Customer Service at Nordstrom

I have to say that I am constantly impressed with the customer service of Nordstrom. This is a company that is truly living the brand in a way that constantly supports reputation guidance.

In my recent experience, I purchased a dress for a charity gala. I waited too late to decide to buy a new dress and paid for two-day shipping. What I did not notice was that my order was placed after the deadline to ship out that day, so two-day shipping was not going to work…the dress would come too late. When I saw that the dress did not ship, I contacted Nordstrom customer service via chat to see if I could possibly upgrade shipping to overnight so I would get the dress on time, or merely cancel my order.The customer service rep was very helpful. Despite the fact it was entirely my fault, she changed my order to overnight without incurring an extra charge and hoped I enjoyed my dress and the gala.

That is what I expect from Nordstrom and is why I enjoy shopping there. But what I did not expect was the hand-written note I received today from the rep. The note told me that it was a pleasure assisting me, and she hoped my dress looked fabulous. And of course, if there was anything else she could assist me with to please contact her.

True service is not delivered by putting words on a wall or a web site, it is at the core of everything you do. And as a company grows, it is important that everyone within the company truly understands your definition of service. It takes consistent training, communication, rewards and finding the right people…. and it is never something you can forget or rest on your success.

Thanks for the reminder, Nordstrom!

Reclaiming Your Reputation After a Crisis

Reprinted from IABC CW Bulletin

Sometimes companies have to feel the impact of a sudden or smoldering crisis to justify making changes in the way they do business. Ideally, however, companies will make changes before a crisis, by focusing at a deeper level on reputational risk assessment and management. This kind of preventative work could certainly save you the pain of rebuilding a reputation that took years to develop.

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