The Nordstrom Way The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence describes how Nordstrom earned its legendary reputation—and reveals the principles behind.

The Nordstrom Way The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence describes how Nordstrom earned its legendary reputation—and reveals the principles behind its unequalled customer service. The perfect company does not exist, but Nordstrom holds a reputation for customer service that many companies attempt to emulate. Companies are proud when they are compared or are called the “Nordstrom” of their industry.

The Nordstrom Way What can we learn from a department store?
Customer Service 101! 1. HUMBLE – You need to be humble to do service 2. Everything begins with the customer! 3. Think like the customer! What makes Nordstrom unique? The obvious is what’s inside the store – the residential feeling, layout, design, lighting, the piano, large fitting rooms, and the merchandise, starting with those shoes. But it also is its culture of motivated, empowered employees each with an entrepreneurial spirit. Nordstrom encourages, demands, and expects individual initiative from staff on the frontlines. The best Nordstrom sales associates will do virtually everything they can to make sure a shopper leaves the store a satisfied customer. The foundation of the philosophy comes from the Nordstrom family. The founding family of the company frequently uses a word rarely heard in business – humble. They believe – You need to be humble to do service. Customer: begins there.

The Golden Rule Always think:
How will it affect my customer? If I was in the customer’s, how would I feel? Do what’s right for the customer – and you have done what’s right for the organization.

The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence
The book is divided into three parts: Part I: What Senior Managers Can Do in an organization to Create an identifiable and sustainable culture the way Nordstrom has done it. Part II: What Frontline Managers Can Do to provide in an atmosphere where staff are giving great customer service. Part III: What Employees Can Do explores what the role of those individuals in giving great customer service Part I: What Senior Managers Can Do looks at how an organization creates an identifiable and sustainable culture the way Nordstrom has done it. Nothing can be accomplished without the culture. Also in this section, we explore how organizations can create “an inviting place” for their customers, whether in person, online or on the telephone; and how organizations can provide their customers with a variety of choices to satisfy customers’ needs. Part II: What Frontline Managers Can Do examines the area of influence of the people closest to the employees. These responsibilities include hiring the right people, then empowering, managing, mentoring, praising, rewarding and retaining those people. As most of us know, senior managers create the atmosphere and the culture, but it is up to the people on the frontlines to do the rest. At Nordstrom, frontline managers have the most important job because they more than anyone else must transmit the atmosphere an the culture to frontline employees. Part III: What Employees Can Do explores what the role of those individuals in giving great customer service, including developing and maintaining personal relationships and encouraging both teamwork and individual achievement among their peers.

The History of Nordstrom
John Nordstrom was born in Alvik Neder Lulea, Sweden, in 1871 Partnering with Carl F. Wallin, the original small shoe store opened in 1901 on the corner of Fourth and Pike in Seattle First named Wallin & Nordstrom, then Nordstrom’s, and lastly, Nordstrom. “offer the customer the best possible service, selection, quality and value. “ John Nordstrom was born in Alvik Neder Lulea, Sweden, in He left for America at age 16 with two pals and a little more than $ an inheritance from his father -- in his pocket. By his third day in America, after buying a new suit for the journey, food, and boat and train passage, he was down to $5. Nordstrom found odd jobs with railroad crews, in coal mines, lumber camps and at shipyards. The work took him across the United States, from New York to Wisconsin, to the redwoods of California and eventually to Washington, where he learned of the Alaskan Gold Rush. Nordstrom managed to make about $13,000 in Alaska. So when Carl Wallin, a shoemaker Nordstrom had befriended in Alaska, asked him if he would be interested in opening a shoe store, he thought, "Why not?" By 1928 Wallin and Nordstrom were regularly disagreeing about how to run the business. Nordstrom was ready to leave, but his son Everett was keenly interested in the shoe business. Wallin sold his part of the business to Nordstrom, who then sold it to two of his sons, Everett and Elmer. The company's philosophy has remained unchanged for more than 100 years since its establishment by John W. Nordstrom in 1901: offer the customer the best possible service, selection, quality and value.

Part I: What Senior Managers Can Do
Managers create, maintain, and support the corporate service culture. They consciously spread the culture of service throughout the organization and among new hires

Part I: What Senior Managers Can Do - Tools to Value Your Employees
Heroics – Employees who witness a colleague giving excellent customer service are encouraged to write up a description of what they saw and submit it to their manager. Purpose – to give Nordstrom people a standard to aspire to and to surpass. Outstanding acts of customer service are rewarded.

