Question

At one time or another, almost every retailer claims that their first and only priority is to make the customer happy. Few, however, can duplicate what Nordstrom does. For the Seattle-based upscale retailer, “the customer is always right” is not just a promotional motto but a way of life that guides the organization. The entire company is directed towards one goal––catering to the needs of customers. Sales associates are given incredible freedom to do whatever is needed to make customers happy––refunding a purchase made years ago, personally delivering items to airports and hotels for busy customers, and even lending out jewelry for a customer who is attending a party. The importance of making a customer happy even extends into store inventory, as managers try to stock every conceivable size, color, and variant of an item so that customers will always find what they are looking for. And in the rare instance that they can’t, employees will call other Nordstrom stores, or even competitor stores, to track it down.

This emphasis on customer service has even spawned an urban legend. The story goes that many years ago, a man walked into a Nordstrom store in Alaska (or Seattle) with two snow tires. Nordstrom, of course, doesn’t sell tires (snow or otherwise); the man had bought them from a tire store that had recently closed, the site of which was taken over by Nordstrom. Nonetheless, the man took the tires to a counter, said that he was unhappy with them, and asked for a full refund. The sales associate, eager to please the customer, gave it to him.

As the HR team of Nordstrom, you face a particular challenge––you need to create a team that is not only skilled for the job, but also has the personality, attitude, and motivation to provide consistent, superior customer service. Form a group with three or four other students and discuss how you would approach staffing and training issues at Nordstrom by answering the following questions.

Questions:

1. Can a friendly, customer-oriented attitude be developed in a person? Can Nordstrom “train” employees to prioritize making customers happy, or is it purely a matter of personality? Which training methods would you feel are most helpful? What would be there benefits?

2. What kind of selection tools from the ones you have learned would you use to find people who would fit Nordstrom’s culture of customer service? Why would they be beneficial?

3. What kind of training programs would help new employees learn what is expected of them at Nordstrom?

Answer 1

1.Yes.A friendly customer oriented attitude can be developed in person.Nord storm can train the Employees to prioritise customers.

Its true that some employees may happen it in their personal while some may not.How ever they can be tought to improve customer support and satisfaction. In fact training our customer support team is justice important as training marketing for sales teams service experiences are what stick with customers and inspiring views and word of mouth advertising. Customer service training is an iterative process that involves teaching skills, competencies and tools needed to better serve the customers so they derived more value from product and services. Following are some methods that can be used to train the employees in customer service

* instructor-led training

This form of training is highly interactive allows for conversation, knowledge sharing among team members and employee engagement.

Employees will be able to learn both soft skill as well as the kind of communication skills they will need to provide excellent customer service with the help of this program.

* Workshop

workshop provides platform for interaction and during the workshop,employees may be allowed to fill a questionnaire.

The workshop allows the participants to identify their strengths and weaknesses and the training itself involve games and even team building sessions among employees.

*Technical skill training

Today's world it is driven by technolog.Therefore technical skills training is a fundamental employee education component .it will help them to to solve the customer queries regarding technical issues with the product or service.

2) 1.Screening

A preliminary screening of employment application send the resume is the first selection tool to determine whether an applicant means the requested qualifications for a job .A curory review of application material reveals whether applicants meet the basis criteria or if they have adhered to the application instructions .

*interview

The first question we should ask is whether the candidate is interested the job and we should test whether they believe in the philosophy of serving customers for which NordStrorm is well known.

* skill assessment.

customer service requires certainly skills ranging from language proficiency to utmost patience.Assessment of these skills are necessary before appointment. especially in an area like Nord Strom in order to maintain its reputation.

3)Nord storm kind of have strong belief in 'customer is the king'.So in order to train the Employees, following programs can be adopted

*A well designed communication development programme.

This program should focus on training the employees in greeting and acknowledging customers, interacting with the customer without disregarding his invisible privacy bubble ,telephone etiquette, digital communication etiquette and more

*Behaviour modification training.

the employees should be taught the importance of using their entire arsenal of memory and technology to make the cutomets feel like they are center of the universe for the Employees.

*Use of role play

Sustaining great service can't be done without empathy.it is what allows us to Internalize another person's situation and experience emotions from their point of view. Empathetic people naturally want to help others because I understand how frustrating certain problems can be . Exercising empathy is a vital skill for customer service employees; it allows them to view the situation from multiple angles. While some people may believe you are either born empathetic or you struggle with it, there are components of embedded that can be learnt and practiced.Role playing exercises are a great tool for this .we can have the new employees practice sensitive situations from the side of the organisation as well as the customer.

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