by Jenny LeeMay 13, 2010
The bar has been permanently raised. Companies like Zappos, L.L. Bean, and Amazon.com have set a new standard in customer service. There’s simply no going back, but apparently many retailers still haven’t received the memo.
I recently purchased a gift card at the clothing retailer Forever 21. When I submitted the order, I waited for my confirmation receipt via email. I waited several days but nothing came. A week passed; still no word. I logged into my account online to double check that my order was placed. The order was listed but no other information was provided.
I called the customer service center. Apparently, I missed the fine print that my order would be received within 5 to 10 business days. When I asked when it was supposed to ship, the rep replied, “I don’t have that information.” To prevent further delay, I inquired how I could change the shipping address to ensure my niece would receive her gift before graduation day. I was told, “You can’t change the order once it’s been submitted.” Even though the order hasn’t been shipped? The rep repeated, “You can’t change the order.”
With every question, I became increasingly frustrated by the customer service rep’s lack of creativity. She was clearly sticking to the rulebook and primed to say “no” with every inquiry.
I asked one final question, “Can I just cancel my order?” Finally, I got a “yes.” The customer service rep replied, “I’ll go ahead and cancel your order. Can I help you with anything else?”
No, you’ve done enough.
Forever 21 needs to take a lesson or two from Zappos. At Zappos, customer service is an art form, not a necessary evil. It’s not relegated to a specific department, but rather cultivated throughout the entire organization.
CEO Tony Hsieh understands the importance of communication and perceives the telephone as “one of the best branding devices available.” Representatives of their Customer Loyalty Team are not evaluated by length of call time or sales-based performance goals. In fact, team members are expected to ensure that the customer’s needs are fulfilled—however long it may take. If Zappos doesn’t have a specific size or style in stock, customers may be directed to competitors’ websites.
Hsieh explained, “People may not remember exactly what you did or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.” So even if a sale is lost in the moment, the investment pays off in the long run.
Forever 21 not only lost a sale, but most of all, a customer. When the bar is raised this high, who can afford to be Forever Mediocre?
by Jenny LeeApr 30, 2010
A customer returned a wallet she ordered from online retailer Zappos, but unknowingly left $150 in it.
Her search for the missing cash was resolved when she received a letter from the warehouse staff saying, “Thanks for the return! We found $150 in your wallet and thought you might want it back.”
Integrity runs high at Zappos where employees are guided to look beyond personal gain and act in service of the greater good.
CEO Tony Hsieh tells a story about a woman who ordered boots for her husband who was soon after killed in a car accident. She called the customer service line for help with the return and received a bouquet of flowers the next day.
The customer loyalty rep made the decision to order the flowers on company credit, without needing to consult with a supervisor. “At the funeral, the widow told her friends and family about the experience,” Hsieh recounted. “Not only was she a customer for life, but so were those 30 or 40 people at the funeral.”
Zappos doesn’t have specific guidelines to deal with customer service situations. Employees are encouraged to trust their judgment. Most of all, they’re empowered to make decisions from the heart.
Hsieh explains, “We’re not trying to maximize transactions. We’re trying to build a lifelong relationship with our customers.”
Now that’s an insight worth spreading.
by Scott JeffreyApr 23, 2010
The variations in different brands are as diverse as the men and women who help create them. There are, however, certain qualities all great brands possess.
The singular characteristic that all brands with loyal customers share is high integrity. After all, who would become loyal to a business if the brand were not honest, trustworthy and willing to serve?
Here are four signs that your brand possesses a high level of integrity:
1) Your brand demonstrates a willingness to genuinely serve its customers.
Great companies don’t just create meaningless slogans like “Customer Service Excellence”—they champion customer-centric values as a way of operating every aspect of their business. These businesses go beyond expectations to stand above their competitors. In addition to creating beautifully designed products, Apple supports their Mac User Groups (MUGs) as well as Genius Bar to help educate their customers on how to better use their Apple products.
2) Your brand listens to its customers on a meaningful level.
Corporate leaders of high-integrity businesses leave their comfortable offices and directly engage their customers. Sam Walton used to say, “If you don’t know what to do, go ask the customer. If it’s not happening in the store, it is not important to them.” Costco CEO Jim Sinegal apparently agrees; he visits a different Costco store every day.
3) Your brand exhibits caring awareness and a sense of community with its employees.
High-integrity businesses view their employees as family, not workhorses. Financial analysts criticize Costco for its generosity to its workforce but as CEO Jim Sinegal explains, “We’re trying to build a company that’s going to be here 50 and 60 years from now. We owe that to the communities where we do business. We owe that to our employees, that they can count on us for security.”
4) Your brand cultivates a company culture that reflects what its brand represents.
Companies like Apple, Google, Netflix and Zappos live by certain values that ignite passion in their customers. Because the company’s values are aligned with the customer’s values, customer loyal ensues. Led by CEO Tony Hsieh, Zappos has set a new standard in cultivating a customer-centric culture.
Companies with higher integrity aren’t perfect, but they never settle—they continually strive to improve their offerings and better serve their customers. Instead of playing to the competition, they create and nurture their own unique place in their customer’s hearts and minds.
by Jenny LeeMar 31, 2010
“A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than by fear.”
-Herb Kelleher
Great brands understand the importance of culture and aren’t afraid to take risks to build them. At Southwest Airlines, former Chairman and CEO Herb Kelleher made it a personal trait to hug and kiss his employees. With fears of harassment lawsuits lurking in the shadows, it’s all too easy for a company to dissuade public displays of affection.
But to Herb and other executives at Southwest, being openly demonstrative and affectionate could not come more naturally. It’s a simple yet powerful way of expressing respect, friendship, gratitude, and most of all, love.