Part I: What Senior Managers Can Do – Keys to Success
Make customers feel comfortable by paying attention to every detail of the experience – bricks and mortar or virtual. You must create an inviting place to do business Make your public voice or face a pleasant one Create an atmosphere of helpfulness Create an atmosphere of professionalism Educate your customer to make sound choices

Part II: What Supervisors Can Do to Create Nordstrom Style Service – Keys to Success
Nordstrom believes it is frontline supervisors that must create the atmosphere and the customer culture service to support senior managers. How? Hiring the right people Empowering staff Mentoring employees Praising and rewarding employee successes or services

Hire The Smile – Train The Skill
Part II: What Supervisors Can Do to Create Nordstrom Style Service – Keys to Success Hire The Smile – Train The Skill (Is This A Problem For Librarians, Why? Perception) Hire The Personality And The Confidence The company wants its salespeople to be nice. Wants people who are already nice and motivated to do a good job and provide service.

Part II: What Supervisors Can Do to Create Nordstrom Style Customer Service – Keys to Success
Leo Kuntz – VP Washington/Alaska stores says people work at Nordstrom because: Opportunity for growth Freedom (There are almost no barriers to doing your job) Feeling that you are apart of something meaningful Feeling valued

Part II: What Supervisors Can Do to Create Nordstrom Style Customer Service – Keys to Success
The Nordstrom Way includes hiring good people and keep working with them, nurturing them, and giving them the tools to succeed Empower employees – Nordstrom gives its people on the sales floor the freedom to make entrepreneurial decisions and management backs them on those decisions. (store of Van Mensah and the shirts washed in hot water) If a store manager or department manager isn’t around to approve a key decision, the sales person can make the decision - Sell merchandise in any department – better for establishing a relationship with clients

Nordstrom Inverted Pyramid
At Nordstrom, our goal is to provide outstanding service every day, one customer at a time. The Inverted Pyramid represents the company’s philosophy and structure, placing customers at the top. Next are those who directly serve customers —our salespeople and those who support them. Department managers, buyers, merchandise managers, store managers, regional managers, our executive team and our board of directors then support this group. The Inverted Pyramid helps remind us that we need to value those closest to our customers. We work hard to make decisions in the best interest of our customers and those serving them. All tiers of the pyramid are working to support customers and the frontline employees who have the most contact with customers. The Inverted Pyramid represents the company’s philosophy and structure, placing customers at the top. Next are those who directly serve customers

Trust the people you hire, trust their judgment
Part II: What Supervisors Can Do to Create Nordstrom Style Customer Service – Keys to Success Hire people who are looking to assume responsibility and ownership of their work Trust the people you hire, trust their judgment Give them freedom to make decisions Push decision-making responsibility and authority down to the lowest level possible Encourage employees every step of the way. Regardless of the kind of business – even in libraries – empowerment is always possible. It is necessary. Good employees want to be empowered. They don’t want to push papers or give rote answers. They want to have an impact on the future of their organization.

Part II: What Supervisors Can Do to Create Nordstrom Style Customer Service
The Nordstrom way includes hiring good people and keep working with them, nurturing them, and giving them the tools to succeed Mentoring – Nordstrom encourages employees to find a successful salesperson to watch how he or she does business. (You can observe a lot just by watching) The atmosphere of mentorship starts with the store manager, who understands the culture. Managers lead by positive example. Employees are also encouraged to find their own style, niche, their own way of taking care of business. Management must bring out the best in employees. Nordstrom encourages new hires to keep their eyes open when searching for a mentor. You should promote a culture where people mentor unselfishly. Employee development and support leads to loyalty. The better staff are treated, the better they perform

Find ways to motivate employees
Part II: What Supervisors Can Do to Create Nordstrom Style Customer Service – Keys to Success Find ways to motivate employees Treat employees with dignity and respect Utilize as training tools people who have grown up in a culture Provide a culture where people encourage each other. Recognition – reinforces the areas that should be continue – Recognition meetings Recognition meetings are venues for reinforcing, recognizing, and rewarding behavior.

They encompass four key aspects (Kunz):
Part II: What Supervisors Can Do to Create Nordstrom Style Customer Service – Keys to Success Recognition – reinforces the areas that should be continue – Recognition meetings Praise employees for great acts of customer service Reward those great acts They encompass four key aspects (Kunz): Demonstrating sincere, authentic appreciation Emphasize the team spirit Teach people something new Perpetuate the culture Recognition meetings are venues for reinforcing, recognizing, and rewarding behavior. Demonstrating sincere, authentic appreciation – identify what makes an employee different, how she adds value, Emphasize the team spirit – I work for the greatest company – greatest faculty. Teach people something new – sales techniques, etc. Offer employees something that would generate and maintain interest Perpetuate the culture – talk about what s good about the culture, what makes a culture unique, what makes it work

Part III: What Employees Can Do to Create Nordstrom Style Customer Service – Keys to Success
Staff must understand that they are on the frontlines in making an organization a customer-service culture. Frontline people must have a thorough knowledge of the products and services an organization offers because it is through those products and services that relationships are created, nurtured, and maintained. Building and maintaining relationships with customers are essential elements to a good customer service philosophy. People like to do business with people they like.

