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Episode 103: Make Parent Satisfaction SKYROCKET By Using "The Nordstrom Way"
In 1975, Craig Trounce was a store associate at a Nordstrom store in Fairbanks, Alaska.
One day, Craig noticed a customer rolling a pair of tires into the store. When Craig asked how he could help, the customer asked to return the tires, insisting that he bought them at that very location with a guarantee that he could bring them back to the store at any time.
Just one problem: Nordstorm doesn’t sell tires. What Craig Trounce did next has given Nordstrom nearly 50 years of free publicity about their unmatched level of customer service. In fact, if you Google “Nordstrom tires”, you will get roughly 3.8 million results.
Do you want your parents to be “raving fans”? Do you want your parent survey scores to be through the roof? Do you want your student retention rates to be high? If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, then today’s episode is for you as we discuss how to Make Parent Satisfaction SKYROCKET By Using "The Nordstrom Way".
Thank you for listening to the podcast every week. You are making a difference in the lives of the students, teachers and parents at your school. I know that what you do is difficult, exhausting and lonely. Your hard work inspires me to keep making weekly content to try to encourage and inspire you as you serve your school.
Thanks for all you do!
Mark Minkus
If you have gotten value from listening to the podcast, I would love to work with you 1-on-1.
I help my clients overcome imposter syndrome, set boundaries between work and home and how to actually get important things done instead of having your day ruled by the tyranny of the urgent. Sounds impossible right? It’s not. I can teach you how to make it possible.
I would love to be your coach and I have a few spots open. Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/coaching to learn more about working with me 1-on-1.
Being a private school leader is a VERY difficult job. You have to make hundreds of decisions every day, and you have to keep everyone safe, increase enrollment, keep the parents happy, keep the board happy, motivate the teachers, deal with student discipline, beat last year’s test scores and come in under budget.
That can lead to you feeling tired, discouraged and stressed out. I’ve been there. That’s why I created THRIVE Academy just for you. THRIVE Academy is a digital course that will help you get out of survival mode and get back to feeling energized at school. To learn more, go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/thrive
I want to give you a FREE gift called 7 Strategies To Effectively Deal With Difficult Teachers. Sometimes we need some courage and confidence to deal with difficult teachers. What you need is a plan! This guide is a step by step plan that you can use to help one of your difficult teachers improve their performance and improve their attitude. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/difficult to grab this free guide!
I want to say thank you for listening to the podcast by giving you a FREE GIFT. It is called The 7 Steps To Having A Successful Meeting With An Upset Parent. This guide is an 11 page pdf that gives you a step by step plan to have better meetings with the parents at your school. Every good coach has a game plan. Every good teacher has a lesson plan. Too many private school leaders don’t have a plan when they sit down to meet with an upset parent. Well, now you have a PLAN! You can grab this FREE GUIDE at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/meeting
I’ve created a free resource for you called “The 6 Things That Every Private School Teacher Wants From Their Leader”. This guide is a 6 page pdf that will be a game changer for you. I guarantee you that if you do these 6 things, the teachers at your school will be happy to follow you. You can pick up your free guide by going to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/guide
I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week!
I am excited to share a brand new resource with you. It is a 9 page pdf called: “How To Use Verbal Judo To Have Better Conversations With The Parents At Your School” What is “Verbal Judo”? "Verbal Judo" is a communication strategy that focuses on using words effectively to de-escalate conflict, resolve disputes, and achieve positive outcomes in various interpersonal interactions, particularly in high-pressure situations.
George Thompson and Jerry Jenkins wrote a book called Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art Of Persuasion. So, I have taken several important strategies from the book and applied them to your life as a private school leader. Grab your free copy of “How To Use Verbal Judo To Have Better Conversations With The Parents At Your School” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/judo
Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode103
Please write a review of this podcast and help the algorithm push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!
I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!
TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome to the private school leader podcast. Where private school leaders learn how to thrive. And not just survive as they serve and lead their schools. I strongly believe that it is possible to have a long and happy and fulfilling career as a private school leader. And my passion is to help you figure out exactly how to do just that. Right here on the private school leader podcast. And I'm your host, Mark Minkus. • • •
Nordstrom purchased three stores from a company that did sell tires in 1975
So, in the fall of 1975, • • • at a Nordstrom store in Fairbanks, Alaska, Craig trounce showed up for work. And he's a store associate. • Craig's at his cash register. He's doing some work there. And he notices a customer rolling a pair of two tires • • into the store across the floor, headed towards his and cash register. • • • So Craig says, how can I help you? And the man says, well, I'm here to return these tires. He said, I bought them at this location. And there was a guarantee that if, • • um, • • I decided I wanted to bring them back for any reason, that the store would give me a refund. • • • • And here's the only problem, is that that Nordstrom store did not sell tires. • • But in 1975, • • Nordstrom purchased three stores from a company that did sell tires. Northern commercial of Alaska. And so in the spring • • • of 1975, they bought three locations. • • • And these northern commercial company of Alaska stores, they sold a mixture of goods and towels and linens and clothes. And they actually sold some automotive supplies, and they sold tires. So this man • • • bought tires • • at a northern commercial of Alaska store location in the spring of 75. And now in the fall of 75, he drives 75 miles • • • to get to this store, Alaska. Everything's all spread out up there. He drives really far to get to this store. And lo and behold, he comes to find that it's not the tire, the place that he bought his tires. It's a Nordstrom. And, of course, they pivoted to just selling, • • um, apparel and shoes. • • So here's Craig standing by his cash register. Here's this gentleman with two tires. They don't sell tires. • • So if you're Craig. If I'm Craig, I'm thinking, okay, I'm just going to say, well, and you've heard this in all of your customer service experiences over the years, things like, I'm sorry, sir. We don't sell tires. • Um, that's not our policy. • • • Sorry, I can't help you, • um, • • • fill in the blanken. But you know what? That's not what happened. Instead of turning the tires away, • • • Craig wanted to do the right thing. He wanted to do right by the customer. He had driven those, uh, over 70 miles • • to return the tires. And Craig didn't know much about tires, and so he called a tire company in Fairbanks, • • got their thoughts on the, uh, style of tire, how much they were worth, and then he gave that customer that amount of money, • • took the tires, and sent him on his way. • • • Now, you might cringe and wince and think, oh, man, where's Mark going with this with regards to our private school? But you might wince at the thought of a refund • • of an expensive purchase, • • • • especially for an item like a set of tires that Nordstrom can't resell because they don't sell tires. But let's take that small financial hit out of the equation for a minute, because • • • • • that was almost 50 years ago, • • and Nordstrom has been getting free publicity about their customer service model because that story has been retold for almost 50 years. • • If you Google Nordstrom Tire's story, you're going to get almost 4 million results. • Blog posts, forum threads, news articles. • • That single • decision by Craig that day in 1975 • • • has given Nordstrom almost 50 years of free publicity and word of mouth advertising because of their legendary customer service. • • • And it's Nordstrom's story to tell. • • • And so we want our parents to be raving fans. We want them to have that kind of, • • um, experience. We want them to have, you know, we want our school to have that kind of reputation as far as client service. We want our retention rates to be high. We want our parent satisfaction scores to be through the roof. • • • • Well, on today's episode of the Private School Leader podcast, we are going to talk about how to make parent satisfaction skyrocket by using the Nordstrom way. • • • •
Coaching and coaching is all about transformation and helping you solve your big problem
And just for a moment, before we get into that, I just want to ask you, • what problem can I help you solve? • • • • Are you • • feeling guilty that your family gets what's left of you at the end of the day? Is that your problem? • • Is your problem imposter syndrome? Is your problem • that your day is just ruled by the tyranny of the urgent and you can't get anything done? • • Is your problem that you've got relentless parents? And I chose that word relentless very intentionally. • • • • Is your problem that you're just not sure how to take your leadership or your career to the next level? You've been thinking about the future. • • Maybe your problem is, is that you're just overwhelmed and feeling burnout. • • Well, I can help you solve your problem, • • • • and I wanted to let you know that I have two coaching spots open • • • right now, and I'd love to work with you, • • and you can learn [email protected]. coaching • • and coaching is all about transformation and helping you solve your big problem. • • So check it [email protected]. coaching I've got two spots I'd love to work with you, • • and then I'd love to give you a free gift as well just for listening today. And this one is a ten page PDF that's called the top six ways to protect your school from a lawsuit. • • And we know that litigation is expensive. • • • We know that it's time consuming and very stressful. • • And this guide will help you keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. • • • • • • This is a common sense guide and it'll help you be more intentional and more proactive when it comes to protecting your school • • from litigation. And so you can grab [email protected] lawsuit. Again, that's the top six ways to protect your school from a lawsuit. It's a free ten page PDF and you can grab [email protected] lawsuit just as a little way for me to say thank you for listening to the podcast today. •
The Nordstrom way is about going above and beyond for customers
