I read a story the other day about a large chain of dentists offices that was scamming medicaid by having their dentists perform unnecessary work that could then be billed either in addition to or at a higher rate than the work that actually needed be to done.
The article included a quote from one of the dentists that worked for the company in question. This person said the company had quotas that had to be met no matter what and so employees resorted to all kinds of unethical and improper means to make sure they were. I'm guessing these were dollar figure quotas.
A couple of weeks ago I watched a documentary about for profit colleges. In it, a former recruiter for one of them said the recruiters are essentially a sales force and encouraged to sign up as many students as they can regardless of their economic potential or financial situation. This person said there were times she pretty much bullied students into signing up when she knew it probably wasn't the right path for them.
Several months ago, I was reading about how fast food restaurants were gaming the system to make it look like they were reaching drive thru service metrics when they really weren't. Basically they would take the customers order and payment, then tell them to pull into a parking space to wait for their food. This way when the vehicle left the food service window, the timer would stop and, as far as the metrics go, this transaction would be considered a "completed" sale.
Of course we've all heard the Best Buy horror stories about employees pushing extended warranties, PC "optimization" and insanely expensive cables and accessories.
And then there are games stores like the one where I work. There are metrics there too. Presells and loyalty cards are our big ones, with extended warranties not far behind.
I've seen and heard about employees going to all kinds of lengths to make these quotas, such as:
- Lying about the amount of trade credit a customer had, then after he or she left the store, using the remaining amount to put a presell in the system.
- Giving an inappropriate discount on another item to reduce the cost of a loyalty card (technically this is a fireable offense, but admittedly I've never seen anyone get canned for it).
- Tell customers they HAD to do at least one presell to get full trade credit for their games.
- Encouraging friends to come in and put money down for presells, then come back later and cancel them for a refund when someone else is working.
- Lying and/or misrepresenting the benefits of the loyalty card.
- Redoing an entire transaction to tack on a loyalty card after the customer left the store (original transaction was voided, new transaction was done adding the card and the employee paid the difference into the till). I think the guy who did that might have been fired but I don't know for sure.
- Employees using their own money to put presells/loyalty cards into the system to boost their numbers
And we all know WHY this happens. The companies put an insane amount of pressure on their employees/stores to make these goals. In many cases, jobs are on the line if goals are not met, no matter how unrealistic those goals may be. In my experience, they just keep going up and up no matter what. No matter how good you do, it's never enough.
Oh and did I mention in most cases like I mentioned above, employees are NOT offered any kind of incentive (aside from being able to keep their job) for hitting their goals?
Thus an environment is created where employees are prone to using the kind of tactics described above to "make the numbers" and keep themselves employed as a result.
Now I understand the idea of of having measurable items by which you can track your business. Obviously you want good, detailed information on what's selling and when it's selling and who is buying it, etc. You can't run a good business without that.
But it seems to me that when certain metrics become the be all and the end all of the business and are pushed ridiculously hard no matter what, damage is done.
You don't earn customer goodwill by harassing and badgering them about extended warranties and loyalty cards. You don't build employee morale by holding a virtual gun to their head when it comes to offering and selling those things either.
You might make more money in the short run, but there's a big question over how effective this business model is.
There's no shortage of complaints about "Games store". The only thing that keeps them going is they're the only primary bricks and mortar outlet for their business. Still though, profits are down recently and Amazon has made huge inroads into the gaming market. I myself barely shop there anymore and I worked there for over three years. That ought to tell you something.
I shop on Amazon. That way I can get exactly what I want without any badgering about presells, loyalty cards, warranties or anything else.
Best Buy is currently struggling big time and may not even be around in a few years time. This is largely a result of their high pressure approach to sales, not to mention their lack of competitiveness on price.
On the other hand it seems like EVERY store has loyalty cards and credit cards and warranties they are trying to shove down your throat. It occurs to me that there must be something to this approach if so many businesses are willing to embrace and implement it.
Personally, I think it comes down to money. The businesses are only concerned with the maximum amount of money they can get out of every single customer who walks in the door, regardless of the means.
They claim to abhor unethical behavior by their employees, but then frequently look the other way when it actually happens.
I'm all for making a profit, even a healthy profit.
But there has to be a line. Things are being taken too far in the pursuit of money.
This leads me to two questions:
1) What can we do about this?
