Case Study: Parrot Cellular
(Campbell, CA)
Communication, Accountability and Customer Service – Parrot Cellular's Keys to Wireless Retail Success
When Jamie Rich started out with Parrot Cellular in 1998, the company was operating 23 stores in the Bay Area. She was hired as a regional manager tasked with opening new stores in and around Sacramento. Over the next few years, as the company expanded from Sacramento to Fresno, she moved up and eventually landed at head office in Campbell.
Now, as Parrot's vice-president, Rich oversees 80 store locations across Northern California. Parrot enjoys a lower churn than the industry average and is the leading AT&T (formerly Cingular) retailer in the region.
But what challenges did Parrot face as a growing company? And how did it make the jump from a smaller retail chain to a larger, more complex organization?
Better Communication Leads to Better Performance
"I believe communication was our biggest challenge as we expanded and grew as a company," explains Rich. "When you have 400 sellers, getting everybody on the same page is a difficult proposition."
She says implementing RetailiQ back in 2004 put an end to their communications woes. "We use the IntraiQ Bulletin Board everyday. It's huge for us. We don't have to e-mail everybody separately or anything like that."
That was just the tip of the iceberg. RetailiQ offers Parrot a host of other benefits that have helped it improve its business dramatically.
"RetailiQ has revolutionized our sales culture. We are able to hold people accountable for the work they do and really measure their performance. We've been able to overcome consistency-based challenges we faced in the past – keeping things consistent from one store to the next.
And it comes back to communication, she adds. "If we see that somebody at one store is selling a certain product really well, we'll call that person up and ask what he or she's doing differently. We all see this information."
Company-wide, Parrot also monitors gross profit by location. "We're constantly re-evaluating goals, striving for higher numbers and making staffing changes when we don't see the growth we need," says Rich. "It's all easy to measure and at our fingertips while using RetailiQ."
A Comprehensive Retail Management Solution
RetailiQ has enhanced every aspect of Parrot's business, from gauging staffing efficiency, to managing inventory levels, to planning effective sales contests, and even handling customer follow-ups.
In fact, the system does such a great job of tracking data and reporting performance metrics that executives find themselves watching the numbers come in on their days off.
"I could sit in front of RetailiQ all day," Rich confesses. "When I'm at home on the weekend, my laptop is open on the kitchen table. Being at home and knowing what's going on with the business is very comforting to me."
Ensuring Good Customer Service
At Parrot, customers are priority number-one. "I know that when we make corporate decisions, we think about the customer – what the customer wants and how our employees can deliver it. We think about how it's going to affect business in the store."
RetailiQ allows Parrot's store managers to manage their stores as entrepreneurs. Head office breaks down daily targets so everybody knows their sales and performance targets, and they are rewarded when they meet their goals.
"I really believe when you have happy employees, you'll have happy customers. And we do. We take care of our customers and they appreciate us and come back," says Rich.