The associate did everything correctly. She stood, asked my name, gave me her name, discussed (albiet a tad fast)the product at hand. Then I start the form and I start to cringe. She did not upsell me. She breezed over the other products of the company. She did not get my future needs or my future wants. She simply discussed the product I came in and asked about. The form was changed from the last time I did it so I hadn't realized that she needed to upsell me. I realize we aren't suppose to lead the associate but she really was perky, professional and hit all the right cs points. Urg! the upsell was about 60% of the new survey.

My good shop day was shot over this.

Just because an associate would rate well on a customer satisfaction survey, doesn't mean they've met the company's standards.

I've had shops where my interaction with the salesman was GREAT, but in terms of highlighting what the company was hoping their associates would? It didn't go so well in the report.

Your report will help her succeed in her industry.

Sounds like up-selling is a new emphasis for that client. It also sounds like she has what it takes to adapt to that and become a top-performer. Based on that, I can see your report helping her do exactly that.

I wonder if she was also very familiar with the form of the "old" shop and was unaware of new requirements. I know that several people have commented that reps are given access to our actual forms when they are reviewed and wonder if the form was changed for exactly this reason, i.e. to ensure the associate was following company specifications and not just hitting points highlighted on a shop form.

Hopefully you sang her praises in the general comments section even though you objectively and accurately reported the upsell deficiencies.

I hate when that happens but I really try and not lead the salesman even though I want to! If we are providing a learning experience for the associate then the report will be used to hone their skills and not as a negative. I do try and put in the comment section a positive about the associate if they did not hit all of their marks but did a good job overall.

I always talk about how friendly, cheerful, helpful, whatever a clerk has been "even though they technically didn't thank me, they made me feel welcome."

And if I accidentally thank them first and they reply with, "You're welcome, have a great day" showing that they have good manners, I give credit for thanking on the grounds that they probably would have thanked me if I didn't beat them to it.

I like to talk up how thorough, accurate, and efficient they are. Say there were 7 marks they needed to hit, with the 7th being the most important... and they hit the first 6 but not the 7th... I talk up how thoroughly they covered the first six.

I recently had a telephone bank shop, where the banker only had to hit 3 marks. She hit 2, but man, did she cover those 2 thoroughly. On top of that, she was the friendliest lady ever. My daughter came into the room as the call was ending, and started begging to say hi. The banker overheard her, and I apologized, explaining that she does that when I'm on the phone, wanting to say Hi too. The banker said she didn't mind saying Hi to her, and I put the phone on speaker and handed it to my daughter. The banker said Hi, asked her name, her age, if she got an allowance, if she had a piggy bank, and told her that they have free savings accounts for kids, where she can earn money on top of the money she already owned. My daughter ran off with my phone and grabbed her piggy bank and very proudly told her that she had "eleventy-five" dollars.

She was super nice. When I wrote the report, I felt awful that I had to detail the mark she didn't cover, but I made sure to talk up her friendliness and "selling the bank" to a new potential customer, (my daughter)

I had the exact opposite happen yesterday. The associate did everything she was supposed to do. But nowhere was I asked if she had the personality of a fence post, seemed to be going through the motions, or was completely disinterested in me.

On the other hand, yesterday I also did a bank shop where the banker did not point out the checkmark or go through the example in the brochure. Rather he explained it in his own terms very, very thoroughly and did everything he could to get me to open an account. When I said I would be making a decision in the next couple of days, he gave me a special coupon, that if used on Thursday, would add $100 to each account I opened. I really felt he went way beyond what he was supposed to do yet he did not point out that checkmark. At least on this shop I could put something in a narrative.

When I get a super enthusiastic employee, I really try to do everything I can to promote them. Happy, outgoing, enthusiastic employees are hard to come by and do so much more for a business than trying to get me to add fries to the nasty burger they are selling me.

Just look at schedulers and reviewers. How do we respond to the nice ones versus the nasty ones? I'm willing to be the nice ones get more shops completed.

Corporations such as WalMart and McDonalds get their bad reputations fome from angry, disgruntled, rude, indifferent, nasty employees. Yes, they still make money hand over fist, but they do nothing to improve this world. Personally, I would not want the reputation of providing crap and treating people like crap.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2014 07:24PM by whiterosie.

That's how I feel too. As much as I covered her friendliness and thoroughness of the two marks she covered, I covered the mark that she missed just as thoroughly.

I really feel that, if that's their measure of a great employee, hopefully my report will be beneficial in her working on that aspect and moving higher within the company. She is the kind of banker I'd want to deal with, and... wouldn't you want someone like that as a banking manager at your branch? That's how I try to look at it.

I had a shop where everything seemed fine as the Guidelines were followed to the letter. However, the associate was the manager and although I did not mention other services, he started telling me about their other promotions. I reported how enthusiastic he was and how he covered the requirements but that he mentioned some promotions that were not within the scope of my shop and how I appreciated it. I really liked his salesmanship.

