Tale of how Nordstrom found a shopper's lost diamond adds glitter to Nordstrom’s customer service reputation, but it doesn't stop there. They are also reknown for honoring an unconditional guarantee on tires...Nordstrom doesn't sell tires.

Richard Branson

Forbes.com contributor and communications coach, Carmine Gallo, learned 7 valuable customer service lessons in a day with Richard Branson and the Virgin America team.

Read post here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminega...

Serving our customers well begins long before we get to work. It begins with deciding to take control of difficult situations and turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones. And when situations arise that you have no control over, spend your time and effort in positive ways. The 90 10 Principle can help you do just that. It can turn intermittent into consistent and lucky into expected and bad into good. Try it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Enjoy!

Creating magical customer experiences https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pNacvOy8XC4

Love this video. It's simple, brief, and easy to understand just like its message. We do our job to make customers feel good. Often our most effective and influential actions are simple tasks that take hardly any time--perhaps no extra time or effort. We must be sensitive and attentive. Whatever you do, do it for the customer and always remember to give 'em the pickle.

Every role plays an important part delivering a unique customer experience, constantly anticipating the needs of our clients. Our craft is to help our customers receive the optimal solutions by looking for little things to make every interaction an amazing experience--attention to detail, going above and beyond, working together to create the experience of a lifetime--helps make our interactions memorable and important for our guests. What can you do to create the best experience possible? Our credo should be the goal to take care of our customers. It makes our roles more than a job--it's art to unify, set the tempo, and do something so special our guests never forget it. We can learn from good examples like Ritz Carlton, the epitome of great customer service. Everybody deserves a Ritz Carlton experience. Everyone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KEavRCAyi0&list=PL0AF115BC3EF18F9A

Who hasn't heard the legendary customer service stories about Nordstrom? I thought the story about returning a pair of tires at Nordstrom's takes the cake, but that is only one of its celebrated customer service stories. There are many others. The point is Nordstrom's has demonstrated that high quality service is its due process and has become renown for its service.  

And fortunate for us, they aren't the only ones. Allow me to share a personal experience with another retailer. This was many years ago, but the incident is fresh in my mind. I was looking for a great set of tools and a tool box. I knew of the lifetime guarantee of Craftsman tools sold through Sears, so I was one day browsing through its catalog. I selected the tools I wanted and found in the catalog where the tool box options were presented. There were two selections, which were essentially the same, but the premier version had a steel shelf and the other was less money because its shelf was plastic. I purchased the less expensive version. Big mistake. I soon learned that after carefully arranging my tools and particularly all my neatly-ordered sockets, the shelf would regularly fall and mix up all my carefully placed tools. So in frustration I took the tool box back to the store. I explained the situation making sure to relate how frustrating it was to find all the hard work positioning my tools was soon all for naught, when the shelf fell.

The woman behind the counter walked to the back of the room, opened a new box with a brand new premier tool box in it, pulled it out and handed it to me. No mention of paying for the upgrade; nothing about that fact that I had been using it for several months already. She just did what it took to retain my allegiance, and because the actions of one woman, Sears and Craftsman have had it for many years since.

http://www.helpscout.net/blog/remarkable-customer-service/

This is a good customer service video re: Next-Generation Customer Experience Index and includes some valuable insights regarding achieving loyalty through the customer experience. But the best part comes during the last 20 seconds in a quote from best-selling author and poet Maya Angelou, "People will forget what you said. They will forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel." 

At the age of 24, Tony Hsieh sold LinkExchange, the company he co-founded, to Microsoft for $265 million. He then joined Zappos as an adviser and investor, and eventually became CEO, where he helped Zappos grow from almost no sales to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually, while simultaneously making Fortune magazine's annual "Best Companies to Work For" list. Zappos was acquired by Amazon in November 2009 in a deal valued at $1.2 billion on the day of closing. 

In each of his engagements, Hsieh focused on customer service. His first book, "Delivering Happiness", debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list and remained on the list for over six months. In his book and in person, Tony emphasizes the importance of customer service and WOW customer experiences. Learn from the best and enjoy his extraordinary attitude  https://youtu.be/vApoQPISmvs