Liberty PLC

The Liberty department store on Regent Street London was failing to provide a high level of service to its customers. Results from a mystery shop programme showed that customers were not being greeted or approached and when customers attempted to connect with Liberty staff, the response from them was inconsistent. In addition to this, low morale existed amongst the team and staff turnover was high.

Desired Outcomes

The owners of Liberty wanted to build value in anticipation of selling the business and so the Energize Programme was designed to deliver the following outcomes.

Key metrics to deliver on

Retail sales to increase by 6% on last year.
Mystery shop scores to increase by 10%
Labour turnover to reduce by 15%.

Customers and staff experience

Customers to have a better and more consistent shopping experience.
Create a service culture that is supported by positive attitude and a defined set of behaviours.
An exceptional customer and colleague experience.
Managers and staff to feel more valued and confident.

How Energize Helped

Energize developed a programme that addressed Liberty’s needs. Following a comprehensive diagnosis, they developed a modular campaign that ensured the teams in store digested the learning in bite size chunks.”

“The modular approach has paid considerable dividends in our performance” according to Sara Edwards Director of Human Resources, “Sales are up 9% on last year and mystery shop scores a staggering 25% up on pre-development visits.”

Energize also developed a leadership programme that equipped all managers with the confidence and skills to coach their teams and sustain the programme in the medium term.

“The managers left their sessions confident in being able to role model the behaviours and coach them on the front line, and they are looking forward to you and the team working alongside them, on the sales floor in the coming months” added Sara.

“The Spiral of Positivity is a great tool to enable staff across all sectors, to understand that they choose their own attitude and it is no surprise that it has become the signature for the programme,” commented James Bradbury – Retail Operations Director

9%

Increase in sales

25%

Mystery shop scores increase

24%

Decrease in staff turnover

Value Delivered

Sales up 9% on last year (target 6%)
Mystery shop scores up 25% (target 10%)
Staff turnover down 24% on last year (target 15%)

Customer and staff experience

Fewer complaints and more compliments.
An overall improvement in attitude has also been apparent throughout the store.
More collaborative work across departments.
Less blame and more problem solving.
At an individual level many influential – and not necessarily the most senior – members of the team have become exceptional role models.

“The improvements achieved significantly exceeded my expectations” commented James Bradbury “and have created substantial value through increased sales and a large reduction in staff turnover. This is supported by consistent increases in mystery shopper scores."

“For me,” added Sara, “one of the most satisfying results is that the change is lasting. Sustainability was one of my key priorities and now all the teams use phrases and tools from the Energize programme in their daily conversation. It’s not just part of a customer service campaign- it’s part of our culture.”

“We would recommend Energize to any organisation that truly wishes to help its front line teams at any level engage positively with their customers, using simplistic methods” commented Sara Edwards.

Case Study: Liberty London

9%

25%

24%