{"id":117448,"date":"2019-01-29T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/humility-in-the-workplace-a-qa-with-best-buys-mat-povse\/"},"modified":"2024-12-21T05:50:29","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T10:50:29","slug":"humility-in-the-workplace-a-qa-with-best-buys-mat-povse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-ca\/insights\/blog\/strategy\/humility-in-the-workplace-a-qa-with-best-buys-mat-povse\/","title":{"rendered":"Humility in the Workplace: A Q&A with Best Buy\u2019s Mat Povse"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this exclusive Insider Q&A, DAC<\/a> caught up with Mat Povse, Senior Vice President of Retail and Geek Squad Services at Best Buy Canada to discuss how creating positive work cultures can empower a brand and create stronger connections and experiences for customers.<\/p>\n

Povse is responsible for overseeing employee and customer experience, sales, and profits for over 180 retail stores across Canada, as well as developing the fulfillment processes of Geek Squad programs and services.<\/p>\n

His one-team mentality, combined with his broad work experience, inspires collaboration between different business functions leading to increased productivity and sales. His development of new and innovative partnerships and the integration of services and retail have enhanced Best Buy\u2019s omnichannel approach<\/a> and set foundations for future growth.<\/p>\n

Prior to Best Buy, Povse was Vice President of Sales for LG Electronics and has also held key positions at Compaq, TELUS, and XM Satellite Radio.<\/p>\n

\"Best<\/p>\n

DAC: When you think about what makes a company strong, thoughts like revenue, innovation, brand recognition, and sustainability come to mind. What role does humility play in the success of a company?<\/h3>\n

MP: I like to remind myself and others that a company is simply an organized group of people and as such, it\u2019s the strength of those people that matters above all else. When a company is experiencing success, it is driven by people and when times are tougher, teams pull together to turn things around.<\/p>\n

Innovation is often facilitated by technology, but ideas come from humans. To me, people bring a brand to life, so brand health is reliant on the people that believe in that brand. As for revenue, the old saying that if you look after your people, they look after the customers and that looks after shareholders\u2019 interests is repeated often, because it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

DAC: Customers are becoming more demanding and technology dependent. As a retailer, why is human connection important for customer engagement?<\/h3>\n

MP: Humans have a way of connecting with other humans that technology cannot replace. We believe technology should and can enrich the lives of people. That drives our product selection and how we approach ecommerce and our IT infrastructure. Behind all our technology\u2014that we use and sell\u2014is humans. We are all customers too and we are working on providing the best customer and user experience that we can, because we would appreciate the same.<\/p>\n

DAC: Is it easy for marketers to overlook the value of the human connection?<\/h3>\n

MP: I think so and if marketers aren\u2019t making a human connection, then who are they talking to? For us, that connection can be an in-person experience via our stores, events or through our in-home services, or a digital experience that feels like it was built for humans.<\/p>\n

Either way, we seek to connect with our customers in a more personal way. A more connected world helps us reach our customers with products that they care about, in a location that suits them, but Best Buy believes in developing long-term relationships with customers and in doing so we know that real-life human interaction is an inevitable\u2014and beneficial\u2014part of that journey.<\/p>\n

DAC: There is no denying the power of humility in the workplace. How can brands adopt humility in their engagement strategies to create better customer experiences?<\/h3>\n

MP: First, by recognizing, without a doubt, that humility is a strength\u2014not a weakness. Built into our culture is the notion of forever improving\u2014as good as we are, we can always be better and it\u2019s fun to keep at it. Of course, we love it when we receive positive affirmation from our customers, but we also appreciate that negative feedback is a gift that can help us get better. We encourage our teams to question everything and speak up when something doesn\u2019t make sense. We create opportunities through forums and hackathons to empower everyone to have a voice and drive positive change.<\/p>\n

DAC: What key strategies is your team leveraging to keep a focus on customer experience?<\/h3>\n

MP: We have an internal saying \u201cBelong here, be you here.\u201d Since our customer base is diverse in every way, we try to hire people from a variety of backgrounds, with different experiences to provide diversity of thought. That way we keep a focus on how customers\u2019 needs also vary and can adjust the way we serve them. Then we set out to create real life feelings, spaces, and desirable feel-good outcomes that drive the business results. We don\u2019t just tell people to get results.<\/p>\n

\"Best<\/p>\n

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