SWAROVSKI all things extraordinary - Bonifacio Lucia 837199 Paganelli Chiara 838106 Porzionato Chiara 837368
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all things extraordinary
SWAROVSKI
“The gratest problem of communication is the
illusion of having communicated”
Bonifacio Lucia 837199
Paganelli Chiara 838106
Porzionato Chiara 837368
Bonifacio Lucia, Paganelli Chiara, Porzionato Chiara February 28th, 2013
1
INTRODUCTION
The main reason why we chose to analyze Swarovski is that we had the chance to experience the
organization from the inside and to interview the Consultants and their Boutique Manager. This
didn’t only allow us to get specific information on the various processes, but we also had an insight
of the organization’s culture and values. That’s how we realized how important Human Capital is
for the company’s performance. What differentiates this organization from the others in the same
sector is what amazed us the most: profit isn’t the only priority. Swarovski is focused on people,
whether these are employees or customers: everyone has the right to sparkle.
Its products are in fact considered as luxury jewels and accessories, but are accessible to a wider
range of budgets. Swarovski is a very successful brand: for the uniqueness of the product offered,
the internationalization, the presence in many different sectors and the value added by every person
in each step of the production process. We also want to show the differences in performance
management and training process that can arise from the same type of job, between Owned and
Partner boutiques. Swarovski’s Owned Boutiques are managed directly from the company, allowing
an easier communication between upper and lower levels, but at the same time, being absent the
figure of the private owner, who perceives directly costs and benefits of the results, the motivation
of employees could be negatively affected. Partner Boutiques, instead, are smaller retailers
committed to run private boutiques according to Swarovski’s standards and conditions. In this case
employees show a higher motivation, because they are responsible for the wellness of the business:
if anything goes badly they could lose their job. A drawback of this situation is that employees do
not only refer to Swarovski but also to their bosses, whose goals may sometimes diverge. Usually
Swarovski’s Owned Boutiques are located in the most relevant cities, where can be found multiple
boutiques. This characterizes a different approach: in more touristic locations fidelization of
customers is not as relevant as it is in smaller towns, where the relationship between Consultant and
customer is more consolidated and pursued.
Bonifacio Lucia, Paganelli Chiara, Porzionato Chiara February 28th, 2013
2
We decided to describe the features of the Retail Sales Consultant, because we believe this is one of
the most challenging roles within this organization. Being at the bottom of the organizational
hierarchy could negatively affect motivation and performance, but Swarovski relies heavily on its
Sales Consultant in order to deal with consumers and spread its values. The experience of the brand
should be unique, unforgettable and enjoyable and Sales Consultants are responsible for this: they
should be able to represent the company and its culture as well as a Top Manager. In order to do
this, the Consultant is not only required to learn and perform specific tasks, but should, first of all,
internalize and spontaneously express Swarovski’s culture. The Sales Consultant is responsible for
sales, client service, boutique appeal, products presentation and local events and promotions. The
Boutique Manager is the main reference and mentor, to whom the consultant should refer for any
concern or need. Swarovski engages preferably in long-term relationships with employees,
especially Sales Consultants: their value added is characterized by their experience and
commitment to Swarovski’s philosophy, which couldn’t be fully understood and implemented by
temporary workers. Swarovski sees its employees as a worthwhile investment.
APPRAISAL PROCESS
Tasks and competences. This job could be analyzed under many different points of view,
according to what is important to highlight. Most of performance dimensions can be identified as
tasks and competences of the employee. In this specific case the Sales Consultant should perform a
variety of tasks related to both the mere sale and the experience offered to the customer. Basic
notions about Swarovski products and history are required, together with constant updates of
seasonal fashions. The Consultant is usually responsible for the presentation of the products
following the guidelines of the marketing department, for keeping the boutique clean and tidy. The
most important task is obviously the sale process, which has to be performed according to the
pillars taught by Swarovski and its trainers. Lately, has gained large importance the update of the
boutiques data with the reference center through a specific software, with which the Consultant
Bonifacio Lucia, Paganelli Chiara, Porzionato Chiara February 28th, 2013
3
should be able to work. Some competences can be acquired while others are spontaneous:
Swarovski’s training process can only focus on the first typology, but the performance analysis is
applied on both. Kindness, passion, enthusiasm, comprehension, respect, empathy, attention and
flexibility are extremely important in characterizing the Sales Consultant’s behavior and the level of
the experience provided to the customer. The Sales Consultant is given such importance, because
she is the Brand Ambassador, that person, who steps in the front line in presenting and introducing
the brand to customers. In order to reflect the feature of Brand Ambassador at its best, the
Consultant has to undergo a specific training aimed at conforming all boutiques to Swarovski’s
philosophy.
