Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

No, not mine - Home Depot’s. My past Home Depot posts (here, here and here) really hit a nerve. People hate that place with the heat of a thousand suns - and that’s the employees!

A few days ago, a young man called me. He said he was an assistant manager and proceeded to tell me his story. Along with other issues, apparently he’s expected to work even longer hours than officially scheduled (since Home Depot doesn’t want to pay hourly employees). Poor guy sounded pretty depressed. I can just imagine what type of service he gives customers. Even if he really tries to do a good job, that unhappiness will come through. I’ve been (temporarily) stuck in toxic jobs before and you don’t do your best when it’s all you can do to drag yourself to work.

Continues to amaze me how companies will shell out millions on advertising, “leadership” training, and strategic planning (often an oxymoron) - and treat their people like trash…or disembodied heads that can be cut at will. (Hello? Dell? I bet your all-important production line ain’t a happy place to be. And, trust me, your marketers aren’t merrily tap-dancing down the halls. Were those thousands of people you just cut really unnecessary? Maybe some of them contributed to your profitability? Duh-oh, Uh-Oh!)

People buy from people - they don’t care what the CEO blathers in the press release about greater efficiency, higher profitabilty and industry leadership. And, employees - duh - are people. If you’ve got an “employee problem” it’s a really big marketing problem.

Related Post: Wacky Idea: Talk to the HD People
Read More:
Maureen Rogers on Downsizing at Dell
Michele Miller on Dell’s Slippery Slope.(her sister’s descent in Dell Hell is - sadly - all too believable.)

(And, yes, I think the HD guy was legit. He told me his full name and store location. And, it’s in line with what I’ve heard and read from other sources.)

If you’d like to leave a comment, please do so. It may take a bit to show up since I hate making people type in little letters (I can’t read most of them myself) - so I moderate all comments. Feel free to disagree - debate is healthy. However, I’ve blacklisted the worst obscenities, including the “f” word, as part of the troll wall.

Tags: marketing troubleshooting, Home Depot, Dell, customer service