New Associate Customer Service Training Final Report
Payless ShoeSource was looking for new ways to deliver customer service training to their new store associates. Current eLearning training modules are dated and poorly received by learners. This project supported their learning needs by using a blend of proven instructional strategies, such as ADDIE, AGILE, and ARCS, to motivate learners and improve learning outcomes. Our goal was to create a revised training module that enhances the learner’s ability to deliver exceptional customer service. Instructional materials focused on determining customer needs through effective questioning (or conversation starters), support of trying on products, suggesting additional shoes and accessories, and trends knowledge.
Based on discussions held with Payless Latin America HR partners, ROPS VP and a few DROs, I developed instructional goals, performance objectives, and instructional materials. The performance objectives can be found in the Appendix under Performance Objectives.
The training solution followed a similar format that was used during the fall 2018 sales meetings. This allowed both the participants and facilitators to have some familiarity with the agenda and outline of meeting materials and the multimedia technology commonly used software used at Payless ShoeSource. Following this format gave facilitators confidence in delivering course materials as it eased their meeting preparations and allowed ample time to focus on learning course materials.
Pilot Implementation
Instructional materials included a facilitator guide, participant guide, and a PowerPoint slideshow. The facilitator guide included timing of each activity, a list of necessary training materials, an outline of training materials, and a list of participants desired responses with corresponding activity. Senior Operations and HR VPs were responsible to training the materials. To prepare for the meetings, we held a video conference to review the course materials since we were unable to travel to the sales meeting in Latin America.
Training materials were placed in DropBox for VPs to access from their laptops or other personal devices. The DropBox link would be shared to future facilitators at the discretion of senior Latin America leadership.
The pilot implementation was delivered during the first sales meeting held with senior leadership. There were roughly thirty associates in attendance.
The participant guide included key information from training along with areas for the participant to capture notes and responses to discussion questions.
The PowerPoint slideshow served as a visual aid throughout the presentation. It included group discussion questions and images to assist the facilitator with staying on track with the course materials.
Evaluation Results
To evaluate the project, I created a Google Forms survey and sent it to the first group of senior leaders that received the training. The full survey evaluation results can be found in the Appendix under Pilot Evaluation Results. Of those in attendance, nine participants completed the survey. I was slightly disappointed with the number of participants that completed the survey but not surprised with the poor response. Payless ShoeSource announced bankruptcy in Canada and United States during the spring sales meeting. This created worry and uncertainty in all associates across the organization, included those in Latin America. Though my numbers weren’t what I had hoped, they still provided valuable feedback.
The survey included 15 total questions. Some questions were optional if the senior leader would not be responsible for facilitating training the materials to others. Questions gathered learners demographics, participants feedback, and facilitators feedback. Senior leaders responded with open-ended, yes/no, and Likert Scale five-point system responses.
As participants of the training materials, all of them felt that the course materials met or exceeded their needs. Six of the nine participants were responsible for training others at future meetings. All of them agreed to strongly agreed that the course materials met their needs. The only question that received negative feedback was that one associate disagreed with the materials better equipped them to perform their job. Based on the experience of the group, this participant may have felt they already excelled at delivering excellent customer service. The training materials are directed for new associates so I believe that based on the feedback that materials will be successful in the future when delivered to the appropriate target audience.
Conclusion
This was a challenging project with the announcement of bankruptcy at Payless ShoeSource. There was much uncertainty prior to the start of the project and in the middle of the project with the closure of Payless Canada and US. Payless Latin America was faced with the many challenges during the delivery of spring sales meetings. Many leaders were forced to focus their attention to new roles and responsibilities. I am thankful that my training materials were easy to use, effective, and provided a boost of energy to associates across Latin America in a difficult time.
I fear that timing of the training materials prevented the materials from being well received. However, the poor timing of the training materials was out of my hands. During mid-project, we determined it was best to postpone the sales meetings in the US with pending bankruptcy. Many associates that I spoke with in Latin America were scared that they were also going to lose their jobs. There was no clear direction on the future of Payless Latin America. And even today, their future is uncertain. A recent Reuters article stated that Payless is “mulling a sale of its Latin America business” (Christie, 2019). I hope that they are able to find a buyer for Payless Latin America. Their associates truly care about delivering excellent customer service and deserve an owner that recognizes the value of great service and affordable products. There may not be hope at this time for those of us that lost our jobs in the US and Canada, but there is still hope for those in Latin America.
I was disappointed that I was unable to receive feedback as the meetings progressed in Latin America. Much of our communication was limited after the announcement of bankruptcy. Being a team member of the learning and development team during the bankruptcy was difficult. The Payless Learning and Development department provided me a wonderful opportunity to work with international partners, develop face-to-face classroom training, enhance my project management skills, and build lifelong relationships with amazing learning and retail professionals. I may have lost my job, but the experience I received will empower me to be a strong team member at any organization.
