What Solo Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Nordstrom

Nordstrom is known for its incredible customer service and return policy. But what you may not know is they have quite a following among high end luxury shoppers who have exclusive access to in house fashion shows, pre-sale events, and special shopping days. Nordstrom knows how to give a great shopping experience.

Wondering what all this has to do with the solo entrepreneur? The quick answer is loyalty and rewards = continued support and more money.

National stores sometimes have to compete on price, service or some other type of characteristic to maintain loyalty. And one of the ways they maintain a following is offering their customer special events or rewards.

Nordstrom’s Collectors Department, on occasions throughout the year offers a select few of their luxury shoppers access to items before the general public and a style event showcasing their high end products such as Gucci, St. John,  Marni and Burberry.

Nordstrom, Walnut Creek , California

Using these techniques from Nordstrom and applying them to your business is a great way to interact with your loyal clients and reward them for their support. And who wouldn’t like a little recognition for loyalty? Everyone wants to feel special.

Create a loyal following by treating your customers with an extra perk now and again, and you will garner publicity by word of mouth. This kind of buzz is worth it.

Let me know your thoughts and comments about how to create a loyal customer base. Have a special reward that you want to share? Leave the information in the comments with a link to your site.

I look forward to reading your  great ideas.

Photocredits- me

Unusually bad customer service destroys a business

Don’t abuse your customers!

Customer service is the foundation of almost every industry. The best rule of thumb is the Golden Rule principle. If you aren’t familiar with this principle, read what Wikipedia has to say to get a basic meaning. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Rule)

One of the most insane communication exchanges I have come across today, is between two parties involving customer service. The worst form of customer service magnified I believe I have ever read.

To fully understand what this post is about you must go to this link and read it thoroughly to comprehend the complexity of the situation.

Here’s the link:

http://penny-arcade.com/resources/just-wow1.html

This exchange of verbal abuse was wrong on so many levels that I’m not surprised about the outcome. Complete and utter destruction of a business.  I’m not sure I wholeheartedly agree with the guy who owns Penny Arcade to post the private exchange between the two parties, except that Dave did request help. I’m not sure that I would have posted the information, but I would have taken some action to try to correct the wrong that was done to the consumer, especially if it was someone I knew and it could create an effective change.

 Anyone have any thoughts about what transpired? What would you have done if you were the customer?

Thanks for taking a look at this post. I’m sure it will serve as a reminder to all of us how NOT to treat another human being.

Here are a few other related links to check out. It might be worth a look to see what others have to say about such an incident.

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