Walmart is the Goliath of large chain stores. They did not become this size without doing some things right. I would say that along the way they made many mistakes and have reinvented themselves over and over again. I don’t know much about their history, but I would guess that would be a part of their story.
Walmart has filled a space that I don’t think is repeatable in our time. Much has changed. Everything we read and hear would suggest that we need to have a particular brand for our business. Being a generalist no longer work. I would say that Walmart could make their case and back it up with the data. Just look around the world.
What has made Walmart such a behemoth of a company?
I would think a number of things.
My trip to Walmart and subsequent experience with staff members gave me a small glimpse of their success but also possible areas of weakness.
Walmart is a one-of-a-kind phenomenon in that it doesn’t have one particular product that it’s known for as we are taught in branding. Their brand is “keeping prices low.” They strive to do that and at their size, they can.
Even though they are that huge, we as aspiring entrepreneurs, speakers and sales professionals, can learn some very valuable lessons from them. These lessons came from a recent visit I made to the local Super Walmart.
Let me set the stage before sharing with you the valuable lessons I learned.
I went to pick up my prescription from the Pharmacy. I arrived there about 8:55a.m. The Pharmacy sign states that they open at 9:00a.m. After waiting a few minutes there was no one in sight preparing to open the Pharmacy.
There were three female workers who were sitting outside the Pharmacy seemingly in no rush to get to work. They really couldn’t because they too were waiting for the Pharmacy to open.
It was now 10 minutes after 9:00 a.m. and still the gated door to the counter was in the down position. I eventually asked the employees if they had any idea what was going on. One person said that they were waiting for the manager to open the door for them to go in.
Another 2 minutes past and then the Pharmacist came and walked to the door, took the number out of his folder, keyed in the password and let the staff in. He did not say anything to us – me and another guy who was waiting.
Once the employees were inside, they were in no rush to get started. They slowly strolled around getting the cash register open and also going through their morning routine.
Eventually we were attended to. At least one of the cashiers who attended to me, apologized for having us waiting by saying, “sorry for the wait.”
I tweeted out about the incident using Walmart’s Twitter handle.
Within hours someone reached out to me, apologized and suggested I speak to the Manager. She was very respectful and kind and then within minutes another person also reached out to me and did the same thing. They also reiterated that this wasn’t the policy of Walmart. This was where the lessons started for me.
The 3 Valuable Lessons Learned From Walmart:
Lesson #1: Never be too big to not care
Your overall success is directly linked to the way you treat those you are serving. Walmart demonstrated in this case, caring. They – their social media representatives – took the time to address my complaint done through Twitter. Why Twitter? It was in response to the mode of my complaint. This tells me they want to immediately do damage control by caring.
Lesson #2: Treat each complaint respectfully
Sometimes the complaint that is ignored, is the one that hurt your business, reputation and influence. This affects the bottom-line: affluence. We don’t have to agree with the complaint but it does not give us the right to be disrespectful to the complainer. The response from two of Walmart’s representative, demonstrated this.
Lesson #3: Restate your overall mission as often as possible
At some point preferably to the end of your conversation, re-enumerate your mission statement so that the customers will leave with that message. It creates tension as you attempt to dislodge the negative experience from their mind.
What could Walmart have done better?
1. Remind employees of the company’s overall policy. I’m not suggesting that they don’t. I understand some employees are going to be that bad apple for whatever reason. However, a constant reminder of what they are about and how that looks in a practical manner, would be super helpful.
2. Teach employees how to resolve conflict quickly and respectfully. This could be ongoing and done in a role-play form.
3. Teach employees how to acknowledge customers in a manner that communicates importance.
4. Find a way to compensate for the negative experience. Doing so is one more win for the company. What if at the end of my dialogue with the Walmart representatives, they had offered a coupon or a FREE gift of some sort? This would have secured a satisfied customer who would possible become an evangelist of theirs.
I would love to hear from you on your thoughts. Get in the conversation. But make sure you are civil in your discourse. If it is divisive, I will delete it. Thank you.!
