Process mapping? DETAILS make all the difference. (Order Pick Up Example)

When it comes to process and customer experience, I think oftentimes we think it's going to be this kind of big picture, strategic, high level thing. And if there's one takeaway you have from these videos in this channel and the quick wins we try to pump into them, it's that oftentimes process can come down to the tiny things. Kind of the opposite of the stereotype. In fact, when we think of process as purely a strategic operations, CEO, COO level thing, we end up missing a lot of those little details that would make our day to day life better that you just wouldn't have when you're looking at a 300,000ft view. Okay. When you're so high level, you miss this stuff. In this video we're going to compare two different order pickup experiences. One at a typical retail store. Let's use Home Depot as an example because we're remodeling a house. So I have a lot of experience picking up orders there at. And on the other side, we're going to talk about an order pickup experience I had at Best Buy and both of these stores, I mean they're big chain stores, you wouldn't expect them to be anything fancy. But the way that they made their processes unique, just really night and day. So with that, let's start the roleplay. Walking into the store, looking around, trying to find where the pickup is. Ah, there it is. You probably wait in some kind of line near the entrance or exit and getting my phone ready with the order order. Okay. Oh, got it. Okay, good. And you just kind of stand there until you are to the front of the line and able to talk to a support representative. Okay. Waiting in line or more people.

Oh my God.

Oh. Okay, they're ready.

How can I help you?

Hi, we need to pick up an order.

Yeah, I, I, I don't do pickups. You're gonna have to wait for her.

Yeah, and actually, true story here. We picked up an online order from Home Depot and that's pretty much exactly how we were greeted. So.

Susie, Susie, Susie.

Okay, I hear you. Okay, I'm just give me a second.

Susie, Susie. They need a pickup, right?

I'll take them. Just send them over to me.

Susie's gonna help you anyway. Yeah, I don't understand.

Okay, you need the order number. Order number is W.P. what was that? No, no, W, like W.P. 1. Oh, Z, like, like Zach Z. PR 1, 2, 8. And you kind of stand there for a while while they look up their stuff that they need to look up. It's it's not showing up. No, no, not eight. Like, eight. Yeah. Ooh, we have it right here. Let me go get it for you. Okay, great. And finally, they go off to look for your order. You stand there a bit more. Here you are. Great. Thank you so much. And to make the experience as quick as possible, that person's probably going to wrap up with something short. Like, is there anything else I can help you with today? Nope. I think that's everything. Thanks so much. Okay, well, you have a great day. And voila. You have finished your pickup order. Overall, if you look at this process map of what we just walked through, I mean, this is pretty good. All right. There's no problems here. It's all running pretty smoothly. There's nothing obvious except for a few awkward encounters that was really wrong with this model. But now I'm going to show you the same exact scenario, and I'm going to give you the exact play by play of what happened when I walked into this other retail store and was ready to pick up my online order. Ready for another round? Let's go. So just like the other store, you're going to walk into the store. So I'm walking into the store. Eventually, you're going to find where you have to pick up your order. Looking around for where I have to go pick things up. Oh, there it is. Okay, I'm going up there. I'm going to get my phone ready with the number. You'll wait in line for a little bit, get to the front of the line, and go to the counter.

Hey, welcome to Best Buy.

Yeah, I'm here to pick up something, right? Yeah. Because I'm at the pickup desk. You already know that. Of course.

You have your order number.

Here's the code. Yeah. Rather than slowly rattling off an order number, they were able to get all the information about your order pretty much instantaneously. That's fancy.

Looks like we have your order in stock. You got a laptop. Nice. All right, let me go get that for you.

Oh, that's great. And then they go to get your box.

Oh, man. Well, this is awesome. Here you go. I guess you guys are excited.

It's like my Christmas gift to myself. And here's where it gets surprising. Rather than just giving your order and making it as short of an interaction as possible and saying, hey, thanks for coming. Have a good day, which is totally fine and valid, this particular employee took it a step further and said, yeah.

Love technology like this, man. These laptops, awesome. Good stuff. I'm actually trying to get A promotion so I can get out there on the floor and work with cool devices like this.

Oh, that's cool.

Actually, what I need to do in order to get promoted and be able to be out on the floor and work with these kind of machines is to get feedback from people like you. So I don't know if you'd be willing to. But right here, let me just circle this real quick. My name is Jake.

And then they gave you the piece of paper, circled and handwritten with their name on it to make sure that you would remember to leave them a good review.

And if you go to this website and you say that you had a good experience here, that would get me one step closer to being out there on the floor.

Yeah, we'll totally do that. Thank you.

Yeah. Well, enjoy the laptop and thank you so much for your help. Awesome.

Next end scene to review. The secondary process that we're talking about looked something like this. And the two moments that really made this stand out is right here and right here. The first element that really stood out is the fact that you didn't have to sit there reciting a long drawn out code in a noisy store with background music and hopefully they understand what you're saying the first time. Instead you just hold up your phone and there you go. Not only is this less awkward, but it's also more time efficient. The second moment where this process really stood out to me is the delivery of that, hey, can you leave me a review thing? Because how many of us have been asked, hey, can you leave me a review at the end of a customer service call, at the end of any kind of experience that you've ever had. And honestly, most of us won't do it. But the way they delivered this particular ask, the way they added the, the handwritten names that was pre written on the desk, the way they circled it in front of you, I think all of these were really smart touch points where they saved time getting the order number, they spent a little extra time on the experience asking about this specific piece and whether this was actually tied to promotion inside the team or something else. I think it's a really impressive process and something that I think all of us could look to when we're trying to think about our own micro processes. What are those little things we can do to make it a bit better? And if any of you work at Best Buy, which is the store that had that secondary experience, I would love to know. I'm so curious in the comments if you know whether this is a standard policy or not. I think it'd just be fascinating to find out. Well done, Best Buy. But that's it for this quick video about micro improvements to the pickup process in a retail store environment. But. But of course, that's not the only way you can apply these teachings. Think about those micro moments in any step of your process and take advantage of them. Most of the time, Process improvement and the stuff we talk about on this channel is talking about CEO making the customer, the employee and the owner's life easier. In that order, by starting from the bottom and working your way up with those little wins before you start worrying about those high level visionary objectives. Thanks so much for watching. And thank you, Alex, for letting me steal your clothes. And until next time, enjoy the process. Quite sure. Is this my look? Kind of. I don't. I. I think this is reading a different way. Yeah. I don't think this is gonna be the look. Maybe a future character. What do you think? All right, next.