2 March 2009

Canberra to get some much needed retail excellence

| johnboy
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Many of us are quite hopeful that an economic downturn might encourage retailers to rediscover the lost art of customer service.

The Chiefly Jon Stanhope has today announced that more encouragement is on the way:

    Chief Minister and Minister for Business and Economic Development Jon Stanhope, has today launched the inaugural ACT Chief Minister’s Retail Excellence Awards, in association with the ACT & Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Retail Traders Association of the ACT and Region.

    The 2009 Awards will recognise the achievements and innovation of retail businesses in the ACT in six categories – Customer Service, Best Store Display, Technology, Innovative Marketing, Training, and Product Range.

    “Currently the ACT is the only State or Territory that doesn’t hold awards for retail excellence, and I’m pleased that the Chamber of Commerce and the Retail Traders Association, in association with the ACT Government, has decided to recognise the hard work and achievements of the many and varied retailers in the ACT,” Mr Stanhope said.

Mr Stanhope also promises that at some point you will be invited nominate your favourite retailer.

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I wish I got to shop more often – people in stores know who I am now. Upside is I get much better service from them! My personal fav is checking into a hotel where they ask for a business card – you can guarantee great service then! As if I would give them a business card like that if I was conducting an assignment!

There is an article I posted earlier on today if you would like to know more you can read that – it was on the home page last time I looked.

RachelPower said :

I’m part of this because I am passionate about making Canberra a better place to live (and shop), getting paid for my passion is just a bonus!

Nahhh you just love to shop! Still why not try and turn your passion into a money maker? That’s everyone’s dream isn’t it?

Yes, we are a business, we do seek to get slices of pie’s that earn us money – we do however have nothing to do with this award, or the Best of Canberra awards… We know we will not be involved with the Chamber/Retailers Assoc awards. I follow the stories that effect my industry as any other business person does.

I’m part of this because I am passionate about making Canberra a better place to live (and shop), getting paid for my passion is just a bonus!

RachelPower said :

The only way you will get unbiased awards is by using a visitor appraisal system (ie: mystery shopping). This is actually part of the Customer Service section of the awards held by the Chamber of Commerce and Retail Traders Association. A step in the right direction.

This is something we offer for awards like the “best of’s” and plenty more so that no more government funded awards are a waste of money and bagged out like you guys are now!

Ahh and finally the truth comes out. I was wondering why Rachel was in this thread on behalf of her company. It appears her company sees an opportunity to get a slice of this coercively funded pie.

The only way you will get unbiased awards is by using a visitor appraisal system (ie: mystery shopping). This is actually part of the Customer Service section of the awards held by the Chamber of Commerce and Retail Traders Association. A step in the right direction.

This is something we offer for awards like the “best of’s” and plenty more so that no more government funded awards are a waste of money and bagged out like you guys are now!

I want to be a mystery shopper!

It might be scary to know that it wasn’t just the radio station who spent money on that promo!

You want to share your customer service stories (good and bad) then visit http://www.spyseebiz.com.au and rant and rave all you like – we take the stories to the business owners where they belong! Not only do we offer rewards for the Customer Service Hero but we make sure your bad feedback goes to the right person and is dealt with… so long as the right person cares enough that is!

Sorry I know that is a shameless plug but I just couldn’t hold my tongue any longer!

Allegedly of course!

If you scratch the surface a bit further I’ll think you’ll find that the majority of those awards from those radio station(s) ended up going to the advertisers who spent the most money with the station(s) over that period.

Voter pools have a little to do with it but money talks a bit louder in those areas.

Poor service stories? Finally something I could win!

tuggers said :

It’s a fun idea but the potential for gaming and spoofing by competitors makes bits of me clench.

True
A certain radio station ran a competition to choose the Best of Canberra: hairdressers; tyre stores; etc. People were asked to ring in to vote. My children were at the school which won. It was the biggest primary school on the southside then and beat the others by sheer force of numbers.

