I had a great visit last week to Zappos where I took a tour of their facility and had lunch with CEO, Tony Hsieh. We took a trip out there to see how Tony keeps his troops focused on customers as well as plugged into the mission of the company. (Especially considering that they just embarked on ten years of service and currently hold the number-one position for shoe sales on the Web.) I’ll share my takeaways on this along with a couple of additional thoughts.
I’ve never seen a company that takes so seriously its service to customers. It’s inspiring to see. Here are a few quick thoughts from my visit:
- Developing people and promoting from within is powerful for many reasons.
- The innate creativity of the human spirit can come alive across all employees in a company.
- Investors may not see the ROI right away, but it pays to invest in culture.
- Happy employees truly do create happy customers, who create happy shareholders.
I’ve shared this last point with our employees at Infusionsoft many times. It’s the heart of my leadership philosophy and it is brilliantly alive at Zappos.
For me, these takeaways were already fundamental beliefs I held before my visit to Zappos. But sometimes in the daily grind of business, we forget these things or we get challenged and we wonder whether they can survive as our companies grow. My visit to Zappos reminded me to stay true to these beliefs because not only will they enable our future success on a grand scale — they are the key to it.
Here at Infusionsoft, we treat every customer experience with sincerity and pride ourselves around when people become liberated and empowered by using our software. For the ones who might not have been thrilled, we do our best to provide value, support and clear communication to ensure every contact with our team is a great contact. With my visit to Zappos, I’m confident that we’ll be able to stay true to our commitments and deliver more than what people expect from a marketing software company.
Posted In: Live Events
