Extraordinary execution of a simple idea. Zappos.com
Friday, August 20, 2010 at 11:54PM In business, it's rare to come up with an amazing new idea. Usually it's the entreprenuer that executes a simple idea, amazingly, which stand out.
Shoes or footwear, have been around for thousands of years. So how did Zappos.com become the World's largest online shoe retailer in only 11 years? Simply put, they decided to become experts in delivering "Wow" customer service. Their focus was not just on selling shoes online, that wouldn't be enough. They decided that they would provide such an amazing customer service experience, that people would have no choice but to refer and recommend the service to ther friends and network using simple word of mouth.
On my current family vacation, we took an hour and toured the Zappos.com headquarters in Henderson, Nevada. It was amazing, and I suspect that if you asked my family, they would say that it was one of the highlights of our three week trip. That's really something when you consider that Zappos was competing with Universal Studios, Dodgers baseball, Las Vegas nightlife and a home with a swimming pool and one next to beautiful California beaches.
When my family walked though the Zappos offices, we marveled at what looked like complete chaos. Every cubicle was ordained with trinkets and personalized stuff. The lunchroom had free food, drinks and on that particular day, a karaoke competition set-up. The bosses sat alongside the day-to-day staff, there was a nap-room, themed boardrooms, breast-feeding rooms for new mothers, a free library of business books for employees and visitors, and employees standing around playing games. It goes on and on. Even my 16 year old daughter wondered out load, "how do they get any work done."
I don't think the answer is that simple. The idea is simple, but the execution is nothing but very disciplined committment to culture.
Zappos is famous for service, but really they should be famous for creating a culture that attracts and inspires people who want to provide great service. That's much harder.
Here are some things that they do well, and things we should be thinking about when we run our businesses:
- Call centre employees are encourage to spend MORE time on the phone with customers, instead of focusing on call productivity. They celebrate the record for the longest customer service call being over 7 hours long!
- Training is a major foundation for all Zappos employees. Each of them spend 4 weeks in training before starting their regular jobs. No matter the role. Every employee spends a week in their fulfillment warehouse learning where and how the product ships from, they spend a week on the phones answering customer phone calls, and finally they are famous for offering every employee $2000 at the end of their training to QUIT. The thought being that this is the best time to identify those who simply won't fit into the Zappos Culture. What I found most interesting was that the Zappos people who we met and who described this process, did not criticise the measly 3% of trainees who accepted this offer. It was completely OK for people to take it. According to them, speaking genuinely, not everyone is suited to their culture.
- Along the lines of training, Zappos has a strong commitment to career advancement, and in their "Pipeline" programs, provide mentoring and training for anyone looking to "move-up".
- As evidenced by our free tour, Zappos is dedicated to sharing their culture. On top of free tours of the headquarters (which on our day was attended by Senior Management of MGM Grand Hotels in one group, and regular tourists and company fans like orselves), Zappos gives away free culture books away to anyone who wants one.
- They truly appreciate and celebrate diversity and individuality in their staff. From their wildy decorated cubicles, to trusting front-line employees to make decisions on the fly, they really do understand empowerment. I have always felt that empowerement was part of the magic sauce of managment, and my short visit with Zappos staff made me see that it can make a difference.
So much has been written about this company, and I won't be able to do them justice in this already long post. But if you are obsessed with thinking about the next great idea, I would only like to suggest that it's not always the best idea that wins the day, but the best execution of a simple idea.
Some links:
- About Zappos.com (a great starting point)
- Order the Zappos.com Free Culture Book
- Buy Zappos.com CEO's new book on culture (or take the tour and get it free like we did!)
- Follow Zappos CEO Tony on Twitter
Some Photos:
Zappos.com Executive Cubicles - "Monkey Row" as they call it

The Zappos.com "Blog Bus" where employees run the Zappos Blog, YouTube channel, and other media

Business,
Customer Service,
Zappos.com in
Business,
Family and Fun 