The Sundance Experience

When I was teaching communication workshops, I would make the point that even giving directions revealed our frames of reference.  Architects would describe various buildings between landmarks to reach a destination, shoppers would talk about stores along the way, and, I would direct you to the destination by telling you about every restaurant and burger joint.

Yesterday, my daughter was giving me directions by stating that the location was near a Nordstrom Rack.  I was shocked to realize I had no idea where it was.

There was a period in my life when I could not only give you precise driving directions to every Nordstrom location in Utah, but, for a little over a year, I was employed by them.

I loved everything about the Nordstrom shopping experience.  They are mentioned in my living will; it is my desire to be cremated and have my ashes tossed off the ski lift at Sundance Resort.  All except for a small baggie full of cremains.  Those are to be carried into the shoe department at Nordstrom and surreptitiously slipped into one of the decorative planters.

Fulfillment of these instructions insures that a part of me will always be where I have been the happiest!

Sundance Resort has been the pivot point of many memorable events over the past 40 years; Sunday brunches, Christmas Eve dinner’s, photo shoots and romantic engagements.

In the Tree Room at Sundance, there is a table by the fireplace.  On occasion, I have requested it for specific reservations, and, other times I just ended up there as the result of a happy accident– the serendipity of Sundance, I call it.

It harbors the memory of the most beautiful weddings– both attended and conducted.  My oldest daughter was married there on a perfect summer morning serenaded by a string ensemble, a bevy of bridesmaids and groomsmen, and, over 20 nieces and nephews dressed in matching pinafore’s and green velvet vests.

The wedding I conducted, took place in summer, also, and was equally spectacular.  The groom was from Japan and instead of vestments, I wore a vintage Japanese kimono.  The bride and her wedding party were surreptitiously ferried to the top of the mountain on a bus and descended, on the ski lift, arriving at the venue like butterflies.

It’s easy to see why I would want the same kind of send off!

The whole Nordstrom thing might not be as obvious.  Let me explain.  Everything about the Nordstrom shopping experience was in alignment with my sensibilities.  If God is in the details, Nordstrom stores are the anteroom to heaven.

A real-live person, dressed in a tuxedo, playeds music on a baby grand.  In the case of the beautiful location in Orem, Utah, it was even more romantic that the musician happened to be blind.  It was sort of like our own version of Andrea Bocelli.

Fresh flowers, living plants and other exquisite details drew attention to product displays and sophisticated merchandising vignettes.

The image of shoppers whisked between floors on escalators reminded me of the ski lift at Sundance.

When I was working there, the diversity of shoppers was endlessly interesting. I overheard several beautiful young men speaking Arabic and greeted them with, “As-salamu alaykum”,  a greeting in Arabic that means “peace be upon you”.

There was the trust fund baby determined to split his allotted $800 a day allowance on Chanel face creams and Mac makeup, and, the transvestite, and his wife, who would only shop with me, for some unknown known reason.

Before I worked at Nordstrom, I touted their remarkable customer service policy in some of my seminars.  I often wondered if the store really was as good as its hype.  It was!

Nordstrom logic was that other retailers, overcompensating for dishonesty– called shrinkage– shot themselves in the foot by being so afraid of theft that they treated the majority badly in order to thwart the thief.

Employees were indoctrinated in the corporate philosophy that 98% of customers were honest and trustworthy.  Only 2% were out to scam the system.  It was corporate policy that it was good business to treat all of the customers as though they were honest, even if it meant 2% took advantage of it.

Not only did they treat their customers well, but employees were included.  It stood to reason, that if management took good care of employees, employees would take good care of customers.

We were expected to work hard, were given high production goals and, rewarded for it.

The Nordstrom store in Orem, Utah, was brand-new when I went to work for them.  Within three months, I was awarded the prestigious honor of ‘employee of the month’.  Each person managing a department has one vote. I was told, it was the first time in the history of our region that an employee of the month received a unanimous vote.

Sundance Resort and Nordstrom are very different, but, share one overriding characteristic that could be called their secret to success– it’s a commitment to the ‘guest experience’.

David Neeleman, CEO at JetBlue airline describes it this way, “We we don’t have transactional relationships, we have guest relationships.”

At the Disney Corporation, employees are required to call customers, guests.

And finally, even New York real estate tycoon Leona Helmsley, who was known as the ‘Queen of Mean,’ for her vicious business tendencies, was quoted as saying, “We don’t teach our hotel staff to be nice, we hire nice people.”

In a world that is increasingly high-tech, the high touch of relationship-based customer service builds customer loyalty so fierce that it becomes a differentiating factor impacting the bottom line.

What better demonstration of this, I ask, than the fact that when I’m dead and gone, I still want a part of me left behind in those two places?