Archived Be Bold!

[salesfloor10]

I was bold yesterday when I price matched something for a guest and took another $4 off the price match price just to be nice (since he thought he'd seen the price a little lower at Walmart).
I guess I was bold when I used the emergency override code so I could refund a guest return that paid with a check and her check had already cleared her account but wouldn't return in cash because it hadn't been 10 days according to refund authorization.
I understand being bold with cashier empowerment and making things right but I hate when it turns into giving away the store.

 

[Kompa]

If I get written up for not being bold, or being bold, then I'll boldly LOCU the backroom and Boldly walk out the door.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

I feel like, I am a steak sauce..

 

[Dying Sun]

so we were told today by our GSTL that we can be termed for not being bold. ok, fire me for not being bold and upholding policy then I boldly smash the cart mover through the front doors and boldly walk over the wreckage flying the banner of Aries. this means war.

 

[desertcoyote]

Can you be fired for following best practice?

 

[sigma7]

Best practice is to be bold lol.

From my experience, at this point you're not going to be fired for anything unless you are unwilling to work to do what's right for a guest. Best practice is and really always has been a guideline, not the be all end all. Any GSTL worth their salt knows ways around POS restrictions to do what's reasonable for guests. Any leader in the building that knows what they're doing is going to know what's reasonable and ways to make guests happy about their shopping experience. And we all know, process wise anyway, that what works great for one store may not work that well in another store.

 

[commiecorvus]

It's just like working in a restaurant.
You don't have to comp the entire meal to make most customers happy, you can give them a free dessert or glass of wine.
A reasonable person will be happy with that if you get to them fast enough and offer it to them before they've lost their cool.

What you don't do is argue with them, get them pissed off and then try to five them a couple of buck off.
By that point they want the whole thing free.
If you are handling things with the right attitude and act in a convincing fashion most people will go along.

Of course, there will always be con artists and assholes.
You deal with them by giving as little as possible and passing off anything above that to someone out of your paygrade.

 

[brobley]

I guess we're supposed to be bold on the floor, too. I don't work registers (avoiding being trained so I can avoid calls for backup) but I'm on the floor a lot. Today I helped a guest who had come in for a $30 item. The one we had, and the one most like it, were both damaged. Looked in the back for her for 5-6 minutes, while she waited, only to find it's something we're phasing out and won't have again.

So I thanked her for her patience when I went back, and upsold her to a nicer item of the same type she liked that was $80. Called LOD and explained (within earshot) that she was such a patient guest, and what discount could we give to do the best by her - answer 30%. Sold, walked her through checkout, chatted with her, and carried item to her car. You could tell she was pleased with Target at the end.

(And, figuring both items as 40% profit, we still made money. We just made $4 less, the price of a satisfied guest.)

LOD pulled me over later. Said we have a range of 10-30% that we can offer guests, just use discretion, walk them to the register, and tell the cashier it's authorized. Never heard that before. Floor tm can offer up to 30%, and as long as we walk the guest to the cashier. Is that how the bold goes in your store?

tl;dr: Can floor tms authorize discounts at your store?

 

[doxie71]

@brobley Yes. Sometimes we will check with TL or an LOD, sometimes we just do it. Example: tonight we were out of a tv someone wanted that was on sale. I found a slightly more expensive one, offered it to the guest for the same price, and they took it. Was a difference of maybe $30. Guest left incredibly happy.

 

[pellinore]

brobley: you sure are lucky to be able to avoid the cash registers. At my store all team members learn to run the register....that's one of the first things, after orientation, that has to be done.

We haven't been told about a 30% discount, but I'd bet that we'd be able to make that change.

 

[buteeinnm]

I wish all stores would be on the same boat with all this Be Bold Stuff. Seems each store is deciding for themselves what the limits will be. At our store there seems to be no limits, I only found this out recently, when our DTL came to walk the store, asked a team member "If you had a guest who wanted to pay $100 for a $1000 TV what would you do?" The team member responded "I wouldnt do it, thats not within reason." The DTL's response was...."Do it." I about fell over! And this came from a DTL, but after reading other posts, like the 10 to 30 percent post, which I feel is reasonable to make a guest happy, I realized Spot has not made it a cut and dry to all stores what it means to BE BOLD. Again, such inconsistancies company wide.

