Quality and Performance

Quality and Performance

We will be covering two of the three main topics when it comes to total quality management, employee involvement and continuous improvement.  

Ramsey Outdoors values teamwork. They use a self managed teams approach by splitting the store into five departments, hunting, camping, fishing, shoes, and clothes.  Each department consisting of five employees.  Internal customers play a huge role within Ramsey Outdoors.  If one department provides poor service, that can affect if the customer will continue shopping, going to different departments, let alone ever returning.  On the other hand, good service can lead to the transitioning of sales throughout other departments.  Lets say an employee from the camping department provides stellar service for a family going on a camping trip and within his dealing with them convinces them to buy boots or fishing equipment.  That shows how much an internal customer can affect business for Ramsey Outdoors.  

 

Kaizen is the japanese concept that continuous improvement is the philosophy of continually seeking ways to improve processes.  Just recently Ramsey Outdoors found a way to improve.  They noticed that their shoe department wasn’t receiving as much attention as it should have been so they made a major store move.  The shoe department and women’s clothing section switched, making the shoes more visible to the customers when they initially walk in.  On top of the shoe department being more visible, the women’s clothing section was also provided with more floor space which allows them to display more product on the floor.  Another example of continuous improvement that Ramsey Outdoors displayed recently would be Brian changing their new employee training process.  Brian sensed that employees store knowledge wasn’t sufficient so he suggested a new template for their new employee training process.  The managers liked it so they implemented it.  It consists of the new hires taking five tests, one for each department.

Customer Satisfaction 

                     Ramsey Outdoor does its best to provide the greatest customer service we can. We take the time to listen to each customers needs and find out exactly where they are going and for how long so we can determine which product will fit them best. If we do not have that specific product in our inventory then we are able to special order items for customers depending on the company. But, if we are able to special order the item then we will and it takes approximately 7-10 business days for it to arrive at the store where the customer is able to pick up directly from us. We also provide layaway for those customers who would like to pay for their item over time. Although after the customers purchases their item they will have 30 days to return the item with a full refund but after the 30 days the customer will receive store credit. Lastly to ensure customer satisfaction, we allow customers to suggest new companies that we might not carry. This allows Ramsey's to continuously provide new products and brands.