Have you ever wondered what the difference is between an exceptional customer service provider, like Nordstrom, and a typical service provider, like Toys”R”Us?

First, consider what the two have in common:

• Both are retailers with physical stores as well as a web-based store
• Both distribute merchandise catalogs to a mailing list of existing customers
• Both rely on front-line employees to be the “face” of the company
• Both periodically advertise sales or other promotions
• Both face competition from other retailers
• Both serve customers

And where they differ:

• Standards

Sure, they stock different products, offer different pay scales, serve different clientele, and differ in other ways but the biggest difference is the rules and principles used as a basis for employee judgment and behavior.

Recently, I was at Toys”R”Us shopping for a Christmas present for my three-year-old son. I was unable to locate a certain toy in the Scooby-Doo aisle so I stopped a store employee who was passing by to ask whether or not they carried the Mystery Machine.

He said that if it was not on the shelf, then they didn’t carry it.

Okay. I can accept that. It was a predictable response to an ordinary question.

But I would have appreciated a more engaged response such as, “If you have a moment, I can check the website for you to see if we carry the Mystery Machine. If so, you can purchase the toy now and I’ll waive the shipping charges to your home since we didn’t have what you were looking for in the store.”

I recognize that I was not dealing with a Nordstrom employee. Even so, there’s no reason why a Toys”R”Us employee cannot behave like a Nordstrom employee.

What he said next surprised me.

While holding up two novelty toy balls, he asked me, “Do you know where these go?”

I responded, “Are you serious?”

He said, “Uh huh.”

I said, “No. If I worked here I might.”

Can you imagine a Nordstrom employee asking you, the customer, where a misplaced pair of slippers go? Of course not. That’s ridiculous.

Earlier this month, I stopped by the Toys”R”Us merchandise pick-up door behind the store to retrieve a Barbie bicycle that I had bought for my daughter.

When the employee delivered the shiny new bike, he ripped the “HOLD” sticker off the seat and then suggested that I get some Goo Gone cleaner to remove the remainder.

Can you fathom a Nordstrom employee delivering a pair of blemished shoes to you at the counter and saying, “Give those shoes a good shine and that blemish will come right off!”

That’s preposterous! Why? Standards.

Since Nordstrom considers the effects of its procedures on customers, a sticker capable of leaving a residual blemish on a piece of merchandise would likely never enter the process. And if something did result in a product imperfection, it would be rectified or replaced in keeping with Nordstrom’s high standards of product and service quality.

Not so at Toys”R”Us. There, you’re instructed to pick up some Goo Gone on your way home to remove the imperfection yourself.

Some will consider this an unfair comparison. They will focus on the differences in products, pay scales, and clientele as justification for why a Toys”R”Us employee didn’t go the extra mile to locate a Mystery Machine. Or why he asked me, a customer, where the novelty toy balls are located within the store. Or why another Toys”R”Us employee was indifferent about delivering a new bicycle to me with an unsightly, sticky blemish covering much of the seat.

The major difference between exceptional customer service providers and typical service providers is the difference in their standards—the rules and principles used by companies as a basis for employee judgment and behavior.

So if you are looking to improve your customer service, you must first elevate your customer service standards.

I welcome all comments, questions, bouquets, and brickbats.

Happy Holidays!

In an earlier post I asked the question, “Why is it okay to behave indifferently toward customers and roll out the red carpet for the division president?” Specifically, why do employees paint, wax the floors, and polish the chrome for the division president and text friends, smoke near store entrances, and complain and banter in the presence of customers?

I have a theory about this. Here it is: Familiarity breeds contempt. Most employees rarely come into contact with and, thus, aren’t familiar with the division president. Oh sure, they may know his or her name but they’re usually not familiar to the point of lowering their guard in the executive’s presence.

Not so with customers. Customer-facing employees come into contact with customers all the time. And whether or not there is personal familiarity with a particular customer, there is a sense of familiarity with customers in general. And where there’s excessive comfort and familiarity, there’s contempt—a lack of respect—and a tendency to take the relationship for granted.

It’s not that employees don’t know what service is or how to deliver it. They do. And they showcase this aptitude in the presence of the division president. The issue is that many seem disaffected by customers—as in, “Oh, you’re just a customer. For a minute there I thought you were someone important, like the division president.”

In the introductory paragraph of this post, I listed three behaviors that I regularly observe in retail settings. These behaviors are chronic. They occur frequently. The only time they are exceptions is when the division president is on-site.

When executives grace the operation with their presence, the floors are spotless, there are plenty of employees scheduled, employees’ uniforms are pressed, there are lots of smiles, and there is a sense of urgency—dare I say, a bit of giddiness and extra pressure to perform?

The best operations don’t distinguish between a scheduled site visit by a division president and the scheduled opening of the store to service customers. Sure, there may be a bit of anxiety associated with the presence of a company executive—that’s natural—but the company’s standards don’t wane in the absence of headquarters staff.

Nordstrom comes to mind as an example of a retailer who puts its best foot forward whether a customer or Blake Nordstrom is entering the shoe department. The last time I was in Nordstrom, an employee from the men’s department walked me to the women’s department in search of an umbrella. When we returned to the men’s department, I decided to buy a bottle of cologne too. It was an impulse buy—in the moment. I didn’t plan to buy it and, in the absence of his outstanding service, I would not have.

Here’s an assignment for division presidents everywhere: If you really want to see how your operations run, stop by unannounced in a ball cap and jeans over the weekend. Don’t embarrass anyone. Just observe and take mental notes about what you see—the positive as well as need areas.

Then, assuming there was a gap (or chasm) between what you observed during your last official visit and this one, take action. Establish or reinforce credible standards to guide employees’ behavior. Make sure that every manager is aware of the standards and actively uses them to manage their employees’ performance. And, perhaps most importantly, hold managers accountable to model these standards at all times. If they don’t, the standards are no longer credible and become unenforceable.

Bob Farrell, author of Give ‘em the Pickle, is fond of saying, “What they see is what you’ll get.” When employees see their managers modeling established standards of service and procedure, they will perform similarly. When this happens, employees will stop texting friends, smoking near store entrances, and complaining and bantering in the presence of customers. And they will no longer seem disaffected by customers. Instead, they will treat them with the same courtesy, respect, and care with which they treat the division president.

Who’s more important: the division president or the customer? You decide and then your employees will follow suit.