Last week, the
Entrepreneurs' Organization (NY Chapter) invited Tony Hsieh, CEO of
Zappos, to speak to its group of business owners. Although Zappos is a online retail company, it's not what Zappos is selling that has given them major media exposure (including an appearance on Oprah and being named one of
Fortune magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For) but something that translate easily to any business - great customer service. Actually great customer service is really not accurate. I think the level of service that Zappos delivers is as good as any other company in the
world.
Although Zappos is primarily known as an online shoe retailer, shoes are not what Zappos is about. As Tony mentioned at the event, Zappos has and always will be about providing excellent, "above and beyond" customer service. They even measure metrics based around customer retention, not around obtaining new customers, and always look for opportunities to provide a "wow" experience for their customers. For example, they have sometimes upgraded customer's shipping and have turned around orders within 8 hrs, much to the delight and surprise of the customer.
To be able to provide this world class level of service, Zappos doesn't skimp on training their employees. Every new hire, from management down to the mail room, goes through a training period where they spend time in the customer service department, as well as the warehouse. Zappos also allows their customer service reps - those who have direct relations with the customers - to spend as much time as they need to provide the adequate level of service. While most call centers urge short and efficient calls, Zappos employees have the freedom to, again, go above and beyond what most consumers have come to expect from online retailers. Zappos even put their phone number right on the front page, way before it became popular to do so.
Stay tuned for more tips from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.
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