Consequential Strangers

A so-called green business doesn’t just recycle or minimize its ecological footprint.  It’s also one that fosters real connections between employees, with suppliers, and between staff and customers.  It takes care of its “people.”  Business literature is rife with stories of what happens when companies care only about the financial bottom line.  See my entry about General Motors.

In contrast, the green model, which is part of the sustainability movement, is mindful of a “triple bottom line”–profit, planet, and people.  “Success” is not just about dollars and cents.  It’s also measured in terms of a company’s impact on the environment and on the people it serves–its consequential strangers.  (See “Sustainability Through a Social Lens”)

• The people piece is why Zingerman’s deli in Ann Arbor trains its employes to look customers in the eye and it’s why the store involves itself in community projects and programs. (Zingerman’s is covered in Chapter 5.)

• The people piece is why the highly successful Internet shoe retailer Zappos assembles such a diverse workforce and inspires new employees to take such good care of customers. They feel like “partners” in the business.

• And, the people piece is what prompted an unexpected union between a company that promotes beauty and a journalist who specializes in relationships.  That would be me.  The company is Lancome.   And our first date is on November 17.

Carla Posner, the manager of the tony cosmetics boutique on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, is hosting a cocktail party to raise awareness of consequential strangers–and the power of our everyday connections.  It’s part of her overall effort to turn the store into a “being space”– an environment that welcomes clients, gives us more than one reason to shop, and beckons us to become part of a mini community.*

Over the past year, Carla, an ebullient, youthful woman in her early forties, invited–among others–a Dr. Eliot Jacobs to talk about men’s health, Dr. Jerry Curatola, a dentist, to speak about maintaining your smile through proper mouth care.  She sponsored a “Pretty in Pink” event breast-cancer awareness evening. And on November 7,  there’s a reception at which Joy of Ritual author Barbara Biziou and  jewelry designer Keri Starker will discuss the “magic and color of gems.”    During the two week period prior to each event, a huge poster hangs in the window, letting passersby know who’s up next.  “I love it when my customers come in just to talk without buying anything,” says Carla.  “Those are the best moments.  That’s when you know you’ve hit a home run.”

Carla’s ahead of the curve.  To keep up with shoppers’ desire for a more personal experience*, Bloomingdales recently divvied its first-floor cosmetics department into 26 “event-driven boutiques.” There’s more space to mingle, more places to sit, and a staff that has been instructed to send thank-you notes and call up clients to see whether they’re satisfied.

It’s too soon to tell whether the 500 special events, sales promotions, and “master classes” sponsored by the makeup department will lure buyers back to Bloomingdales.  But if Lancome and other being spaces are any indication, forging real connections pays off.   Even in these tough economic times, although she’s selling a high-end product that is arguably not a vital necessity, Carla Posner says, “We are still able to be successful.”

* A note from the book:  Back in the fifties, a time when female shoppers were described without apology or irony as “housewives,” sociologist Gregory Stone identified  four types of consumers, among them the “personalizing” shopper [see this page from Chapter 5].