Last year’s CSP/Service Intelligence Mystery Shop champion QuikTrip considers itself “uber-competitive,” according to Mike Thornbrugh, manager of public and government affairs for the Tulsa, Okla.-based retailer.
“We’ll take the A, but we’re going to get the A-plus next time,” he says of QuikTrip’s third-place finish this year.
The areas where QuikTrip grabbed those “A-plus” scores say a lot about the company’s focus: It was the only retailer to score 100% on questions about employee appearance, and the company also scored high in how those employees made customers feel.
“They are QuikTrip,” Thornbrugh says of the company’s store-level employees. “The average customer doesn’t know anything about QuikTrip except the employees that they see and the service they provide. Our success (and our failures) are all based upon how they perform.”
It’s a big area of focus for QuikTrip, which offers incentives such as generous salary and benefits packages, as well as “continuous” opportunities for advancement and promotion.
Thornbrugh, however, believes QuikTrip’s culture plays a bigger role than any of these single perks.
“The biggest motivation is how you treat people,” he says, “recognizing they’re part of the QuikTrip family.”
Another high point for QuikTrip was its speed of service: Ninety-six percent of mystery shoppers reported waiting a minute or less at QuikTrip, thanks largely to those motivated employees.
“Speed is obviously critical in what we do. But you still have to make sure the customer feels valued,” Thornbrugh says. “The backside is you still have to be a human being. There’s an art to that, and I think our people are really skilled there.”
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