If ‘best of’ awards are prone to being manipulated by voter pools, I guess there’s always the chance that a Worst of the Worst competition could get out of hand. However, customer service seems to be one that gets people riled, so maybe a regular (e.g. quarterly) call for poor service stories could give us a pool to vote from once a year.

tuggers said :

It’s a fun idea but the potential for gaming and spoofing by competitors makes bits of me clench.

True
A certain radio station ran a competition to choose the Best of Canberra: hairdressers; tyre stores; etc. People were asked to ring in to vote. My children were at the school which won. It was the biggest primary school on the southside then and beat the others by sheer force of numbers.

Pretty lame. At least the stupid radio station paid for it though and thus only wasted their own money (and possibly the money of any stupid but voluntary sponsors).

It’s a fun idea but the potential for gaming and spoofing by competitors makes bits of me clench.

True
A certain radio station ran a competition to choose the Best of Canberra: hairdressers; tyre stores; etc. People were asked to ring in to vote. My children were at the school which won. It was the biggest primary school on the southside then and beat the others by sheer force of numbers.

I think it’s a positive thing to do.

I haven’t heard any horror stories from any of the other states that are doing it, although I’m always up for a good horror story!

It does increase my respect for a place if I see that they have won an award. I also like the idea that if I really want to thank someone for going the extra mile that I can nominate them for excellence.

There are many things I would consider far more objectionable or wasteful of money than this, although I don’t see a burning and desperate need for it either. It’s one of those nice things to do if you can afford it.

Just don’t tell me you can’t afford vitally needed equipment for hospitals or education – particularly special education.

johnboy said :

It’s a fun idea but the potential for gaming and spoofing by competitors makes bits of me clench.

In general we prefer to accentuate the positives (which is not to say we won’t deliver a kicking where it seems warranted).

After further consideration that’s a fair call.

I have been around some of these ‘best of’ retail awards in the past and what you tend to get is organisations voting continuously for themselves, then their friends get in on it and so on. It is VERY incestuous.

Indeed if it were the opposite and we were looking for the worst it would get extrmely nasty methinks.

RachelPower said :

I have to say I am dissapointed by all of your responses. We know we have a wonderful city and I am sure that all of you will be the first to complain at how abismal the service truly is in Canberra. While this award carries the Chief Minister’s name it is only for the funding and good on Chris Peters for finally making this happen.

I run Canberra’s ONLY locally based specialist mystery shopping business so I know how bad the service here can be, I have the statistics – I would rather focus on anything that will make it better than just complaining it is money wasted. Tourism is more than festivals and hospitality, tourists shop and eat too the more money we can make them part with the better Canberra will be. The only way to make them part with their money is if everyone offers great service, tourism, hospitality and retail alike!

Don’t complain – get on board and make sure retailers know they are being watched, makes Canberra a better place for all of us!

It is the funding that I object to Rachel. If ACT businesses want to engage in a circle jerk, by all means let them do so. Just don’t take taxpayers hard earned dollars and spend it on this tripe.

If this can’t be funded on a non coercive basis, it IS money wasted.

It’s a fun idea but the potential for gaming and spoofing by competitors makes bits of me clench.

In general we prefer to accentuate the positives (which is not to say we won’t deliver a kicking where it seems warranted).

Furry Jesus said :

JB, can we have an annual ‘Worst of the Worst’? The six categories of the Retail Excellence Awards themselves suggest WOTW categories: Customer Service, Store Display, Technology, Marketing, Training, and Product Range)

Fantastic idea!

RachelPower said :

I have to say I am dissapointed by all of your responses. We know we have a wonderful city and I am sure that all of you will be the first to complain at how abismal the service truly is in Canberra.

Don’t complain – get on board and make sure retailers know they are being watched, makes Canberra a better place for all of us!

