A couple of weeks ago I made a post on how NOT to treat your customers. Today I had an experience which prompted me to write a counter point to the last post. As my readers may know, I just joined a gym. To kick thing off right (wait for the pun), I went out today looking for sneakers. For most people it is a simple trip to the local sports shop or shoe store but I needed shoes for the gym so they had to fit just right and provide proper support. The issue for me is I wear shoes one half size smaller than most stores carry. That is a bigger difference than it sounds when it comes to shoes I will be running in.
I decided to go down to the specialty running store, Marathon Sports, in order to see if they carried my size. I walked into a busy shop and looked around for a bit, clearly confused by the myriad of choice, mostly of brands I never heard of. This wasn’t your everyday shoe store. Just then a man asked if he could help and then made the strange request that I take off my shoes, roll up my pant legs and walk up and down the store. I complied and from that he deduced my gate, stance and the fact that I had wide feet. He promptly brought up a pair of some of the most comfortable sneakers I have ever worn.
I ended up paying a bit of a premium for the sneakers. Nothing huge but about $10-$20 more than I would anywhere else. The fact is from the service I was given I would have paid much more. These sneakers are going make sure I get an optimal workout without injuring myself and when they wear out, I know where I am going to get a new pair.
To review, expertise, good merchandise plus great customer service makes a happy customer. A happy customer comes back for more and may even bring friends along to start the cycle anew.
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Pingback by Pages tagged "Confused" — January 5, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
A good shoe shop is like that – I guess there’s quite a science to working out which model is suited for a particular person. Some of them actually have you walk across a pressure sensor to get not just the measurements, but the patterns of weight distribution, displayed on a screen.
As you say, that kind of place is usually a little more expensive, but hey – if I’m spending 10+ hours a day in those shoes for the next year or two, what’s $10-20 in the scheme of things.
Comment by Simon — January 6, 2008 @ 6:52 am
Wow, that is a great story and so “Nordstrom” like! This guy sounds like he is the “Sneaker Whisperer.” As a customer service/marketing trainer I love stories like this. It’s so easy to share the ugly side of customer service so it’s good to hear that there still are retail sales folks willing to put their best foot forward (uuughhhh! sorry)
Comment by Jodi — January 6, 2008 @ 6:58 pm
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Pingback by Safe as Milk » Blog Archive » Buying running shoes — January 7, 2008 @ 7:23 am
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Pingback by Quick and Dirty Hacks » Bad experience vs. Good experience — January 9, 2008 @ 10:04 am