The second edition of the TRRAIN Retail Awards saw an overwhelming response from the retail industry with 1975 applications from 85+ retailers across 21 states in the country. This obviously is a cue to the fact that our employees have stories to share!. A report by Sheetal Choksi, director, TRRAIN
Flashback
The TRRAIN Retail Awards for Excellence in Service were established in 2011 with an aim to recognize and reward exemplary customer service by front end retail associates enabling mechanism for service excellence recognition and reward and most importantly create pride in front-end retail jobs. The total entries received in 2011 was –
Statistics this Year (2012)
Category Participation
Lifestyle 65 per cent
Retail Services 7 per cent
Food and Grocery 11 per cent
Integrity 9 per cent
Restaurants and Multiplexes 7 per cent
Region wise
West 33 per cent
East 14 per cent
North 26 per cent
South 27 per cent
Mode / Breakup
66per cent Online Entries
25per cent Physical Entries
9per cent Email Entries
In order to facilitate easy applications to the awards, TRRAIN, created an online platform along with Wooqer, wherein retailers and their associates could upload their entries – it could be pictures, files, power points, audio and videos too!
The process of narrowing down to 18 winners from the 1900+ entries received was rigorous and involved shortlisting of candidates by a pre-jury round, a regional jury round in 4 cities (one for each region) wherein the candidates had to give an interview and a national round, where the regional winners underwent another round of rigorous questioning before the national winners were selected. The entire process was led by R Sriram and audited by Ernst and Young.
While the 16 winners came from 15 different cities, What we saw as a common thread in the current year’s tapestry of stories was an unwavering pursuit of customer satisfaction. It was not about the value of the transaction but about the value of life, the value of relationship which cannot be measured. They went way beyond the call of duty to serve customers, give out of the box solutions to customers problems yet following protocol and rules laid down by their organizations. Services, which saved lives, got families together and created memorable moments – moments which could never have been recaptured.
The Glitz and Glamour
The awards evening itself was designed to create a memorable moment for each of these associates who had given their jobs a whole new meaning with their dedication and passion. Each of the winners took home not just memories but also gifts from Aspen and Prestige Smart Kitchens. The National winners and the winner of the Integrity Award took home cash prizes too. Each of the winners was also given a special graphic representation of their stories which were signed by various CEOs who attended the function.
All the leaders of the retail fraternity came together to encourage and applaud the efforts of their young associates – young associates who have helped create customer loyalty to their brands.
The evening showcased not just the skills of the front-end associates on the job through their superior service, but also had teams from McDonalds (winners of an internal employee engagement program – Voice of McDonalds) and Titan (winners of the Titan’s got talent initiative) performing and entertaining the audience with their unique talent.
Kishore Biyani, unveiled the first edition of the book “I Just Did It, a book which captured the top 50 stories of 2011. At the unveiling Kishore Biyani said “At Future Group, we believe that the best way to make human beings better is to give them LSD – Lakshmi, Saraswati and Durga. TRRAIN (Nagesh) has given them Saraswati by training them. Today he has given them Durga by recognizing them. I hope, that all of us (retailers) will give them Saraswati in recognition of their hard work”
Bhaskar Bhat, the chief guest for the evening summed up the evening by saying that Retail is not B2B or B2C, but it is about P2P (people serving people). It is the only way we can understand this business…All matrices of measurement, sales per sq.foot, footfalls etc are lag indicators of what people do first.”
Two of the Winning Stories
Name: Mohammed Ghouse
Name of the Store: Domino’s Pizza India
Category: Restaurants and Multiplexes
City/State: Bangalore
Description in customer’s words:
Good evening Domino’s. Today I am very thankful to Domino’s and your most human natured employee who has been a life saviour. My mother suffered an Asthma attack today, and unfortunately nobody was at home. Just in time one of your employees who delivered the pizza saved my mother’s life. My mother was lying down on floor with an attack and there was no help around. We were leaving our work place and coming back home, completely unaware of the situation. I got a call from your employee named Mohammed asking me to open the door and collect the pizzas. I told him my mother was at home and he could give it to her. Then he called again saying the door was open but nobody was giving a response. I told him to go inside the house and give it to her as she is a little aged and has a hearing problem. But he refused again and again as he told me it was against the company policies. Then I told him I would be really late and requested him again. He then agreed on the condition that I should be on the call with him while he goes in. Then he informed me that my mother was lying down on floor and unable to breathe. I was shocked. He asked me not to panic and asked how he could help. I gave him the instructions to find the inhaler pump, and then he really took care of her in a very mature manner.
I and my whole family are really thankful to this person of yours. I am writing this mail with a lot of heartfelt thanks. This is not just a mail but something I am willing from my heart to thank him again – My mother is alive just because of his mature handling of the situation. I thank my friend Mohammed once again…yours Sushank”
Name: Deepak Kamble
Name of the Store: Star Bazaar
Category: Food and Grocery
City/State: Kolhapur
On 30th July around 2.00pm, Deepak entered Star bazaar. After signing the register he went to CSD counter for his duty. While going there he found a crowd at the counter. He went there and saw that a 2.5 year old child, named Rajwardhan, was in comatose condition and his mom was crying. The crowd was trying to revive him.
He observed everything going on around the child and showed great presence of mind by deciding to take him to the hospital. Then the uncle of that child and Deepak took Rajwardhan to Siddhivinayak Nursing Home.
The doctor there examined him and advised them to take the child to Nigade Hospital since the child was in serious state. Nigade hospital is a well known baby specialist hospital in Kolhapur. At the hospital, the Doctor checked and said “The baby is in critical condition and needs to be hospitalized urgently”. The uncle was somewhat confused and unable to give any decision and situation was going out of control. At that time, Deepak showed great courage. He called baby’s father Dheeraj Mule and told him everything.
Dheeraj said, “Please, hospitalize my son and do whatever is needed”. Deepak himself paid admission fees Rs. 250/- and completed all the required procedures. The baby was shifted to the ICU. Later on Rajwardhan’s mom and aunty came to hospital, they were worried but Deepak gave them confirmation that baby was now getting treated and safe. After two and half hours Deepak returned to store. The customer later came to the store and returned Rs. 250/- to Deepak and thanked him. The very next day Rajwardhan’s grandmother and aunty came to the store and offered a lot of thanks to Deepak for showing great attitude of humanity. You have just not saved the baby, but the smile of the family, they told him.