Alright, I told you we're going to talk about the Nordstrom way, and we're going to talk about ways to increase parent satisfaction by using the Nordstrom way. So first of all, let me just tell you, what is the Nordstrom way, quote unquote. Well, first of all, it's the title of a book. • • Um, and I'll link the book • • in the show notes and it talks about the customer service philosophy at Nordstrom • • and that centers around empowering employees to use their own judgment, just like Craig did in that pivotal moment back in 1975 in Fairbanks, Alaska. • • • • The Nordstrom way is about going above and beyond for customers. And they have all of these legendary customer service stories. • • • And it's also about just basically prioritizing that customer satisfaction • • • by allowing empowering the employee to make decisions and uh, with their core principle of using good judgment in all situations. We're going to unpack that a little bit more in a minute. • • • And then what that leads to is just consistently high customer satisfaction ratings and legendary stores of legendary stories of exceptional service at their stores. And uh, just a leader in the industry for • • almost 50 years with regards to • • • modeling • • outstanding customer service, • outstanding customer satisfaction ratings. Okay. • • •
Six ways to use Nordstrom way to increase parent satisfaction at your school
And so before I get into the six things, the six ways that we're going to apply the Nordstrom way to your school, • • • • • I want to give you a little disclaimer. Okay. I can hear what some of you are thinking you're like, mark, • • the problem with customer service is, is that the customer is always right. • • All right, I get that. So here's the thing. When I'm talking about • • providing excellent client service, I've talked about this before on the podcast that our parents are clients, • • our teachers are professional. You are professional. • • Professionals have clients, • • not customers. We're going to treat them like clients. • • But when it comes to our client service, I'm not talking about, uh, changing a grade. I'm not talking about taking away a detention. I'm not talking about firing the soccer coach because the kid didn't get enough playing time. I'm not talking about ignoring policies in the handbook to make a parent happy. No, I'm not talking about any of that. What I'm talking about • • are six ways • to apply the Nordstrom way • • • • that are proactive things that you can do at your school • • • to cause the parent satisfaction questions on your annual survey to skyrocket. Sound good? Okay, • here they are. The six ways to use the Nordstrom way to increase parent satisfaction. Number one, empower employees to make decisions. Number two, use good judgment. Number three, surprise and delight. Number four, listen and adapt. Number five, personalize interactions. • And number six is create a culture of accountability. • • • And what I'm going to do is just, we're going to go through each one of these, um, take them one at a time. I'll just explain it briefly, and then just give a quick example from Nordstrom how they do it. And then, um, give you a couple very specific examples of how to apply it to your school. •
Empower employees to make decisions on the spot to resolve customer issues
All right, so, number one is empower employees to make decisions. • • • So first, the Nordstrom example. At Nordstrom, their employees are encouraged to make decisions on the spot to resolve a customer's issue. • • And they don't need to get a manager's approval. • • • • And that's kind of an outlier, because how many times have you been in a situation where you're asking for something, • • and it's a customer service situation, and the employee says, well, I need to check with my manager, or I can't do that because that's not our policy, or I would get in trouble, or I'm worried that I would get fired. I'm sorry. • • • • Nordstrom employees, they don't worry about getting in trouble. • • • They've been empowered to make the decisions and to resolve that issue, and then the manager has their back.
If we empower teachers to address parent concerns directly, then we are less involved
All right, so now let's apply that to our teachers. • • • • • Here's a couple of things I want you to think about. If we empower our teachers to address parent concerns directly, • • • then we are going to be involved • • • later in the process when the situation escalates, • instead of being involved in every • • • • • situation that involves a teacher and a parent. • • • • And some of this • • is us as the school leaders, and some of this is our teachers. Okay? And last week I was talking on the podcast about • • how when you walk down the hall, sometimes it feels like your teachers • • are all just handing you. Each of them is handing you a crying baby. • • • • And • • • I asked the question at the time, • • is it because they've done everything that they can to address • • • and try to get this baby to stop crying, or do they just not want to hold a crying baby? And so they hand it to you? And I get it. Like, some parents can be bullies, some teachers have some trauma, and it's not an overstatement to call it trauma when it comes to dealing with certain parents. • • But also, some teachers just really quickly want to hand off a parent issue to administration. • • • • And we know that in our schools that if something happens in fourth grade math class, • • • • that the place the parent has to start • is with the fourth grade math teacher to talk about it. And if they can resolve it at that level, great. And most things, • • if our teachers are good communicators and they don't get defensive and they don't interrupt. You know, there's a, um, on my resources page on the website, um, theprivateschoolier.com resources. I have, • • um, a guide there for how to have a meeting with a difficult parent. If they follow those steps. If you follow those steps, when you meet with a parent, • • • • • most of the concerns are going to be resolved at the teacher parent level. • • • • But • how many of those things immediately become our problem? • • • That's one of the reasons that our capacity is so, • • • um, that we're beyond capacity is because I feel strongly that we're getting involved earlier than we need to. And so we need to empower our employees. • • They don't have to check with us on everything. • • • We need to support them. We need to have their back. Because here's the thing. If they decide something • • and it's not exactly what you would have done, and then you ding them for that and you criticize them for that, or you don't have their back, • • then • • • • that's going to just, um, be the same thing as all the customer service people out there that say, well, I need to check with my manager. So I know it's like a tightrope walk. I know it's a thin line, • but we can get better at this. • • • • We need to give it some intentional thought. • • We need to hold our teachers accountable. I'll talk about that in number six. We need to hold our teachers accountable for what they're supposed to do when it comes to parent interaction. And unless a parent is really being abusive and being a bully, our teachers need to talk to the parents. • • • • What's happening is that the 5% of bully parents • • are causing our teachers to not want to deal with the 95% of decent parents. And then that's building your workload • • to the degree that you can't get anything done except deal with parents. • And so I know that it's hard to push back on that, but I feel like the pendulum needs to swing back in the other direction. • • Um, you know, if that parent is expressing frustration about a classroom issue and that teacher can offer the immediate solution or the adjustment, rather than needing to escalate the matter to, • • um, a senior level leader, • • • • wonderful. That's what we want. But they need to be empowered and feel supported to do that. Just like the Nordstrom way. All right. So, again, there's no perfect • • outcome in that scenario. There's. Every school is different. But I want you to take the general concept of empowering your teachers to make decisions and then having their back to see how and holding them accountable for what they need to do when it comes to parent concerns, that doing those things consistently will reduce your number of parent interactions. • • Okay. Number two • on our list of how we're going to use the Nordstrom way to increase parent satisfaction. Number two is use good judgment. All right. If you know anything about Nordstrom, you may have heard this story. • • Their employee handbook is a five by seven piece of cardstock. That's their employee handbook. And on one side, it welcomes the new employee to be working at Nordstrom. And on the other side, it says, we have one rule. Use good judgment in all situations. That's their employee handbook. Okay. • • Use good judgment in all situations. So • • • the principle • of using good judgment at Nordstrom kind of dovetails with number one, which is empowering the employees. • • And so if they use good judgment about their, • • • • you know, the way that they're interacting, • • um, about the decisions that they're making, • • if they're doing something that's prioritizing the customer, or in our case, the client, • • • um, you know, at Nordstrom, employees are trusted to act in the best interest of that customer. • • And so • • • when they do the thing that I mentioned in number one, which is empowered to make decisions, • • the expectation which is made clear • • is to use good judgment. • • • So, you know, the classic example of course is about returning the set of, um, tires, and they don't even sell tires. • • Um, you know, that employee, that story, Craig, um, in Fairbanks, Alaska, he • • recognized that this customer had a legitimate concern, • • • and he used his best judgment • • • to not strictly adhere to that return policy. • • • • And then that kind of decision really just shows, uh, his good judgment in that moment to prioritize customer satisfaction over what might be. • • You know, there's a lot of rigidity to rules out there in • • • • the customer service world. • • And again, I said in my disclaimer, I'm not talking about changing rules, • • • changing grades, taking away detentions. I'm not talking about that. But I'm talking about • • you • • • and your teachers • • • just really trying to use good judgment in all situations. So what's an example of that, that we can apply to the school? All right, • so let's say that a parent reaches out • • • • about their kids • • the way that they're interacting, um, with kids on the playground, • and that those social interactions aren't going all that well. Okay. • • • Um, you know, this kind of, again, goes along with, number one, we want that teacher • • to use good judgment, and then we want to support them. And if we do that, then they're going to increase their capacity, they're going to increase their confidence, and then they're going to increase their. • • The regular, um, the regularity that they. How regularly they will handle these problems at the teacher level, the teacher parent level. And so, again, we've got to build them up • • by reminding them that we have confidence in their judgment. And you're thinking, well, yeah, but I don't have confidence in the judgment of, uh, these two teachers over here. I get that. • • But, you know, and so, just like we differentiate for our students, we're going to differentiate for our teachers. And those need a little more supervision. Those need a little more accountability. Those need the check with me first kind of a conversation. But there are a lot of our teachers • • that can • • do better with this • • if we will encourage them. • • Again, number one and number two go together, empower the teacher, • • encourage them to use good judgment, and then have their back.
