Renaissance Project - a Daily Boost of energy and excitement to help lead OSAT higher to the absolute benefit to our customer!

I have read from many sources that the first contact you have each day has more influence over you than the next five experiences. Because of this you are told to make sure you start your day off with a positive experience.

Take 10 – 15 minutes to read  positive passages from a book

Take a walk first thing in the morning and take a mental list of all the positive things you have in your life

Get up and exercise – doing something positive for your body and mind.

I wondered about this advice so I have been keeping track to see if it is accurate, if it is indeed really true

IT IS!

I was amazed, once I focused my attention on this, how much that very first experience of the day effects the rest of your day. The days I woke up and said to myself, “Oh man, I am tired and I do not feel like getting up and going into work” I didn’t have the same drive or energy as other days. The days my wife and I fussed a little bit in the morning discussing things that have to be done, have to be paid, have to be picked up – they were much harder to get started.

I have a habit each morning of getting up and letting the dog out as I walk down the driveway to pick up the paper. I used to do this moaning about the cracking joints, the weather, or anything else that seemed wrong.

Now, while the actual action of this routine has not changed I now make sure that I take in the atmosphere of the morning. I look at the trees and especially look up at the sky. This puts me into a positive frame of mind. I am lucky enough to live somewhat away from the lights of town so I can see stars when I look up. You absolutely cannot resist the beauty of a starry sky once you gaze up.

It is amazing.

This is my cup of positivity each morning - Looking at the starry sky…the natural beauty of it all. (I have even extended this habit to the evening. I go out in my backyard and lay in the grass looking up at the sky while the dog romps around for a while. I was surprised by how many “shooting stars” you can see by doing this)

I then come back inside the house in a great mood. It hasn’t failed me yet. Just 2-3 minutes of looking at nature. That is all it takes for me.

You must find your own way to start your day off on a positive note. It will carry you through the morning and if you’re lucky…all day…
Now…how are you going to start your day off at Kroger?

Well…I would say just lay down on aisle 5 and look up at the ceiling and you will be amazed!

But I won’t say that…I won’t suggest that…and not just because you can’t see the stars from aisle 5

Now it might changed the mood in the store a little if you did this and and few phone calls might be made but in the big picture view laying down on the floor might not have the effect you are looking for.

But what will?

Part of our job - perhaps all of it - is setting the atmosphere in the store.  If you come in bouncing like Tigger instead of shuffling like Eeyeore what results could follow?  And this is not an indictment of Eeyore because once you get to know him he’s a nice guy but you have to admit…he can be a downer.

Now of course you can’t be Tigger all day long because that would be overwhelming after awhile but what if you jump started your Kroger day by bouncing?

I bet the positivity and fun would flow like Pooh sticks down the river.

Comets and Overall Satisfaction

The OSAT Renaissance Project Ep. #4
November 13, 2014

Comets and OSAT

I was on CNN.com yesterday and noticed a story about how we - we being us humans - landed a robot on a comet.

Wow! How freakin exciting is that!?

Just think, a spacecraft blasted off from the earth, took a few trips around the moon and then shot around Mars to meet up with a comet and then dropped a robot on top of it! And I do mean drop - we couldn’t steer the thing…we just dropped it and sort of hoped it would land where it was supposed to on the comet. It did have a gyroscope or something on it to keep it stabilized but if fell to the surface of the comet…

…and then tweeted.

Yes…the robot tweeted that it landed.

What!!?? Wow again!!!

Did you ever think you’d ever hear that in a sentence…”a robot fell to the surface of a comet and then tweeted out that it landed!”

I am amazed

Then…it shot out some some harpons - or was supposed to - to help it hold on to the comet but they didn’t fire the way they were supposed to and the robot tweeted out - “my harpons didn’t fire I don’t know why” or something like that.

I am truly amazed

Just think…50 years ago we barely put a man in space and now we’re landing a tweeting robot on a comet after it flew 6.4 billion miles!

And we once thought flight was impossible.

