The Nordstrom Way to Customer Experience Excellence. Reeves breAnne O.
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generation – Bruce, John N., Jim, and Jack McMillan – for their cooperation and trust in the original book and for the use of three privately published family memoirs.
The leadership of the fourth generation – Blake, Pete, Erik, and Jamie – for continuing that cooperation and trust and for sharing their insights.
Special thanks to Brooke White, who selflessly ran Nordstrom's public relations department for many years, and who was an invaluable ally in helping me get what I needed in order to tell the Nordstrom story in the most accurate and up‐to‐date way. She never demurred at my inevitable “one more thing” requests. Without Brooke, these books would be incomplete.
Kellie Tormey, Brooke's predecessor, who was there for the original book and was also a great supporter and helper.
All the other people in Nordstrom's public relations department who helped us with requests over the years. Special thanks for this edition goes to Brenna Sussman.
David Marriott for his assistance in helping get this project off the ground.
Richard Narramore, our editor, for shepherding this project with the highest professionalism and for giving us the rare opportunity to revisit, reshape, revise, and expand this material – on more than one occasion.
Elizabeth Wales, a stalwart and supportive agent and friend, who has been there every step of the way.
Marybeth Spector, my wife and my friend, who has lived through every incarnation of The Nordstrom Way.
And breAnne O. Reeves, my business partner, cofounder of our company RSi, and coauthor, for helping to make me a better person and for making me laugh.
My Nordstrom adventure began in 2009, when I met Robert Spector. After a successful run in the corporate sales and marketing world, I decided to venture out and start my own business(es). I swore that I would never sit through another sales training, keynote, or “sales rally” again. I swore I would never sell anything to anyone that they did not need.
After a fateful meeting with Robert and after many happy‐hour conversations over glasses of wine, Robert hired my modest firm to support the launch of his newest book, The Mom & Pop Store. We were tasked with hosting the book's first launch party, to be held at Capers, a home‐furnishings store in West Seattle, where we were both living at the time. Most book launch events go a little like this: show up, schmooze with the author, get a book signed, have a paper cup full of coffee, tea, or wine, then leave.
Well, I had a different idea of what a book signing should look like. Maybe this is the Nordstrom in my blood. My team and I took it upon ourselves to get to know Robert and find out where he got his morning coffee, his afternoon sandwich, his happy hour, and oh so much more. How's that for getting to know a client?
We continued on our Nordstrom Way journey by having each of his favorite mom‐and‐pop establishments run a special the day of his book launch in West Seattle: His fave coffee beverage at Hotwire Coffee, his fave breakfast plate at Easy Street, his fave sandwich at Husky Deli, his fave cocktail at Fresh Bistro. You get the point. Additionally, we had Elliot Bay Brewing provide a keg of his fave Northwest beer, and Northwest wine as well. We packed the house. Everyone had a great time. And guess what? It had nothing to do with the book. Or Robert. It had to do with the customer experience. It had to do with partners and vendors. It had everything to do with caring about others.
Aha moment number one: I need to read The Nordstrom Way.
Aha moment number two: The Nordstrom Way is more than a book. It is more than a keynote. Let's create platforms to help companies around the world become better based on this knowledge.
During one of our many meetings, Robert asked me a life‐changing question: “Would you like to own half of The Nordstrom Way?” I said, uh, yes! The thought of leveraging the material from The Nordstrom Way in order to support the success of others was beyond provocative to me. From then on, my focus was on digging into the culture of Nordstrom and sorting out the values that make Nordstrom what it is.
As we identified the values that sustainably drive Nordstrom, I could not help but compare them to my family and upbringing. This was the moment when I knew for sure that I was in the right business.
Empower people to be good and do good. It is that simple.
I would like to thank:
The Nordstrom team that helped to make this happen.
Richard Narramore, our editor, for putting up with our persistence regarding design and marketing, amongst many other things.
My humble and amazing parents, Mark and Melodye Reeves. When people ask the question: “Who trains Nordstrom employees?” Nordstrom answers, “their parents.” My parents taught me “the way.”
Robert Spector, my business partner, and coauthor, for inviting me to participate in this project.
And, my husband and best friend, Silas Reynolds, who inspires me to be the best human on the planet every single day.
Foreword
As a Seattle native, I've had a front‐row seat to Nordstrom's growth from our little corner of the world to 39 states, three Canadian provinces, and one commonwealth, while earning an international reputation (with online customers in almost 100 countries!) for providing the gold standard in customer service experience.
I've had the pleasure of knowing several members of the Nordstrom family and I've expressed to them my admiration for how they conduct their business. Nordstrom, like Starbucks, exemplifies our Northwest values that combine competitiveness with caring.
In our hypercompetitive, ever‐changing, ever‐challenging retail world, where concepts come and go and where competitors rise and fall, how has Nordstrom been able to survive and thrive for almost 120 years? Robert Spector and breAnne O. Reeves provide the simple answers to this existential question.
As the subtitle indicates, this is a book about creating a values‐driven, service‐obsessed corporate culture that encourages, motivates, rewards, recognizes, and compensates employees to consistently deliver a world‐class experience to customers, one customer at a time.
As the world economy becomes more and more about relationships and connections that are built on the foundation of trust and respect, Nordstrom's principles of personal leadership are more important and relevant than ever.
At Starbucks, we believe what Nordstrom believes: The employee experience determines the customer experience. If you regard employees and customers as human beings, everything else will take care of itself. It's an article of faith that if you engage your staff as partners (not assets or labor costs), they will achieve results beyond what is thought possible.
Through four generations of family leadership, the Nordstroms have shown that they know who they are, and that they know the kind of people they want to attract to their team. The Nordstroms bring clarity and honesty in regard to who they are, where they want to go, and how they're going to get there. They are clear about their purpose, values, and goals, and they draw people who are aligned (both individually and collectively) with the very same purpose, values, and goals.
Culture is a funny thing. Changing it is not about talking about it; it's about living it. People will rise or fall to the expectations that the organizational culture puts on them. If cultural expectations are high, the chances are good that they will be met. Conversely, if expectations are low, those expectations will also be met.
Nordstrom believes in doing the right thing. The company seeks out people who want to do all the right things for all the right reasons. They seek out individuals who can think independently and who make the goal of creating a satisfied customer their highest priority. Nordstrom believes in throwing out the rules – real and imagined – and promoting empowerment and autonomous thinking. This philosophy is epitomized in their only rule: “Use Good Judgment in All Situations.”
In many cases, in most organizations, the rulebook goes