Jan 26

Walmart: The Best and Worst in One Visit

Walmart can be an incredibly inspiring place to visit. It’s a marvel of innovation. Beautiful if you’re into these things. It can be equally infuriating.

Today I swung by to pick up some cold medicine and a few other items, like t-shirts. Can’t wear a nice shirt without a t-shirt underneath. Call me old-fashioned.

Upon entering at about 9:00 a.m. (there are some advantages of self-employment), I was greeted by the friendly senior aged woman with the requisite gray-blue hair. “Good morning,” she said sweetly. I returned the sentiment.

Needing to return some t-shirts that did not fit, I proceeded to the returns counter. There I was greeted by the Troll of Customer Returns.

Now, I have not gone through Walmart customer service training. I imagine the focus is on efficiency foremost. But, I imagine also they focus a little bit on politeness. Dumb thinking on my part? Well, efficiency was Troll’s forte. The transaction was swift accurate and as cold as the plastic on her cash register. She never made eye contact. Never lifted her head at all, in fact. She grunted more than spoke, generally showing no politeness at all. I don’t imagine the company tells staff to imitate the cold computer technology that makes the store so forceful - but this she did. She was a machine.

The woman at the check-out register where I bought some replacement t-shirts was very friendly. She smiled, politely said hello and even gave in to one of my jokes. She did, however, forget to pack the replacement tees in the bag. So, I left the store without them.

When I realized the error at home, I phoned the store to find out if they could just reverse the charge on my card. The woman who answered the phone was another automaton - sharp to the point of being rude. I was just a transaction, not a person with a problem she wanted to help me solve. I would have return to the store to pick up my item.

Alright, so everyone knows about Walmart. The bigger point here is - as business owners and executives, we sometimes forget that efficiency is not all its cracked up to be. It is not the holy grail. For most of our businesses, it is not what makes people come back. It may, however, be what makes they not come back.

Walmart was efficient to a fault today. Overall, they were totally ineffective at creating a good customer experience, the greeter’s nice efforts notwithstanding. Now they have this guy, writing a blog, bitching about them to everyone who will read and listen. Is this a problem for them. I bet the folks at their Clairemont Mesa Boulevard store don’t think so. But, for the company - yeah it is. Because, what are the chances that my experience was a rare occurrence?

Consider the deepening image and legal problems the company has now. You would think they would be trying to overcome them by being especially warm and kind to their local customers. Nope. Apparently not.

Walmart is incredibly inconsistent in its service. Warm and good at one point in store, cold and rude in another part. Which one do you think I remember most?

You don’t need to go far to get a good lesson in business - the good and the awful. Just go to your local Walmart. Watch carefully. Pay attention to how you feel when you are treated in various ways. Then think of your own customers - and make some improvements.

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