Roche Bros. part II (of 3)

Last time, I wrote about a customer-service icon in the Greater Boston area, Roche Bros. Supermarkets.

As promised, here are the ten “principles” that every single employee must learn during training, and live each day they work.

Roche Bros. Golden Principles

1. Make direct eye contact, smile and greet every customer you come in contact with.

2. Report to work with proper dress code. Clean uniforms are a must.

3. Adhere to the Golden Rule in all dealings with customers and associates.

4. Take the customer to the item she/he is looking for or find someone who can. Never point.

5. If you can’t answer a customer’s question, find someone who can.

6. Call the manager in charge of the department or store to handle all customer complaints.

7. Never walk past a problem situation (customer needing assistance, wet floor, etc.)

8. Assist new associates in learning the culture of customer service we strive for.

9. Give the customer your full attention. Be professional and never discuss personal matters in front of customers.

10. Keep your work area clean. Remember we are in full view of the customer.


Principle 1: Imagine shopping at a store where every last worker made eye contact with you, smiled, and greeted you (as appropriate) every single time you shopped there. Wouldn’t that make you feel welcome? Wouldn’t it make you want to come back again? …And again? …And again?

Walk around your place of business with an eye toward how many of your coworkers make eye contact with and smile at you, your customers, and each other. How do you measure up to Roche Bros., as a company?

It doesn’t matter where you work: in a retail establishment where every employee is “on stage” for customers all day, or in a factory far from the view of any outsiders. Principle 1 is still an important one that your firm should adopt, if they don’t have a similar rule of conduct already.

Principle 2: Look good, like you’re actually proud of yourself – and of your company.

Again, how does your company measure up?

Principle 3: Treat others with common respect (which is far from common, isn’t it?).

Would your workplace benefit from a simple policy such as this?

Principle 4: Have you ever been to a store – or hospital, or any other place of business for that matter – where they drop what they’re doing to make sure you actually get where you want to go? Compare that to an experience I had at my local Walmart.

Me: “Where is the dried milk?”

Clerk: “Aisle 13. I think.”

End of conversation.

Let me assure you of two things. (A) The dried milk was nowhere near aisle 13. (B) I haven’t been back in that store – or any other Walmart – in at least a year.

That's it for today - I think those four principles are enough for the moment. Next time, we'll cover the last and most important aspect of Roche Bros. Golden Principles, #8.

See ya soon!