Never underestimate the power of making your customers feel welcome. I’m not talking about the employees who welcome patrons to the local chain store, but a real sense that the staff wants you there for more than just what’s in your wallet. It’s not easy to achieve — and it makes the case for letting human resources under the CRM umbrella — but if you can do it, you’ve got gold. Call it customer experience.

(Yes, I’m going to write about another one of my shopping experiences. You got a problem with that?)

A month or two ago, my beloved Meaghan decided she needed some nice boots for fall/winter, and we went to check out John Fluevog down in SoHo. She knew they had things in her size (she’s a tall woman, so her feet aren’t small), plus she’d had a good experience with their Boston location. The staff immediately won us over by welcoming us, engaging us in conversation (not just asking if we needed help with anything), and by not treating Meaghan like a freak because she wanted something in an 11 or 12 women’s.

I say they won us over, and I mean it. Great experiences in two locations made Meaghan a lifetime customer. Treating me well even though I wasn’t there to buy — plus seeing the great experience she had — got me to come back when I was ready. In fact, it was the only store I considered. I wanted to go back, and buying shoes felt secondary to that purpose.

The shoes, man. The image doesn't do them justice.

Yes, they have absolutely beautiful footwear. But a good product isn’t always enough. They befriended me, to the extent that I’d be pleased to see any of them socially (it turns out we all hold Barcade in common esteem). When it turned out they didn’t have what I wanted in the color I wanted, they immediately offered to send an order to another location, for delivery to wherever I wanted, free of charge. I chose to have them sent to the store so I could come back to pick them up. The place is just that good.

Readers of my column know I’m no stranger to nice clothing. Still, I’m not made of money, and this isn’t the best economic climate to be spending extra on necessaries that could be had for less. That said, I happily and unreservedly plunked down more money than I’ve ever spent on a single pair of shoes in my life. And I will do it again.

BONUS CONTENT!

For those of you who get the title of this post, and even for those who don’t, here’s the inspiration. (Vulgarity makes it NSFW, but clicky.)

Edit: Fixed (I hope) the nonfunctional video link.