The Leadership Blog
This leadership blog focuses on the culture at the American company Zappos. Now it should be carefully noted in the context of the story, that Zappos are primarily a shoe and clothing based company.
As a leader, what would you do, if your call centre people faced a similar scenario?
Creating An Extraordinary Culture: Zappos...
Tony Hsieh, the 36-year-old CEO of Zappos.com, the popular online shoe seller, likes to share a story that illuminates the essence of the company’s vaunted customer service.
A couple of years ago, he and some fellow Zappos executives were attending a Skechers sales conference in Santa Monica, Calif. Zappos has established cordial relationships with a number of hip shoe companies like Skechers, and socializing with vendors is not uncommon in building business relationships.
After the meetings ended, Hsieh and his Zappos colleagues went out with several Skechers sales executives and after a long night of barhopping the group made its way to the hotel where the Skechers crew was staying.
Up in one of the executive’s suites, a member of the group suggested ordering a pepperoni pizza, which she had seen on the room service menu. But it was 3 a.m., and room service no longer delivered hot food.
“She was pretty disappointed,” Hsieh recounted. “So I dared her to call the Zappos toll-free number. We all thought it would be pretty funny and a good test of our customer service.” The young woman dialed Zappos on speakerphone, as the group listened in. When the Zappos call-center rep answered, the hungry Skechers manager explained her plight without mentioning the Zappos executives sitting next to her.
The Zappos rep replied, “Please hold on.” And within two minutes, she came back on the line with the names of five pizza places in Santa Monica that were still open and would deliver pizza. The Skechers people were astounded. Hsieh was pleased but hardly surprised. What transpired was not an anomaly — it was a perfect illustration of the Zappos culture at work.
Whats Going On Here?
The company has no formal process or scripted procedure to handle such off -the-wall queries, or any of its customer calls for that matter. Instead, every call is perceived as a way to make a positive emotional connection with a customer, whether it means delivering a desired pair of shoes overnight or finding a pizza parlor in the middle of the night.
The goal is simple: Wow customers with the kind of service that will not just fill a need, but make them return again and again. Instead of being boxed in by restrictive rules of engagement, employees are mandated to help a customer in just about any way possible.
This means taking as long as necessary to complete a call, chatting socially and making every attempt to resolve a customer’s problem. Given that 75 percent of Zappos’s sales are to repeat customers, the innovative approach is proving to be sound business
The Leadership Coach's Overview
It takes guts and imagination, to give your people permission to act in this kind of way. And a set of core values that puts the interactions and humanity between people, above everything else. Look at how it works. You create a world-wide talking point because its so good!
