The Nordstrom Way: The Inside Story of America's #1 Customer Service Company Hardcover - 1995

From the publisher

Advance praise for The Nordstrom Way

"Nobody does it better than Nordstrom. And this is the first thorough, close-up look at its service secrets. A real winner."-- Tom Peters President The Tom Peters Group

"Outstanding customer service and Nordstrom's are synonymous. The innovative approach has allowed them to find out what the customers want and then do it. Their standards of service are what we all shoot for."-- David D. Glass President and Chief Executive Officer Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

"Nordstrom is a national model for outstanding customer service. American business should use this book as a primer to learn how to make and keep happy, satisfied customers."-- J. Willard Marriott, Jr. Chairman and President Marriott International, Inc.

"When you run a family business that includes your customers as extended family, you're unbeatable. This book outlines an American family saga that has become the admiration of the world."-- Leonard A. Lauder President and Chief Executive Officer EstEe Lauder Companies

"Nordstrom's business is built on one-to-one communication with the customer. Their professional salespeople bridge the gap between the designer and the consumer. The Nordstrom Way is what the '90s are all about!"-- Donna Karan Designer and Chief Executive Officer Donna Karan Company

"The Nordstroms 'wrote the book' on customer service. Now we have a chance to read, chapter by chapter, how through four generations, this family has established one of the finest retail institutions in the world."-- Peter Strom, Vice Chairman Polo/Ralph Lauren

When it comes to customer service, Nordstrom's standards are "what we all shoot for," declares David Glass, President and CEO of Wal-Mart. "The Nordstrom Way," marveled correspondent Morley Safer in a "60 Minutes" profile, is "not service like it used to be, but service like it never was."

What makes Nordstrom so special? What, exactly, does this retail giant do that so clearly distinguishes it from the competition? How does the Nordstrom customer service culture work? And, most importantly, what lessons can industry learn from Nordstrom's example?

The Nordstrom Way answers these questions and more. Coauthored by top Nordstrom salesman Patrick McCarthy and based on veteran journalist Robert Spector's exclusive, in-depth interviews with the Nordstrom family, senior executives, directors, and salespeople, The Nordstrom Way offers the first inside, uncensored book about this much admired-- and much feared-- retail powerhouse.

Working at Nordstrom is not for everyone. The authors describe a hotly competitive "Darwinian" culture where 35,000 employees are given freedom to either think and act like entrepreneurs or pass into extinction.

In the course of their analysis, the authors isolate practical lessons that readers can apply to both their professional and personal lives, including:

• Becoming "other-centered" rather than "self-centered"
• Valuing the nobility of service
• Finding and bonding with customers
• Serving and keeping those customers
• Giving frontline people the freedom to make decisions

The Nordstrom Way is a vivid, richly anecdotal chronicle of an American business success story.

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