References
Christie, J. (2019). Bankrupt retailer Payless looking at sale of Latin America business. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/bankruptcy-payless/bankrupt-retailer-payless-looking-at-sale-of-latin-america-business-idUSL1N21Z1Q6
Based on discussions held with Payless Latin America HR partners, ROPS VP and a few DROs, I developed instructional goals, performance objectives, and instructional materials. The performance objectives can be found in the Appendix under Performance Objectives.
The training solution followed a similar format that was used during the fall 2018 sales meetings. This allowed both the participants and facilitators to have some familiarity with the agenda and outline of meeting materials and the multimedia technology commonly used software used at Payless ShoeSource. Following this format gave facilitators confidence in delivering course materials as it eased their meeting preparations and allowed ample time to focus on learning course materials.
Pilot Implementation
Instructional materials included a facilitator guide, participant guide, and a PowerPoint slideshow. The facilitator guide included timing of each activity, a list of necessary training materials, an outline of training materials, and a list of participants desired responses with corresponding activity. Senior Operations and HR VPs were responsible to training the materials. To prepare for the meetings, we held a video conference to review the course materials since we were unable to travel to the sales meeting in Latin America.
Training materials were placed in DropBox for VPs to access from their laptops or other personal devices. The DropBox link would be shared to future facilitators at the discretion of senior Latin America leadership.
The pilot implementation was delivered during the first sales meeting held with senior leadership. There were roughly thirty associates in attendance.
The participant guide included key information from training along with areas for the participant to capture notes and responses to discussion questions.
The PowerPoint slideshow served as a visual aid throughout the presentation. It included group discussion questions and images to assist the facilitator with staying on track with the course materials.
Evaluation Results
To evaluate the project, I created a Google Forms survey and sent it to the first group of senior leaders that received the training. The full survey evaluation results can be found in the Appendix under Pilot Evaluation Results. Of those in attendance, nine participants completed the survey. I was slightly disappointed with the number of participants that completed the survey but not surprised with the poor response. Payless ShoeSource announced bankruptcy in Canada and United States during the spring sales meeting. This created worry and uncertainty in all associates across the organization, included those in Latin America. Though my numbers weren’t what I had hoped, they still provided valuable feedback.
The survey included 15 total questions. Some questions were optional if the senior leader would not be responsible for facilitating training the materials to others. Questions gathered learners demographics, participants feedback, and facilitators feedback. Senior leaders responded with open-ended, yes/no, and Likert Scale five-point system responses.
As participants of the training materials, all of them felt that the course materials met or exceeded their needs. Six of the nine participants were responsible for training others at future meetings. All of them agreed to strongly agreed that the course materials met their needs. The only question that received negative feedback was that one associate disagreed with the materials better equipped them to perform their job. Based on the experience of the group, this participant may have felt they already excelled at delivering excellent customer service. The training materials are directed for new associates so I believe that based on the feedback that materials will be successful in the future when delivered to the appropriate target audience.
Conclusion
This was a challenging project with the announcement of bankruptcy at Payless ShoeSource. There was much uncertainty prior to the start of the project and in the middle of the project with the closure of Payless Canada and US. Payless Latin America was faced with the many challenges during the delivery of spring sales meetings. Many leaders were forced to focus their attention to new roles and responsibilities. I am thankful that my training materials were easy to use, effective, and provided a boost of energy to associates across Latin America in a difficult time.
I fear that timing of the training materials prevented the materials from being well received. However, the poor timing of the training materials was out of my hands. During mid-project, we determined it was best to postpone the sales meetings in the US with pending bankruptcy. Many associates that I spoke with in Latin America were scared that they were also going to lose their jobs. There was no clear direction on the future of Payless Latin America. And even today, their future is uncertain. A recent Reuters article stated that Payless is “mulling a sale of its Latin America business” (Christie, 2019). I hope that they are able to find a buyer for Payless Latin America. Their associates truly care about delivering excellent customer service and deserve an owner that recognizes the value of great service and affordable products. There may not be hope at this time for those of us that lost our jobs in the US and Canada, but there is still hope for those in Latin America.
I was disappointed that I was unable to receive feedback as the meetings progressed in Latin America. Much of our communication was limited after the announcement of bankruptcy. Being a team member of the learning and development team during the bankruptcy was difficult. The Payless Learning and Development department provided me a wonderful opportunity to work with international partners, develop face-to-face classroom training, enhance my project management skills, and build lifelong relationships with amazing learning and retail professionals. I may have lost my job, but the experience I received will empower me to be a strong team member at any organization.
References
Christie, J. (2019). Bankrupt retailer Payless looking at sale of Latin America business. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/bankruptcy-payless/bankrupt-retailer-payless-looking-at-sale-of-latin-america-business-idUSL1N21Z1Q6