Archived Asking EVERY guest about RedCards

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Flabbergasted

Ex-GSA
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So I recently went through day one of training and I learned that at our store, we ask EVERY guest about RCs. The prompt also comes up every few transactions and the leaders have instructed us to be especially pushy to whichever guest is unfortunate enough to come into our lanes when it's Prompt Time. Basically, instead of asking once and dropping the matter when they say no, we have to hand them a pamphlet, ask once more and explain how we have a credit & a debit. I feel so bad for the guests and my fellow TMs who have to put up with this. Funnily enough, the TLs seem to really buy into the corporate culture, as one of them training me said she "couldn't wait" for "that special moment" when I sign up my first guest. Dafuq?

Sorry, just a rant. I can already tell I'm going to love working for Spot.
 
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This is a yes and nod method of working at Target if you ask me. And yes, I don't always follow it because I sometimes want to defend myself against bully ETLs and TLs. Just do the yes and nod and the TL or ETL should back off. Tell them whatever they want to hear. I really need to start doing that myself. I am speaking my mind way too much at my store.
 
My store only asks when system says to.. and if they get a no ..they drop it... we used to push hard like that and found out in survey people was against it and was gonna lose buisness so we took a laid back push on red cards
 
it's been this way for a long time. Part of the job. When i interview i tell the cashiers that this is expected of them so that if they aren't asking I can go and remind them when i told them they needed to be asking every guest.
 
So I recently went through day one of training and I learned that at our store, we ask EVERY guest about RCs. The prompt also comes up every few transactions and the leaders have instructed us to be especially pushy to whichever guest is unfortunate enough to come into our lanes when it's Prompt Time. Basically, instead of asking once and dropping the matter when they say no, we have to hand them a pamphlet, ask once more and explain how we have a credit & a debit. I feel so bad for the guests and my fellow TMs who have to put up with this. Funnily enough, the TLs seem to really buy into the corporate culture, as one of them training me said she "couldn't wait" for "that special moment" when I sign up my first guest. Dafuq?

Sorry, just a rant. I can already tell I'm going to love working for Spot.

TLs and above are required to show they are buying into the culture, no matter how much they may hate it. And yes, we are far enough past the breach that we are expected to ask each and every guest again. The nice thing about it is that none of us have to like it...we just have to do it.
 
This is a yes and nod method of working at Target if you ask me. And yes, I don't always follow it because I sometimes want to defend myself against bully ETLs and TLs. Just do the yes and nod and the TL or ETL should back off. Tell them whatever they want to hear. I really need to start doing that myself. I am speaking my mind way too much at my store.

There's also the no and shaking head move. As in, whenever the red card prompt comes up I'm already shaking my head no as I make eye contact to ask them whether they would like to sign up for a red card. Works almost every time, haven't had to process a red card application in months.

Every once in a while though I get a "oh, what's that?" and I'm just thinking to myself "did you not see me shaking my head no that you don't want one?"
 
Most stores ask every guest... Some stores still just follow the prompts... But with the stupid "RedCards are REAL" rollout, all guests to be asked about RedCards, whether prompted or not... Also, all applications are now equally weighted. Rumor has it that converison will be based on total transactions instead of prompts in the near future, or the prompt minimum being lowered.

Sadly, with the "RedCards are REAL" rollout, cashiers will be probably held accountable for giving out the benefits brochure to every guests.

Best advice... Either get off cashier or just ask and go on. When it comes to the brochure, just do what I told my cashiers, throw it in the bag and go about your day.
 
This is a yes and nod method of working at Target if you ask me. And yes, I don't always follow it because I sometimes want to defend myself against bully ETLs and TLs. Just do the yes and nod and the TL or ETL should back off. Tell them whatever they want to hear. I really need to start doing that myself. I am speaking my mind way too much at my store.

This is what I do. Tell them whatever they want to hear and move on. "I may be standing but in my head I'm sitting." lol
I'm thinking about filing bankruptcy on 17000. worth of credit card debt. I can't in good conscious urge others to get into debt. The debit card one, yeah, I can go for that, but really at our ULV store, most of the guests have it already or just have been asked 1383734647 times already.
K8 all the way! lol
 
Any wagers on how long till he quits? Day one and he already crying.

That's a little rude. Apparently even when I'm not working, venting about work isn't allowed!

This is a yes and nod method of working at Target if you ask me. And yes, I don't always follow it because I sometimes want to defend myself against bully ETLs and TLs. Just do the yes and nod and the TL or ETL should back off. Tell them whatever they want to hear. I really need to start doing that myself. I am speaking my mind way too much at my store.

This is what I do. Tell them whatever they want to hear and move on. "I may be standing but in my head I'm sitting." lol
I'm thinking about filing bankruptcy on 17000. worth of credit card debt. I can't in good conscious urge others to get into debt. The debit card one, yeah, I can go for that, but really at our ULV store, most of the guests have it already or just have been asked 1383734647 times already.
K8 all the way! lol

I have to disagree a bit here, as someone who uses credit cards and almost always pays my balance in full each month (the rare months that I don't, I probably leave a balance of <$20). Debt is only an issue if you aren't good at dealing with it. I would say applying for a credit card, while not an invitation to debt, certainly can be if you aren't wise about it.
 
