How TUMI Designs for World-class Experiences

You might know TUMI for their stylish, ultra-functional, black-on-black ballistic nylon travel bag that you see on the streets and in airports worldwide, but they are known for much more than that.   

TUMI anchors superior quality and functionality to technical innovation and design excellence. They also provide world-class customer experiences that inspire the industry.   

Victor Sanz, Creative Director at TUMI, spoke to me on Radically Personal, a podcast where we talk to leaders of today’s most innovative brands about radically personal customer service.  

During my discussion with Victor, we chatted about what drives brand loyalty, how to provide consistent experiences anywhere in the world, and more.  

Listen to this episode on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or on the web at radicallypersonal.com.  

The customer sits at the heart of TUMI and drives their phenomenal brand loyalty. Customer-centrism motivates top-notch products, but it also requires TUMI to give exceptional support experiences when things go wrong. 

“If I have a choice at the end of the day, between buying from this brand and the other brand, I’m going to go with that brand, because of that customer experience.” - Victor Sanz, Creative Director  

Victor talks about the need to "design for failure." No matter how well one packs or plans, things go wrong. TUMI strives to design products and processes that anticipate failure so TUMI’s customer support team can get customers seamlessly back on track.  

But well-designed processes are empty without the values to inhabit them. Customer focus must be a belief shared across the company to be credible. Evolving a workforce to hold the customer as a precious possession requires persistence and discipline, and it's fundamental to TUMI's ability to provide great experiences anywhere in the world. 

Without training, cultural transformation is impossible, so TUMI creates training that connects the sales floor and customer service center. Uniform training materials ensure a unified experience for the customer no matter how they engage.  

“The salesperson on the floor at Rodeo Drive should have the same type of interaction as our Vidalia, Georgia customer service. At the end of the day, we should be able to swap both of them and they should be in that same environment with that same level of confidence, and that same level of precision, and empathy for the customer.”  - Victor Sanz, Creative Director  

Hear these things and so much more on the full episode.  

Many thanks to Victor and the rest of the TUMI team for their incredible partnership. We love watching them set the standard of excellent customer experience.    

As always, thanks for reading and do let me know what you think, and what you’d like to hear more of.  

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