Every single Sheetz employee goes through a two week process that focuses on the background, focus, and DNA of Sheetz. They focus on the primary drivers of what makes Sheetz stand out from it’s competition. One of the biggest things that their focus is on their customers. They spend the first part of their training on how important customers are and have motions set in place to rectify any situation where a customer is unhappy. For example, their coupons never expire. They also allow any employee to offer free MTO’s for any customer due to longer than acceptable or a mixed up order.
This process is something that should be adopted by a lot more companies. Customers are the lifeblood of a company and too often they are taken for granted. Companies spend too much time focusing on cutting costs and making money rather than making sure their customers are happy and satisfied. So many people get upset about small things that happen in stores that make or break their perception of a company. An employee being rude once can make a customer never come back to that store again. However, bright smiles and kind employees can not only keep customers coming back, but they can bring more business with them.
BoweryJE22
Sales isn’t just taking money. It’s about exchanging value for value. Sheetz clearly understands this concept as they seek to instill it in all of their employees. Thanks for this great real-world example of a company seeking to give a great experience to each customer through sales.
Far too few companies take this approach in our modern society, those companies being this and others like Chick-Fil-A. In pre-industrial western civilization, when food and other products were not taken for granted, there was a strong symbolic meaning to sharing a meal with someone, and in today’s society customs and virtues are replaced with efficiency and consumerism, it being seen as unprofessional to be human with people you want to give a sense of gained value to from your transactions.
You cannot be any more right about bringing in more business through happy customers. I’ve realized this after going to the Chick-fil-A panel event. There’s almost an irony of Chick-fil-A’s methodology. I read a book on Truett Cathy (founder). He would have friends and family tell him that he is giving out too much food to customers and that he won’t make as much money. He responded by saying that he is actually getting more business out of them in the end. Sometimes frugality with customers is not the right answer.
I think this story was really interesting it shows that sales is not all about selling a product and making money. Sheetz’s number one priority is their customers. Sales is also about creating an experience for customers and building a form of trust with them. Another business that cares about their customers and their experience is Chick-fil-A. Both of these businesses put their customers first and make it an experience.