Appraisal Form. First of all we would like to point out that we are presenting a form, which is a
summary of the dimensions that have proved to be the pillars of Swarovski philosophy and that best
represent its approach to customers, who basically are the subjects of the Sales Consultants
performance. We assume that the appraisal form used by Swarovski’s HR Managers is much more
complex than ours, including more measures both qualitative and quantitative. We have identified
the key indicators that ensure an effective performance, taking into consideration the organization’s
philosophy, culture and values. We also provide such a general description because we need to
comply with the privacy requirements of both the company and the Boutique interviewed.
One of the most important tools to assess Sale Consultant’s performance is the Mystery Shopping.
This consists in a Swarovski’s sales expert monthly visiting boutiques anonymously, pretending to
be a regular customer to grade the overall experience and the fulfilling of standardized
requirements, providing for a detailed feedback of the performance of the Consultant the boutique.
These feedbacks are particularly important because they show an external point of view that the
supervisor cannot perceive and are a source of discussion and eventual further training for
Supervisors and Consultants. This tool is cheaper and more effective than asking each costumer for
a feedback, which would be only based on the experience lived without a professional background.
Bonifacio Lucia, Paganelli Chiara, Porzionato Chiara February 28th, 2013
4RETAIL SALES CONSULTANT APPRAISAL FORM
CONSULTANT (Name, Surname):___________________________
EXPERIENCE LEVEL:____________________________________
DATE:_________________
PERFORMANCE DIMENSIONS: QUANTITATIVE RATING
1- Welcome costumers at best Speed in recognizing and greeting TIME:
each customer
2- Understand customers’ needs Empathy Supervisor
and inspire desires Ability of asking meaningful Mystery:
questions and obtain strategic
information
3- Introduce customers to Knowledge
Swarovski’s world Selling and communication skills PRICE PER TICKET:
PIECES PER TICKET
Up-selling
Cross-selling
4- Pleasant sale conclusion Ability in helping the customer to
be satisfied
5- Good impression and positive SCS associates, fidelity program DATABASE DATA:
experience involvement
Customers’ final satisfaction
TASKS:
Overall selling ability
Compliance with dressing code
IT skills
Back office skills and window dressing skills
Foreign Languages
TOTAL
POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENTS:______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
OVERALL OPINION OF THE EXPERIENCE:_________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Manager’s Signature_____________________
Employee’s Signature____________________
Bonifacio Lucia, Paganelli Chiara, Porzionato Chiara February 28th, 2013
5In order to design our appraisal form, five dimensions, which are the basis of the Sales Consultants
job, must be taken into consideration:
1) Welcome customers at best
2) Understand customers’ needs and inspire desires
3) Introduce customers to Swarovski’s culture, excellence and luxury world
4) Pleasant sale conclusion
5) Leave the customers with a good experience and a positive impression
The first point to be considered, when assessing Sales Consultant’s performance, is whether they
are able or not to go beyond the simple selling activity and to transmit to customers the beliefs and
the philosophy of Swarovski. Consultants need to be something more than just helpers, they are
responsible for creating a magical experience.
Second, it is quite difficult to classify the appraisal model of Swarovski because it is based on a
good mixture of demanding tasks, competences, specific personality traits and clearly defined
behaviors and goals. It is possible to assimilate it to a MBO (management by objectives) model,
with some important differences, though. MBO is defined as an appraisal instrument, which
measures the employee’s performance according to the degree to which the person is able to
Bonifacio Lucia, Paganelli Chiara, Porzionato Chiara February 28th, 2013
6achieve specific goals. These are usually set through an agreement between the supervisors and the
workers, in other words, employees are involved in the process of designing the goals they’ll have
to meet. In Swarovski’s case, prevails a top-down approach: we cannot find a participation of
Consultants in defining their job dimensions, rather Top management provides for specific
guidelines and standards based on their focus-on-customer approach. Despite this, to rate Sales
Consultants’ performance, the focus is on the degree to which they meet such defined expectations.
In order to do so, they also have to respect a behavioral code, again provided by the top, which
describes attitudes, dressing code and behaviors Swarovski’s employees have to keep in mind. To
measure the degree of achievement and the compliance with such rules, both quantitative and
qualitative measures are used considering at the same time skills, competences and specific tasks.
