Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh: Delivering Happiness

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How Weird Are You? (And Other Zappos Interview Questions)

04 min 38 sec

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01 hr 20 min 31 sec

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moldor

Posts: 1

Posted: 07.21.10, 06:04 AM

This should be required viewing for EVERY employer !!

I don't know about elsewhere in the Developed World, but here in Australia it is very VERY rare to find a company that "embraces weirdness" the way Zappos do.

In fact, it is almost impossible to find a company that actually understands what "customer service" is really all about.

It's not about blind adherence to company policy, or the "customer service script" (as happens with almost every outsourced call centre in Mumbai), nor is it about bending over and taking it from the customer.

It's about establishing a rapore with the customer, listening to their concern, problem or complaint, and then putting yourself in their shoes. "If I was calling with this problem, how would *I* expect it to be handled and what would *I* be happy with ?". And then try to resolve the problem to the benefit of both parties.

Sometimes the company has to take one for the team and might loose money by doing it. Big deal - good will and customer loyalty is almost priceless.

And it's about embracing more that wierdness, it's about embracing mistakes, and LEARNING by and from them. How many people were fired over the Zappos pricing stuff-up a few months ago on their website, a mistake that cost the company a reported $1.6M ? NOBODY !

They found out what happened, took it on the chin and made sure that the people concerned learned from that mistake, and grew from it. And it cost them a bucket of money to do that - in Australia the person(s) responsible would have been marched out the door immediately and probably sued.

You can't buy that sort of good will or employee loyalty - and I bet they have recovered that $1.6M already.

Yeah, I'd love to work for Zappos in their IT department or Customer Service - when they open up here in Australia !

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