June 8, 2013
► A Seasonal Specialty Stores Report Card was received from Brian G. in Nashua, NH. His general shopping experience was rated Excellent. Did any of our team members do an unusually good job? “Everyone I encountered has been a pleasure to deal with. I’m sorry, I don’t know their names.” Sales help and operations were rated Good. Communication and product performance were rated Excellent. He gave us an Excellent rating for Pool School, In-store advice, and Free Water Testing. What can we do to improve? “Nothing that I can think of.” What do we do really well? “Teaching!!! Being a first time pool owner, I was nervous about it. I worried about how to buy, install, and take care of it. You helped through it all, and I now feel confident and love my pool.”
► Advertising, weekly specials, and all department sales continue from last week: “Pool and Patio Sale”
► Learn the “Pick Your Bonus” specials on grills (except the Travel Q) before you present it to a customer.
► Sunday, June 9 is Customer Appreciation Day. FREE Seasonal All-Natural Hand Sanitizer. Because we love our customers and we want them to be healthy.
► Pool Chemistry School on Wednesday, June 12.
► We lost $112 in liquid chlorine being given away for free by cashiers last week. This is a new one. I am used to cashiers forgetting to charge $7.00 deposits. It is quite amazing to see us charging for deposits, but not charging for the $16.99 chlorine!
► There were 87 One-of-These Awards last month; 17 for Customer Service. Top honors to Mia with 8, and Joe and Kristine with 7 each. Finalists were Kristine, Corey, John, Mia, Stephanie, and Sean. Owner’s Choice was John. Josh was the Drawing Winner. Congratulations to all.
► We recycle 25# chemical buckets (with lids) for our customers. The Boy Scouts use them to deliver driveway sand as a fundraiser. So could you please put buckets in the bin (F20C) rather than throw them away.
► Safety issue: Please do not leave an open box in a bin with the cover sticking out into the aisle, where a person walking down the aisle can walk into it.
► From Seth: A reminder that the “Design Center” is a location and not a store department. Please page phone calls to the appropriate department such as “Patio Furniture”, “Billiards”, “Spa Sales”, etc. We have many people that don’t normally work around the Design Center that can take a billiards call for example, but on the other hand Ann is not generally going to take a call for billiards, or spa sales. The customer is more likely to get someone who can help him or her if the correct department is paged.
► From Seth and Ann: If a customer calls to check on the status of their patio furniture order, let them know that if they have received a call from us, then the furniture is not yet in. If they would like more information about the status of their order, they can leave their name and number, and we will get back to them within a business day or two. (We cannot get info from vendors when they are closed on the weekends.) Please put those notes in Ann’s mailbox.
► The checks for 2012 Profit Sharing were mailed out this week. If you qualified by IRS rules (over 21 by 12/31/12, made more than around $400 a year for 3 out of the last 5 years, and worked here in 2012). Keep an eye out for a confirmation from your investment company in a week or two. If you otherwise qualified but were not old enough, we are giving you a bonus equal to what you would have received if the IRS allowed it. The difference: IRS Profit Sharing is tax-free, and the bonus has taxes taken. If you did not qualify, keep working here until you do.
► The Aquabot Pura 4X automatic pool cleaner is a robot, not a pressure cleaner. Hints: 1. It say “Robot” on the large sign and on the small sign. 2. That’s what the “bot” stands for in “Aquabot” – Robot. 3. That’s what it says on the label. You don’t have to memorize if you can read one sentence faster than the customer.
► The last I heard, we are still looking for Warehouse help. I printed employment applications (they are grey) and put them with the other applications behind Register 4.
► From Tod:
- Because of so many more people who have lunches, we need to empty what’s not needed (from the refrigerator).
- When taking in a repair on auto-cleaners, make a note of what you received (the unit, power supply or both). The same goes for a pump and base.
► Internet Humor: Morris, an 82 year-old man, went to the doctor to get a physical. A few days later, the doctor saw Morris walking down the street with a gorgeous young woman on his arm. A couple of days later, the doctor spoke to Morris and said, “You’re really doing great, aren’t you?” Morris replied, “Just doing what you said, Doc: ‘Get a hot mamma and be cheerful.’” The doctor said, “I didn’t say that… I said, ‘You’ve got a heart murmur; be careful.’”