I spoke to my Grandmother once about this. She was born in 1901 and passed away in 1996. Before she passed I talked with her about everything she had seen in her lifetime. Cars barely were around, flight wasn’t possible and the thought of even traveling in space let alone landing a man on the moon or flying a shuttle into space and back again or landing a tweeting robot on a comet were thought to be impossible if they were even thought of at all!

And yet now these things seem almost common place. When we landed on the moon it was a big media event. My Dad even took pictures of the tv as they broadcasted the landing. I was in high school when the space shuttle first came back to earth and classes were canceled so we could all watch.

Now…a robot landing on a comet barely makes front page news. It is common place.

What once was impossible is now common.

What does this have to do with OSAT?

It may be a stretch to connect the two things but here we go…

We…many of us…think hitting 80% for OSAT is impossible.

Yes we have had…or still have this thought. But perhaps what is impossible now will seem commonplace soon.

We can hit 80% in OSAT

It is not impossible

It just takes a cultural shift and this cultural shift starts with each of us as individuals. We need to start with us. As Randy Waters has said, “If it’s to be it starts with me!”

This is SOOOOO true.

I have often said…and many of you may have heard this from me before that our jobs as leaders is to “create an atmosphere that allows for success.”

If we change ourselves and start to believe that an 80 OSAT is possible then we will be able to get to that number. We can do it.

And then we will see what was once thought to be impossible is very possible. 80% OSAT can be come commonplace.

Landing a tweeting robot on a comet - impossible! Nope…we did it.

80% OSAT - impossible! Nope...we will do it

The OSAT Renaissance Project Ep. #3

The Power of Thank You

Good Morning and welcome to The OSAT Renaissance Project day number three.

And what a nice day we had yesterday.  65% for yesterday…for Tuesday.  Wow!  You guys LED the way on OSAT yesterday.  And this made us jump back up to 60% for our 30 day score.  So Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Which leads us into our show today

Thank you!

Thank you for listening today.

Thank you for the feedback concerning this program.  It’s been great to hear from you guys.

Thank you for the energy you bring to the Kroger Company

Thank you Thank You Thank you

2 very simple words

Thank you

2 very powerful words

Thank you

2 very necessary words

Thank you

We are in the business of serving people.

We serve over 50,000 customers a day in our district.

And that’s just our customers who pay - what about the people that come with them?

Add that to the total

What about our vendors?

We serve them as they serve us…add them to the total

And our associates

We certainly serve them!

So just for fun let’s say we serve over 100,000 people a day

How many times do we say

THANK YOU

Saying "thank you" has become a competitive advantage. So few people express appreciation. In fact a Lenox etiquette poll found that nearly five out of every 10 people don't always say thanks

That is why remembering to do so is a sales point of difference.

I am shocked by our Customer Connection scores pertaining to Appreciating - saying thank you.  As a division we’re sitting at 77%.  It just seems like a basic thing to do in business and in life.  Our customers are giving us their money - shouldn’t we say thank you?

If someone handed you a few thousand dollars wouldn’t you say thank you in a BIG way?

Of course you would and this is what our customers are doing - handing us thousands of dollars each year.

Thank you

And a side note - don’t say “no problem”

Man that’s a pet peeve of mine…

And we see this or encounter this everyday.  I went into a store the other day - not a Kroger store but I’ve seen similar encounters in Kroger - and I made my selection and went to checkout.  As the cashier handed me my purchases after I handed her my money I said thank you.  Her reply was “No Problem”

Man I hate that!

It should never ever ever ever be a problem to serve a customer and when we say “No Problem” we are implying that a problem could’ve occurred - that the customer may have inconvenienced us.

UGH

Just say Thank You!  Thank you!  That’s all

These two words hold great power beyond the business world as well.

They are two words that have the power to transform our health, happiness, and success. Research shows that grateful people are happier and more likely to maintain good friendships. A state of gratitude, according to research by the Institute of HeartMath, also improves the heart’s rhythmic functioning, which helps us to reduce stress, think more clearly under pressure and heal physically. It’s actually physiologically impossible to be stressed and thankful at the same time. When you are grateful you flood your body and brain with emotions and endorphins that uplift and energize you rather than the stress hormones that drain you.

