Archived Pitching Ideas to higher ups.

[BigEyedPhish]

Is there a way to send ideas higher ups?

I talked with an ETL of mine about an idea I had to increase our Red Card Conversion rate, as well as our Vibe scores/Guest Survery, but it pretty much went.

"Wow, thats a great idea. Your a thinker, I like that"

And that, was literally that.

So my question is, whose next?

 

[commiecorvus]

You could pitch it here.
One of the people from corporate who monitors us would be happy to steal it and in a year or two you'll see a really bad version of your idea rolled out in a halfassed manner and if they can the stores will ignore it six months after its been implemented.

Damn I am just a wee bit jaded.

 

[BullseyeBabe]

I'd love some new ideas about increasing our conversion rate & vibe scores.

 

[icaruslived]

1. Don't ever do it in front of other TM's, especially not the faves.
2. If they do use your idea you probably won't be recognized for it, I hope you will be but odds are you won't.
3. Tread lightly, the bullseye usually does not like "thinkers" usually that is frowned upon in the red walled establishments.

 

[Mhugh220]

There is/was a section on workbench to submit ideas, with possibility of reward $$. But I don't know if it still exists. I agree with all of the above. Target doesn't like thinkers in stores. Just follow best practice and nothing will go wrong

 

[pellinore]

Yes, there is a place called "Let Us Know." There you can submit ideas and make comments. You are always responded to, but usually with a form letter of some type. Where your feedback goes from the "Let Us Know" area I really don't know.

I know that about 3 years ago there had been a re-design of some clothing labels/price tags and they were very difficult to scan.....they never seemed to work on the bed scanner, but always with the hand scanner. These re-designed labels were a real pain in the neck and took a lot of time....because every time you got one of the tags, you would try the bed scanner....sometimes it worked...but when it didn't (after 2 or 3 tries) you had to use the hand scanner. Very annoying and very time consuming.

We had a GREAT yes, a GREAT DTL....he often brought visitors (regional folks, or higher). One day our DTL was having to wait for our ETLs and I told him all about the problem. out he took out his cell phone and texted a message to (an upper-level person who had once been in our district... .a bigger VIP. By the time the DTL had left he said that his message had been received by the VIP....and they were going to look into the problem. Turns out that a couple of weeks later my STL came to me and told me that he had been told that the labels/price tags were going to be changed. The very next time I saw the DTL he said that the labels would change in a few months. He told me to let him know when the labels were fixed. Well...a few months later the new tags came and they all scanned!!! DTL kept asking me about the tags and he was very glad to hear that the problem had been taken care of. I'm sure that telling the DTL how much productivity was lost on these multi scan tags made the most difference! Sometimes you just get lucky and give feedback to the right person and it does make a difference.


Another time we had some upper level security people.....I talked to them and complained that the Target coupons from the Target website often don't scan correctly....and as a TM it was kind of embarrassing to deal with this....even guests knew that the coupons wouldn't scan. Anyway, after the VIP dept people left one of the ETLs told me that I hadn't talked to the proper people. My response was that, if we're lucky one of these people might mention the issue to someone else and a change might happen. Well....while Target website coupons still don't scan properly, the incidence of the number of problems has decreased......not yet gone, but at least many of the coupons don't give us the problems we had before. I don't know if my comments were heard, but somewhere along the way things did get better.

 

[BullseyeBabe]

I love your positive attitude pellinore! Seriously OP, if you have ideas that would help I wish you would share them. There are people that are afraid of losing their jobs over this REDCard slump.

 

[icaruslived]

@pellinore That's awesome!!! I'm glad you've had positive experiences with feedback/suggestions. Keep it up!!!

 

[Retail Girl]

Pellinore, could you pass on how ungodly hot and uncomfortable it is in my store? ;-)

Nobody above store level seems to care, and the guests are complaining so much....and if they aren't comfortable, then they won't spend as much time in the store. And frankly, the TMs are dying, as well, so we aren't our best. Five degrees cooler would make us all happy people.

 

[Jill of All Trades]

Oh god my store too. It's just mildly uncomfortable for the guests, but with all the running around I do, half the time I'm visibly sweating. It is not pretty.

 

[mrknownothing]

I know that about 3 years ago there had been a re-design of some clothing labels/price tags and they were very difficult to scan.....they never seemed to work on the bed scanner, but always with the hand scanner. These re-designed labels were a real pain in the neck and took a lot of time....because every time you got one of the tags, you would try the bed scanner....sometimes it worked...but when it didn't (after 2 or 3 tries) you had to use the hand scanner. Very annoying and very time consuming.

Was it the Merona tags? I remember having so much trouble with those when I was a noob cashier.

 

[pellinore]

I know that about 3 years ago there had been a re-design of some clothing labels/price tags and they were very difficult to scan.....they never seemed to work on the bed scanner, but always with the hand scanner. These re-designed labels were a real pain in the neck and took a lot of time....because every time you got one of the tags, you would try the bed scanner....sometimes it worked...but when it didn't (after 2 or 3 tries) you had to use the hand scanner. Very annoying and very time consuming.

Was it the Merona tags? I remember having so much trouble with those when I was a noob cashier.

