When Policies Are Bad for Business
Will Guidara’s book, Unreasonable Hospitality, has quickly become a national bestseller and taken our industry by storm. The tagline, “The remarkable power of giving people more than they expect”, teases the philosophy that helped him build one of the world’s best restaurants at Eleven Madison Park in New York City. He has continued the momentum of the book by highlighting examples of “unreasonable hospitality” from across the country on his social channels. These awesome stories are inspiring and draw us to the organization where they happen. At the same time, they provide a significant contrast and make the underwhelming experiences we go through look even worse.
I recently went to Neiman Marcus to return a gift I had received that was the wrong size. It was a dress shirt with the gift receipt, in the original box, still folded neatly with the pins and cardboard collar as if it had just been pulled off the shelf. I don’t live by a Neiman Marcus so I had to make a special trip to the store and anticipated I would be given store credit and pick out a shirt that fit. To my surprise, the first person I spoke to said I had missed their 30-day return window, and he would need to get a manager. A little frustrated, but assuming it would all be taken care of I waited for the manager to come out. Without me even saying a thing, she said, “I’m sorry our policy is to only accept returns within 30 days of purchase.” In disbelief, I said, "Are you kidding me, this was a gift and in the original packaging?" She replied, “I’m sorry there’s nothing I can do for you.” Neiman Marcus is known for being a very high-end luxury department store, so I expected incredible service when I went in. While the bar was set high, this experience fell well below any expectations I had.
Most companies adopt policies to protect themselves with the hope that doing so will increase the possibility of staying in business. They are usually implemented with good intentions and apply to most of the scenarios that pop up. The problem with a black and white policy though is that there is no way to possibly prepare for every scenario that might occur, especially in businesses that are public facing like restaurants and retail stores. A one-size-fits-all approach limits the ability of a company and its employees to make decisions that might lead to “unreasonable hospitality.”
I assume Neiman Marcus was burned at some point by someone trying to take advantage of a previous return policy. Now, admittedly I don’t usually shop at Neiman Marcus. I prefer Nordstrom, which in my opinion, has better customer service AND a notoriously lenient return policy. This experience was a great reminder for me to make sure we are empowering our team at Footers to take pride in what they do and go to great lengths to create exceptional experiences for our clients and their guests. When we commit to going above and beyond for our customers, we win their hearts and their business. While we set the bar higher for ourselves in these moments, we also teach our customers that they should expect the same if they are ever to go elsewhere. And if they don’t get what they expect when they leave, it probably won’t be long before they come back to you. In my case, you won’t find me shopping at Neiman Marcus any time soon.
Do you have a story about a policy that caused a poor experience and ended up being bad for business?
