Quality store associate discussions

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Best practices

Always treat store associates kindly and professionally with respect. Show them your Letter of Authorization if you have one. If they are busy, respectfully wait until they have time to answer whatever questions you have for them.

Record the details of your conversation in multiple complete sentences in the observation itself.

Conversation notes are extremely important. These conversation notes help give us a clear, detailed account of who you spoke to, what you talked about and how they were able to help you achieve the goal of the observation. With that in mind, please make sure that you are providing clear, detailed information that is relevant to the observation.

Unacceptable notes

  • “Employee not available”
  • “There is none in the back”
  • “NA”
  • “Sufficient stock”

Conversation notes like this do not provide a clear, concise account of your conversation with the employee, and will result in your observation being rejected.

Acceptable notes

  • “I spoke with Linda, who was a manager restocking the products in the seasonal area. She looked up the inventory for the product after I gave her the UPC. It showed there were several units in the back room. The shelves had sufficient stock so I thanked her for her time”
  • “The store manager was not available so I talked with Dave who is the front end manager. He used his handheld to look up the UPC and said that they showed 0 units of the product and do not carry it at this store.”

These conversation notes provide clear, detailed notes on who the Observer spoke to, what they talked about and the result of the conversation, which is exactly what we are looking for!

Great notes

“I walked in the store and observed no product in the beverage aisle. I walked over to the counter and asked the woman there if I could speak to the person in charge. The store owner, Saeed, came from the back office and shook my hand asking how he could be of assistance. I introduced myself and went over the product details with him. While he said it sounds like a good offer he said he’s unsure of how the product will sell. I left him a sell sheet for consideration.”

  • Clear step by step account of store visit
  • Lists title and name of store associates talked to
  • States owner’s opinion about product and reaction
  • Complete sentences and proper grammar