Number three is surprise and delight. And you've heard me talk about this before
Okay, let's move on to number three. • And number three is surprise and delight. • • And you've heard me talk about surprise and delight on the podcast before. • • And let me give you a quick Nordstrom example. There's a Nordstrom store near, in Chicago. It's not that close to the airport. And there was a gentleman who had a business trip, and he had a connecting flight at O'Hare, • and he realized when he was going through TSA, • • • he's wearing his sneakers. He's wearing his casual clothes, but he's got his suit and his business attire, • • um, in his luggage. • • He realizes that he forgot his dress shoes at home, • • and so he calls the Nordstrom in Chicago • • and tells him about the problem. • The person who answered the phone said, no problem. • • I got this. When's your flight? What gate? So on and so forth. • And, • • um, the employee got shoes in that gentleman's size, asked about the color, took them, • • • • drove out to O'Hare, met the guy at the airport, • • • and, • um, said, well, • we'll send you a bill, or we'll put it on your credit card or whatever. • • • • • It's like • • • the surprise and delight going, the extra mile free alterations when someone buys a suit or a dress, um, gift wrapping, those little things that you're not expecting. That's what surprise and delight is all about. It's in the name, you know, it's a pleasant surprise, and it's delightful. • • And so I want to give you a quick aside here before I tell you how to apply this to your school, because I want to really bring this home as to how powerful surprise and delight can be. • • And we. It's about my school. And in the summer of 2014, we had a retention crisis on our hands. We had so many families that left during the summer of 2014, • • • and we did some things. • We did a lot of things, and we worked really hard. • • And two years later, our retention rates were so high, they were higher than the national average for private schools, that we, myself and a couple of my colleagues were invited to speak at a national • convention to talk about how we solved our retention crisis. • • Now, I've taken those strategies, • • and I put them into a podcast episode, episode nine, called eight strategies to increase student retention that actually work. I will link that in the show [email protected]. episode 103. • • So that you can listen to episode nine and get the goods on what we talked about at that convention. But I'm telling you, a big, big, big part of it was surprise and delight and being very intentional about just making sure that these parents felt, • • um, seen, • um, from a client standpoint, but also, you know, surprising them with delightful things. So I'll let that episode speak for itself. You can get that in the show notes, but • let's specifically apply it to the school before we go on to, um, our fourth point. • • • Teachers • can go above and beyond by sending personalized notes to parents after school event. • • The handwritten note that goes home in the book bag or in the, um, assignment pad. • • Um, the handwritten note is something that's very rare. And so then it's a surprise, and it's delightful. And it took time to do. Do our teachers have time to write handwritten notes? Of course they don't. • • Um, that's why it's a surprise. Okay, but for you. Let's apply this to you for a minute. I'm telling you as a person who, for the last. • • • Over • • 20 years, • I've handwritten thank you cards for everyone • • • in my department or my school when I was ahead of school, • • • • • um, and gave them to them the school day before Thanksgiving break. • • Okay. So did I have time over the last 20 years to write • over 50 thank you cards every year? No. • • That's why I start a month early and write three or four a day and schedule it. And, you know, so I'm just saying that • • • • everything we can make an excuse for that we don't have time to do the thing. It just matters how important the thing is. • • • • I think that something that's really, really important is, • um, you know, when it comes to surprise and delight is • to • just noticing things and then acknowledging them. So, like a little follow up email • • thanking the parent for, • • you know, showing up to a meeting or a parent teacher conference, summarizing the key points that were discussed. But, you know, one of the examples that I'll give • • for surprise and delight, • you know, I've talked about this before, where when I warm up my microwave lunch every day, • • • • um, I have a practice • • • where I pull out my phone, • • • I look at my gallery from the previous 24 hours, because when I'm walking around campus, recess, lunch, hallways, in and out of classrooms, I'm taking pictures on my phone. And then I'm sending those off. I'm posting a few on Instagram, but I'm sending those off to the parent. And it's saying on the subject line, nava at recess. Or it's just saying recess. Or it's saying, you know, um, • • Jimmy. Or, um, it's saying science class, exclamation point. And it's just that the parent. Boom. • Um, in the. To line its parent name and then attach the photo, send. Okay. It takes 1020 seconds to do it. And I'm telling you, the surprise and delight aspect of a parent getting a picture of a smiling kid or a kid doing something interesting, or the kid that is • • • reporting that he's struggling at recess, a picture of that kid having a good time at recesse, it's surprise and delight, but it also makes an emotional connection. And I'm telling you, it increases parent satisfaction and it increases retention.
Six ways to use Nordstrom way to increase parent satisfaction at your school
Okay, • • we are, uh, talking about the six ways to use the Nordstrom way to increase parent satisfaction at your school. Number one, empower employees to make decisions. Number two, use good judgment. Number three, surprise and delight. And number four is listen and adapt to. • So this one's pretty straightforward. Listen and adapt. The Nordstrom example is they actively solicit customer feedback. They make that a huge priority, and they then make changes based on that input. • And then that's often seen in the product offerings and the way that they provide services. • • And so that's the real key when it comes to applying this to school is that we probably, • • your school probably already does something where you're getting feedback. • • If you don't have an annual parent survey, • • • that is a priority. • • • If you don't ask, how are you going to know? • • And I know sometimes smaller schools, when you're a one man or a one woman, show as the principal, um, • • • as the administrator, that that's really hard to do. But it's so important to figure out a way • • to get that parent survey. And if you have a little bit bigger team, then that feedback can be more • • regular. Maybe it's, um, if you're a semester school or a trimester school, • • um, to get that feedback. And sometimes that feedback is hard. I know that • • • you work really hard and then we do the annual survey in the spring and then get those results back in the early summer. • • • And sometimes it's hard, you know, you work really hard and then you're expecting it to be really good and then you get • other, um, • • • feedback. • • • But here's the other thing I want you to know is that you can go through all of the effort of • creating the survey, • • • • giving the survey, getting it back, doing • • some things with the data and so on and so forth. But if you don't • • • do something • with that feedback and then communicate to the parents what you did, • • then it's almost a complete waste of time. Okay. • • Um, there's two things going on here. Number one is that if you don't communicate to the parents what • • them taking the time to do the survey, what that led to, then next year you're going to reinforce that the parent input is nothing valued. But I'm telling you, if you address the concerns and you do some things and communicate them to the parents, your participation rate in that parent survey will maintain or increase because they'll see that their input is valued. So it's not just the survey part, it's the what are we going to do about it? • And then also communicating that to your families.
