Retail boys and girls, Lowe’s is a different animal then your granddaddy’s Lowe’s. Technology, e commerce, don’t need much of the on floor people with not enough knowledge .., can Google them selfes. Many complain instead of upgrading their knowledge.
(With all due respect to everyone, I am afraid that someone who wrote this on @6ksv+199AHbg8 is completely right. I may get a lot of downwotes, but I think this is true for many of us and we all need to be more honest with ourselves.)
I will only get nervous when one day I walk in there and I don’t get stuck 20 times going to the bathroom weather question or sir sir sir
About the time you know everything there is to know your dept. They'll change the systems and decide you've been there long enough and get paid too much money. BYE-BYE.
a few thoughts... Full disclosure, i am not a big technophile but would put up most any "old-school" associates against the kids. That said i fully realize the direction that we are headed. First off there is not an app that has been able to teach people skills and selling is still largely a people business. Secondly many of our clientele (for now) still need assistance in deciphering all of todays features. There is a lot less sales made where a customer just hands you a print-out of what they have decided on than people think. Even many younger customers are looking for validation on what products they have chosen. I think we are several years away at best from becoming the strict order takers that the limited real training is geared towards.
Yes! It's ALL your fault! Always will be. Now, about my bonus...........
Just because someone can Google something or look at a Youtube video doesn't necessarily imply that they have either the skill set, intellect or even the physical abilities to do something themselves. I will agree that it's no longer the Lowe's of past. In the department I am in (Appliances in an XDT market) the first thing I do is log into four different programs on the department desk terminal: Genesis, Sterling, MyLowes (to check email and open the DC lookup tool) and IMS. Then I proceed to have to log into the Zebra phone and at least three more aps. Practically have to be a software engineer to do battle with may of our "systems" which seem to always be in flux.
Helping customers is actually the easy part and trust me they will always need knowledgeable help. I have had to train numerous part timers for my department and most are not up to the task and wash out in very short order. The training they receive before making it onto the sales floor does next to nothing to prepare them from what life on the front lines is like.
Poorly implemented technology does not always lend itself to better efficiency or productivity. Case in point, company gets rid of install sales dept. Sales associate enters contract in installed sales program, prints document for customer signature, then must scan signed document and email to self, go to email and save attachment to temp drive, then log into IMS and import document from temp drive into IMS customer record. Oh yeah and then you still need to pull and stage the product and also flag that the project is ready to schedule. Talk about a cluster frack. I could go on with at least another dozen examples but I think you get the point.
PS. Have you gotten your AP4Me done yet as that seems to be the only thing management cares about. What a joke we have become.
Upgrade my knowledge so they can pay me less Quit reading the self help book and see how management is screwing you. Lowes management only cares for Lowes management. Quit thinking you are the problem .