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Games Workshop: How to Improve the Customer Experience?

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Games Workshop Vacancy

Thanks for the heads-up on Facebook. Games Workshop is now advertising an interesting vacancy: a person to improve the customer experience in GW stores (and only in stores).

#1 – Games Workshop Customer Experience Vacancy

Here is the vacancy in question…

About the Job

Do you want to help Games Workshop revolutionise its customer experience?

We are looking for someone to spend the next two years turning over every – and we mean every – stone to find opportunities for how we can improve the customer experience in our stores and recommend the ones that will work. We aren’t talking about incremental improvements; we want to completely re-imagine what it is like for people coming into our stores, engaging with and buying our wonderful miniatures.

For the duration of the post you will be exploring opportunities all over the world, trying out the ideas and talking to both the people who designed them and the people who use them. You will need to agree your plans directly with the CEO and provide regular updates on your progress. Your final report to the CEO will need to include workable proposals for how we can transform the customer experience in our stores so that the chosen initiatives can be handed over to our strategic projects team.

It should be obvious that this role will require a huge amount of travelling on your own to find these opportunities, to observe them in action and, most importantly, to try them out for yourself. To be successful you will need to be truly obsessed with the customer experience.

Working at Games Workshop

At Games Workshop we are looking for people who will do their best to understand the needs of the company and to put those needs first when they are at work. Because of this we believe that what you are like, hence the attitude you show to work and the way you choose to behave is even more important than your skills or experience.

#2 – How Would You Improve the Experience?

Now, it is easy to see how this vacancy brings out all the snark. And, to a degree, rightly so, I suppose. Given how we live in the day and age of ubiquitous social media, Games Workshop often appears to make it purposefully hard to be heard by the customers.

That said, beyond having a laugh, it does raise the interesting question of what you would truly want to see in Games Workshop stores (let’s stick with the stores for now) to get you (back?) into those “hobby centres” and feel like an honoured customer.

I thought about doing a poll, though I think a more free-form approach might cover more ground.

What would you recommend to GW (or the person to hold this advertised position) to improve your experience as a GW customer in their stores? Games? Third-party products? Gaming Events? Hobby expert consultations?

Try to stick to just “one thing” (or maybe two) that you consider truly important, and leave a comment to let me know!

Z.

Zweischneid

Zweischneid

I am Zweischneid. Wargame Addict. Hopeless painter and founder of Pins of War. I hope you enjoyed this article. Don't forget to share your favourite miniature pictures and wargaming videos at www.pinsofwar.net.
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  • Dean Shaun Marsh

    Way’s GW could improve customer perceptions and therefore their customer service,
    1- stop rising prices with no explanation or apparent regard for your customers
    2- Stop trying to sell your customers everything in the damn store, how about you let the customer decide
    3- stop thinking of your customers as figures and sales and instead treat them as the hobby enthusiasts they are

    Games Workshop! You are ruining the hobby!!!

  • D. B.

    I think they’ve already taken one of the most important steps already: Ask the people who really care.

    If this trend continues, I can confidently say that all will be well.

  • belverker

    This maybe a different view considering my only experiences are with the Australian stores (most recently their melbourne city 1)
    First of all they are too small and cramped, hardly enough room to move and look at the products with the 2 or 3 4×4 tables they have set up. Now they need the tables so there are games going on because this is what draws people in, so the solution is bigger stores (which has a whole host of different issues)
    My biggest issue though is the staff at these stores, in the 7 years that i have occasionally been going to the melbourne store, the staff have always been obnoxious overbearing wankers and not a good personality to be selling stuff to parents, now to be fair this does seem to a trait that a lot of gamers in melbourne have so may be what works…i personally hate it and try to avoid the store as much as i can. On a related not with the stores they need to tone the volume of the heavy metal music down (i am a big heavy metal fan but hate it when it is loud in a store)
    Other than that there is nothing that really needs to be done in the stores locally, they are no different to other speciality stores her

    • http://pinsofwar.net/ Zweischneid

      All things said and done, I imagine getting staff for those isn’t easy.

      If you get a “gamer”, he might not be the best salesman or store manager, quirks and all.

      If you get a “sales-man”, he might not care much (or understand) the intricacies of the hobby, and mainly be interested in shifting stock.

      It’ll be hard to get “both” (especially for the probably not stellar salaries).

      • belverker

        this is true but the independent stores seem to manage, and when I worked in an independent I was hired with no experience and was originally there to promote and teach games but I was able to develop some decent sales skills

  • John

    I would suggest a visit to the UK’s Watford store, as the guy there is pretty on the ball with customer service I’d say, he’s just a nice chap, happy to just have a chat and not shove merchandise down your throat but will also point out where you could buy X instead of Y thus saving you money! And he does not put up with obnoxious kids in the store, which is another bonus! I don’t know, he just knows how it’s done!

  • Chronosmaximus

    Bigger stores, and stop showing products down ppl`s throats. So simple.