My shop was rejected and I very seldom have shops rejected. I was told I must have mentioned something to trigger the additional promotion. But I did not! I was actually hoping to end it as soon as possible and that service was not even on my mind. The only reason I included that was to answer a question why I would recommend the store or the associate.

I can only hope you contested the outcome! Please tell me you did and if that was rejected, risinghorizon, please, either post or PM me the MSC. It's so wrong!

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dspeakes Wrote:
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> And if I accidentally thank them first...


OMG, so I'm not the only one who does that??? My FT job is in customer service, and saying thank you is so ingrained that it hurts NOT to say it. :-P

Now that I am actually working retail, I have people who sometimes thank me first, and I follow it with "Thanks for coming in." It keeps it from being a "Thank you", "Thank YOU" exchange.

I've been told they are going to start mystery shopping my chain so I'm trying to condition myself to say thanks every time, to every customer.

The ones that bother me are the ones who are talking on their phones while I'm ringing them up so I can't thank them without interrupting them. But mystery shoppers won't be yakking on the phone so I probably don't need to worry if I don't thank someone who's on the phone.

My McDonalds shop was rejected because I ordered the burger/fish sandwich, then waited to see if the associate will upgrade. She did not. I asked for fries and drink to go with it. I reported that she did not upgrade when I gave her a chance to do so. She just stood there, waiting. That was the scenario every restaurant and bar I did shops for. Wait, and see if the staff suggests something to go with your order. But no, McDonalds did not want me to do that. They rejected my report. They said I am supposed to give the entire order. I guess they do not want their employees to sell more.

BetteL Wrote:
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> My McDonalds shop was rejected because I ordered the burger/fish sandwich, then waited to see if the associate will upgrade.

BetteL, is there a chance that your shop was rejected because you ordered a "burger/fish sandwich" and not because you waited?

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BetteL Wrote:
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> My McDonalds shop was rejected because I ordered the burger/fish sandwich, then waited to see if the associate will upgrade. She did not. I asked for fries and drink to go with it. I reported that she did not upgrade when I gave her a chance
> to do so. She just stood there, waiting. That was the scenario every restaurant and bar I did
> shops for. Wait, and see if the staff suggests something to go with your order. But no,
> McDonalds did not want me to do that. They rejected my report. They said I am supposedto give the entire order. I guess they do not want their employees to sell more.

BetteL, sorry your shop was rejected. That is a disappointment. Go back and re-read the guidelines. If you did not order all three items - sandwich, fries, and drink - at both the drive-thru and the counter- you did not meet the shop requirements. There is no upsell requirement. The ordering guidelines for these shops are very specific.

BetteL - When I re-read your message, I saw that you ordered the other two items after you waited. I think the issue is then around timing. The McD shops have very specific rules around when to start and stop each stage of timing, and by waiting to finish the order, you may have messed up the timing requirement.

I have never seen an upsell requirement for fast food, just fast casual or snack/pretzel shops. Regardless, your shop was rejected because you did it wrong and in McDonald's defense they even make you take a test before scheduling a shop to ensure all rules are read, understood and followed.

BetteL Wrote:
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> My McDonalds shop was rejected because I ordered
> the burger/fish sandwich, then waited to see if
> the associate will upgrade. She did not. I asked
> for fries and drink to go with it. I reported
> that she did not upgrade when I gave her a chance
> to do so. She just stood there, waiting. That
> was the scenario every restaurant and bar I did
> shops for. Wait, and see if the staff suggests
> something to go with your order. But no,
> McDonalds did not want me to do that. They
> rejected my report. They said I am supposed to
> give the entire order. I guess they do not want
> their employees to sell more.


Don't want to assume this is the same shop from the MSC that's been working for them for a while, but the guidelines THAT assignment particularly states to order the value meal and state it as such to the associate: "I would like to order a Big Mac Value Meal," or, "I would like to order a Fillet-o-Fish Value Meal." Then if asked a size, you simply state, "Medium."

But if we're talking about a different MSC, just omit my reply above.

I really don't worry about that too much. You are there as an observer and to report the facts as they occurred. I always try to give the benefit of the doubt, but at the same time, I'm not going to lie. If nothing was mentioned, then nothing was mentioned. Mostly I think the companies use these as a training tool for their associates.

McDonalds emphasis is on TIME. The brown patty that resembles food and those long greasy things with enough salt to season a whole field of potatoes is NOT what Micky Dees is evaluating. They do not want your report to be negative. They want it to be focused on the speed of the service without mentioning the server could hardly understand English.

I purposely asked a question that is not in the script and the servers had to call someone who "had the English" to translate. That took time. OMG!

I wouldn't look at it as necessarily 100% negative. Perhaps your honesty in the report will provide feedback so she can make sure in the future she upsells in addition to everything she is already doing right.