Lowest Price or Exceptional Service?

Do you know who you are and who you serve? Are you Walmart or are you Nordstrom? Meaning, are you offering the lowest price, or are you providing an exceptional experience?

You cannot offer the lowest price, the best product, the best client experience AND make a profit. It’s impossible…

You can be anything, but you can’t be everything.

You have to decide who your buyer is BEFORE you know the best way to serve them. When you know your buyer intimately, only then can you build your service, your team, your marketing and your pricing around that foundation.

A business that doesn’t take the time to define and refine who its buyer is (I know, groan for creating buyer avatars) it’s like going to a dressmaker that doesn’t measure your bust, your waist, your hips and the length of your legs.

The result? A dress that could be worn by almost any woman…but would you really want to wear that dress?

Here’s a perfect example of a business that knows its customer very, very well and an example of a customer experience worth paying for…

When I was in Ottawa for Roadmap, I went to the Rideau Centre to buy a new pair of shoes.

ONE NEW PAIR OF SHOES!The sales clerk in the shoe department at Nordstrom Rideau Centre was fantastic. She brought me several pairs of shoes to try on and spent all kinds of time helping me.

At one point when I was trying to choose between two pairs, Cassandra said, “Why don’t you just get both?”

My logical response was, “I don’t have enough room in my carry on suitcase for two new pairs of shoes. And I am NOT checking luggage!”

Hearing this the sales clerk, chimed in with a friendly question, ”Are you from out of town?” to which I replied yes. She followed up with, “Do you live in Canada?” to which I replied again, yes.

She then assured me it would be her pleasure to ship, anything I did not wish to carry with me on the plane, directly to my home.

SEVEN pairs later, I was done shopping.

Within less than 12 hours, and before the store was even open the next morning, I had a UPS notification with a tracking number to let me know my shoes were on their way.

Exceptional Experience

The day I arrived home, so did my shoes!

The sales clerk listened, heard the objection and offered a solution that met my needs. She went above and beyond to provide the type of service that all shoppers at Nordstrom have become accustomed to receiving.

Proving that not only does Nordstrom know who they are, they also know their customers intimately; how they shop, what they like in terms of product and service as well as what possible obstacles or protests they might have to buy more.

They’ve sized up their very best customer, and the result of that detective work and tailored sales training is increased profits and wowed customers (with closets full of shoes)! Nordstrom offers its customers an exceptional experience.

#Entrepreneurs, you can be anything, but you can’t be everything. 

CLICK TO TWEET

Here’s the moral of this story…the superior business knows who they are and who they serve. They watch, listen, and refine a service and/or product that fits their customer to a tee and train their people to speak and serve this customer.

And when all these conscientiously planned out and prepared factors come together the resultant customer experience grows relationships, creates loyalty, and builds a rock solid business.

Get up close and personal with your customers. LISTEN carefully to what they say, find out who they are, observe their buying behaviour and see where you can over deliver and know….with absolute certainty, whether you are Walmart or Nordstrom.

Leave me a comment and let me know, do you know without a doubt who your buyer is?

Learn more about Money, Mindset & Marketing 2019!