Sorry Rachel, but I’m with Poptop on this one. Award ceremonies won’t improve abysmal service across the board, although some individual businesses might be inspired. Knowing you’re being watched for excellence just isn’t the same as knowing there’s a hungry community watchdog out there naming the guilty and issuing its own annual awards for the worst offenders.

JB, can we have an annual ‘Worst of the Worst’? The six categories of the Retail Excellence Awards themselves suggest WOTW categories: Customer Service, Store Display, Technology, Marketing, Training, and Product Range)

I actually think the retail experience in Canberra is by and large pretty good, no longer do I find that my girlfriend and I need to take a trip to Sydney to find bargains or anything like that, it’s all kind of here now.

The customer service side leaves a lot to be desired in some cases though, however rather than complain I choose to stand up for my rights as a consumer and deal with the situation as it arises. Be advised though, this works only in the retail world, go about it the wrong way in a restaurant and you could end up with a few mystery ingredients in your dish.

Best customer service in Canberra, Impact Comics! Second to none, they know what they’re talking about and are always up for a chat or heated debate.

Worst, any video game oriented shop, if another sixteen year old assistant in any of those stores calls my over thrity-ass ‘dude’…

Slowly I’ll turn, step by step, inch by inch, I’ll put my hands around their next and I’ll sreeeeaaammmm!

Don’t

call

me

dude!*

(*apologies to Scatterbrain)

I have to say I am dissapointed by all of your responses. We know we have a wonderful city and I am sure that all of you will be the first to complain at how abismal the service truly is in Canberra. While this award carries the Chief Minister’s name it is only for the funding and good on Chris Peters for finally making this happen.

I run Canberra’s ONLY locally based specialist mystery shopping business so I know how bad the service here can be, I have the statistics – I would rather focus on anything that will make it better than just complaining it is money wasted. Tourism is more than festivals and hospitality, tourists shop and eat too the more money we can make them part with the better Canberra will be. The only way to make them part with their money is if everyone offers great service, tourism, hospitality and retail alike!

Don’t complain – get on board and make sure retailers know they are being watched, makes Canberra a better place for all of us!

Doesn’t Stanhopeless have something better to do?
perhaps make Canberra a ‘GREAT’ place again.

Damn, I forgot to mention the mandatory charity auction – which allows the Big Boys to demonstrate the size of their . . . wallets.

poptop. When you put it like that, the answer to your question can only be: Nix. Nil. Zip. Nada.

mutters… I hate when my thoughts get articulated far better than I could ever imagine…grumble grumble…

Bring on the festivities.

Given the ACT demonstrable skills and capacity in selecting consistent levels of excellence from the private sector (thinks . . . Chubb) I think this is a winner.

We need more opportunities for absolutely dire, rubber chicken dinners at the convention centre, involving magicians, tribute bands or Elvis impersonators for ‘entertainment’; MCed by people like Mark Mitchell in full Con the Fruiter getup or Monica Trapaga encouraging the audience to join her in a rousing rendition of The Wobbly Walk; providing luminaries like ACT Government Ministers and the even more inarticulate major sponsors the opportunity to drone on and on about how fabulous they and the ACT are; in order to allow a small segment of the retail sector to whip each other into a frenzy of self-congratulation and be photographed with a stupendously unattractive (but locally produced)glass trophy; probably also including a tottie grinning through gritted teeth and cramped cheeks; definitely culminating the next day with a special advertorial section in the Canberra Times.

What could be better?

Well one thing is for sure. The ACT Government won’t be getting a nomination from me.

I don’t need my money stolen from me simply so some pissant store can get a trophy.

Just another brown-nosing, pant sniffing junket for all the ‘in’ crowd to attend…at taxpayers expense.
Oh puh-lease. Someone hand me a bucket?

pfft, my store hasnt lost the art of customer service..i’m well aware it’s sitting out the back.. 😀

..seriously, why?

And here I was hoping this story was about Canberra finally getting an Ikea.

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