How can we personalize interactions in our school? Well, first of all, learn names
Okay, number five, personalize interactions. • So the employees at Nordstrom are • • • trained to • • remember • customers. They're trained in how to remember names, • • remember that customer's preferences, and even create, uh, a personalized, kind of, like, shopping list, but certainly a personalized shopping experience. • • • • • You know, kind of think of that bartender that, you know, sees the regulars come in, and they know already what the persons go to drink of choices, and they start making it as soon as the person starts walking towards the bar. • Um, • • • that's the goal there for the employees at Nordstrom when it comes to that familiarity with their customers and that personal touch. And then that's what keeps them coming back. So how can we personalize interactions • in our school? Well, first of all, for you and for your teachers, we need to learn the names. • • Learn the names of the parents, • • • • especially the newer parents. • They already feel awkward being newer. You know, you. • • • You see someone at a conference and you haven't seen them in two years, and they come up to you and they say hi, and they use your first name. How does that make you feel? • • • It makes you feel great. They remembered you. You know, they know your name. • • Um, you made an impression. Whatever it is, people like to hear their own name. • • And so when it comes to our parents, let's learn their names. Let's use their names. • • Um, for teachers, when it comes to kids, when a kid's out sick for a couple of days, • • I feel strongly that if a kid is out sick for more than one day, there should be some sort of communication from that homeroom teacher to the parent and just say, you know, we've missed Amanda, and, uh, just wanted to check and see if she's okay. I'm not saying they have to do that every single time a kid is out for one day, • but if a kid's out that second day, that should trigger something as far as a, uh, communication, • • personalized attention. • • • • We don't ever want our parents to think I can get that for free in the public school, because usually with private schools, there's a lot of things that we offer. But one of the things that we offer, almost without exception, is a smaller teacher to student ratio than the nearby public school. And so if they're expecting a certain level of personal care and attention, and we're not even coming close to that, then that's when they start to get the wandering eye. And they're looking around at either other schools that are private, that they think do a better job at this, or they're looking • • at the public school or some other option, maybe even cyber school. • • We have these opportunities, • • um, important milestones and preferences for each student, you know, making a big deal when they lose a tooth or making a big deal about birthdays, um, making a big deal when, um, the, um, mom has a baby and the second grader is now the big brother. • • These things making a big deal and celebrating. • • • And just a quick note to the family as far as an email, • • • just congratulations, you know. • • Um, and then just, you know, I've mentioned birthdays, um, you know, just something that's. That's personalized, that notices • • what they want us to know that their child is seen, right? They want us to know. They want to know that they. That their child is seen at school. And when we see their child at school, and our teachers work so hard and they do such a good job of making sure that child is seen. But if all that stays at school and there's never that level of communication so that the parent feels like their child is seen, • • • then they're not going to know and that narrative void will exist. • • • There are ways to fill that narrative void. So • • we want to give them that personalized • • attention, those personalized interactions, and then that brings us to our final way that we're going to apply the Nordstrom way to our schools, and that's create a culture of accountability. • • So, at Nordstrom, they hold their employees pretty accountable for their service, and they have high expectations. They have clear expectations. There's regular feedback from the managers about how it's going. There's conversations. They're holding them accountable. And at our school, • • • I know that sometimes that's hard because • we're so busy that it's hard to hold our teachers accountable. And we're just happy that they're doing a good job and that they're doing what they're supposed to do. • • But we need to establish • • • clear expectations for how our staff interact with the parents • and then • make sure that they're doing it. Hold them accountable. And so, for example, • • • • um, following up with teachers to make sure that they are doing the things that you agreed to do when you were in that meeting. So, you know, • • second, um, grade teacher and you and the parents of this child, there was a meeting, and then there was an action plan that was decided upon. It's your responsibility to follow up and make sure that the teacher is actually following through, because there's nothing worse than going through the discomfort of that meeting, • • • getting it done, getting people on the same page, shaking hands at the end. And it seems like we're moving forward and then maybe with good intentions, but a, um, busy, busy schedule, the teacher doesn't follow through. And now things are five times worse. And so that's one way is to make sure that we keep our promises. • But another way is to just hold your teachers accountable for the stuff that they're supposed to do with regards to parent communication. So a quick example is that at our school, the expectations are. Homework has to be posted by 04:00 p.m. every day. • • Um, the gradebook has to be updated, a minimum every two weeks. • • When you start a unit, um, there's a parent email. That's real quick. Just a paragraph. Hey, we're starting this unit. We just finished up. Blah, blah, blah. Maybe a photo or two. Really excited about this next thing that fills that narrative void about, what did you learn at school today? Nothing. What'd you do at school today? Nothing. • Did you have fun? I don't know. So that start of unit email has filled that narrative void for us. And then three times a year, because we have trimesters, it's the • • • homeroomteacher, um, • • • slash advisor sends, um, an email once a year. Three times a year. Excuse me. Once a trimester. So that's three times a year. The I get your kid the rockstar, um, email is what we call it. So, • um, • • now, those are the expectations. But it's my job to hold them accountable to make sure that they're doing those things. Because let me tell you, if they're not posting homework, that's going to cause stress at home and arguments. Well, no, I don't have homework, and I. Well, get your homework. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, whatever the expectations are • • for communication, we need to hold them accountable and make sure that they're doing a good job.
Six ways to use Nordstrom way to increase parent satisfaction at your school
Okay, so the big takeaways from today's episode. • • We're talking about the six ways to use the Nordstrom way to increase parent satisfaction. • • Number one, empower employees to make decisions. Number two, use good judgment. • Number three, surprise and delight. Number four, listen and adapt. Number five, personalize the interactions. And number six, create a culture of accountability. • • And I like to end every episode with a call to action. And so I would like for you to think • which one of these six strategies needs the most work at my school • • and then take action on one thing to make it better. • • • • So I just want to remind you • that I can help you solve your biggest problem. • • • And I'd love to work with you one on one. And a reminder that I have two coaching spots open right now. And I just, um, would encourage you to go to the privateskill leader.com coaching. Find out more about how that works. Would love to work with you.
Free guide on how to have better meetings with upset parents available at theprivatesleader
I want to give you another free gift. This one we've been talking about meetings. This one's called the seven steps to having successful meetings with upset parents. I actually think I mentioned this one earlier in the episode. • • • • This is an eleven page PDF and it gives you a step by step plan to have better meetings with the parents at your school. You know, every good teacher has a lesson plan. Every good coach has a game plan. But I think that • too many private school leaders don't have a plan when you sit down with an upset parent. Well, you have a plan now and it's at, uh, theprivateschool leader.com meeting. • Seven steps to having successful meetings with upset parents. • • • • • That's a free guide for you over at theprivateschool leader.com • • meeting. Today's show notes [email protected] episode 103 and um, I'd love to hear from you. Shoot me an email at mark dot o dot minkusmail.com. • • • um, if you could review and rate the podcast wherever you listen to it, that helps the algorithm push it out to private school leaders all over the world. We are now in 61 countries. • • Um, we just added, um, Ireland. We just added Kenya and Ethiopia. It's amazing that this, um, you know, this podcast is getting out. And the way that it does is with the algorithm. So if you write a review, that helps. And listen, I just want to say how much I appreciate you and thank you so much for taking time out of your busy week. You're doing so much for these lucky kids at your school, and I just appreciate the fact that you took some of your precious time to join me here today. And I'll see you next time right here on the private school leader podcast. And until then, always remember to serve first, lead second, and make a difference.