 

[Bosch]

I wish all stores would be on the same boat with all this Be Bold Stuff. Seems each store is deciding for themselves what the limits will be. At our store there seems to be no limits, I only found this out recently, when our DTL came to walk the store, asked a team member "If you had a guest who wanted to pay $100 for a $1000 TV what would you do?" The team member responded "I wouldnt do it, thats not within reason." The DTL's response was...."Do it." I about fell over! And this came from a DTL, but after reading other posts, like the 10 to 30 percent post, which I feel is reasonable to make a guest happy, I realized Spot has not made it a cut and dry to all stores what it means to BE BOLD. Again, such inconsistancies company wide.

Then Mr. DTL you ring them up. I won't do it. I am being bold by making you responsible for a $900 loss.

 

[Dreamwolf31]

I wish all stores would be on the same boat with all this Be Bold Stuff. Seems each store is deciding for themselves what the limits will be. At our store there seems to be no limits, I only found this out recently, when our DTL came to walk the store, asked a team member "If you had a guest who wanted to pay $100 for a $1000 TV what would you do?" The team member responded "I wouldnt do it, thats not within reason." The DTL's response was...."Do it." I about fell over! And this came from a DTL, but after reading other posts, like the 10 to 30 percent post, which I feel is reasonable to make a guest happy, I realized Spot has not made it a cut and dry to all stores what it means to BE BOLD. Again, such inconsistancies company wide.

Holy Bats!

 

[bab5crusade]

I wish all stores would be on the same boat with all this Be Bold Stuff. Seems each store is deciding for themselves what the limits will be. At our store there seems to be no limits, I only found this out recently, when our DTL came to walk the store, asked a team member "If you had a guest who wanted to pay $100 for a $1000 TV what would you do?" The team member responded "I wouldnt do it, thats not within reason." The DTL's response was...."Do it." I about fell over! And this came from a DTL, but after reading other posts, like the 10 to 30 percent post, which I feel is reasonable to make a guest happy, I realized Spot has not made it a cut and dry to all stores what it means to BE BOLD. Again, such inconsistancies company wide.

DTL Thinking: "We still get the sale and my bonus. To cover the loss of the $900 we can cut payroll to cover the TV loss and also cutting every TM to under 30 hours will get rid of benefits with brings more savings and MOAR BONUS!!!"

 

[pfreshdude]

I wish all stores would be on the same boat with all this Be Bold Stuff. Seems each store is deciding for themselves what the limits will be. At our store there seems to be no limits, I only found this out recently, when our DTL came to walk the store, asked a team member "If you had a guest who wanted to pay $100 for a $1000 TV what would you do?" The team member responded "I wouldnt do it, thats not within reason." The DTL's response was...."Do it." I about fell over! And this came from a DTL, but after reading other posts, like the 10 to 30 percent post, which I feel is reasonable to make a guest happy, I realized Spot has not made it a cut and dry to all stores what it means to BE BOLD. Again, such inconsistancies company wide.

O_O is that DTL serious...I would of laughed after he said that. Yes $900 off a TV is TOTALLY resonable ..give me a break...If the guest would be pissed off...guess what..I DONT CARE because I dont want them scamming our store over and over and over making us lose money hand over fist

 

[tellmeaboutatime]

It is almost comical how things just recycle after so long. When I first started with T, it was all about guest satisfaction and making it right for the guest.Huge push on guest service with everything. We were told to be creative with end caps to drive sales. We even had contests between departments to see who could build the most productive end cap. That soon made way to Speed is Life....timing was the key focus. Multitask! Get that guest in and out.Then it was being "Brand" every store should be identical to every other store.Then it turned to whats the policy this week?NO exceptions to the return policy. It has to be new and unused. You used it and didn't like it? No problem we take it back. Sure we price match, NO we don't price match, yes we will price match. Its like this company can't make a decision.So now we are going back to the beginning. Being Bold is taking charge of your area and being creative to drive sales along with guest satisfaction. Thinking"outside the Bullseye (box)" Okay not my company I don't care what path you are taking. My problem is they can't stick to a strategy! The team is confused, the guest is confused. You can't be everything to everybody. Sell a good product at a fair price. Make policies and stand by them.We are not Walmart, we are not Macy's. Know your identity and stand by it.

 

[Kovac Washington]

This! New Galaxy S5 promo is not clearly explained in the ad. Guest comes in with phone that does not meet full qualifications which are printed so small I needed help finding them, but does qualify per the ad text that humans can read.

Nope. Can't help her.