Relationships are the essence of customer service.
Part III: What Employees Can Do to Create Nordstrom Style Customer Service – Keys to Success Relationships are the essence of customer service. Service = Sell Relationships People like to do business with people they like! How? Know the product Know your resources

Relationship Building Principles
Part III: What Employees Can Do to Create Nordstrom Style Customer Service – Keys to Success Relationship Building Principles Give clients more than they expect Leave clients something to remember you by Think the project (problem through) Ask yourself: “If I were the client would I pay for this” Don’t give reasons why it can’t be done – Tell how it can be done and the consequences. Tony Callison Architecture created a philosophy of 10 relationship building principles

Relationship Building Principles
Part III: What Employees Can Do to Create Nordstrom Style Customer Service – Keys to Success Relationship Building Principles Don’t wait to do it if it can be done now Service the client not the project You don’t know if you don’t ask Start a conversation with one new person every day Write ideas being discussed in front of clients Tony Callison Architecture created a philosophy of 10 relationship building principles

Part III: What Employees Can Do to Create Nordstrom Style Customer Service – Keys to Success
Listen to the customer Understand customer’s needs Emphasize knowledge of your products and services Be honest and sincere Track your sphere of influence Service the client not the project Become a source for new ideas Take responsibility

The Nordstrom Way Combines
Customer Service Sales (results-oriented company) Teamwork Nordstrom believes that teamwork brings individuals closer together Creating a sense of ownership among employees is key to teamwork

Gee’s Seven Keys to Delivering Great Service
The Right Attitude Maintain a positive frame of mind Prepare yourself Think about why you are there Pay attention Maintain a positive attitude can be hard, but you must try and let go of everything and just focus on the customer. I know what you are thinking sure maintain a positive attitude all these things are going wrong right now and you want me to stay positive…think about what you do have! Plus it does make you feel better to be nice to someone else, and to just smile Prepare yourself – the more prepared you are the better you feel about what you are doing…example if you came to class and you had not read and you knew your professor was going to randomly choose a person you sink a little and in your head you act like you are not there Think about things like I want to help, I am happy to make a difference I maintain a good, positive frame of mind I am always prepared I am sincere and my energy is uplifting Meaning look for opportunities to help Pay attention to those around you, the customers young, old in between, people with disabilities and even the nervous one

Seven Keys to Delivering Great Service
Understand the Customer’s Needs Prepare for a customer interaction Listen with an open-mind Understand what a need is Verify and clarify needs Be honest Be ready for the typical questions and how to resolve them be ready to give the customer other options and think of how you have resolved a certain situation previously. To do this think of things you can listen without putting your bias onto your customer and not taking what they say personally Listen for what they really want

Communicate Clearly Be clear Stick to the point Be honest Avoid the following phrases when giving information “I’ll be honest with you” “I can’t” “I’ll let you know.” – Tell When Use simple words Don’t ramble on I cannot stress that enough do not blow smoke I’ll be honest with you sounds like you haven’t been before I can’t puts a brick wall between you and your customer I’ll let you know sounds like when will you get back to them, so if you use this one give them a date a time make it happen! We sometimes overwhelm our customer with too much information. Keep it simple

Communicate Clearly cont… How to give unwelcome information Accept responsibility Be direct Good news Bad news approach Don’t tell them do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first Encourage the customer to participate in finding the right solution Acknowledge the customers feelings Example: you gave the customer the wrong delivery charge and you cannot adjust it. Being direct you say, “I am sorry, I made an error when I quoted the delivery charge. I quoted you $60 and the correct price is $75. I apologize for the mistake and hope it won’t cause a problem. This is explaining the situation in positive terms rather than negative. Example: this raincoat keeps the water out, but it’s short Or positive way would be: “this raincoat keeps the water out, and its short” Using the word but eliminates anything good we have to say. For the good news bad news approach – you would make the bad situation a little better – “to help your situation I’ve brought the installation forward by two days. However I apologize for a mistake I made with the delivery charge. Accept responsibility for the mistake and if you can sweeten the bad news a little bit so much the better. Encourage the customer to participate in finding the right solution – “you mentioned an alternative solution earlier; what did you have in mind?” the customer is more likely to want the solution to work this way. Acknowledge the customers feelings – this just means letting them with sincerity that you understand how they must feel and you apologize and how can you make it better. Think about it, you still feel bad when you are treated badly as a customer, but it is nice to hear that they apologize for the inconvenience they have created for you. Know when to call in the manager – your manager can bring in a different perspective; in some instances it gives the customer more confidence that the problem will be resolved.