Yes, I believe so.

 

[pellinore]

Too hot in your store? A couple of Summers ago our store was hot. Everyone was sweating and complaining. Our STL said that the store temp is regulated by corporate.....or, at least at the store there is nothing we can do.
I got tired of the heat...so....when guests complained I gave them comment cards and told them to fill them out and mail them in. Comment cards already have postage paid stamps on it.

After a couple of weeks I went to work and the store was cold.....but comfortable (at least I thought so.) By the end of the day our STL got so many complaints about it being cold that he called (whoever he needed to call) to ask if our temp could be changed. After that (and for the rest of that summer our store had a better temperature. Still hot.....but not unbearable.

So, retail girl......start giving comment cards to guests!

Hope you get good results!

 

[pellinore]

It makes me laugh when I think about this........I wonder how many guests sent comment cards in.....clearly enough to get the attention of the heating/cooling people.

 

[pellinore]

Me again....sorry!
We had some upper level management at our store....they came from "minnie soda" and were looking through our store. At the time some stores had begun to use clear plastic to put on the endcap shelves...so the items would be displayed better.You know, instead of the mini wire fences.

Anyway, I mentioned to the marketing exec that the clear plastic "fences" really looked good. He asked me why I liked them. I told him that they displayed the product much better and made things look neater. Anyway, the marketing guy must have gotten a lot of good feedback because the clear plastic fences are everywhere.

I don't know if my comments made a difference....but now they are all over the place!

 

[NiceGuy]

Is there a way to send ideas higher ups?

I talked with an ETL of mine about an idea I had to increase our Red Card Conversion rate, as well as our Vibe scores/Guest Survery, but it pretty much went.

"Wow, thats a great idea. Your a thinker, I like that"

And that, was literally that.

So my question is, whose next?

If the idea is something larger then what the store can control (like offer 25% off first time purchase when you sign up for a Target Check Card) then it is very unlikely - best bet is to talk to the STL or DTL. Even then, its extremely rare. If the concept is something the store can control, it is all about talking to the right person. And this means sometimes it isn't the direct ETL because they can have EGOs and might devalue what you are saying because they didn't think of it first. Most STL tends to be open minded because they are always seeking suggestions on how to improve their business (ETLs pitch business ideas all the time to STLs and STLs make a final decision)

The last piece would be to follow-up with the person that you talked to... "Hey what did you think about what we talked about? Are you going to implement it?" or "What did you think of my idea? Do you think it would work? Or what concerns do you have about executing it?

Follow-up can help the leader be more accountable to action. Asking for feedback on your idea can also be extremely helpful because most leaders don't have the courage to say right to your face that your idea is dumb or won't work. They might also talk to you about unforeseen obstacles or issues that your idea didn't take into consideration.

I'd start with these suggestions!

Good Luck and By-The-Way What was your idea??????????????

 

[Retail Girl]

I've been telling people they need to let corporate know...it's definitely time to start handing out the comment cards!

 

[oath2order]

I remember when my store had the heating issue during winter like two years ago. It was freezing in the breakroom. I remember complaining and got the "corporate controls the temperature blah blah" and I responded with "So you're telling me that the store has absolutely NO WAY of changing the temperature."

It got warmer back there a few days later.

 

[redeye58]

The newest batch of comment cards we got DON'T have postage on them; they're to be dropped off at the store & given to the ETLs.....before winding up in a wastebasket in TMSC.

 

[commiecorvus]

The newest batch of comment cards we got DON'T have postage on them; they're to be dropped off at the store & given to the ETLs.....before winding up in a wastebasket in TMSC.

This is a on your way out the door thing but if you can find a sheet of ,05 cent stamps or less and put them on the cards, when they got to Spot they would have to pay the postage due

 

[BigEyedPhish]

I love your positive attitude pellinore! Seriously OP, if you have ideas that would help I wish you would share them. There are people that are afraid of losing their jobs over this REDCard slump.

My idea, I don't believe an individual store could do. Which is the problem, It would have to be mandated from corporate (probably into a small pilot program).

I'd rather not state it as I may try and apply at corporate, I'd use it then, and as we all know they patrol these forums and with post history it could come back to haunt me.

 

[msj3n]

when it comes to using different fixtures that improve the presentation, it is allowed. A lot of the fixtures planos and sales plan call for are the things corp planners know we already have. for instance in electronics couple sets ago 9 " peghooks were used on prepaid cards. The next time they came we showed them 6". which our store has plenty. We then told them we would be changing them out to 3". They loved how it looked and I believe the option in the earlset notes were to use the smallest size on hand. Not having to send out a box of peghooks to each and every store costs a lot less. When one corp fixture guy was asked by his boss if getting a general idea of what peghooks/ fixtures stores currently have, he made it seem like that would b too much work. you be amazed to see how many people it takes to make one section in a plano. A person says what the sign should say, it is then typed by someone else, then the person who picks the size, person for color. ridiculous! And some of them have never even met. (even though they are on the same floor) And as far as I can tell Corp planners/ project leads take all advice they can get. Its the ETL's in your store that don't want you to show them up.