The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence

Introduction. PART I: What Managers Can Do to Create Nordstrom-Style Service. 1. The Nordstrom Story: How a Century of Family Leadership Created a Culture of Entrepreneurship, Consensus, and Service. Exercise: What Is Our Company's History? 2. Spreading the Service Culture: Publicly Celebrate Your Heroes; Promote from Within. Exercise: Tell the Story of Your Company's Heroes. Exercise: What Do We Stand For? 3. Line Up and Cheer for Your Customer: Create an Inviting Place to Do Business. Exercise: You're the Customer. Exercise: Call Your Company. Exercise: Surf Your Company's Web Site. 4. How Can I Help You? Provide Your Customers with Lots of Choices. Exercise: Expand Your Customers' Choices. PART II: What Supervisors Can Do to Create Nordstrom-Style Service. 5. Nordstrom's #1 Customer Service Strategy: Hire the Smile. Exercise: Hiring Questionnaire. 6. That's My Job: Empower Employees to Act Like Entrepreneurs to Satisfy the Customer. Exercise: What Does Empowerment Mean? Exercise: Empowering Compensation. 7. Dump the Rules: Tear Down the Barriers to Exceptional Customer Service. Exercise: Examine Your Rules. 8. This Is How We Do It: Manage, Mentor, and Maintain Great Employees. Exercise: How Do We Develop Our Employees? 9. Recognition, Competition, and Praise: Create a Sustainable, Emotional Bond with Your Employees. Exercise: Praising Your Employees. Exercise: Organize Recognition Meetings. Exercise: Make Your Company Special. Exercise: Goal Setting. Exercise: Customer Feedback: Letters. PART III: What Employees Can Do to Create Nordstrom-Style Service. 10. Sell the Relationship: How Frontline Salespeople Create Lifetime Customers. Exercise: Measuring Both Feet. Exercise: Tracking Spheres of Influence. Exercise: Rewarding Vendors and Suppliers. 11. The Sale Is Never Over: Secrets of Nordstrom's All-Time Top-Performing Salesperson. Exercise: Create Your Own System. Exercise: Get Feedback from the Customer. 12. Play to Win: Encourage Teamwork and Team Competitions at Every Level of Your Organization. Exercise: Team Achievement. Exercise: Teamwork Requirements. Exercise: Ethical Behavior. Exercise: Ownership. Exercise: Heroics. Appendix Nordstrom Heroics: Inspirational Tales of Teamwork and Legendary Customer Service. Notes. Index.