Lonnie McQuirter, director of operations, 36 Lyn Refuel Station, a single-store operator in Minneapolis, Minnesota. McQuirter is also a member of the NACS Board of Directors.
Q: How do you build a customer-centric culture at your store?
At 36 Lyn Refuel Station, we pride ourselves on knowing our customer and trying to be a place where people feel comfortable from all different walks of life. Literally anyone can be walking through our doors at any given point in the day, and we want to be the place where people feel comfortable voicing their opinions on different matters and where they feel comfortable shopping at any time of the day.
Another thing that we pride ourselves on is making sure our staff feels dignified in the work they do, and they feel respected, wanted and welcome. Part of our onboarding process is explaining to [employees] that my job is to advocate for and understand the customer. Everything that I’m going to teach [an employee] while [they] work for me is directly related to some type of customer interaction and how to make sure that they have a great experience.
If we are really servicing our customers, and we’re doing it in a way that resonates well with the customer, it can make all the difference in the world to someone depending on what they’ve gone through that day. I get great satisfaction in knowing that we’re serving our customers well, and I really want that and desire that from our staff. In order to do that, we have to train and spend time talking about the products and engaging with customers.
The lasting value that [operators] have is to not just embrace technology around us but also tap into our human resources that we are honored to still have right now and to help them grow as well, especially with the current labor shortage. It’s about how can you make the best of the situation you have right now. That’s a challenge, and it’s an honorable one.