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For those tired of waiting in line to buy a new smartphone or anxiously refreshing a delivery tracking site to make sure a new phone arrives intact, Verizon’s Straight Talk Wireless brand is offering another option: phones from a vending machine. Straight Talk, a Verizon prepaid brand exclusively available at Walmart, has launched vending machines that dispense packaged iPhone and Android devices, similar to the tech vending machines often seen at airports. Customers can browse phones and plans via a touchscreen interface, then pick and pay for what they want, all without needing to wait for a salesperson. And when they take their new phone out of the box, it’s already activated and ready to make calls. That saves a potentially complex step for customers who would otherwise have to go home and figure out how to activate the device and add prepaid credit to it. [Photo: Straight Talk] “A lot of our customers, they get confused with what to do at home,” says David Kim, chief revenue officer at Verizon Value, which includes the telecom giant’s prepaid brands. “It drives calls to care. It drives customer dissatisfaction.” Even if potential customers aren’t ready to buy, they can use the machines to see what phone and plan deals are available without needing to wait on a sales rep, Kim says. And if they do have questions they’d want answered by a human being, the wait time will likely be shorter, since other customers can conduct their business with the machine. So far, the new machines are installed in five Walmart stores, where they’ve sold hundreds of phones after thousands of interactions. Verizon plans to add them at nearly 100 more Walmart locations over the course of the year. In some cases, Verizon is testing the machines near the department in the rear of the store where phones are normally sold, but the company is also testing other locations, including near the checkout, where customers can easily browse the machine to see what’s available. [Photo: Straight Talk] “As customers are checking out, they’re interacting with the machine just to see what’s the latest and greatest,” Kim says. The company is also testing payment methods, including cash and card. So far, most people are paying by credit or debit, with some signing up for monthly autopay via the machine. But the machines are likely to continue to support cash as they expand to more stores, Kim says. After developing the technology to ensure phones can be uniquely identified, tracked, and activated within the machine, the company continues to optimize how to highlight different phones for customers, including making them aware of various brands, price points, and special offers. And in addition to expanding at Walmart, Verizon Valuewhich offers eight brands at more than 100,000 locations across the United Statesmay also roll out vending machines to support its other lines at both other national retailers. While the company does need to ensure machines have internet connectivity and staffing to keep them stocked, selling no-contract prepaid phones is in some ways easy compared to selling phones on a contract, since there’s no need to check customer IDs or conduct a credit check. Expansion possibilities may also include smaller devices offering other services, like letting people pay for a month of service without needing to purchase a prepaid card, Kim says. Other options being considered include machines at airports, which could offer prepaid phones or SIM cards to international travelers, and at existing retail locations for various Verizon Value brands. “It’s just a matter of picking the right locations,” he says.
Category:
E-Commerce
Catfishing. Once a trend confined to the realm of online dating. Now, like other relationship phenomena including ghosting, career cushioning, and quiet quitting, its infiltrated the workplace. This is bad for employers and employees alike. Corporate catfishing is when employers make false or misleading claims about their working culture in job ads or interviews in a bid to attract top talent, and its a big issue. Research shows that 70% of hiring managers have lied to candidates during hiring processes. A separate study also found that 72% of workers have experienced shift shock, where the reality of a new job doesnt live up to what you were sold. The reason its happening is simple. Companies want to attract the best talent to fill skills gaps and drive performance. Yet presently, employers and employees have conflicting preferences over ideal working environments. The return-to-office movement is a prime example. In fact, our data shows that demand for fully remote jobs rose by 10% across last year, and by the end of 2024, almost two-thirds of workers sought remote roles. Yet, only 4% of employers advertised fully remote roles last year. The lack of remote roles on offer is unsurprising given that weve recently seen a spate of return-to-office mandates issued by companies including Amazon and JP Morgan. In comes corporate catfishing: a half-baked solution some companies use when they cannot (or will not) offer what workers want. Maybe the hiring manager lies about how often employees are expected to show up to the office, or tells an applicant that the company is deeply committed to environmental efforts, when its actually been scaling back on its sustainability goals. Like with all lies, the truth will eventually come back to bite them. While corporate catfishing may widen your talent pool, theres no guarantee that this pool will be filled with the right talent. Workers are looking for certain working setups for a reason. For example, they could be looking for a remote role because they have a health condition that makes it tricky to go into the office every day, or need working hours that they can flex around the school run. Job seekers lured in under false pretenses are likely to be a poor cultural fit for the companys working environment. Plus, if workers do fall for corporate catfishing and are hired, they certainly wont trust or feel loyal to that employer once they discover the truth of the working environment. This wont be good for staff retention and could be costly for businesses, given that replacing a single employee can cost up to twice their annual salary. Theres also the reputational risks to consider. Smart job seekers will do a deep dive and look at online reviews from former employees before they accept roles. When the secret gets out (and it always does), the