To improve the customer experience and customer service at your business–whatever your size, whatever the nature of your business–I suggest benchmarking the greats of customer service wherever you can find them. And Seattle-based
So, whether you’re in retail, hospitality, construction, banking, or technology, here are five quick lessons to take home right now for turning yourself into “the Nordstrom of [fill in the blank].”
1. Hire right, and then empower your employees. Sadly, I need to pause her for a mythbusting moment. That thing about Nordstrom’s employee handbook consisting of just one line (“Use your best judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.”) isn’t true. Sorry. [You can read the 12-page Nordstrom Code Of Conduct here; the line, "Use your best judgment" is just part of the remaining thousands of words of the Code.] However, sometimes myths get started because they reflect an essential reality. And this idea of a single-line employee directive to “use your own best judgment” does reflect the right way to succeed as a customer-focused business: Hire the right people and then empower them to be creative in support of their company and their customers, rather than micro-policying every moment. And I mean empowerment not as an add-on, but as their job; make it clear to your employees that it is their job to take creative action, without asking permission, to think up the right solutions to issues that couldn’t really be fully encapsulated by a predetermined set of policies anyway. This is how you get the most out of your employees–and how your customers get the most out of your organization.
2. Make it personal: When you shop at Nordstrom, you have “your” person, by and large. This can be ad hoc, as in the salesperson who moves swiftly with you to help you select and ring up your purchases when you rushing into the store on your lunch break, or it can be longer-term and more comprehensive attention from a personal shopper who selects clothes she thinks will work with you, alerts you of the latest arrivals, and diplomatically warns you of what should be on your personal “what not to wear” list. So assuming that your business isn’t a clothing store, how can you make it personal? Simple ways include always sending marketing from an email address that can actually be replied to; having actual employees (with actual names, at least first names) handle your online chats, allowing employees to respond authentically to customers rather than slavishly having to follow scripts.
3. Charge what you’re worth, by minimizing price as a consideration.
Years ago, my friends and I used to joke that Nordstrom’s marketing slogan should be “We Will Not Be Oversold.” Our juvenile snark aside, don’t be afraid to charge what you’re worth, or what you need to charge to keep the lights on. To be able to do this, though, takes two elements: guts and providing an experience for your customers that minimizes price as a consideration. The “guts” element is what lets you charge what you’re worth; the experience is what makes paying those prices worthwhile to your customers. The more your business “thinks like Nordstrom” –makes it clear to customers that you have their back, makes the experience pleasurable and safe and personal – the more price fades into the background rather than being the central consideration.
… though you can still have fun with pricing. Nordstrom does have its half-yearly sales for men and for women. Does this fit with what I’ve written above about minimizing price as a consideration? Maybe not exactly, but…the Nordstrom sales are an experience, a chance to bring some excitement to the retail experience. They’re also a chance for a brand to show good faith; my personal Nordstrom shopper (Joanne Hassis at the King of Prussia, PA store, if you’re curious) makes a point of refunding the difference between full price and the sale price for anything I loyally bought from her at full price in the weeks leading up to the sale.
4. Use technology to streamline the customer experience and achieve “digital parity.” Department stores are a venerable business model, yet Nordstrom has an entire technology team devoted to streamlining the experience of retail for its customers. Specifically, Nordstrom is taking an approach that you need to embrace as well: striving for what I call “digital parity.” This is the idea that every business, offline or on, needs to be as good as the best purely online companies. One specific example from Nordstrom: They’re eliminating the need to wait in line to pay; with their mobile technology you can pay wherever you are–for example, as you are trying on shoes–with no queuing up needed. (You don’t have to wait in line when you’re online to pay, so why should you have to in the physical world?) Another example? Nordstrom’s embrace of 3D foot-scanning sizer technology to uncover your unique foot criteria (the precise height of your arches, for example) in order to match you to the perfect shoe without the need to try on every pair in the house.
5. Stay modest and always think how much better you can be than you are now. When you’re great at something, you can become narcissistic and prance around and preen, or you can do the opposite. Nordstrom, in my experience, studiously takes the second approach. They never—never—talk about how great they are, how great their customer service is. (They’re very much the un-Zappos in this regard.) No press releases, no nothing on this subject. Yet they’re held up as one of the true paragons of a great customer experience by so many (including me).
And this modesty keeps them open to improving. When I’ve covered Nordstrom in the past, I've received some lovely comments from Nordstrom employees, often running the following lines: “Thank you for recognizing us; it’s heartening to hear; we’re always trying to improve and be better than we’ve been before—for the benefit of our customers.” Now that’s a recipe for success
Micah Solomon is a Seattle-based keynote speaker, customer experience consultant, customer service consultant, trainer, and bestselling author.