Like Southwest Airlines, love abounds at the offices of online retailer Zappos.com. As an employee, you might visit the office of personal coach Dr. Vik, not just for career advice, but also for a hug to help you get through the day. At Zappos, employees connect to one another, first and foremost, as people.
When companies are constrained by fear, culture building is thwarted. When companies foster an environment bound by love, the culture thrives and prospers. No two companies live by this principle better than Southwest Airlines and Zappos.
by Jenny LeeMar 12, 2010
If you haven’t jumped on the Twitter bandwagon yet, there is one reason to do so: Tony.
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is a visionary leader committed to the pursuit of growth, trust, and most of all, happiness. Twitter, he acknowledges, has helped in his quest to become a better person. According to Tony’s blog, Twitter keeps him accountable to his personal values; encourages him to see life through a funnier, more positive lens; inspires him to make a positive impact on other people’s lives, and serves as a reminder to appreciate the small things in life.
Some of his tweets will make you laugh, and feel oddly yet soothingly reminiscent of “Deep Thoughts” by Jack Handey:
- Feeling pensive today and pondering life’s big questions. For example, what does Luke Skywalker do on father’s day?
- Going fishing for first time w/ board member. I think they might be taking the whole “teach a man to fish” thing too literally
- At a friend’s house and when I walked by a cactus it poked me. Personally, I find that unnecessary and a bit immature.
Others will provide a glimpse into his disarming and self-effacing sense of humor:
- At MGM for Britney Spears concert! Wait, did I really just admit that to 500k Twitter followers? I meant I’m at home reading.
- At Vegas airport. While in bathroom, I had an AMAZING revelation: Toilet seat covers are shaped exactly the same as life vests!
Others are simple and beautiful inspirational quotes:
- “Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “In the pursuit of knowledge, something is added every day. In the pursuit of enlightenment, something is dropped every day” -Lao Tzu
- Be Humble: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” – Shunryu Suzuki
Others are an amalgam of the above. My all-time favorite Tony tweet, quoting Winnie the Pooh: “If the person you’re talking to isn’t listening, be patient. Maybe he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”
Tony is a master at building relationships and cultivating community, simply by being himself. He’s found a way to use Twitter to speak to his strengths and inspire legions of followers.
Join Tony’s over 1.6 million followers at: http://twitter.com/zappos.
by Scott JeffreyMar 09, 2010
Do you think it’s possible to go from under $2 million in sales to over $1 billion in less than a decade? What would it take? How would you do it?
You can’t do it if you use common thinking. You can’t do it by throwing gobs of money at an advertising budget. (Anyone remember Pets.com?)
You have to be smart, strategic and visionary. You have to adopt core values and live by them. You have to cultivate a culture that perpetuates those values. Most importantly, you have to excite your customers and cultivate loyalty to your brand.
Online retailer Zappos, led by CEO Tony Hsieh, went from $1.6 million in sales in 2000 to over $1 billion in sales this past year. What started out as an online shoe retailer is quickly morphing into a mega-retail clothing powerhouse. How did they do it?
Zappos’s tag line “Powered by Service” says it all. Zappos’s commitment to provide the best online shopping experience has led to a series of unique decisions designed to foster customer loyalty:
- To execute hyper fast order fulfillment, their fulfillment center operates 24/7.
- To ensure consistent fulfillment execution, they house all items in their warehouse (no drop shipping from outside sources).
- To take the risk of shopping online away from their customers, Zappos offers free shipping both ways. (To my knowledge, they were the first to do so.)
- To wow their customers and add the element of surprise, (Principle #7 in Why We Talk) they upgrade most orders to overnight or two-day shipping for free.
- To meet their customers’ diverse needs, they offer a staggering selection of over 1,000 brands and over 200,000 styles.
- To truly be “Powered by Service” their customer service staff goes through a five week training on the Zappos culture, core values and customer service protocol (including sending customers to their competitor’s websites on occasion).
- To ensure friendly, helpful staff aligned with the Zappos culture, they offer new hires $2,000 after the first week of training to leave the program if it’s not a good “fit.” (According to Hsieh, this saves them money in the long run.)
- To fulfill their customer’s higher human needs, Tony Hsieh is committed to delivering happiness to his customers.
I can keep going with this list. Zappos does a lot of things right (which helps explain why Jeff Bezos/Amazon.com just bought them). All of these attributes contribute to 75% of their sales coming from repeat customers.
What are the benefits of loyalty? Retention, more repeat business and positive word of mouth (customers create new customers for you). These are the ingredients needed to achieve a 62,400% growth rate.
by Jenny LeeFeb 08, 2010
Many companies believe that fostering employee satisfaction and retention is achieved by offering stock ownership plans that help employees feel like part owners. However, as we know, a slice of the profits is just not enough.
Peter Senge, Founding Chair of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) wrote in his book, The Fifth Discipline, about the need for a shared vision in organizations. Senge writes, “One of the deepest desires underlying shared vision is the desire to be connected to a larger purpose and one another.”
At online retailer Zappos, CEO Tony Hsieh’s vision is grand and clear. Hsieh says, “At Zappos, our higher purpose is delivering happiness. Whether it’s the happiness our customers receive when they get a new pair of shoes or the perfect piece of clothing, or the happiness they get when dealing with a friendly customer rep over the phone, or the happiness our employees feel about being a part of a culture that celebrates their individuality, these are all ways we bring happiness to people’s lives.”
When your employees are aligned to a larger, shared vision, they’ll be more satisfied and loyal. When you commit to a higher purpose, you also commit to making the world a better place in the best way you know how.
For more on Zappos’s happiness philosophy, take a look at this slide show presentation delivered by Tony Hsieh at the 2009 SXSW Interactive Festival.
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