I’ve heard about Tony Hsieh and watched his speaking engagements in Youtube. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos is an American internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist of online shoe and clothing shop Zappos. Founded in 1999, Zappos was acquired by Amazon.com in 2009.
It was only recently, that I read the book about Tony and his Zappos adventures in “Delivering Happiness”. Some of the key take out points and highlights in the book are:
- Pay new employees USD2, 000 to quit
- Focus on company culture as #1 priority
- Make customer service the responsibility of the entire company, not just department
As a service oriented company, I’m most intrigued by Customer Service culture of Zappos which is famous for “Delivering Happiness”.
The “pizza” story in the book sums up what Zappos has achieved in delivering a “Wow” customer service. The story started off with Tony and a few key suppliers attended a shoe conference out of town. After dinner and drinks till late at night, they wanted to have supper by ordering pizzas. Not knowing any pizza outlet to call in that unfamiliar town, they suggested an idea to call Zappos customer service to ask for help.
Bearing in mind that Zappos sell shoes and not pizzas, they tested Zappos Customer Service representative that answer their call the length of effort they will take in fulfilling clients request in rendering assistance in making customer delight. Though out of bound, Zappos Customer Service representative noted the request and called back after doing some research providing a list of Pizzas outlet that they can order from during that hour of the night in that unfamiliar town.
The key point from that experience is Zappos employees put in extra effort in making sure customer needs are attended to although it was beyond their responsibilities. Bear in mind, Zappos sell shoes and not pizzas. Without a doubt, Tony and his key suppliers were impressed and tummy full with the pizzas that they ordered. “Happiness Delivered”.
That is a testament of strong Customer Service culture that we need to emulate ! “Delivering Happiness” to our customers.
It is no wonder Zappos is such a successful company with such an Excellent Customer Service culture.
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