Around 40 years ago, a customer walked into the Nordstrom department store in Alaska, with two snow tires. He walked up to the tire counter, put the tires down, and asked for his money back. Now, here’s where the legend unfolds—the man was granted a refund by the customer service agent behind the desk, despite one crucial detail: Nordstrom had never actually sold tires.
Nordstrom is a high-end apparel that sells clothing and shoes, items highly unlikely to be mistaken for automotive goods.
This remarkable incident became part of Nordstrom’s folklore, woven into the very fabric of their culture. Some Nordstrom stores even proudly display a tire hanging from the ceiling—a tangible symbol of their unwavering commitment to customer-centricity.
However, this story of customer centricity is so unbelievable that Nordstrom had to track down the elusive customer service agent, Clark, who had facilitated this tire-related refund almost four decades earlier and release a press note confirming the story.
Clark shared in his interview that when he saw the customer walking in with dirty tires his first concern was to make sure that Nordstrom merchandise was not ruined. He of course knew that Nordstrom never sold tires, but in 1975, Nordstrom purchased four stores from a company that did "Northern Commercial of Alaska". So in a way, the customer was right.
Clark then jumped into action and called a Firestone tire dealer. He found $25 as the value of these snow tires and handed it over.
The role of the manager in this story : Clark summarised the role played by his manager in this story
My manager was actually standing at the curtain for the back stock for men’s shoes. And I could see him and at one point he was going to walk out but then as I started engaging with the customer, he halted and stopped and waited to see how I was going to follow through with it. And he kept kind of nodding like I was moving in the right direction. And so I figured if I was crossing any boundaries, he would step out because he was viewing the entire situation.”
A mere $25 investment made by an empowered and customer-centric employee has yielded a more favorable perception of the organization than millions of dollars allocated to marketing campaigns ever could.
Does Nordstrom want you to return tires? No. But they do want their employees to really listen to the customer.
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