June 7, 2014

►    Customer Feedback:   A Seasonal Specialty Stores Report Card was received from Marc P., in Brookine, NH who stated that his general shopping experience with us was Excellent.  “Selection and knowledge.”  Did any of our team members do an unusually good job?  “Seth was very helpful during purchase.  Patrick was great with chemical questions.”  Sales help, operations, communication, and product performance were all rated Excellent.  “Seth was very helpful.  Operations people were top notch with a smile all the time.”  Pool School, in-store advice and free water testing were rated Excellent.  Would they recommend us to a friend?  “Yes.”  What can we do to improve?  “Maintain excellence.”  What do we do really well?  “Great, low-pressure atmosphere.”

►    Advertising, specials, department promotions continue from last week:  “Pool and Patio Sale”. This month’s color is purple.

►    The June Spectrum ad expires June 26 and requires an $80 minimum total purchase.  The free items with grills are now with the Prestige series, not the Mirage.

►    There were 41 One-of-These awards for May; 9 for customer service.  Sarah had the most; with six.  Finalists were Anne-Marie, Stephanie, Joe, Sarah, and Mia.  Owner’s Choice was Joe, and the drawing winner was also Joe.  Congratulations and thank you to all.  Perhaps Joe’s Pool Service could afford to buy lunch for Sarah some day!

►    Upcoming Events:

June 7:  Meet Mark Coleman from Aqua Comfort heat pumps in our store today.

June 8:  Grill Demonstration: Saber R50CC & Saffire 18” smoker:  11AM – 2PM

June 14:  Stephen’s first Anniversary:  Have some anniversary cake in the coffee shop while supplies last.

June 15:  Father’s Day ~ FREE Gifts for fathers, future fathers, and fathers-at-heart, 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM

June 18:  Pool School 102 ~ Introduction to Pool Chemistry, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

June 21:  Happy Birthday Patrick and Rose:  FREE birthday cake in the coffee shop, while supplies last.

June 21:  Meet Matt Young from Bioguard Chemicals in our store today.

►    Lunches are being provided by Greg Parker from Bel Aqua on Friday, June 6, and Mark Coleman from Aqua Comfort Heat Pumps on Saturday, June 7.  They will both be here at the time, and we will be offering special discounts on their products, too.  It might be nice if you remembered to thank them for lunch that day.

►    Do Not say that someone here will call anybody back right away.  Particularly not “as soon as he is done waiting on his customer.”  That is not close to true.

1.  Make sure that person is the only one who can help the customer.  That’s a big deal.

2.  We will return calls when we can get to it, and always before we leave for the day.  3.  We cannot return calls when people are waiting in line to talk to us.  Those people do not like it.

►    Looking forward to your safety picnic at Kimball Farms in August?  Think Bumper Boats and a waterfall!

►    Submitted by Kristine:  You need to physically write the serial# for APC’s on the contract itself, because it doesn’t print and when I go to register them, I have to search for it on the computer.

►    Submitted by Joe: Please learn your dumpster:  one is trash, one is clean paper.  Added by Dennis:  This is an expensive mistake.  Clean paper is recycled and relatively inexpensive for us to dump.  The trash goes into a very expensive landfill in Vermont.  If you put trash into the paper recycling it contaminates the entire load, and the entire thing goes into the landfill.  And we pay a very large fine.

►    Submitted by Anne-Marie:  Cashiers, please remember that no punctuation should be used in the customer’s name, phone number, and address fields.  O’Brien is added as OBRIEN.  St. Paul is entered as ST PAUL.  Phone numbers need to be entered without parentheses or dashes so the look-up will work when you are on a new receipt and enter their phone number.  Also area code should always be entered in a phone number.  Thank you.

►    Last week we had 11 people research us on Yelp; and three went from there to our website

►    Overall, cash register problems were at a minimum last week.  Only one apparent problem on liquid chlorine, and it could be that it was just a weird transaction.  So congratulations and thank you for doing such as a great job.

►    Weekly Fire Alarm Tip: If there is no assistant manager on duty, the store manager takes on the assistant manager’s duties. Fire alarm procedures are tested once a quarter.  Your score on this test plays a part in the amount of your quarterly bonus.  A complete answer key is returned with each graded test.  If you would like another copy, please ask Jen!!

►    From a 1960’s Reader’s Digest: The young lady smiled sweetly at the waiting line as she stepped into the phone booth.  “I won’t be long,” she said.  “I just want to hang up on him.”

►    History lesson:  a phone booth was a 2’ x 2’ x 7’ box with a telephone in it.  You put in coins and made a phone call when you were not home.  That’s before everyone had a cell phone.