Here is a great article on credit harassment:
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/10...ss-using-the-hard-sell-to-pitch-credit-cards/
Great quote at the bottom:
While unpleasant experiences like this can leave a bad taste in your mouth, those retail credit cards can do even more damage to your bank account than your psyche, warns Josh Frank, senior researcher at the Center for Responsible Lending.
"There are two reasons people might want to be careful about opening these cards," he toldWalletPop. For starters, the interest rate can be on the order of 25%, even if you have great credit. In addition, Frank says, "For a lot of people, it ends up being a temptation." And if you spend more then you ordinarily would just because you have the card, or because the store sends you discounts or coupons, that can put you on the path to financial trouble. If you want a store credit card, don't be pressured into opening it on the spot. Go home and think about it, and do some research into the terms and conditions before you commit. Your financial stability is worth a lot more than 15% off a pair of jeans or a T-shirt.
 
I know that ETLs would want to go Game of Thrones on me for saying this but who cares if the guest gets the red card or not?
If they don't want it, why push that crap down their throat? Do you know how rude that is? If a person doesn't want the card, accept defeat. Yeah, I know Target doesn't like to hear that but it's a fact of life. Some people don't want a credit card or debit card from a store.
 
I know that ETLs would want to go Game of Thrones on me for saying this but who cares if the guest gets the red card or not?
If they don't want it, why push that crap down their throat? Do you know how rude that is? If a person doesn't want the card, accept defeat. Yeah, I know Target doesn't like to hear that but it's a fact of life. Some people don't want a credit card or debit card from a store.


Basically because Spot makes a great deal more money from those cards than they do from a good portion of the things on the shelves.
And if people have one of those cards they are more likely to spend more money.
So it's in the ETLs best interest to squeeze everything they can out of you.
 
Target is a billion dollar corporation. Money is infinite to them so I don't have that much sympathy when people use the "money" excuse.
 
This is a yes and nod method of working at Target if you ask me. And yes, I don't always follow it because I sometimes want to defend myself against bully ETLs and TLs. Just do the yes and nod and the TL or ETL should back off. Tell them whatever they want to hear. I really need to start doing that myself. I am speaking my mind way too much at my store.

There's also the no and shaking head move. As in, whenever the red card prompt comes up I'm already shaking my head no as I make eye contact to ask them whether they would like to sign up for a red card. Works almost every time, haven't had to process a red card application in months.

Every once in a while though I get a "oh, what's that?" and I'm just thinking to myself "did you not see me shaking my head no that you don't want one?"

Really? I dunno I'm not a big fan of asking every guest and I don't think I'm a big kool-aid drinker. Red cards do have SOME nice perks to them though. The pushiness sucks but there's nothing wrong with the product, the debit version in particular. What's wrong with saving 5% for using a different piece of plastic and 5 minutes of my time?

Again, I think the way they get pushed is pretty crap, but there's nothing inherently wrong with them, particularly since for the purposes of in-store metrics at least there's no difference to conversion if everyone gets the debit and nobody gets the credit. I'll list off benefits to the debit sometimes to try and get guests some benefits, I pretty much ignore the existence of the credit unless somebody requests it.
 
We've started seeing more prompts in pharmacy, even when the guest already HAS one??? I had a prompt the other day, which I just declined, because the guest only had Rxs on the transaction & was using a flex-spending card. She wanted to do separate transactions & had her RedCard in her hand for the other transaction!!!

And yes, I realize that you can do two different payments, but the guest wanted to do separate transactions.
 
We've started seeing more prompts in pharmacy, even when the guest already HAS one??? I had a prompt the other day, which I just declined, because the guest only had Rxs on the transaction & was using a flex-spending card. She wanted to do separate transactions & had her RedCard in her hand for the other transaction!!!

And yes, I realize that you can do two different payments, but the guest wanted to do separate transactions.

Yeah, the system REALLY needs a "they already have one" option. I can't tell you how many times I've asked and the guest says "Oh yeah, I have one but I don't want to use it today". They're obviously loyal customers because they're still spending money with us but we're not going to count them because they don't want to use the card that day? It's messed up.
 
I have a question about red cards. I am not a cashier, so I can only imagine the hell you go thru trying to get a quest to sign up. Does anyone know if Spot, could, or has in the past, run a special promotion to sign up? Maybe an additional 5 percent one day of each month. It might help in the short term, definitely not a long term solution, but I think Spot needs to try something different.
 
We've started seeing more prompts in pharmacy, even when the guest already HAS one??? I had a prompt the other day, which I just declined, because the guest only had Rxs on the transaction & was using a flex-spending card. She wanted to do separate transactions & had her RedCard in her hand for the other transaction!!!

And yes, I realize that you can do two different payments, but the guest wanted to do separate transactions.

Yeah, the system REALLY needs a "they already have one" option. I can't tell you how many times I've asked and the guest says "Oh yeah, I have one but I don't want to use it today". They're obviously loyal customers because they're still spending money with us but we're not going to count them because they don't want to use the card that day? It's messed up.

Probably because Spot wouldn't trust us scummy peon TMs not to try and game the system by hitting that instead of K8 on most or every prompt. Or scumbag GSAs/GSTLs or higher telling cashiers to do that to game their conversion scores. Probably would happen too, sad but true. I'm glad that while my store has its copious problems, the pushiest and scumbaggiest thing we've ever done with redcards is having cashiers asking every guest "will you be saving 5% with us today with your redcard?" or some derivative. Some stores have some pretty worrisome horror stories.
 
I was training someone yesterday on the register and he was having trouble asking. I told him that at this point. ask EVERY guest. As long as you get something about saving 5% into the intro. A simple awesome/great/wonderful, etc if they say yes and a simple no problem if they say no. After you say it 200+ times a day you won't feel as stupid saying it, it will just roll of without thought. If you think about it every time, you'll feel stupid/ obnoxious/ overbearing everytime. After you get used to the quick ask you can learn/practice the longer sell if you think they may be interested or if a ETL/TL/GSTL/etc. is nearby.
 
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