Treating people as people — that, above all...
A shabbily dressed woman walked into the department store and headed straight for the most expensive women's wear section. A worker from a welfare aid organization happened to be looking around the store, spotted her, and — worried she might be accused of theft — followed her over.
"How may I help you?"
The woman said she wanted to buy an evening dress. The salesperson asked what style, color, and size she wanted, and then found her an elegant dress. The woman held it up against her body and asked whether they could set it aside for her, since she'd come back for it shortly.
"Of course. How long will it take?"
"Probably an hour or two."
The woman said this and left the store looking pleased.
The aid worker, who had watched the whole scene, asked the salesperson:
"In my eyes, that woman didn't look like a customer of this store. Do you really think she'll come back to buy the dress?"
The salesperson answered:
"My job isn't to judge who is a customer of this store and who isn't. My job is to serve, with all my care, every guest who comes into this store."
This is a story from Nordstrom, the department store that has produced countless customer-service legends and stands as a synonym for "customer satisfaction."
There's a saying, "To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail." To someone in business, customers looking like money is, in a way, only natural. But we must never forget: before customers are buyers paying money for goods, they are "people." "Treating a person as a person" — that, in the end, is the heart of customer satisfaction.
［Kwak Suk-chul's Innovation Story］
