I was craving for ice cream yesterday, so I excitedly approached a Nestle scoopery stand to buy two big sugarcones of ice cream for me and my friend.
To my surprise, the girl at the counter refused to sell us big sugarcones. She could only sell two small cones for P10 each because that was the standard promo of the day.
“Can’t you sell two big cones to us? Just charge us more?” we ask, with our tastebuds already complaining about the delay.
“Let me just ask my supervisor,” she says.
At which point, a slightly irritated supervisor tells us, “Sorry, but that’s our promo for today! P10 only per cone.”
Goodbye, customers.
That could have been a sale, right there. But a promotion strategy carelessly put together, employees who are not willing to think like owners, and inability to think out of the box — in this case, a cone — caused a sale to fall through.
February 28th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Hi Salve, sorry for this off topic comment of mine. But I really find it hard browsing thru the comments because the latest comment is displayed first. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
February 26th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Mel and Allan Roy, thanks for your comments. It appears that good promo sales strategies should allow employees to increase sales using these strategies, but at the same time give them some flexibility to spot more sales opportunities that do not fall under these strategies. Some incentive and feedback system should be in place too, huh?
February 26th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Bernie, dude that’s eeky! Am I glad I didn’t buy those P10 cones then. Blech!
February 26th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Lynn, exactly my point! It’s so frustrating, if you ask me.
February 26th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Hiro, oh they had big cones in abundance all right! so you kinda wonder why they had to put all those cones out there.
February 26th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Fliptop, ok yung segue into public accountability!
February 26th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
boy, low salaries are never an excuse to think with small minds. she will have a better salary if she shows that she is worthy of it.
February 26th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
John, i think there’s a very big controversy about McDonald’s upsize me strategy. Ako rin, while I think there’s a time for malling, I try to “moderate the greed” as they say. Sometimes, it’s better to stay away from places where consumerism is too much!
February 26th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
cel, you said:
do you notice that in free taste booths, they would really give you as much cups as you want to consume, though you just request for a refill? because it’s really by the count, as in the flyers given by promodizers
come to think of it, you’re right! what a waste of resources. that’s another good example of a promo gone crazy. sigh.
February 26th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
JC, I wonder if the owner has a clue. Kawawa naman.
February 26th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
anna, believe it or not there are many companies who still pay only lip service to good customer service. it takes a very good owner to drum this into his employees!
February 26th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
hi jon, let’s see if the Nestle guys WILL take notice.
February 25th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Too bad, it was indeed a potential sales profit right there gone pppfffttt!!! :).
However, as much as we would like to please every single customer, companies and employers have to work on certain marketing guidelines and strategies which is better called as ’standard operating proceedures; otherwise, goals, projected sales profits and or quotas wouldn’t be materialized.
If only such case and those similar ones were duely deliberated beforehand between the top level management and those authorized personnel to handover “spot decisions,” opportunities like that can be remedied.
I fully agree that employees can only do so much, that of following instructions issued by the management, however, potential customers are expecting the operators to be at times, flexible especially in certain situations, not just being able to make a profit but, more importantly try to please and satisfy the customers’ needs. This way, we’ll make them eager to comeback with their continued patronage of your product. Just imagine how much one employer could possibly earn with thousands of satisfied customers? Afterall, to whom are the sellers selling their products for but to the customers, and customers and lots and lots of customers.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Maybe they’re trying to get rid of cones that are expired or about to expire
February 25th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
@ boy
“This is what employers get when they pay low salaries, so pls. dont blame us employees!”
this is not an excuse for not thinking on your feet. remember the parable of the talents? those who can be trusted in little will be entrusted more.
but on the other hand the employer also needs to train people well…
February 25th, 2008 at 12:16 am
Soooo, they just wanted to stick to selling what their promo offers, and don’t want to make non-promo sales? That’s kind of stupid. They could have made more money, for one thing, and more importantly made their customers happier.
February 24th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I’ve experienced this in different forms in many stores. I think this kind of behavior is part of their training. There should be no room for mistake says the boss. Unfortunately, improvement is also left out.
February 24th, 2008 at 9:07 am
unless they dont have big cones available, there is indeed something wrong with that promo
February 24th, 2008 at 1:14 am
what a bunch of douchebags! that is why flips are considered closed-minded and will never be taken off from the “third world country” list any time soon. a farking ice cream cone? supervisor? if you are a grown person and cannot make a damn decision over an ICE CREAM cone, then you need to be put out of your misery. that goes for government officials, if you cannot take responsibility for your actions, then you need to be taken out and do the filipinos a favor and blow your brains out.
February 23rd, 2008 at 3:55 pm
This is what employers get when they pay low salaries, so pls. dont blame us employees!
February 23rd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
good for, they are not asking for more, if you go to macdonalds, jollibee, etc, if you order regular coke, the counter girl/gay would ask is it large coke? if you insist that it is regular coke that you want then the counter girl/gay will follow up is it for take away? hmmm? parang nasa gay bar…di ka papansinin pag walang pera…samantalang ang singil nila eh american standard price…hindi kaya sugapa sa pera yang mga fastfoods na yan? di ba kaya natin gusto silang paramihin ay para luminis at dumani turista sa atin? mukhang walang nangyayari so stop all these nonsense…it is time to stop building malls and food chain…nakaka-suka na yan…
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:28 am
yes, sometimes ’sellers’ become irritating; especially when it’s just a matter of common sense and practicality. and why take a ‘no’ for more profit? i guess it’s really a protocol, for the management to guage how effective the promo is. do you notice that in free taste booths, they would really give you as much cups as you want to consume, though you just request for a refill? because it’s really by the count, as in the flyers given by promodizers. the ice cream stand shouldn’t have displayed the big cones if they don’t intend to sell them. i think that’s the foul marketing strategy, misleading customers/giving them ‘false hopes’.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:50 am
bad bad training. the owner must be alerted.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:22 pm
I encountered this problem a lot! Because of the “rules” the sale is lost. They forgot that the bottomline of every business is the sale. Rules dont produce money. Sales do.
February 21st, 2008 at 6:48 pm
What I always appreciate about places — whether they’re fancy restaurants or holes in walls — is good service. I like employees who think on their feet. I agree with what you said. Business owners should be able too train their people to think of the big picture and not just on the micro instructions they are left with.
Their loss, haha.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I think someone should elevate this to the big wigs at Nestle coz it’s just plane wrong to deny customers the product that they want.
Unfortunately some stupid promo managers require their employees to sell a quota of their promo so that it would appear effective, defeating the sense and purpose of the word “promotional” in the first place.