So now I have to cite fine print to cover misleading advertising to upset guests. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU DON'T WANT EVER WHAT THE HELL.

 

[brobley]

Maybe I should drive a few states over, on my next day off, hit a few Targets for $1000 dollar TVs for $100, come home and sell them on craigslist for a nice profit.

Kidding, that sounds like too much work, and generally horrible (visiting Targets on my day off -ew!).

But what's to prevent guests from realizing the policy in a week or two, and hitting every Target they can for 50-90% discounts on shit that isn't even on sale?

 

[brobley]

It is almost comical how things just recycle after so long. When I first started with T, it was all about guest satisfaction and making it right for the guest.Huge push on guest service with everything. We were told to be creative with end caps to drive sales. We even had contests between departments to see who could build the most productive end cap. That soon made way to Speed is Life....timing was the key focus. Multitask! Get that guest in and out.Then it was being "Brand" every store should be identical to every other store.Then it turned to whats the policy this week?NO exceptions to the return policy. It has to be new and unused. You used it and didn't like it? No problem we take it back. Sure we price match, NO we don't price match, yes we will price match. Its like this company can't make a decision.So now we are going back to the beginning. Being Bold is taking charge of your area and being creative to drive sales along with guest satisfaction. Thinking"outside the Bullseye (box)" Okay not my company I don't care what path you are taking. My problem is they can't stick to a strategy! The team is confused, the guest is confused. You can't be everything to everybody. Sell a good product at a fair price. Make policies and stand by them.We are not Walmart, we are not Macy's. Know your identity and stand by it.

What this company needs is MUCH MORE input on the corporate level from people who work in the metaphoric trenches (us, so we have a voice). Also: Require all corporates to work two weeks in a high volume store as TMs, various departments, for the same pay and rules as TMs.

 

[brobley]

LOD pulled me over later. Said we have a range of 10-30% that we can offer guests, just use discretion, walk them to the register, and tell the cashier it's authorized. Never heard that before. Floor tm can offer up to 30%, and as long as we walk the guest to the cashier.

Why is this a hushed aside, anyway? Do they not tell all TMs? Does it only apply to certain TMs?

Why wouldn't they sell this to us as empowerment? "Hey, TMs, we trust your decision-making skills, so we're letting you make the calls. You're the ones on the front lines, after all! Let's make this work together!" That might be close to uplifting, delivered at a huddle.

Instead it's: "Hey TMs, do whatever the customers ask, no matter how it costs us. You are under orders. You have no choice." In a way that feels like we're being led into a trap.

Who the fuck is in charge of framing new company-wide initiatives? They suck at it.

 

[mrknownothing]

Also: Require all corporates to work two weeks in a high volume store as TMs, various departments, for the same pay and rules as TMs.

They should work in all volumes. No two stores are the same. ULVs may not have as many guests as a AA+, but there's still lots of work to be done (see: P-Fresh).

 

[Jeremy]

Wait 15K? As in $15,000? As in fifteen thousand? Am I reading this correctly?!

You are reading it correctly. $15,192 or something odd like that. I scoffed when it happened to other stores. A store in Connecticut, IIRC, had 34K in iTunes cards purchased with 291 Target gift cards in one day. We would never go for it at my store, I said. Never say never. He wiped out everything we had on the floor, checklanes and all.

I believe that is Illegal, Giftcards, Itunes included,Are limited to $3000 iirc per day. Due to some Law in effect.

 

[qmosqueen]

if Target keeps being Bold, and all the returns it take that we don't even sell from other stores, it will be out of business within the next couple of years. I sure hope the be bold goes away very soon.

 

[konk]

Also: Require all corporates to work two weeks in a high volume store as TMs, various departments, for the same pay and rules as TMs.

They should work in all volumes. No two stores are the same. ULVs may not have as many guests as a AA+, but there's still lots of work to be done (see: P-Fresh).

I wanted to post the same thing. Less product, but less TMs too.

 

[buteeinnm]

So today one of our Senior TL's found out via an email from the Logistics ELT the he was to put together a desk and a bookcase that had been set aside for a guest. The previous day the ELT had a Bold moment, and told a guest if she bought the two pieces he would arrange to have a team member put the two pieces of furniture together for her, free of charge. So now we are in the furniture building business. Unfortunately it was also his LOD shift, so it took him most of the day to build the two pieces. He would screw in a screw and get called away for 40 mins, put in another screw, get called away for 20 minutes, etc., etc.Yikes!