The department store chain, Nordstrom, is a master at giving its customers special treatment. I live in Phoenix, Arizona, where until recently, there had been no Nordstrom. The closest stores were located in San Diego, some 300 miles away or one hour by air. So how did Nordstrom get people from Phoenix to shop at one of their stores in San Diego in big numbers? The answer is they spoiled the people who did and they spread the word.
Each June and November, in conjunction with their major sales, Nordstrom scheduled its “Sky Trip” from Phoenix. They flew in several hundred shoppers on Friday afternoon for an all day Saturday and Sunday shopping trip. Each shopper paid $225 to be part of this group.
Why would anyone pay $225 to fly to San Diego and spend the majority of their time shopping at a store that isn’t known for its low prices? Let me tell you what these people got for that $225 price tag. First, the trip included your round trip-air fare, deluxe accommodations at the Hilton Hotel, shuttle service to and from the airport, and a champagne welcome when you arrived. But that is not all. On Saturday morning, a shuttle took you to the store, where you were issued a pin that identified you as a “Sky Trip” participant. This pin entitled the wearer to some very preferential treatment. You received faster service because certain employees had been assigned to stand in the cash register line for you so you could continue to shop uninterrupted. These same employees had also been assigned to maintain a fitting room for you while you shopped. They followed you around and took the things you were interested in trying on to the fitting room while you continued to browse. Once you decided it was time to actually try on some of these articles of clothing, these helpers were at your beck and call to search the store over for that special blouse or accessory that would make a certain outfit complete. The Nordstrom employees pampered these shoppers to death and they thoroughly loved every second of it.
So what was the payoff to Nordstrom for all this pampering? Most of the customers did buy a fair amount of merchandise. More important, however, these people got on their return flights to Phoenix very excited about their experience. So excited, that many of them made plans for their next “Sky Trip” six months down the road. Even more important, however, for the next six weeks, these people never stopped talking about their wonderful experience at Nordstrom-and Phoenicians go to San Diego a lot. It used to be there were three highlights to one of these excursions: the ocean, the San Diego Zoo, and Sea World. Once “Sky Trip” started, there was a fourth: Nordstrom.
Another example of giving customers special treatment involves some relatives of mine, Dick and Lucille, who own and manage a hardware store in a small town in Michigan. The hardware store they own is part of a chain of hardware stores that specializes in serving small communities. When Dick and Lucille moved to this community twenty years ago, they became part of it. They lived there, their kids went to school there, and they went to church there. When they opened their store, as people came in, they welcomed them warmly, eventually got to know them, and each time they came back, treated them as friends. Dick and Lucille never tried to sell them anything. As a result of this honest, sincere, and friendly treatment, these customers came back time and again, and Dick and Lucille’s business blossomed.
About eight years ago, a competing hardware store chain built a new and much larger hardware store about a half-mile south of town by the freeway. Needless to say, Dick and Lucille were very concerned that they would lose many of their customers to this new and much larger store.
As it turned out, many of their regular customers did go to that new store-but all they did was look. Yes, the store was larger and much more modern than Dick and Lucille’s store and the prices on some items were a little lower. But there was no warm and friendly greeting as these customers walked into this new store. There was no old friend to chew the fat with while he was custom-cutting a piece of plastic pipe for you. And there was no resident expert whom you could ask what the fish were biting on that week. In other words, this new store may have had any piece of hardware or appliance you could possibly want, but it didn’t have Dick and Lucille.
None of Dick and Lucille’s regular customers switched their allegiance to this new store and several years later it closed. On the other hand, Dick and Lucille’s business is better than ever. What killed this new store is that the people who ran it assumed that people went to a hardware store to buy hardware, and that they would go where they could get the best possible deal, even if it were a matter of only a few cents in price. At Dick and Lucille’s store, however, customers came in to visit with Dick and Lucille; and while they were there, they picked up any hardware items they happened to need. What this proves is that if you make your customers to feel special, you literally lock out the competition!
Ross R. Reck, Ph.D.
Author of The X-Factor: Getting
Extraordinary Results From Ordinary People
