Customer Service: Marketer vs. Merchant

No matter the size of your business … think and act like a merchant

By Jeanne Bliss

At Lands' End, where I spent the early days of my career and realized my passion for being a customer zealot, we called ourselves "direct merchants." Back then (in 1984), catalog shopping was still largely an unproven, uneven experience for customers. My job was to make sure that as we grew at 20%-30% a year, we remained true to the core of our business.

At Lands' End, that meant acting as merchants when it came to customers—extending honest, personalized service to customers based on how we would like to be treated ourselves.

Dick Anderson, who succeeded founder Gary Comer as president of Lands' End, was the one who told us to act that way. It was brilliant because it gave us all a compass (and an attitude adjustment) during a time of extremely rapid growth. It also kept us on course when things were moving slowly.

Thinking Like a Merchant

Anderson explained what he meant to be a "merchant" in this way:

"We are all merchants. And for me, that is an honorable and vital identity—even in this day when it is fashionable to hold forth on the subject of marketing in all its forms. I don't decry that exactly, but I'm more comfortable considering myself a merchant. And here's why.

• A marketer deals with many; a merchant deals with one.

• A marketer moves from the mind; a merchant moves from the heart.

• A marketer is logical; a merchant is perceptive.

• A marketer does business across the world; a merchant does business across the counter.

• And finally, a marketer bets his all on a system; a merchant bets his all on his store."

And in a world where products and services are available in hundreds of variations, the companies that think and act in this manner still get a disproportionate piece of the overall pie.

Trusting the Customer

For example, Zane's Cycles in Connecticut sells $13 million of bicycles a year from a single store and lets prospective customers take a $6,000 bike for a test ride with no identification or collateral. They lose two bikes a year to thieves but demonstrate their faith in their customers rather than beginning the relationship questioning a prospect's integrity.

And the Container Store decided that everyone should be like Gumby—flexible; they hire only 3% of all employees who apply and invest four times the average in their employees. The result? Double-digit growth every year since 1978.

Some are saying that all customers are concerned about right now is price. I challenge that. The decision to compete on price alone happens with the proverbial stroke of a pen from the CEO or CFO. That's a copycat action, and those types of reactive solutions alone won't cut it now.

It takes no special skill to follow the leader or be the (momentary) leader with the lowest price. Companies that are thriving (yes, thriving) in this sluggish economy do more. They have made deliberate decisions about how they would run their business, and they live out those decisions every day. The most important of those decisions is the one that determines that taking great care of their customers is the highest priority.

How do you do that? Here are some actions and examples that do not cost a thing—except passion and commitment.

• Hire "nurturers" to take care of customers. You can identify this natural ability in the interview process.

As much as there is a tendency to move customers quickly in and out your doors in the name of efficiency, resist the approach of managing by volume numbers. Today's customer wants and expects to be cared for as an individual. Remember, a marketer deals with many; a merchant deals with one. For example; on "Black Friday," as customers were standing in cold lines to get into stores in the middle of the night, customers commented, "Some coffee would be nice."

One intern at a Best Buy (BBY) store decided to pass out coffee, hot chocolate, and doughnuts to keep the crowds calm.

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