Fabled Service, Ordinary Acts, Extraordinary Outcomes

Citation

Gonçalves, K.P. (2000), "Fabled Service, Ordinary Acts, Extraordinary Outcomes", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 73-87. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcm.2000.17.1.73.2

Fabled Service could have been titled “The seven commandments of service according to Nordstrom”. Written by Betsy Sanders, formerly a vice‐president and general manager at Nordstrom, this simple, catchy volume provides the reader with seven key ideas about how to build a business successfully. She believes that these are the seven most important components in the success of any service‐driven business – and she also believes that every business is service‐driven.

The seven points she makes match the chapter headings, starting with a definition of fabled service in Chapter 1:

Service that is truly effective in influencing the customers’ decisions is fabled service, that is, service that becomes legendary as it is talked about by the customers themselves (p. 1).

Chapters 2 and 4 remind the reader that the level of service provided is only as good as the level of service that is offered consistently, daily, by every employee. Her key points here are that one must “live” service quality, to successfully and consistently deliver it; and that every employee of the firm must do this.

The key idea of Chapter 3 is that service quality is defined by customers – not by management – and that, regardless of how much management thinks it knows about customers, it needs to renew constantly its information and insights, to ensure that the company’s products and services match customer needs and wants.

Chapter 5 emphasizes the importance of building quality throughout company operations, and the role of employees in every service encounter. In a style similar to other chapters, Ms Sanders recounts a story of a retailer that heavily advertised a White Sale, but did not have enough in‐store staff to support the additional customer traffic. In addition, the staff’s attitude toward customers was less than ideal, the merchandise was not displayed well, and there were other problems that reduced the volume and profit potential of the sale. Sanders then provides a list of what went wrong, how Nordstrom handles these issues differently, and how other service providers can learn from this experience. This is what she says about the Nordstrom approach:

At Nordstrom, the focus for a special sale would be on the planning and execution. Staffing would be beefed up to provide additional coverage for the anticipated business. All terminals would be open, and additional facilities would be set up to quickly process customers’ purchases. Extra dressing rooms would be installed in appropriate departments.

A percentage of the money otherwise spent on advertising would be applied to making customers happy that they responded to the sale. This would also assure that customers came back. For example, at its legendary Half‐Yearly or Anniversary sales, Nordstrom offers complimentary valet parking, and complimentary means what it says. Gratuities are cheerfully refused by parking attendants. If a sale occurs during a rain shower, store personnel accompany shoppers to and from their vehicles under umbrellas. As a customer, you can easily recognize the differences in such a systematic approach to business (p. 83).

Chapter 6 is devoted to the role of ethics, integrity, honesty and values. Ms Sanders makes a strong argument that the only organizations that can provide “fabled” service are those in which everyone – from top management to front line personnel and everyone between – has a sense of personal and business ethics that values integrity, honesty and openness. This writer happens to agree, but wishes the points were made with a somewhat less strident, preaching tone.

The final chapter addresses the role of leadership in empowering everyone in the organization to focus completely on customer‐driven service quality. She compares traditional leaders to “fabled service” leaders, and guess which ones she wants the reader to emulate?

The new ideas in this volume are hard to find, especially at the close of the 1990s. Perhaps when she wrote this book in the mid‐1990s some of these ideas were fresh, but by now, they feel old and repetitive. Most of these points have been well documented in many other places by now. Also, a good portion of the content consists of quotations from executives at excellent, innovative companies such as L.L. Bean and Wal‐Mart, and brief inspirational thoughts in the margins. There is not much text to read once one gets through the illustrations and side‐bars. This makes for a quick and easy read, but by the second or third chapter, it feels repetitive and a bit like being preached to.

One of the book’s strengths is what Sanders labels “Reflections” and “Action steps” at the end of each chapter. These are useful hints and reminders, for those who would like to “Nordstromize” their companies.

Would I recommend this book? For readers new to the service sector, there is value in this “light” volume, because what feels intuitive to successful service providers is not at all intuitive to newcomers. It may also be of interest to people who are public speakers on the topic of service excellence, because it reminds the reader of quotable people, a range of excellent companies, and typical (and unusual) situations that have arisen when service is better than expected; and when it is not up to par. Although the specific examples and some of the citations are dated, any public speaker can use these as a reminder of whose work to cite, which companies to include in a list of successful service providers, etc.

The back cover includes the message “Quick Read; Read it in just 2 hours!” For those new to the concept of total quality, this is a worthwhile, catchy, spirited two hours. For anyone who has been in the field for a while, there are better ways to spend the time.