We have identified some competences able to ensure an effective performance based on those five
dimensions:
as far as dimension 1 is concerned, a good measure could be the speed in recognizing and
greeting customers when they enter the boutique, in other words the ability to give the
customers the right importance. In this case time, a quantitative measure, fits best with the
measurement needs;
for dimension 2, we will consider the degree of empathy and the ability of the consultant to ask
the right questions with the aim of understanding customers’ needs and to meet them
effectively. In this case the assessment can be done only through a direct observation by the
Boutique Manager or the Mystery Shopper, who are in charge of rating such competences and
approach.
Dimension 3 is quite complex: both quantitative data and observation are needed. Here the
creativity, speaking skills and selling skills play a fundamental role. The rating should be based
on the assessment of the degree of knowledge about Swarovski’s culture, history and products.
The Supervisor/Mystery will also have to consider the ability of the consultant to make a clear
description, the ability to convince the customer. This is measured in two ways: cross-selling
Bonifacio Lucia, Paganelli Chiara, Porzionato Chiara February 28th, 2013
7and up-selling. These techniques are implemented during the sale, once the principal object or
jewel has been chosen: the cross-selling means to present additional products of the same line
that could be sold in addition to the first choice in order to increase the number of pieces per
ticket; up-selling consist in showing a different product with a higher price to increase the price
per ticket.
Achievements in dimension 4 are assessed through observations of behaviors: the focus is on
the degree to which the consultant is able to increase customers’ satisfaction, highlighting the
success of her final choice. This is evaluated with qualitative measures.
Dimension 5 is judged on the basis of the SCS (Swarovski Crystal society) associates and on
database size, which allow a clear description of the number and type of Swarovski’s associates
and fellows of the efficiency of fidelization. This is a pure quantitative approach, even though
fidelization can be measured through customers’ feedbacks.
So far we can see that the performance measurement is based mainly on behaviors, this leads us to
compare it to traits and behavioral appraisal instruments. The former are based on judgments, on
enduring and fundamental personality features, while the latter is focused on behaviors, considering
either their frequency, or the behavioral answers to critical-incidents developed, using the “critical-
incident technique”. Differences are too many to allow us to say that these theoretical models well
represent the Swarovski’s one.
Some other measures must be included in the performance appraisal process to complete it, and
they concur in increasing the originality of Swarovski’s model.
These are:
The overall selling ability measured by the number of customers who visit the boutiques,
related to the number of sales.
The compliance with dressing code rules, which are essential for Swarovski: the main aim is to
make a good impression on clients; the second one is to advertise Swarovski’s jewels wearing
them.
Bonifacio Lucia, Paganelli Chiara, Porzionato Chiara February 28th, 2013
8 The IT skills, useful to deal with the software, continuously improved by the central ICT
department, which is used to keep track of tickets, inventory and other data.
Back office skills, products displaying.
Foreign languages, especially in touristic centers and border regions.
The concrete evaluation will use numerical ratings from 0-5.
0 represents a totally negative judgment or absence of the feature. 5 means completeness,
originality and excellence. Ground is left to point out lacks at the point “improvement area” where
the supervisor can suggest and provide feedback to improve the performance and to meet
Swarovski’s specific requirements.
An overall opinion must be given, since, in the light of the particular parameters, it is quite difficult
to measure and include a large amount of qualities and attitudes, which do obviously imply a certain
degree of subjectivity, both in the performance itself and in the evaluation.
Not all the points described above have the same importance, however: weights may be assigned to
each item of the form, but we believe that importance should be equally divided between profit
measures and the grading of the experience as a whole.
We realize that this form may look short and simplified, but according to us a lean appraisal form
allows a more frequent analysis and, given the particular job mostly based on observation, we prefer
to leave ground to an extended talk and discussion between Supervisor and Consultant and use the
form just to keep track of the most important points. Our suggestions would be to complete a form
weekly and, sometimes, to let the consultant fill in one on his own to better understand what he
believes he is doing with respect to what the supervisor actually observes.
What may differentiate this firm’s appraisal form from others is that conclusions aren’t meant to
rank consultants and to reward the best ones. Even though Swarovski does motivate the best
boutiques and consultants periodically with rewards, the appraisal forms results are meant to
identify whoever isn’t performing according to the excellence standards and to improve his
performance. Swarovski cannot accept poorness of service.
