Last night my fiancee and I went to Home Depot for some paint shopping. My father is building us a new bed for our new home and we needed to choose the paint color for it.
The “handy gene” skipped a generation in my family. My dad has built several homes on his own. I could build a bird house and no birds would live in it. So when I visit a store like Home Depot, I need some help. It’s the perfect venue for a passionate Shopkeeper to help me and sell to me. I’d buy anything they told me to buy.
The impersonal way to checkout
I’ve always heard Home Depot has people like that working in their aisles. Excellence in customer service is something they tout on their website. But those people were nowhere to be found on a Tuesday night in Manhattan. Part of me thought, “Well this is Manhattan, it’s different here than in most places”. I thought that right up until I went to checkout and was met by “Automated Checkout”. Home Depot celebrated it like they were doing me a great favor.
It was my responsibility to scan all of my items, with the automated clerk instructing me to place my item in the bag before scanning the next item. I swiped my credit card, collected my receipt, and I was out the door…all without having to interact with a person! I’m sure this tale is making some executive at Home Depot very proud right now. Soon they won’t need people at all and profits will soar!
More stores are heading this direction and it’s sad. The last drops of humanity are being wrung out from shopping and companies are *happy and proud* that customers don’t have to talk to anyone!
OpenSky will be different. OpenSky will reverse this trend. OpenSky will show that humanity is not the enemy of good business, but the driver of it.
I’m going to make a pledge to OpenSky customers today. You will never shop at OpenSky without the opportunity to connect to a person in some way. You’ll see a lot of that in the coming weeks.
Less attractive but more personal way to checkout
The biggest and most difficult part of that (because we’re an online retailer) is you will always be able to talk to someone immediately while you’re checking out at OpenSky.
We’ll offer you a special toll-free number or on-screen live chat, and we’ll help you checkout. If it’s more comfortable for you, we’ll take your order over the phone. No matter what, a person will be available for you during checkout. Please give us a call and let us help you.
Here here, Matt! I find that there are a lot of employees around *conceptually* at Home Depot, but most are in the walk-fast-and-try-not-to-make-eye-contact-so-you-don’t-actually-have-to-talk-to-a-customer-mode. It’s the same way at many of the big box craft stores. I want people to have the “Cheers” experience at our stores, virtually hearing their name hollered when they click on our doors. One of my personal missions is to perpetuate community via craft and that includes being an active and trusted resource for crafters when they’re ready to purchase the tools they work with.
xo, Vickie
http://vickiehowell.theopenskyproject.com/
Matt you’re engaged?! That’s phenomenal! Please give your fiance a hug for me! Congratulations!