Exclusivity Does Not Exclude You from Service

Meikah Delid over at CustServ recently had a negative shopping experience at Louis Vuitton. The up-scale retailer displayed a rather snooty attitude towards Meikah, and apparently it isn't an isolated incident. Sampson Lee at Customer Think wrote a post detailing how customers "hate" the experience shopping at the LV stores:

"What is the ‘pain point’ at Louis Vuitton retail stores? Besides price, from the responses I received, it’s the ‘attitude’ of the salesladies—unless you’re a celebrity or dress and look like a ‘rich’ person—they usually ignore you. I’ve been told this is a consistent experience across the globe, not country or region specific."

LV is an exclusive brand providing an exclusive product to an exclusive customer base. Sampson points out that women will put up with the snooty experience to receive the emotional reward of buying and owning the exclusive product. My question is: if your customers want your product so badly that they will endure a hostile shopping experience to acquire it, does that justify delivering a hostile shopping experience? It would seem that Vuitton has decided being snooty, prejudiced and judgmental is an important part of their brand.

One of our group members, Bene' Zehr, used to be a successful sales associate at a dealership selling exclusive brands of autos. She often relates her lesson of never judging a customer who walks through your door. The well appointed customer with a George Hamilton tan and killer smile may just be a con-man. The dirty, poor-looking slacker may be a dot com gazillionaire. You can't tell by looking. Bene' learned to treat every person who walked through the door as though they were her best customer.

I wonder how many potential customers have chosen not to buy at Luis Vuitton because they were snubbed by the sales people?

The most profitable course is to treat your customers - all your customers - with respect and to serve each one well.

Comments

[Meikah Delid]

Thanks for the shoutout Tom! And you are so right, exclusivity does not excuse anyone from giving exceptional customer service. :)

[KermitFan]

Seems to me that you catch more flies with honey... so if LV took on the "Nordstrom Way," and treated all of it's customers with respect and dignity, they'd probably get a lot more sales/revenue. I know of people who have saved up for months to buy the new fashionable handbag, and after all of that work, why not reward them with a great shopping experience that makes people /want/ to talk about how great their sale was?

Also, I read "The Millionaire Next Door" a few years back, and I want to recall that there was page upon page of data that showed that most millionaires aren't wearing the trendiest clothing or Rolex watches, and they aren't driving the newest high-end cars. Why not? That's how they became millionaires -- being spend thrifty. Thus, you can't judge a book by it's cover, and you're better served giving /everyone/ a great customer experience... you never know who's going to be your best customer!

[Tom Vander Well]

You're right, KF! Great points, as usual.