A Little Friendly Competition

Good morning... What can I get for you?

Today's story is about competition. For a few years, I was given opportunities to manage under performing stores to help troubleshoot. One store in particular was not only under performing, but the manager was asked to "explore other opportunities" for various reasons. She went kicking and screaming, but eventually ended up at a newly built Tully's across from this particular Starbucks... to exact some revenge I guess.

Now, I was told that this was all happening. The partners, customers and even my leadership told me that I was in for a challenge. I looked at all if this "heads up" as a vote of confidence in my abilities rather than some kind of rabble-rousing.

We did the simplest thing we could do as a store... we tightened up the operation. We got back to customer service... we started paying more attention to drink quality and service recovery. I did little things for the partners, like got the schedules out on time... I worked with them, not above them. It was an enormous amount of coaching, but I needed to model for them and get in the trenches with them so they could see I was for real. We didn't lose a single customer... we gained customers... in fact, the customers were very interested in seeing some kind of battle, so they went to both locations to stir the pot. No worries... we were back on track and had better product.

So part II of my plan to succeed with this store, was to keep my enemy close. I shopped that Tully's... I held my partner's performance reviews there... I did my DM 1:1's there... Each time I would say to the staff when they'd see my green apron in hand, "Oh, we needed a quiet place to talk... Can I have a receipt please?" You see... on a Tully's receipt was a customer count. We would go in towards the end of the day and monitor their customer counts... It never got above 100-110 customers... I figured even IF they had an average ticket of $5.00 (which they didn't... mine was $4.38 and we we're hoofing it), that meant they had a $500-$600 day... wouldn't be long before that manager would go crazy without having some success.

Long story short... She ended up quitting that Tully's... my store was once again where it should have been. Top profit contribution in the company (at the time)... 27 partners all performing at acceptable levels... Snapshot scores were consistently at 95% or above. Better yet, the partners had a little pride in working there.

After a year and a half, I was tired... my marriage was "Needs Improvement" and on it's way to being "Exploring other Opportunities" and I was looking for a break. The 60-75 hour work weeks, 2 RMTs in training... the International SMs for Maylasia... the holidays... all had taken their toll. But that's another story for another time.

We'll see you tomorrow for your usual.

Pat Nerr...