Hello Everyone…..I am in Philadelphia and just went over to take a look at the Liberty Bell. Philadelphia is a very cool city.I am receiving excellent service at the Omni Hotel on Chestnut Street right across from Independence Hall.
After you read this article ask yourself if you are even close to this kind of service in your business. Have you hired the right “Can Do” employees and then trained them and made clear your expectations for excellence? Do you remind your teams day in and day out to keep the customer central to every decision and action they take? Have you given your employees enough authority to take care of the customers issues most of the time without getting a manager or making a big deal out of customer requests that are reasonable? If you have bad service or just average service that is not memorable it is your fault if you are the leader. All you have to do is hire great people, train them and give them lots of appreciation, recognition and encouragement. This economy gives you a great opportunity to get rid of the “Can’t Do” employees and replace them with “Can Do” passionate employees. Your people are your brand. For more on this go to my website at: www.LeeCockerell.com. Check out my Creating Magic book and iPhone or Android app as additional tools to create magical service in your business, no matter what business you are in…..Lee
I’m a big fan of Nordstrom.
My wife is a bigger fan! For many years we’ve been impressed with the
“Nordstrom attitude” when it comes to serving their customers. A few
years ago, we were in Nordstrom doing some last minute Christmas shopping. As
we were walking through the men’s department, an employee came out of nowhere
and said, “Sir, wait right here, I’ll be right back.” I watched him
run over to the next counter about 100 feet away, grab something and start
running back. When he got back, he said, “Sir, I think you’ve been trying
on sweaters.” I said, “How’d you know?” He said, “The back
of your black shirt looks like it’s been snowed on, and it’s not snowing in
here!”
We both laughed and he proceeded to remove the fuzz with his lint roller. After
about 10 seconds, he said, “That’s it…You’re free to buy more stuff! I
hope you and your wife have a wonderful Christmas!”
After spending about one hour in the store, we each had 3 Nordstrom bags, and
as we were walking out the exit into the rest of the mall, another employee ran
over and said, “Let me keep all these bags here while you do the rest of
your shopping. They’ll be right here, just ask for me.” He introduced
himself, as did we, and he handed me his card.
About one hour later, with more packages from the mall, we came back. As we
walked into the store, I saw the gentleman who had taken our bags walking
towards us and with a big smile, “Welcome back Mr. and Mrs.
Anderson.” He then looked at our new shopping bags and said, “My
goodness, you’re going to have a load. Can I help you take these bags to the car?”
Now please understand, it’s Christmas, the store is full of people, it’s cold
outside, the parking lot is full…and this gentleman is asking if he can help
take our bags to the car! And even though I said, “No thanks” I knew
his intentions were 100% sincere. I have to tell you the whole service
experience on that day blew me away, but I’ve learned over the years, it’s
business as usual at Nordstrom!
This story was written my Mac Anderson and is titled Customer Love