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Employees at UK supermarket chain Waitrose have a vested interest in ensuring that customers have the best possible experience in the branch - because they take a share of the profits.
Waitrose is part of the John Lewis Partnership, a store owned by its employees - or partners, as they are known throughout the business.
Following a series of business acquisitions in 2004, new partners began working for the business who had not previously been familiar with the co-ownership ethos and Waitrose's strong emphasis on customer service.
"With this in mind, we wanted to introduce a formalized training program that highlighted the benefits of good customer service through the partner-service-profit chain, which outlines how a high level of customer service can translate into profit," explained Anne Marie Hearne, training manager, customer service, and Amy Moran, Waitrose training manager.
Differentiating on service
"Differentiating on service," at Waitrose, means providing customers with an all-round, positive experience - of its products, branches and the service they receive from partners. The business aims to stay ahead of its competitors by ten points or more in its mystery-shopping survey.
"We undertook research and recognized that our traditional computer-based training approach would not meet our needs for further improving our partners' customer-service skills," Anne Marie Hearne and Amy Moran explained. "We also knew that the trainers who delivered the program had to be really passionate about service. This was essential for partners' to "buy into" the program. Our ethos is...