The Welcomer Edge is a business book that unlocks the secrets to repeat sales. Its principles are appropriate for all sales and service environments. It's about four distinct categories of service professionals -- the people that will make any customer service function or department a success. The author provides real life examples and anecdotes to help transform this concept into action. Welcomers are a rare breed of friendly and engaging people. Most importantly, they are innately intuitive, and understand that customers are people first. Identifying and recruiting welcomers is the key to a healthy consumer base. The book provides practical recommendations and strategies so that any company -- regardless of industry or size -- can maximize the quality of its customer service and the quantity of its loyal consumers. The book describes the four categories of frontline associates. Understanding that each category has definitive service personalities will help optimize your business at its most crucial moment: the encounter that brings two people together to make a purchase, subscribe to a service, provide praise, or raise a concern. The bottom line shows how sales and customer associates have a powerful impact on sales because they determine the outcome of the all-important first impression, and this translates into whether or not a company will achieve its most important goal: repeat business.

In Anytime, Anywhere, Robert Spector showcases the pioneering efforts of a dozen companies who are now increasing market share by combining the best of both physical and virtual worlds. From Wells Fargo to Powell's Books to the San Francisco Giants, companies in every industry are discovering that "seamless service"-integrating all elements of the customer experience with consistent messages and execution-offers a competitive edge that technology alone can never achieve.Packed with practical advice and colorful, in-depth stories from the front lines, Anytime, Anywhere shows any business how to meet, and exceed, the expectations of customers through all points of contact.

Advance praise for The Nordstrom Way

"Nobody does it better than Nordstrom. And this is the first thorough, close-up look at its service secrets. A real winner."— Tom Peters President The Tom Peters Group

"Outstanding customer service and Nordstrom's are synonymous. The innovative approach has allowed them to find out what the customers want and then do it. Their standards of service are what we all shoot for."— David D. Glass President and Chief Executive Officer Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

"Nordstrom is a national model for outstanding customer service. American business should use this book as a primer to learn how to make and keep happy, satisfied customers."— J. Willard Marriott, Jr. Chairman and President Marriott International, Inc.

"When you run a family business that includes your customers as extended family, you're unbeatable. This book outlines an American family saga that has become the admiration of the world."— Leonard A. Lauder President and Chief Executive Officer Estée Lauder Companies

"Nordstrom's business is built on one-to-one communication with the customer. Their professional salespeople bridge the gap between the designer and the consumer. The Nordstrom Way is what the '90s are all about!"— Donna Karan Designer and Chief Executive Officer Donna Karan Company

"The Nordstroms 'wrote the book' on customer service. Now we have a chance to read, chapter by chapter, how through four generations, this family has established one of the finest retail institutions in the world."— Peter Strom, Vice Chairman Polo/Ralph Lauren

When it comes to customer service, Nordstrom's standards are "what we all shoot for," declares David Glass, President and CEO of Wal-Mart. "The Nordstrom Way," marveled correspondent Morley Safer in a "60 Minutes" profile, is "not service like it used to be, but service like it never was."

What makes Nordstrom so special? What, exactly, does this retail giant do that so clearly distinguishes it from the competition? How does the Nordstrom customer service culture work? And, most importantly, what lessons can industry learn from Nordstrom's example?

The Nordstrom Way answers these questions and more. Coauthored by top Nordstrom salesman Patrick McCarthy and based on veteran journalist Robert Spector's exclusive, in-depth interviews with the Nordstrom family, senior executives, directors, and salespeople, The Nordstrom Way offers the first inside, uncensored book about this much admired— and much feared— retail powerhouse.

Working at Nordstrom is not for everyone. The authors describe a hotly competitive "Darwinian" culture where 35,000 employees are given freedom to either think and act like entrepreneurs or pass into extinction.

In the course of their analysis, the authors isolate practical lessons that readers can apply to both their professional and personal lives, including:

• Becoming "other-centered" rather than "self-centered"
• Valuing the nobility of service
• Finding and bonding with customers
• Serving and keeping those customers
• Giving frontline people the freedom to make decisions

The Nordstrom Way is a vivid, richly anecdotal chronicle of an American business success story.