And thanking our team has great power too.

Gratitude and appreciation are essential for a healthy work environment. In fact, the number one reason why people leave their jobs is because they don’t feel appreciated. A simple thank you and a show of appreciation can make all the difference.

Saying thanks to associates has several benefits. You build staff loyalty (and we all know how much turnover can cost in time, money and stress). And you increase productivity, which leads to greater customer satisfaction….OSAT baby

Yet few managers or business owners bother. So it’s a problem outside of Kroger as well.  A scant 10% of employees report they have supervisors who say a daily "thank you" for a job well done, according to a recent nationwide Maritz poll. More than half of employees said they were thanked never, seldom or only occasionally.

WOW

So yesterday we covered the first of the 3 “A”s - Acknowledgement.  Today we have covered the last of the 3 “A”s - Appreciate.
If we get these two things mastered just think where we could go…

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

How easy it is to say…

The OSAT Renaissance Project Ep #2

The OSAT Renaissance Project
Episode #2
November 11, 2014

The Power of Acknowledgement

Good Morning

I have a daughter who is 15 months old, Eleni is her name.  We just enrolled Eleni in daycare and this daycare has a lot of glass.  Glass windows, glass doors everywhere there is glass.  It makes it easy for the teachers to see things that happen.  It also makes it easy for the kids to see things that happen too.

My daughter has become the “waver”  She waves at everybody and everything that comes by her class.  She stands at the door…she stands at the window…watching.  Then she shoots her hand up in the air and yells “Hi” or at least that’s what we think she is saying.  It’s hard to understand her but she is pretty good at “bye bye” and this sounds different so we think it’s “Hi”.  She now has the nickname, “The Greeter.”  That’s what the teachers call her - The Greeter.

As we meet parents of other kids in the daycare and introduce ourselves it is usually part of the conversation to ask what classroom your kid is in.  When we tell other parents what class Eleni is in and what her name is a look of recognition comes across their faces, “We know her - she’s the greeter!  She is always waving  and telling us Hi!”

It is amazing to see the reaction of others as they tell us their “Greeter” story.  They remember her…and it brings pleasure - to both them and us!

Eleni is always acknowledging everyone.

And we should be too.

I know it’s easy to find pleasure in a 15 month old’s wave but it is human nature to want to be acknowledged.

Being acknowledged as a customer is generally a nice thing don’t you think.

It makes you feel that you are valued, and that’s the experience a customer should have.

Being ignored, is an experience a customer should not have.

Acknowledge your customer’s presence

This seems too basic to even mention.

What breathing is to living, acknowledgement is to working with customers.  You remember this type of statement from your SATs

What breathing is to living - acknowledgment is to working with customers.

So, why even have a rule that deals with it?

Because, as basic and fundamental as this idea is, it still gets forgotten on a regular basis. Every day customers are made "invisible" by our associates who are there to serve them.  But rather than serving them, they ignore them.  They act as if the customers doesn’t exist.  Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on their part. But either way, the problem is rampant and it’s dangerous.

Remember from your Customer Service classes from years ago - I remember talking about this during the ABC’s of Customer Service seminar - that 68% of customers leave because of indifference from our associates?

If a customer is ignored, how might they rate their service?  Bad probably.

Customers who are ignored are one step away from being former customers, and unhappy ones at that.  They will gladly tell anyone who seems even remotely interested why they left your business…or post it on Facebook -  "The employees acted like I was not even there" is what they will post.

But there is good news.

Because the cause of invisible customers is also the cure.  Customers become invisible because associates make them invisible.  It is a conscious choice by the associates to ignore customers.  That is the ONLY way customers can be invisible.

So, the solution is just as simple: Stop ignoring customers.

As the manager - and as the manager you own this - you need to understand what would make an associate ignore their customers.  There are many reasons.  Bad attitude, too "busy", misunderstanding what the priorities are, etc.  You need to make it clear (with your policies and your own behavior) what the priorities are.

You - as the manager - need to make it clear with your policies and your own behavior what the priorities are.