  • Warrior Warlock

    I agree that they should be less pushy and have different music or something to make it more inviting/less threatening. Then they need to add proper ventilation to remove the overbearing stench of gamer nerd sweat. My gf refuses to go in as she has to hold her breath to avoid gagging when going into the store. And i would recommend introducing a loyalty card scheme. Works for all succesful commercial businesses that want to grow, whether retail, hotel or travel.

  • Richard Hale Battleboards

    May I inject a different idea, I think what they are suggesting is a good idea, at least in priceable, clearly no one is listening to the store managers and what they have to say. As I feel this would really count, seeing they are on the front line. Having someone responsible in charge so to speak to coordinate an overall strategy would be a welcome thing from where I’m sitting. I just hope that they have enough clout to put into practice what they discover. I for one would love to have the job.

    My thoughts on what they should do. Easy stop ignoring the rest of the gaming community, as it is a COMMUNITY and we all try looking out for one another and support each other. GW are finding it hard because they single themselves out and put up the defences. Which was a perfect strategy back in the early 80s to the mid 90s – right up until the Internet was born. They have failed to see the importance of that and continues on outdated marketing programme that has forced them to be apart from the rest. It’s about time they relise again it about bring people together and discarding difference, and start excepting that players will cross migrate across many games.

    I fear GW will get left behind as independent games increase in popularity, as players chose to move away from what they see as an expensive choice.

    Thats the problem right there… players would not mind what they pay if they felt they are getting value. Its clear they do not, so that where I would start. Building confidence and value back into the brand.

    • http://pinsofwar.net/ Zweischneid

      True. But working with the rest of the gaming community will be tough if we’re talking about “in the stores”.

      Mind, they shouldn’t keep pretending like nobody else exists. But they cannot carry the range of games and miniatures out there in their stores either.

      • Richard Hale Battleboards

        Thanks for the comment, yes agree. I was not really hinting at they should start stocking other company games, more that they should recognise that there are still many products that could be explored that could be used across many games, take paints for instance I am sure many players use GW paints to paint other miniatures. Terrain products that only fit into their own games I feel is a little short sighted, and think products and their expertise could easily produce products that could support a much wider games market. I feel I am slightly digressing as the real point is the lack of consumer support and improving the visitor experience. Being a themer and designer of visitor attractions I would deferentially add themes to the shops, and make them different. I used to seek out GW store when I was about, but to be honest once you seen one you seen them all. I was very disappointed when I finally visited the London store and found a pocky little place, I was expecting how should I put it… something a little more impressive. If each one was different and maybe even had limited ranges or items you could only get from that location, you may find yourself more will to seek them out. Let face it, its worked for Warhammer world, let have more mini worlds :)

  • schnuersi .

    Having followed the news about GW and its problems and having read the job offer I seriously concidered applying… even if just for the fun of it and to find out what they intend to pay for this kind of work.

    If they would pay a reasonable salary for this job I would take it but I don’t have any illusions what impact it will have. Regardless if its me they hire or anyone else.

    Sadly I allready have quite some experience with things like this.

    The job judged by its description description is typical for the kind of things publicy traded companies come up with if their business model isn’t working properly anymore. The inofficial term that is usually used to describe these kind of positions is “CEOs toyboy”. Usually nothing really comes from it. The toyboy (or girl) gathers information and fills folders over folders with paper. Since nobody is really seeing it except for the one or two persons whom he or she directly reports to anything that doesn’t fit these persons agenda or policy… especially anything that proves they where wrong or made a mistake… will disapear. The final paper will be rather short with the message “We did everything right! It wasn’t our fault! But we could rethink the company colours and our homepage layout”…

    Lets not forget GW deliberatly decided to treat the hobbyists as customers that need to be milked a little more than twenty years ago. They decided to be all business and profit and not the then nice little gaming company next door anymore. They wanted to be big business. They decided to focus on the youger customers (the obnoxious kids mentioned in other posts) and tried to turn themself more into a toy company. Nothing of this happend by accident. Its their official business plan and strategy.

    Currently it seems this if failing. But this could be hickup. Unless they open new markets (read China) I personally don’t think so but neither can I prove I am right nor can anyone I am not.The future will tell.

    But judging from history and my personal experience the one thing that is not going to happen is the management admitting they were wrong and initiate a 180° turn. Publicy traded companies simply don’t work that way. If the management admits a mistake the stock value would nosedive and not stop after 25 % loss. The management would certainly be replaced. This is simply not a sensible way to handle this kind of situation if you are part of the management. So you go for the usual, standart and commonly accepted method: Blame it on changing markets and depression, admit the company needs to adjust to this, close down one or two departments and lay off a good percentage (ideally a two digit number) of the emplyees. Stock price stabilised, owners calmed, your own job saved.

    Nothing I have read or heard so far gives only the slightest hint or hope that GW will break out of this kind of typical behaviour.
    So from the point of view of a gamer, hobbyist and former customer of GW I really don’t see any change for the better. Just the typical business smokescreens and BS.