Bonifacio Lucia, Paganelli Chiara, Porzionato Chiara February 28th, 2013
9TRAINING PROCESS
Since the Sales Consultant’s major role is to find, inspire and analyze customer’s desires, it is
important to gain a satisfactory experience on the field: simulations cannot show the variability and
differences among customers. We agree with Swarovski, that the best training practice is an
extensive coaching, run by a supervisor, an experienced employee or the Boutique Manager,
preceded by a brief out-of-job session. This is done in order to maintain coherence and to follow the
required standards in all of the boutiques and it is held by one of its specialized trainers, for new
employees, to give them a first strong taste of rules, standards and practices. This session lasts only
a few days, collects consultants from all over the country, it is supported with manuals and other
useful materials like videos, slides and articles, that can be updated periodically.
Title: coaching.
Goals: the two major goals of a sales consultant are to make profit and to provide the customer with
a special and unique experience. The coaching process should improve the performance of the
consultant through a slow, but consistent psychological change: the employee internalizes the
training, enthusiastically spreads the company’s values and acquires a sophisticated approach
during the sale.
Contents & Competences: cross-selling and up-selling, which are the profit drivers. Persuasion,
empathy, questioning, intuitiveness, attention, memory and flexibility are skills and behaviors, on
which the coaching process is focused. They are fundamental to bring the sale to a succesful end:
persuading the customer towards a different product, understanding their real needs through
questions and body language, paying attention to customer’s answers and provide for an exhaustive
explanation of products, materials and episodes.
Description: The very beginning of the coaching process is focused on observation: the employee
assists the supervisor during the sale process and its other tasks in order to understand what is the
best way to them. The second phase consists in letting the employee approaching to the costumers
Bonifacio Lucia, Paganelli Chiara, Porzionato Chiara February 28th, 2013
10and trying to implement the sale. The most important objective of coaching is the observation of the
employee’s job by the supervisor, who is then responsible for analyzing all the aspects of the
process with the newly arrived to correct mistakes and improve the performance. This job is
founded on an effective communication between Consultants and costumers: these skill can be
refined only through great practice and continuous feedbacks. This is why we believe that coaching
is the best training method for this job and more specifically for this company, any other off-the-job
training wouldn’t be as effective. Making the consultant feeling naturally at ease with the
costumers, in greeting and helping them, showing true appreciation for the products and their
unique characteristics and always giving a good and happy impression are competencies that can’t
be learned just reading a manual. Coaching includes simulations between the supervisor and the
consultant to improve certain parts of the sale process. This fundamental part of the training is
focused on giving the best experience possible to costumers and increasing the productivity of the
consultant. Other tasks like presenting products in the appropriate way, knowledge of the software,
dress code and appearance are explained during the initial class training session with a Swarovski
specialist. This last point shows the importance that the Consultant’s look has: “there’s no second
chance to make a good first impression”, that’s why make-up, clothing, wearing Swarovski’s
jewels and accessories play an important role in the sale. Swarovski provides Consultants with
material containing all the information given during the training session and hands out periodic
updates.
We would suggest a slightly more differentiated approach in training between Owned and Partner
Boutiques. The first are in fact placed in touristic and central locations, where the fidelization
process may be not so fundamental, in this case we would suggest a training including foreign
languages and commercial practices: as we learned from interviewing a boutique, for example,
oriental costumers prefer seeing the selected product multiple times, especially if the package is
taken from the inventory and is still sealed, and appreciate if the consultant could wrap it in front of
them. Knowing particular aspects of different cultures practices provides for an experience of very
Bonifacio Lucia, Paganelli Chiara, Porzionato Chiara February 28th, 2013
11high level, especially for foreign costumers. Partner Boutique’s Consultants instead, being located
in different types of cities, usually focus more on costumer’s fidelization and personalized events.
Training should give a change to develop communicative skills such that the client doesn’t feel
overwhelmed by information and at the same time likes spending time talking with the Consultant.
Skipping one of the steps of the sale process explained earlier in the presentation in this case could
relieve the costumer from the pressure of buying every time he enters the boutique.
REFERENCES
• www.swarovski.com
• www.brand.swarovski.com
• Swarovski Sustainability Report 2010
• “Managing Human Resources”, Gomez-Mejia
• Swarovski Partner Boutique- Bosio S.n.c., Cuneo
Additional information provided by the Boutique’s internal sources cannot be publically released.
Bonifacio Lucia, Paganelli Chiara, Porzionato Chiara February 28th, 2013
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