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By Mark Minkus
4.8
6565 ratings
In 1975, Craig Trounce was a store associate at a Nordstrom store in Fairbanks, Alaska.
One day, Craig noticed a customer rolling a pair of tires into the store. When Craig asked how he could help, the customer asked to return the tires, insisting that he bought them at that very location with a guarantee that he could bring them back to the store at any time.
Just one problem: Nordstorm doesn’t sell tires. What Craig Trounce did next has given Nordstrom nearly 50 years of free publicity about their unmatched level of customer service. In fact, if you Google “Nordstrom tires”, you will get roughly 3.8 million results.
Do you want your parents to be “raving fans”? Do you want your parent survey scores to be through the roof? Do you want your student retention rates to be high? If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, then today’s episode is for you as we discuss how to Make Parent Satisfaction SKYROCKET By Using "The Nordstrom Way".
Thank you for listening to the podcast every week. You are making a difference in the lives of the students, teachers and parents at your school. I know that what you do is difficult, exhausting and lonely. Your hard work inspires me to keep making weekly content to try to encourage and inspire you as you serve your school.
Thanks for all you do!
Mark Minkus
If you have gotten value from listening to the podcast, I would love to work with you 1-on-1.
I help my clients overcome imposter syndrome, set boundaries between work and home and how to actually get important things done instead of having your day ruled by the tyranny of the urgent. Sounds impossible right? It’s not. I can teach you how to make it possible.
I would love to be your coach and I have a few spots open. Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/coaching to learn more about working with me 1-on-1.
Being a private school leader is a VERY difficult job. You have to make hundreds of decisions every day, and you have to keep everyone safe, increase enrollment, keep the parents happy, keep the board happy, motivate the teachers, deal with student discipline, beat last year’s test scores and come in under budget.
That can lead to you feeling tired, discouraged and stressed out. I’ve been there. That’s why I created THRIVE Academy just for you. THRIVE Academy is a digital course that will help you get out of survival mode and get back to feeling energized at school. To learn more, go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/thrive
I want to give you a FREE gift called 7 Strategies To Effectively Deal With Difficult Teachers. Sometimes we need some courage and confidence to deal with difficult teachers. What you need is a plan! This guide is a step by step plan that you can use to help one of your difficult teachers improve their performance and improve their attitude. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/difficult to grab this free guide!
I want to say thank you for listening to the podcast by giving you a FREE GIFT. It is called The 7 Steps To Having A Successful Meeting With An Upset Parent. This guide is an 11 page pdf that gives you a step by step plan to have better meetings with the parents at your school. Every good coach has a game plan. Every good teacher has a lesson plan. Too many private school leaders don’t have a plan when they sit down to meet with an upset parent. Well, now you have a PLAN! You can grab this FREE GUIDE at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/meeting
I’ve created a free resource for you called “The 6 Things That Every Private School Teacher Wants From Their Leader”. This guide is a 6 page pdf that will be a game changer for you. I guarantee you that if you do these 6 things, the teachers at your school will be happy to follow you. You can pick up your free guide by going to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/guide
I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week!
I am excited to share a brand new resource with you. It is a 9 page pdf called: “How To Use Verbal Judo To Have Better Conversations With The Parents At Your School” What is “Verbal Judo”? "Verbal Judo" is a communication strategy that focuses on using words effectively to de-escalate conflict, resolve disputes, and achieve positive outcomes in various interpersonal interactions, particularly in high-pressure situations.
George Thompson and Jerry Jenkins wrote a book called Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art Of Persuasion. So, I have taken several important strategies from the book and applied them to your life as a private school leader. Grab your free copy of “How To Use Verbal Judo To Have Better Conversations With The Parents At Your School” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/judo
Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode103
Please write a review of this podcast and help the algorithm push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!
I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!
TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome to the private school leader podcast. Where private school leaders learn how to thrive. And not just survive as they serve and lead their schools. I strongly believe that it is possible to have a long and happy and fulfilling career as a private school leader. And my passion is to help you figure out exactly how to do just that. Right here on the private school leader podcast. And I'm your host, Mark Minkus. • • •
Nordstrom purchased three stores from a company that did sell tires in 1975
So, in the fall of 1975, • • • at a Nordstrom store in Fairbanks, Alaska, Craig trounce showed up for work. And he's a store associate. • Craig's at his cash register. He's doing some work there. And he notices a customer rolling a pair of two tires • • into the store across the floor, headed towards his and cash register. • • • So Craig says, how can I help you? And the man says, well, I'm here to return these tires. He said, I bought them at this location. And there was a guarantee that if, • • um, • • I decided I wanted to bring them back for any reason, that the store would give me a refund. • • • • And here's the only problem, is that that Nordstrom store did not sell tires. • • But in 1975, • • Nordstrom purchased three stores from a company that did sell tires. Northern commercial of Alaska. And so in the spring • • • of 1975, they bought three locations. • • • And these northern commercial company of Alaska stores, they sold a mixture of goods and towels and linens and clothes. And they actually sold some automotive supplies, and they sold tires. So this man • • • bought tires • • at a northern commercial of Alaska store location in the spring of 75. And now in the fall of 75, he drives 75 miles • • • to get to this store, Alaska. Everything's all spread out up there. He drives really far to get to this store. And lo and behold, he comes to find that it's not the tire, the place that he bought his tires. It's a Nordstrom. And, of course, they pivoted to just selling, • • um, apparel and shoes. • • So here's Craig standing by his cash register. Here's this gentleman with two tires. They don't sell tires. • • So if you're Craig. If I'm Craig, I'm thinking, okay, I'm just going to say, well, and you've heard this in all of your customer service experiences over the years, things like, I'm sorry, sir. We don't sell tires. • Um, that's not our policy. • • • Sorry, I can't help you, • um, • • • fill in the blanken. But you know what? That's not what happened. Instead of turning the tires away, • • • Craig wanted to do the right thing. He wanted to do right by the customer. He had driven those, uh, over 70 miles • • to return the tires. And Craig didn't know much about tires, and so he called a tire company in Fairbanks, • • got their thoughts on the, uh, style of tire, how much they were worth, and then he gave that customer that amount of money, • • took the tires, and sent him on his way. • • • Now, you might cringe and wince and think, oh, man, where's Mark going with this with regards to our private school? But you might wince at the thought of a refund • • of an expensive purchase, • • • • especially for an item like a set of tires that Nordstrom can't resell because they don't sell tires. But let's take that small financial hit out of the equation for a minute, because • • • • • that was almost 50 years ago, • • and Nordstrom has been getting free publicity about their customer service model because that story has been retold for almost 50 years. • • If you Google Nordstrom Tire's story, you're going to get almost 4 million results. • Blog posts, forum threads, news articles. • • That single • decision by Craig that day in 1975 • • • has given Nordstrom almost 50 years of free publicity and word of mouth advertising because of their legendary customer service. • • • And it's Nordstrom's story to tell. • • • And so we want our parents to be raving fans. We want them to have that kind of, • • um, experience. We want them to have, you know, we want our school to have that kind of reputation as far as client service. We want our retention rates to be high. We want our parent satisfaction scores to be through the roof. • • • • Well, on today's episode of the Private School Leader podcast, we are going to talk about how to make parent satisfaction skyrocket by using the Nordstrom way. • • • •
Coaching and coaching is all about transformation and helping you solve your big problem
And just for a moment, before we get into that, I just want to ask you, • what problem can I help you solve? • • • • Are you • • feeling guilty that your family gets what's left of you at the end of the day? Is that your problem? • • Is your problem imposter syndrome? Is your problem • that your day is just ruled by the tyranny of the urgent and you can't get anything done? • • Is your problem that you've got relentless parents? And I chose that word relentless very intentionally. • • • • Is your problem that you're just not sure how to take your leadership or your career to the next level? You've been thinking about the future. • • Maybe your problem is, is that you're just overwhelmed and feeling burnout. • • Well, I can help you solve your problem, • • • • and I wanted to let you know that I have two coaching spots open • • • right now, and I'd love to work with you, • • and you can learn [email protected]. coaching • • and coaching is all about transformation and helping you solve your big problem. • • So check it [email protected]. coaching I've got two spots I'd love to work with you, • • and then I'd love to give you a free gift as well just for listening today. And this one is a ten page PDF that's called the top six ways to protect your school from a lawsuit. • • And we know that litigation is expensive. • • • We know that it's time consuming and very stressful. • • And this guide will help you keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. • • • • • • This is a common sense guide and it'll help you be more intentional and more proactive when it comes to protecting your school • • from litigation. And so you can grab [email protected] lawsuit. Again, that's the top six ways to protect your school from a lawsuit. It's a free ten page PDF and you can grab [email protected] lawsuit just as a little way for me to say thank you for listening to the podcast today. •
The Nordstrom way is about going above and beyond for customers
