Safeway Service and Safety Class, part 1

Today is the long-awaited (due to being postponed a couple weeks!) orientation training for Safeway. Or, as they like to call it, the "Service and Safety Class". The district manager was unfortunately indisposed for the class (being away on 'corporate business'), so the district store manager is hosting the course in their stead, and (in her own words!) "winging it!" As you can probably tell from her choice of words, the district store manager is very laid-back for a manager, and is admittedly the least conservative Safeway store manager in the whole district. So overall, the class has been very easygoing, and smooth-sailing.

The first 20 minutes or so were dedicated to going through the "secret shopper" checklist, a 10 point system for evaluation of Safeway employee's quality of service. I asked the manager if I could have a copy of the checklist (for reference purposes), but she denied my request (for confidentiality reasons), and jokingly accused me of being a spy! I wonder if my work here at DoSE qualifies me as such? ;-)

The 10 point checklist is based upon the 10 key attributes of Safeway "World Class Customer Service"'; these "top secret" attributes are the following: 

1. General Shopping Experience (appearance, cleanliness, aesthetics).
2. Professional Interactions / Image
3. Verbally Greet in a Friendly Manner (smile!)
4. Anticipate a Need Voluntarily
5. Offer to Escort / Take Item
6. Friendly Parting Comment:
a. Thank customer by name
b. Tell them to have a great day


7. Special Request Handled / Problem Presented and Resolved
8. Checkout Success
9. Order Packed With Care
10. Social Selling (in-store sales).

The Safeway Service class (the first half of orientation) covered each of these categories in detail, enphasizing the importance of "World Class Customer Service". In fact, the first question the manager asked at the beginning of the class was "What is the one thing that Safeway is known for that gives us an edge over the competition?" She was very approving that not only was I quick to answer, but I gave exactly the right answer to the question, answering correctly and in full.

After the manager covered each of the customer services areas (the ones on the checklist) in-depth, we watched a bunch of short videos-- they covered the same exact material I had watched as part of the computer training a few weeks ago, so-- nothing worthy of note.

The single most interesting point that she made in the class, was in regards to the empowerment of Safeway Employees as representatives of World Class Customer Service:

"You are empowered to use up to $500 (assets) to satisfy a customer"

Now if that's not dedication to world class customer service, I don't know what is!