Countrywide Farmers

The Challenge

Committed, loyal, knowledgeable employees at Countrywide Farmers were felt to be hiding their light under the proverbial bushel. “We knew that if their communication skills were improved, and individuals were given more confidence to share their passion and knowledge with each other and the customers, far greater things could be achieved,” says Garry Wharmby, Retail Director at Countrywide. The Extra Mile Partnership stepped in, providing one-to-one coaching for store managers and hosting a one-off ‘Ignition Event' for the entire workforce. The coaching focused on improving communication skills and instilled new levels of confidence in managers, while the Ignition Event literally fired up the Countrywide workforce, motivating them to ‘Share the Passion' with customers, be enthusiastic in their work and home life, and pride themselves on customer service excellence.

What We Did

Store teams in the 40 Countrywide Farmers outlets discovered the power of having a positive outlook, motivating each other and making work fun and productive. Higher levels of employee engagement were achieved, mystery shopping scores leapt from an average of 69% to 85% as staff became friendlier and more helpful, and sales improved dramatically. In fact double digit like-for-like sales growth was achieved for the financial year to May 2009, despite challenging trading conditions. Staff morale is up, with employees saying they enjoyed the Ignition Event so much they'd like to attend more in the future, and Countrywide has been recognized by the retail industry for its hard work around the ‘Share the Passion' customer service drive, becoming a finalist in the high profile Retail Week Awards 2009.