"Customers first" should be burned into everyone’s brain.

The best way to honor this rule and avoid invisible customers is to make it a point to acknowledge every customer immediately.  The second you see a customer, greet them and make eye contact. They need to know you know they are there.

They need to know you know they are there.
Even if you can’t help them at that moment, it’s critical to acknowledge them.  Never wait to greet a customer.  Make it a habit of greeting them right away.

Have you ever gone to a restaurant, hotel, a store, and stood there while the staff walks by you, apparently busy doing . . . something…and you felt invisible?

That’s not really the experience a customer wants to have, is it?

It is really not that hard to acknowledge people.  You just make eye contact, say “Hello, I’ll be right with you.”  And follow that with a smile.

A simple acknowledgment and smile will go a long way.

And when folks are waiting in line - you absolutely must acknowledge them.  We're a time sensitive culture. Technology has driven us to expect things faster, easier and quicker.

Customers get impatient.

But if you acknowledge them…simply make eye contact, provide a smile and offer a nice greeting you can set up a positive customer experience by reducing the impatience and anxiety of the wait for that customer.

It’s never been more dangerous to provide bad customer service.  There is way too much competition out there and the only real difference between us and them is the level of service we provide.

Let’s become “wavers”.  Let’s earn the nickname, “The Greeter”

It’s so simple even a 15 month old can do it!





sources for this episode:
http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/operations-customer/12268784-1.html

http://www.myservicefirst.com/principle-2-acknowledge-your-customer/

http://www.iowabiz.com/2011/03/ackowledging-customers-is-first-step-of-great-service.html

The OSAT Renaissance Project #1

Below are my "program notes" for our daily conference call that's not a conference call about the Overall Satisfaction (OSAT) of our customers.  I will share my notes here each day...and please know that these are my notes - although basically fully written out.  When presenting this material during the call that's not a call I will change, modify, cut, add to the text!

The OSAT Renaissance Project

Episode #1

November 10, 2014

Good Morning and Welcome to the very first episode of The OSAT Renaissance Project…The Overall Satisfaction Renaissance Project…The ORP…

ORP - hows that for putting an acronym, OSAT inside another acronym - ORP - The OSAT Renaissance Project!

Well…Welcome

Many of you - in fact most of you do not want to sit in on another conference call.

I get it…I get it…

That is why this is not a conference call - it is an episode…a show…a podcast…a program…whatever you want to call it but just don’t call it a conference call

Now if you insist on calling this a conference call just know that this is not going to be your granddaddy’s conference call…oh no…

actually who knows if your granddaddy ever even sat in on a conference call.  

I did a little bit of research and the best I can tell is that the first conference call took place in 1956 - not counting party lines for those of you who know what they are but I digress…this isn’t 1956, it’s 2014 and this is not a conference call 

It is The OSAT Renaissance Project Episode #1

Why are we here?

Because we have to lead OSAT higher…that’s right…I said LEAD OSAT

I didn’t say push OSAT

I didn’t say Drive OSAT

I am not a believer that we can PUSH OSAT

I am not a believer that we can DRIVE OSAT although that is one of our favorite words - drive something…drive results

I am certainly not a believer that we can punish our way to OSAT.  That seems counterintuitive to me.

We have to LEAD our way to OSAT

So if you don’t get anything else from this 1st episode of The OSAT Renaissance Project…just get that out of it…that we have to LEAD our way - the way!

And we are all leaders - anyone listening today is a leader.

Why are we doing this?

Well..because our OSAT is stagnant.  And you know what stagnant is…

Stagnant water just sits there and breeds bugs and nastiness and disease!  It’s just not good for anyone and that’s why you drain ponds and swamps and stuff like that because it just gets nasty.

Our OSAT scores are nasty and stagnant.

We’re sitting at 58, 59 and an occasional 60 for our 30 day score and we just need to do better.

We’ve got to lead the score higher.

And why do we want to do that?

Because OSAT should be our highest priority - our highest focus…that seems like common sense.  I know some of you are thinking “why do I have to be on a call about OSAT when we have so much to do?”