companys reputation for lying to candidates will likely impact job offer acceptance rates and deter future prospects. Businesses will be far better off if theyre transparent about their benefits and working environments from the outset. But the smartest employers wont stop there. More than ever, workers care not only about where they work, but how, when, and who they work for. So if employers really want to build job seekers’ trust and set themselves apart in the war for top talent, they need to go one step further. They need to build a strong, genuine employer brand, which actively showcases everything from the companys working setup and benefits to its mission and values. To do this, employers should identify three core themes, which encapsulate the companys unique value as an employer (be that a commitment to diversity and inclusion or an industry-leading vacation allowance). More than three, and your core identity can get lost in the noise. Sticking to these themes will help keep messaging feeling authentic and consistent across job ads, the companys website, and social media. Having guidelines around tone of voice can complement this well, too. Showing, not just telling, workers what its really like to work for the company also helps build job-seekers trust in the employer brand. So, share pictures from team days and events on the companys social media. Featuring posts from employees from all levels of the businesses, where they share their typical work day or professional achievements facilitated by company training programs or mentorship, can be a great way to do this. The content will feel more authentic to job seekers when it comes from their peers. You should also post about things which reflect the companys core values on LinkedIn. This helps demonstrate to job seekers that the values the company shouts about really are embedded into its DNA. For instance, if sustainability is important to you, you could post about another companys new climate initiative. We already have enough catfishing to dodge in the dating world. Its time for employers to leave false promises behind and put transparency first. Theres someone out there for everyone, and getting more candid about workplace culture means everyone winsboth workers and employers can find their ideal match.
Category:
E-Commerce
Work is full of potential rejection. Ask a colleague for a favor, and they may refuse. Apply for a job, and you may not get it. Seek a promotion, and you may be passed over. Submit a proposal to a client, and it may not be accepted. One key part of success is to be willing to learn from these failures, rather than to be paralyzed by them. Yet, you may find it hard to get over a rejection. Before you can learn anything from a failure, you first have to get beyond the emotions associated with rejection. Dealing with rejection sensitivity The first question you have to ask is whether a particular rejection is bothering you, or whether rejection in general is a problem. A long line of research suggests that some people have a high level of rejection sensitivity. There is even a measure of rejection sensitivity called the Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire. This measure asks you to consider a variety of situations in which you ask for something from another person. You rate both the level of anxiety or concern you might experience in that situation as well as the degree to which you expect someone would accept or reject your request. People high in rejection sensitivity get quite anxious when faced with the possibility of rejection and may also expect that their requests will be rejected. Rejection sensitivity may be a reaction people develop to feelings of rejection by key loved ones when growing up. If you generally have anxiety about rejection, then it can hamper you in the workplace. You may avoid asking for things you need or pursuing new opportunities. You may also react with fear or anger when you feel like others are rejecting you. You might also take criticism of a project or your performance as a personal rejection rather than as feedback that provides an opportunity for you to improve. If you’re sensitive to rejection in general, then you have ingrained a set of habits that probably will not go away on their own. This sensitivity is going to affect both your work and personal life, and so it’s worth addressing. A good therapist can be a valuable part of the process of understanding the source of your anxiety and expectation of rejection and help you to develop strategies to help you handle future situations more effectively. Dealing with a specific painful rejection Even if youre not a rejection-sensitive person, you may still find a particular rejection at work hard to handle. Perhaps you had a trusted friend or colleague who has now turned your back on you. Maybe a longtime client has decided to work with someone else. You might have applied for a job that you really wanted and lost out to another candidate. Of course, nobody should expected to get over a rejection immediately. Rejection stings, and that pain can last for a while. Sleep is an important part of your ability to deal with difficult emotions, so getting several good nights’ sleep can help you move past a painful rejection. If there’s a specific rejection that stays with you, it probably reflects a significant loss for you that is worth understanding. You might be prone to avoid thinking about rejections, but it can be helpful to write about them. That writing can help you to get the thoughts outside of yourself, which can be healing. In addition, it may help you to understand the source of the loss. Perhaps you feel betrayed by someone you trusted. It might be that the rejection affects something that is part of your self-concept. The rejection might feel like it is closing off a career or life path that you were invested in. If writing about the rejection doesnt help, you might benefit from working with a counselor or therapist. Career success ultimately requires that you put yourself in situations in which you could face rejection. Not only that, it’s virtually impossible to do anything of significance without being rejected often. That means you must develop strategies to learn to accept rejections, to analyze them so that you learn how to be more effective in the future, and to continue to try difficult things that might lead to additional rejections in the future.
Category:
E-Commerce
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