4. Reach Agreement Working with diversity, not against it Looking for the win-win solution Company policy Whether the customer needs training on product use The cost involved Working with diversity, not against it – some people are afraid to listen to others, because they feel they have to agree with everything that person is saying. Listening does not mean agreeing. Wanting to reach an agreement means we want it more than we want combat. We want harmony more than we want arguments. This does not mean we lie down and take whatever the customer wants to throw at us. It simply means we want agreement. Looking for the win-win solution – there are always customers who are looking for a freebie – they try to get a replacement product even though you know it is obvious they have been abusing the original. How you deal with it depends on Company policy Whether the customer needs training on product use The cost involved Super service is about seeking harmony and balance with your customers. Super service is also about reaching agreements in the most profitable way. This is not about throwing yourself at the feet of your customers.

Reach Agreement cont. Build on the customer’s proposal Explain to the customer why you offered the solution and how it will help the situation Ask questions to gain a better understanding of the situation Check you understanding by explaining the problem in your own words Incorporate the customer’s ideas into your solution Build and communicate on the joint ideas Be creative Promises Working with diversity, not against it – some people are afraid to listen to others, because they feel they have to agree with everything that person is saying. Listening does not mean agreeing. Wanting to reach an agreement means we want it more than we want combat. We want harmony more than we want arguments. This does not mean we lie down and take whatever the customer wants to throw at us. It simply means we want agreement. Looking for the win-win solution – there are always customers who are looking for a freebie – they try to get a replacement product even though you know it is obvious they have been abusing the original. How you deal with it depends on Company policy Whether the customer needs training on product use The cost involved Super service is about seeking harmony and balance with your customers. Super service is also about reaching agreements in the most profitable way. This is not about throwing yourself at the feet of your customers. Build on the customer’s proposal – when the customer proposes something it is not a good idea to say: “no we have to do it this way.” instead build upon their proposal Be creative – being open to new ideas Promises – don’t over promise and under perform

5. Check Understanding Steps: Make sure the customer understand the solution you’ve offered them Be prepared for customer input Verify the facts Check for agreement plan Accept responsibility End on a positive note – don’t brush off customer Manage customer expectations Steps: Make sure the customer understand the solution you’ve offered them Be prepared for customer input Verify the facts Check for agreement plan Accept responsibility End on a positive note Unfortunately these steps don’t always go easily Understand the customers needs; if you do not focus on this you will not come up with the correct solution Without these giving us our well stated goal, we have a difficult time going back to our customer with the solution. Time: How long is the project going to take? Target: What will the outcome look like? Budget: How much will it cost? Benefit: Why are we doing the project? Manage customer expectations tell your customers what to expect. If we know what is going to happen we feel more in control. Being with the customer – don’t brush people off. You all have someone you can think of you want to brush off. Who is the most important person to you, you are customers are no different. They are the most important people to themselves.

6. Take Action Turning negatives into positives Right thought comes before right action Behavior is what customers remember When the company is used as an excuse for bad action Turning negatives into positives – do you hear yourself saying I’m tired I can’t do this I hate this I’m bored change the CD The beliefs about yourself are powerful, they become what other people see in you. If you go around moaning that’s what people hear. Think about the unhappy people in your life what words do they use? If you change your thinking you will change your actions. This does not mean just because you are thinking it you will change, you have to believe it. If you profess a certain way in public but act a different way in private you are fooling no one. Right thought comes before right action – your customers want you to take action on their behalf. They come to you because they have nowhere else to go. Think about your own experience as a customer it takes time and effort to make a complaint or return defective merchandise. So change the perception when you say you are going to take action do it Behavior is what customers remember – ups story, nurse period story. if you have listened to your customers and identified their needs, you are ready to carry out the action plan. Follow up with your customers keep them informed on progress or delays When the company is used as an excuse for bad action – don’t blame the company – this is a lose lose situation when you bad mouth your company

7. Build on Satisfaction Be helpful On the front line This goes back to keeping the customer informed Make your job your business – it makes no sense to be a super service provider if you don’t take your job seriously

The Nordstrom Way The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence describes how Nordstrom earned its legendary reputation—and reveals the principles behind.

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The Nordstrom Way The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence describes how Nordstrom earned its legendary reputation—and reveals the principles behind.

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