Alright, I told you we're going to talk about the Nordstrom way, and we're going to talk about ways to increase parent satisfaction by using the Nordstrom way. So first of all, let me just tell you, what is the Nordstrom way, quote unquote. Well, first of all, it's the title of a book. • • Um, and I'll link the book • • in the show notes and it talks about the customer service philosophy at Nordstrom • • and that centers around empowering employees to use their own judgment, just like Craig did in that pivotal moment back in 1975 in Fairbanks, Alaska. • • • • The Nordstrom way is about going above and beyond for customers. And they have all of these legendary customer service stories. • • • And it's also about just basically prioritizing that customer satisfaction • • • by allowing empowering the employee to make decisions and uh, with their core principle of using good judgment in all situations. We're going to unpack that a little bit more in a minute. • • • And then what that leads to is just consistently high customer satisfaction ratings and legendary stores of legendary stories of exceptional service at their stores. And uh, just a leader in the industry for • • almost 50 years with regards to • • • modeling • • outstanding customer service, • outstanding customer satisfaction ratings. Okay. • • •
Six ways to use Nordstrom way to increase parent satisfaction at your school
And so before I get into the six things, the six ways that we're going to apply the Nordstrom way to your school, • • • • • I want to give you a little disclaimer. Okay. I can hear what some of you are thinking you're like, mark, • • the problem with customer service is, is that the customer is always right. • • All right, I get that. So here's the thing. When I'm talking about • • providing excellent client service, I've talked about this before on the podcast that our parents are clients, • • our teachers are professional. You are professional. • • Professionals have clients, • • not customers. We're going to treat them like clients. • • But when it comes to our client service, I'm not talking about, uh, changing a grade. I'm not talking about taking away a detention. I'm not talking about firing the soccer coach because the kid didn't get enough playing time. I'm not talking about ignoring policies in the handbook to make a parent happy. No, I'm not talking about any of that. What I'm talking about • • are six ways • to apply the Nordstrom way • • • • that are proactive things that you can do at your school • • • to cause the parent satisfaction questions on your annual survey to skyrocket. Sound good? Okay, • here they are. The six ways to use the Nordstrom way to increase parent satisfaction. Number one, empower employees to make decisions. Number two, use good judgment. Number three, surprise and delight. Number four, listen and adapt. Number five, personalize interactions. • And number six is create a culture of accountability. • • • And what I'm going to do is just, we're going to go through each one of these, um, take them one at a time. I'll just explain it briefly, and then just give a quick example from Nordstrom how they do it. And then, um, give you a couple very specific examples of how to apply it to your school. •
Empower employees to make decisions on the spot to resolve customer issues
All right, so, number one is empower employees to make decisions. • • • So first, the Nordstrom example. At Nordstrom, their employees are encouraged to make decisions on the spot to resolve a customer's issue. • • And they don't need to get a manager's approval. • • • • And that's kind of an outlier, because how many times have you been in a situation where you're asking for something, • • and it's a customer service situation, and the employee says, well, I need to check with my manager, or I can't do that because that's not our policy, or I would get in trouble, or I'm worried that I would get fired. I'm sorry. • • • • Nordstrom employees, they don't worry about getting in trouble. • • • They've been empowered to make the decisions and to resolve that issue, and then the manager has their back.
If we empower teachers to address parent concerns directly, then we are less involved
All right, so now let's apply that to our teachers. • • • • • Here's a couple of things I want you to think about. If we empower our teachers to address parent concerns directly, • • • then we are going to be involved • • • later in the process when the situation escalates, • instead of being involved in every • • • • • situation that involves a teacher and a parent. • • • • And some of this • • is us as the school leaders, and some of this is our teachers. Okay? And last week I was talking on the podcast about • • how when you walk down the hall, sometimes it feels like your teachers • • are all just handing you. Each of them is handing you a crying baby. • • • • And • • • I asked the question at the time, • • is it because they've done everything that they can to address • • • and try to get this baby to stop crying, or do they just not want to hold a crying baby? And so they hand it to you? And I get it. Like, some parents can be bullies, some teachers have some trauma, and it's not an overstatement to call it trauma when it comes to dealing with certain parents. • • But also, some teachers just really quickly want to hand off a parent issue to administration. • • • • And we know that in our schools that if something happens in fourth grade math class, • • • • that the place the parent has to start • is with the fourth grade math teacher to talk about it. And if they can resolve it at that level, great. And most things, • • if our teachers are good communicators and they don't get defensive and they don't interrupt. You know, there's a, um, on my resources page on the website, um, theprivateschoolier.com resources. I have, • • um, a guide there for how to have a meeting with a difficult parent. If they follow those steps. If you follow those steps, when you meet with a parent, • • • • • most of the concerns are going to be resolved at the teacher parent level. • • • • But • how many of those things immediately become our problem? • • • That's one of the reasons that our capacity is so, • • • um, that we're beyond capacity is because I feel strongly that we're getting involved earlier than we need to. And so we need to empower our employees. • • They don't have to check with us on everything. • • • We need to support them. We need to have their back. Because here's the thing. If they decide something • • and it's not exactly what you would have done, and then you ding them for that and you criticize them for that, or you don't have their back, • • then • • • • that's going to just, um, be the same thing as all the customer service people out there that say, well, I need to check with my manager. So I know it's like a tightrope walk. I know it's a thin line, • but we can get better at this. • • • • We need to give it some intentional thought. • • We need to hold our teachers accountable. I'll talk about that in number six. We need to hold our teachers accountable for what they're supposed to do when it comes to parent interaction. And unless a parent is really being abusive and being a bully, our teachers need to talk to the parents. • • • • What's happening is that the 5% of bully parents • • are causing our teachers to not want to deal with the 95% of decent parents. And then that's building your workload • • to the degree that you can't get anything done except deal with parents. • And so I know that it's hard to push back on that, but I feel like the pendulum needs to swing back in the other direction. • • Um, you know, if that parent is expressing frustration about a classroom issue and that teacher can offer the immediate solution or the adjustment, rather than needing to escalate the matter to, • • um, a senior level leader, • • • • wonderful. That's what we want. But they need to be empowered and feel supported to do that. Just like the Nordstrom way. All right. So, again, there's no perfect • • outcome in that scenario. There's. Every school is different. But I want you to take the general concept of empowering your teachers to make decisions and then having their back to see how and holding them accountable for what they need to do when it comes to parent concerns, that doing those things consistently will reduce your number of parent interactions. • • Okay. Number two • on our list of how we're going to use the Nordstrom way to increase parent satisfaction. Number two is use good judgment. All right. If you know anything about Nordstrom, you may have heard this story. • • Their employee handbook is a five by seven piece of cardstock. That's their employee handbook. And on one side, it welcomes the new employee to be working at Nordstrom. And on the other side, it says, we have one rule. Use good judgment in all situations. That's their employee handbook. Okay. • • Use good judgment in all situations. So • • • the principle • of using good judgment at Nordstrom kind of dovetails with number one, which is empowering the employees. • • And so if they use good judgment about their, • • • • you know, the way that they're interacting, • • um, about the decisions that they're making, • • if they're doing something that's prioritizing the customer, or in our case, the client, • • • um, you know, at Nordstrom, employees are trusted to act in the best interest of that customer. • • And so • • • when they do the thing that I mentioned in number one, which is empowered to make decisions, • • the expectation which is made clear • • is to use good judgment. • • • So, you know, the classic example of course is about returning the set of, um, tires, and they don't even sell tires. • • Um, you know, that employee, that story, Craig, um, in Fairbanks, Alaska, he • • recognized that this customer had a legitimate concern, • • • and he used his best judgment • • • to not strictly adhere to that return policy. • • • • And then that kind of decision really just shows, uh, his good judgment in that moment to prioritize customer satisfaction over what might be. • • You know, there's a lot of rigidity to rules out there in • • • • the customer service world. • • And again, I said in my disclaimer, I'm not talking about changing rules, • • • changing grades, taking away detentions. I'm not talking about that. But I'm talking about • • you • • • and your teachers • • • just really trying to use good judgment in all situations. So what's an example of that, that we can apply to the school? All right, • so let's say that a parent reaches out • • • • about their kids • • the way that they're interacting, um, with kids on the playground, • and that those social interactions aren't going all that well. Okay. • • • Um, you know, this kind of, again, goes along with, number one, we want that teacher • • to use good judgment, and then we want to support them. And if we do that, then they're going to increase their capacity, they're going to increase their confidence, and then they're going to increase their. • • The regular, um, the regularity that they. How regularly they will handle these problems at the teacher level, the teacher parent level. And so, again, we've got to build them up • • by reminding them that we have confidence in their judgment. And you're thinking, well, yeah, but I don't have confidence in the judgment of, uh, these two teachers over here. I get that. • • But, you know, and so, just like we differentiate for our students, we're going to differentiate for our teachers. And those need a little more supervision. Those need a little more accountability. Those need the check with me first kind of a conversation. But there are a lot of our teachers • • that can • • do better with this • • if we will encourage them. • • Again, number one and number two go together, empower the teacher, • • encourage them to use good judgment, and then have their back.
