The Nordstrom Way to Customer Experience Excellence

Creating a Values-Driven Service Culture

Robert Spector, breAnne O. Reeves

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781119375388
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Negocios y empresa
• Subtopic: Sector minorista

"Top Ten Business Books For 2017" - Forbes

The fully revised and updated edition of the classic book about Nordstrom's extraordinary customer service

In this new edition of the management classic, the authors explore in-depth the core values of the culture that have made Nordstrom synonymous with legendary customer service. These essential values have enabled Nordstrom to survive and adapt to dramatic market shifts regularly since 1901, and the new edition explains how the Nordstrom approach can be emulated by any organization—in any industry—in every corner of the world. This is not a book about selling shoes or clothes or cosmetics or jewelry. It is a book about how underlying values such as respect, trust, compensation and, even fun, are the building blocks of a culture where employees are empowered to consistently deliver a world-class experience to customers.

Nordstrom believes that the employee experience determines the customer experience, and that when you attract and reward people who are comfortable in a service-oriented culture, then everyone succeeds—both individually and collectively. No wonder Nordstrom is one of only five companies to make Fortune 's "Best Companies to Work For" and "Most Admired" lists every year since those surveys have been taken.

With new interviews from senior Nordstrom executives and family members, the book explains how to successfully respond to today's tech-savvy, time-crunched customers who demand a convenient, seamless, painless, personal experience across all channels. Nordstrom gives its frontline people all the digital tools necessary to satisfy the customer—and your organization must do the same, if it wants to adapt.

The authors show what it takes to earn brand loyalty, lead through change and uncertainty, and combine extraordinary brick-and-mortar with online experiences.

'The single most important reason we try to provide great service is this: It enables us to sell more, ' says co-president Blake Nordstrom, great-grandson of the founder. 'The best way for our company to achieve results is to do what's best for the customer.'

In this book, readers will find:

• Suggestions for becoming the Nordstrom of your industry
• The ten values that define a customer-driven culture
• Lessons for providing superior service and experience across all channels

Trust

We have a great chance of succeeding if everyone feels that they are in an environment that trusts them.

—Blake Nordstrom

Our very existence is based on trust, which is defined as the “firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.” We trust that the sun will rise tomorrow morning, that our car will start, that the traffic lights will work, and that our morning latte will taste exactly like yesterday morning's latte. And that's just the first hour or two of our day.

Every meaningful personal and business relationship is based on trust. The only organizations that engender loyalty and achieve longevity are those that work to earn our trust literally every day. Businesses that violate that trust will be severely—if not fatally—harmed. A trustworthy company understands that reputation is everything. Without the trust of its stakeholders—including employees, shareholders, customers, and suppliers—it may as well as turn out the lights, lock the doors, and go home.

Trust is not a strategy. Trust is how and why we live our lives—both personally and professionally. An untrustworthy person doesn't wake up one morning and say, “I think I'll try trust.”

“Why do two people trust each other in the first place?” That's a question asked by Professor Paul J. Zak at Claremont Graduate University, in an article in Harvard Business Review, entitled “The Neuroscience of Trust.” Zak, who teaches economics, psychology, and management, discovered that a brain chemical called oxytocin signals to the brains of rodents that another animal is safe to approach. In humans, oxytocin increases empathy, which is essential for collaboration.

Zak found that employees in high‐trust organizations are more productive, have more energy, collaborate better, and are more loyal to their employers.

The Gallup organization, which measures employee engagement in the workplace culture, polls companies on how well they explain expectations; provide the necessary tools; and offer recognition, praise, and career development opportunities within a positive environment. When employees have a deep connection with work and colleagues, when they feel that they are making a meaningful contribution, and when they are afforded opportunities to learn and advance, then their companies enjoy superior productivity and increased profitability.

Trust Employees

Building a values‐driven culture of service begins with hiring people who share those values and who fit into the culture. We then expect them to earn the trust of management, colleagues and, of course, customers, with a strong desire to give great customer service.

A college degree has never been a requirement at Nordstrom. For frontline salespeople, enthusiasm, a desire to work hard, and a capacity to generate their own traffic are much more important in a system that can best be described as a process of natural selection—a purely Darwinian survival of the fittest. As Blake has noted, “You can't teach a work ethic.”

Nordstrom believes that the employee experience determines the customer experience. Its philosophy is to hire people who are attracted to the company's entrepreneurial culture and provide them with opportunities to succeed.

We believe “The Nordstrom Way” can be summed up in three sentences:

1. Stay true to the values of the culture.
2. Attract people who share the values of the culture.
3. Teach and coach based on those values.

All of that sounds deceptively simple. The challenge is to stay consistent with that humble vision so that you replenish your workforce with like‐minded people. Our consulting clients often ask us how Nordstrom finds people who want to give outstanding customer service.