2) How far will it go?
I fear the two most likely answers are: Nothing and a lot farther than we'd like to think.
The article included a quote from one of the dentists that worked for the company in question. This person said the company had quotas that had to be met no matter what and so employees resorted to all kinds of unethical and improper means to make sure they were. I'm guessing these were dollar figure quotas.
A couple of weeks ago I watched a documentary about for profit colleges. In it, a former recruiter for one of them said the recruiters are essentially a sales force and encouraged to sign up as many students as they can regardless of their economic potential or financial situation. This person said there were times she pretty much bullied students into signing up when she knew it probably wasn't the right path for them.
Several months ago, I was reading about how fast food restaurants were gaming the system to make it look like they were reaching drive thru service metrics when they really weren't. Basically they would take the customers order and payment, then tell them to pull into a parking space to wait for their food. This way when the vehicle left the food service window, the timer would stop and, as far as the metrics go, this transaction would be considered a "completed" sale.
Of course we've all heard the Best Buy horror stories about employees pushing extended warranties, PC "optimization" and insanely expensive cables and accessories.
And then there are games stores like the one where I work. There are metrics there too. Presells and loyalty cards are our big ones, with extended warranties not far behind.
I've seen and heard about employees going to all kinds of lengths to make these quotas, such as:
- Lying about the amount of trade credit a customer had, then after he or she left the store, using the remaining amount to put a presell in the system.
- Giving an inappropriate discount on another item to reduce the cost of a loyalty card (technically this is a fireable offense, but admittedly I've never seen anyone get canned for it).
- Tell customers they HAD to do at least one presell to get full trade credit for their games.
- Encouraging friends to come in and put money down for presells, then come back later and cancel them for a refund when someone else is working.
- Lying and/or misrepresenting the benefits of the loyalty card.
- Redoing an entire transaction to tack on a loyalty card after the customer left the store (original transaction was voided, new transaction was done adding the card and the employee paid the difference into the till). I think the guy who did that might have been fired but I don't know for sure.
- Employees using their own money to put presells/loyalty cards into the system to boost their numbers
And we all know WHY this happens. The companies put an insane amount of pressure on their employees/stores to make these goals. In many cases, jobs are on the line if goals are not met, no matter how unrealistic those goals may be. In my experience, they just keep going up and up no matter what. No matter how good you do, it's never enough.
Oh and did I mention in most cases like I mentioned above, employees are NOT offered any kind of incentive (aside from being able to keep their job) for hitting their goals?
Thus an environment is created where employees are prone to using the kind of tactics described above to "make the numbers" and keep themselves employed as a result.
Now I understand the idea of of having measurable items by which you can track your business. Obviously you want good, detailed information on what's selling and when it's selling and who is buying it, etc. You can't run a good business without that.
But it seems to me that when certain metrics become the be all and the end all of the business and are pushed ridiculously hard no matter what, damage is done.
You don't earn customer goodwill by harassing and badgering them about extended warranties and loyalty cards. You don't build employee morale by holding a virtual gun to their head when it comes to offering and selling those things either.
You might make more money in the short run, but there's a big question over how effective this business model is.
There's no shortage of complaints about "Games store". The only thing that keeps them going is they're the only primary bricks and mortar outlet for their business. Still though, profits are down recently and Amazon has made huge inroads into the gaming market. I myself barely shop there anymore and I worked there for over three years. That ought to tell you something.
I shop on Amazon. That way I can get exactly what I want without any badgering about presells, loyalty cards, warranties or anything else.
Best Buy is currently struggling big time and may not even be around in a few years time. This is largely a result of their high pressure approach to sales, not to mention their lack of competitiveness on price.
On the other hand it seems like EVERY store has loyalty cards and credit cards and warranties they are trying to shove down your throat. It occurs to me that there must be something to this approach if so many businesses are willing to embrace and implement it.
Personally, I think it comes down to money. The businesses are only concerned with the maximum amount of money they can get out of every single customer who walks in the door, regardless of the means.
They claim to abhor unethical behavior by their employees, but then frequently look the other way when it actually happens.
I'm all for making a profit, even a healthy profit.
But there has to be a line. Things are being taken too far in the pursuit of money.
This leads me to two questions:
1) What can we do about this?
2) How far will it go?
I fear the two most likely answers are: Nothing and a lot farther than we'd like to think.
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