Number three is surprise and delight. And you've heard me talk about this before
Okay, let's move on to number three. • And number three is surprise and delight. • • And you've heard me talk about surprise and delight on the podcast before. • • And let me give you a quick Nordstrom example. There's a Nordstrom store near, in Chicago. It's not that close to the airport. And there was a gentleman who had a business trip, and he had a connecting flight at O'Hare, • and he realized when he was going through TSA, • • • he's wearing his sneakers. He's wearing his casual clothes, but he's got his suit and his business attire, • • um, in his luggage. • • He realizes that he forgot his dress shoes at home, • • and so he calls the Nordstrom in Chicago • • and tells him about the problem. • The person who answered the phone said, no problem. • • I got this. When's your flight? What gate? So on and so forth. • And, • • um, the employee got shoes in that gentleman's size, asked about the color, took them, • • • • drove out to O'Hare, met the guy at the airport, • • • and, • um, said, well, • we'll send you a bill, or we'll put it on your credit card or whatever. • • • • • It's like • • • the surprise and delight going, the extra mile free alterations when someone buys a suit or a dress, um, gift wrapping, those little things that you're not expecting. That's what surprise and delight is all about. It's in the name, you know, it's a pleasant surprise, and it's delightful. • • And so I want to give you a quick aside here before I tell you how to apply this to your school, because I want to really bring this home as to how powerful surprise and delight can be. • • And we. It's about my school. And in the summer of 2014, we had a retention crisis on our hands. We had so many families that left during the summer of 2014, • • • and we did some things. • We did a lot of things, and we worked really hard. • • And two years later, our retention rates were so high, they were higher than the national average for private schools, that we, myself and a couple of my colleagues were invited to speak at a national • convention to talk about how we solved our retention crisis. • • Now, I've taken those strategies, • • and I put them into a podcast episode, episode nine, called eight strategies to increase student retention that actually work. I will link that in the show [email protected]. episode 103. • • So that you can listen to episode nine and get the goods on what we talked about at that convention. But I'm telling you, a big, big, big part of it was surprise and delight and being very intentional about just making sure that these parents felt, • • um, seen, • um, from a client standpoint, but also, you know, surprising them with delightful things. So I'll let that episode speak for itself. You can get that in the show notes, but • let's specifically apply it to the school before we go on to, um, our fourth point. • • • Teachers • can go above and beyond by sending personalized notes to parents after school event. • • The handwritten note that goes home in the book bag or in the, um, assignment pad. • • Um, the handwritten note is something that's very rare. And so then it's a surprise, and it's delightful. And it took time to do. Do our teachers have time to write handwritten notes? Of course they don't. • • Um, that's why it's a surprise. Okay, but for you. Let's apply this to you for a minute. I'm telling you as a person who, for the last. • • • Over • • 20 years, • I've handwritten thank you cards for everyone • • • in my department or my school when I was ahead of school, • • • • • um, and gave them to them the school day before Thanksgiving break. • • Okay. So did I have time over the last 20 years to write • over 50 thank you cards every year? No. • • That's why I start a month early and write three or four a day and schedule it. And, you know, so I'm just saying that • • • • everything we can make an excuse for that we don't have time to do the thing. It just matters how important the thing is. • • • • I think that something that's really, really important is, • um, you know, when it comes to surprise and delight is • to • just noticing things and then acknowledging them. So, like a little follow up email • • thanking the parent for, • • you know, showing up to a meeting or a parent teacher conference, summarizing the key points that were discussed. But, you know, one of the examples that I'll give • • for surprise and delight, • you know, I've talked about this before, where when I warm up my microwave lunch every day, • • • • um, I have a practice • • • where I pull out my phone, • • • I look at my gallery from the previous 24 hours, because when I'm walking around campus, recess, lunch, hallways, in and out of classrooms, I'm taking pictures on my phone. And then I'm sending those off. I'm posting a few on Instagram, but I'm sending those off to the parent. And it's saying on the subject line, nava at recess. Or it's just saying recess. Or it's saying, you know, um, • • Jimmy. Or, um, it's saying science class, exclamation point. And it's just that the parent. Boom. • Um, in the. To line its parent name and then attach the photo, send. Okay. It takes 1020 seconds to do it. And I'm telling you, the surprise and delight aspect of a parent getting a picture of a smiling kid or a kid doing something interesting, or the kid that is • • • reporting that he's struggling at recess, a picture of that kid having a good time at recesse, it's surprise and delight, but it also makes an emotional connection. And I'm telling you, it increases parent satisfaction and it increases retention.
Six ways to use Nordstrom way to increase parent satisfaction at your school
Okay, • • we are, uh, talking about the six ways to use the Nordstrom way to increase parent satisfaction at your school. Number one, empower employees to make decisions. Number two, use good judgment. Number three, surprise and delight. And number four is listen and adapt to. • So this one's pretty straightforward. Listen and adapt. The Nordstrom example is they actively solicit customer feedback. They make that a huge priority, and they then make changes based on that input. • And then that's often seen in the product offerings and the way that they provide services. • • And so that's the real key when it comes to applying this to school is that we probably, • • your school probably already does something where you're getting feedback. • • If you don't have an annual parent survey, • • • that is a priority. • • • If you don't ask, how are you going to know? • • And I know sometimes smaller schools, when you're a one man or a one woman, show as the principal, um, • • • as the administrator, that that's really hard to do. But it's so important to figure out a way • • to get that parent survey. And if you have a little bit bigger team, then that feedback can be more • • regular. Maybe it's, um, if you're a semester school or a trimester school, • • um, to get that feedback. And sometimes that feedback is hard. I know that • • • you work really hard and then we do the annual survey in the spring and then get those results back in the early summer. • • • And sometimes it's hard, you know, you work really hard and then you're expecting it to be really good and then you get • other, um, • • • feedback. • • • But here's the other thing I want you to know is that you can go through all of the effort of • creating the survey, • • • • giving the survey, getting it back, doing • • some things with the data and so on and so forth. But if you don't • • • do something • with that feedback and then communicate to the parents what you did, • • then it's almost a complete waste of time. Okay. • • Um, there's two things going on here. Number one is that if you don't communicate to the parents what • • them taking the time to do the survey, what that led to, then next year you're going to reinforce that the parent input is nothing valued. But I'm telling you, if you address the concerns and you do some things and communicate them to the parents, your participation rate in that parent survey will maintain or increase because they'll see that their input is valued. So it's not just the survey part, it's the what are we going to do about it? • And then also communicating that to your families.