“Most of the time, they find us,” said Bruce. “We can hire nice people and teach them to sell, but we can't hire salespeople and teach them to be nice. We believe in ‘hire the smile, train the skill.’”

Nordstrom provides little in the way of a formalized training program. When asked who trains Nordstrom salespeople, Bruce answered: “Their parents.” Or their grandparents or guardians—whoever instilled them with a set of values.

People will rise or fall to the expectations that the organization puts on them. If everyone in the department is chewing gum or is on the phone chatting with friends, the new hire will follow that behavior instead of engaging with the customer. But if that new hire joins a high‐performance, high‐expectations culture, he will either emulate that behavior and become a part of that culture or realize that this job is not for him and leave.

“Some people might think our way of doing things is too gung‐ho for them,” said Bruce. “Okay, then don't work here. This is not a job for clock‐watchers.”

High‐trust companies hold their people accountable and treat them like responsible adults.

“Everything that we do is done through trust,” one department manager told us. “I don't need to stand over my employees and tell them what they need to do to make the customer feel good. I trust them to make the right decision so that the customer walks out the door with a smile on her face and the purchases that help keep that smile on her face.”

Managers always stress to new hires the importance of trusting their customer, and that if they are ever in doubt, they are empowered to err on the side of the customer. Slipups, blunders, or errors are not fatal at Nordstrom, where they believe that mistakes can be transformed into opportunities. When you prove your trustworthiness by promptly admitting mistakes and quickly rectifying them, you strengthen and deepen your relationships.

No Nordstrom employee will ever get into trouble for making somebody happy. They are empowered to do whatever it takes to make that happen. At Nordstrom, as long as you make the customer happy, no one has a problem with you. If you make the customer unhappy, everybody has a problem with you.

Christian Parrocco, a young Nordstrom employee, told us, “My entire career at Nordstrom has been built on trust. Every single step I've made through the company stems from trusting the people around me. We all rely on each other. When you're trusted, it makes you want to do more.”

Trust from Customers

Only one out of every three existing Nordstrom customers says she has a relationship with a salesperson at Nordstrom. What's exciting for Nordstrom is that three out of four customers say that they would like to develop that kind of trusting relationship. When customers have a rapport and a bond with a Nordstrom salesperson, their spending doubles. Consider Chris Sharma, who has been the top salesperson at Nordstrom for many years. Sharma, who is a personal stylist in men's wear and furnishings in the Tysons Corner store in suburban Washington, D.C., sells in excess of $2 million in merchandise every year, and has many regular customers who annually spend between $30,000 and $50,000. That's trust.

Here's a customer letter that describes how salesperson Jackie Byrd is more than just the customer's “go‐to person at Nordstrom,” more than just a friend.

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She is a much‐loved member of our family who just happens to work at Nordstrom. Through every major event in my relationship with my wife, Jackie has been there for me. She saved me when I needed help to remake my wife's wardrobe. She was there for me when I wanted to propose, and she helped make the entire event perfect. She was there for me when we got married. She attended our wedding, and made it perfect by simply being there. When I need her, she is always there. Always.

My wife and I are expecting our first baby. Jackie was the second person we told and once we found out the sex (daughter), we drove to the mall to share the news with her first. We never considered going anywhere other than Jackie to get our unborn baby daughter taken care of.

Jackie proactively seeks to meet our needs and ensure we feel loved and appreciated. I've never worked with anyone who has gone to so much trouble to ensure we have what we need. From driving to other Nordstrom stores to pick up an item, to bringing me dress socks to our wedding in Southern California—I don't exaggerate when I tell you Jackie is the one of top three most important women in my life. I literally could not live without her.

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Nordstrom is built on people like Jackie Byrd who transcend being an employee and become loved family members.

The best Nordstrom salespeople take a long‐term view of their business. It's not about making the big sale with one customer and not caring if you ever see her again. It's about developing an enduring relationship built on trust.

Elsbeth Haladay, a top seller for two decades at the Towson, Maryland, store until her retirement, understood the importance of taking the long‐term view. During her first month at Nordstrom, Haladay helped a young man on a tight budget find his first business suit for an interview. Haladay made sure that he walked out of the store with complete confidence that he was dressing for success. The young man got the job, his company grew to be prosperous, and he continued to shop with Haladay. Eventually, the man became an influential public figure in the local Baltimore area, and continued his long‐term relationship with her.

“The most important thing,” said Haladay, “is to think about what the customer truly wants and continue to deliver that over time for an ongoing experience. Relationships are about building trust over time.”

Nordstrom has many ways to develop relationships with customers. For example, for many years, Nordstrom has had a Breast Prosthesis Program, in which salespeople become Certified Prosthesis Fitters and are specially trained to fit women for all intimate apparel following a mastectomy, lumpectomy, or other reconstructive breast surgery. The program provides items and services such as breast forms for mastectomies, lumpectomies, and reconstructive breast surgery; p...