Because our customers are the reason we have a business.  Without customers we won’t have that business to run.  We want Highly Satisfied customers because they will spend more money with us.  Right?  We’ve seen the stats - so let’s turn every customer into a HIGHLY SATISFIED customer…a most loyal customer.

So…OSAT Renaissance Project - why the name?

Renaissance…Renaissance means a “Re-Birth” it is a Cultural Shift and that is exactly what we need in District O - a Cultural Shift…a re-birth in terms of OSAT.

We have to rethink the way we do stuff.  We all have to be on the same page - aligned - or the shift won’t happen.

Think about it - the Renaissance did not happen because one guy decided it was going to happen.  It didn’t happen because 24 guys came together on the medieval version of a conference call and talked about it…No…it was because a movement of many sparked a cultural shift throughout the entire population.  Exciting times back then!

It this can be exciting too!

OSAT can be exciting.  To me it’s the most fun thing about our jobs - engaging with our customers.  And that’s what we want to do…engage and lead the scores higher!

We can do this!

It is possible but we have to re-think…have a re-birth…have a cultural shift toward Customer Satisfaction.

So as we start this new thing I want you to think about something.  Think about when you first started at Kroger because I’m going to challenge you to go back to start.  No…not like in the board games where you landed on a square and you said, “Arrrggh…I have to go back to start!”  

No what I’m asking is that you go back to start in a good way.  When you first start anything you are probably very excited.  Again, think back to when you first started at Kroger - no matter what position it was you were excited.  “I got a new job.  I am so happy.  I can’t wait to get started.  I’m going to change the world!”  Or when you first were accepted into the management program, “Wow, I’m a manager now.  I can’t wait to make an impact.  I can’t wait to change my store…I am going to change the world!”  Or when you first became Unit Manager, “Finally…now I can make stuff happen…now I can change the world!”

I am asking everyone who is listening to tho episode, this show, this program to go back to start on OSAT and change the world!

And grab the excitement of when we first started and grab that motivation that made you say, “I’m going to go do stuff…I’m going to make stuff happen.” Because that’s what we do - we make stuff happen.

The OSAT Renaissance Project - a re-birth -a cultural shift.

How is this show going to work

Well..this week you will mainly hear from me and maybe a couple of other people but next week you guys out in the stores will take over a portion of the program. 

Yup…you guys get to participate.

The way this is going to work is that each day a different store will speak about a subject on Leading OSAT.  I will send out an agenda sometime this afternoon that will lay out the shows for next week.  On this agenda I will list the days of the week and next to the days of the week will be a store number - a different store number for each day.  This will be the store presenting on that particular day.  Say for example the agenda will show Monday and store 214.  This means on Monday someone from 214 will have to present during the episode on a topic pertaining to OSAT.  I will include suggested topics on the agenda but you do not have to use the suggested topics if you do not want to.  You can talk about whatever you want to as long as it is related to OSAT and helps us all LEAD the score higher.  On Tuesday another store will present…on Wednesday another store…on Thursday another and so on and so on…

So basically every 24 days you will get to present.

So once we get this rolling the episodes will flow like this…I will open the episode then turn it over to a store.  The store does their bit and then it comes back to me and I will introduce other guests, present some other materials and then close the show.

I am not looking for the shows to be very long.  I know it is a big concern for many of you how much time we will take everyday but we will keep it short.

Sort of like our mini-huddles!  Short burst of great information, energy and excitement!

Everyday…Everyday….Everyday…

Why everyday I heard from some.  But you know what? 

Anything that can make you better don’t you want to do it everyday?

Anything that is fun and exciting wouldn’t you want to do it everyday?

That is what the OSAT Renaissance Project is going to be.  You are going to want to listen to it.  You need to listen to it!  

I can’t do Jack Nicholson but maybe you got the reference.

My mom used to always say - and I mean always…

You can do anything you want as long as you want to do it bad enough

So let’s go do this.  Let’s make stuff happen!

An OSAT Renaissance!

It’ll be fun and informative

I’ll see you tomorrow