How can we personalize interactions in our school? Well, first of all, learn names
Okay, number five, personalize interactions. • So the employees at Nordstrom are • • • trained to • • remember • customers. They're trained in how to remember names, • • remember that customer's preferences, and even create, uh, a personalized, kind of, like, shopping list, but certainly a personalized shopping experience. • • • • • You know, kind of think of that bartender that, you know, sees the regulars come in, and they know already what the persons go to drink of choices, and they start making it as soon as the person starts walking towards the bar. • Um, • • • that's the goal there for the employees at Nordstrom when it comes to that familiarity with their customers and that personal touch. And then that's what keeps them coming back. So how can we personalize interactions • in our school? Well, first of all, for you and for your teachers, we need to learn the names. • • Learn the names of the parents, • • • • especially the newer parents. • They already feel awkward being newer. You know, you. • • • You see someone at a conference and you haven't seen them in two years, and they come up to you and they say hi, and they use your first name. How does that make you feel? • • • It makes you feel great. They remembered you. You know, they know your name. • • Um, you made an impression. Whatever it is, people like to hear their own name. • • And so when it comes to our parents, let's learn their names. Let's use their names. • • Um, for teachers, when it comes to kids, when a kid's out sick for a couple of days, • • I feel strongly that if a kid is out sick for more than one day, there should be some sort of communication from that homeroom teacher to the parent and just say, you know, we've missed Amanda, and, uh, just wanted to check and see if she's okay. I'm not saying they have to do that every single time a kid is out for one day, • but if a kid's out that second day, that should trigger something as far as a, uh, communication, • • personalized attention. • • • • We don't ever want our parents to think I can get that for free in the public school, because usually with private schools, there's a lot of things that we offer. But one of the things that we offer, almost without exception, is a smaller teacher to student ratio than the nearby public school. And so if they're expecting a certain level of personal care and attention, and we're not even coming close to that, then that's when they start to get the wandering eye. And they're looking around at either other schools that are private, that they think do a better job at this, or they're looking • • at the public school or some other option, maybe even cyber school. • • We have these opportunities, • • um, important milestones and preferences for each student, you know, making a big deal when they lose a tooth or making a big deal about birthdays, um, making a big deal when, um, the, um, mom has a baby and the second grader is now the big brother. • • These things making a big deal and celebrating. • • • And just a quick note to the family as far as an email, • • • just congratulations, you know. • • Um, and then just, you know, I've mentioned birthdays, um, you know, just something that's. That's personalized, that notices • • what they want us to know that their child is seen, right? They want us to know. They want to know that they. That their child is seen at school. And when we see their child at school, and our teachers work so hard and they do such a good job of making sure that child is seen. But if all that stays at school and there's never that level of communication so that the parent feels like their child is seen, • • • then they're not going to know and that narrative void will exist. • • • There are ways to fill that narrative void. So • • we want to give them that personalized • • attention, those personalized interactions, and then that brings us to our final way that we're going to apply the Nordstrom way to our schools, and that's create a culture of accountability. • • So, at Nordstrom, they hold their employees pretty accountable for their service, and they have high expectations. They have clear expectations. There's regular feedback from the managers about how it's going. There's conversations. They're holding them accountable. And at our school, • • • I know that sometimes that's hard because • we're so busy that it's hard to hold our teachers accountable. And we're just happy that they're doing a good job and that they're doing what they're supposed to do. • • But we need to establish • • • clear expectations for how our staff interact with the parents • and then • make sure that they're doing it. Hold them accountable. And so, for example, • • • • um, following up with teachers to make sure that they are doing the things that you agreed to do when you were in that meeting. So, you know, • • second, um, grade teacher and you and the parents of this child, there was a meeting, and then there was an action plan that was decided upon. It's your responsibility to follow up and make sure that the teacher is actually following through, because there's nothing worse than going through the discomfort of that meeting, • • • getting it done, getting people on the same page, shaking hands at the end. And it seems like we're moving forward and then maybe with good intentions, but a, um, busy, busy schedule, the teacher doesn't follow through. And now things are five times worse. And so that's one way is to make sure that we keep our promises. • But another way is to just hold your teachers accountable for the stuff that they're supposed to do with regards to parent communication. So a quick example is that at our school, the expectations are. Homework has to be posted by 04:00 p.m. every day. • • Um, the gradebook has to be updated, a minimum every two weeks. • • When you start a unit, um, there's a parent email. That's real quick. Just a paragraph. Hey, we're starting this unit. We just finished up. Blah, blah, blah. Maybe a photo or two. Really excited about this next thing that fills that narrative void about, what did you learn at school today? Nothing. What'd you do at school today? Nothing. • Did you have fun? I don't know. So that start of unit email has filled that narrative void for us. And then three times a year, because we have trimesters, it's the • • • homeroomteacher, um, • • • slash advisor sends, um, an email once a year. Three times a year. Excuse me. Once a trimester. So that's three times a year. The I get your kid the rockstar, um, email is what we call it. So, • um, • • now, those are the expectations. But it's my job to hold them accountable to make sure that they're doing those things. Because let me tell you, if they're not posting homework, that's going to cause stress at home and arguments. Well, no, I don't have homework, and I. Well, get your homework. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, whatever the expectations are • • for communication, we need to hold them accountable and make sure that they're doing a good job.
Six ways to use Nordstrom way to increase parent satisfaction at your school
Okay, so the big takeaways from today's episode. • • We're talking about the six ways to use the Nordstrom way to increase parent satisfaction. • • Number one, empower employees to make decisions. Number two, use good judgment. • Number three, surprise and delight. Number four, listen and adapt. Number five, personalize the interactions. And number six, create a culture of accountability. • • And I like to end every episode with a call to action. And so I would like for you to think • which one of these six strategies needs the most work at my school • • and then take action on one thing to make it better. • • • • So I just want to remind you • that I can help you solve your biggest problem. • • • And I'd love to work with you one on one. And a reminder that I have two coaching spots open right now. And I just, um, would encourage you to go to the privateskill leader.com coaching. Find out more about how that works. Would love to work with you.
Free guide on how to have better meetings with upset parents available at theprivatesleader
I want to give you another free gift. This one we've been talking about meetings. This one's called the seven steps to having successful meetings with upset parents. I actually think I mentioned this one earlier in the episode. • • • • This is an eleven page PDF and it gives you a step by step plan to have better meetings with the parents at your school. You know, every good teacher has a lesson plan. Every good coach has a game plan. But I think that • too many private school leaders don't have a plan when you sit down with an upset parent. Well, you have a plan now and it's at, uh, theprivateschool leader.com meeting. • Seven steps to having successful meetings with upset parents. • • • • • That's a free guide for you over at theprivateschool leader.com • • meeting. Today's show notes [email protected] episode 103 and um, I'd love to hear from you. Shoot me an email at mark dot o dot minkusmail.com. • • • um, if you could review and rate the podcast wherever you listen to it, that helps the algorithm push it out to private school leaders all over the world. We are now in 61 countries. • • Um, we just added, um, Ireland. We just added Kenya and Ethiopia. It's amazing that this, um, you know, this podcast is getting out. And the way that it does is with the algorithm. So if you write a review, that helps. And listen, I just want to say how much I appreciate you and thank you so much for taking time out of your busy week. You're doing so much for these lucky kids at your school, and I just appreciate the fact that you took some of your precious time to join me here today. And I'll see you next time right here on the private school leader podcast. And until then, always remember to serve first, lead second, and make a difference.
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