Nathaniel Thiele

Academy Sports and Outdoors

As a worker at Academy Sports and Outdoors, I learned the value of customer service. I work to ensure that the customer’s needs are met to the best of my ability. I work to find the best item that iswas tailored to their needs. By providing them options, I am able to provide a potential upsell or create a potential credit card. The main goal of Academy Sports and Outdoors is to get and reach a daily credit card score.  By learning how to serve the customer, I learned the value of being an effective leader to the company.

Adapting on the Fly

Being an effective leader means you must adapt quickly.  I learned to adapt to new roles on the fly. One of the roles that have become my favorite part of my job was doing propane exchanges. This job is a great value creator and dramatically helped the “business” bottom line grow.

Propane Exchanges

Propane exchanges are commonplace and happen a minimum of 2 times a week for our business. If propane runs out, as it did during the 4th of July, we lose many valuable customers. Propane from our store costs only $14.99 which “is significant savings” compared to other stores which commonly retail propane for $19.99. These savings allow customers to spend more which drastically helps our store’s profit grow. 

The Process

I would open the tank storage unit, then I would replace the empty tanks with filled ones. This process is a simple yet elegant way to support customers so they can go enjoy their day. Propane changing is simple work yet it allows people to achieve more. Achieving more is the goal of customer success.

Achieving More

Achieving more helps a customer fulfill a need. If I buy a burger, I want to satisfy my hunger. If I buy a home, it satisfies my need for shelter. If I achieve these goals, I am able to better live my life and enrich my free time and future endeavors.    

Short Term Goals, Long Term Payout

Future endeavors create value for the greater good as spending less time cooking by buying a burger, I could focus on growing a business or investing my money. Customers care about short-term goals which helps a customer ensure that long-term goals are met. 

Customer Success

Customer success is achieving more by helping the customer be the best short-term version of themself to ensure that their future version is safer than the current version. Safety in the future allows for prosperity which in turn decreases poverty by prosperous giving to the less fortunate. This creates a ripple effect by providing value: jobs and income are created.  By helping with propane exchanges, I helped to create value for customers by satisfying short term needs as well as supporting a customer in their endeavors. 

Conclusion

Working at Academy Sports and Outdoors, I learn how to improve customers support and success by learning on my feet and facing all challenges place in front of me. Simple actions have taught me small actions make big choices. Big choices help create long-term and growing relationships with customers. Customers create wealth for the business.