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Zappos at a Glance – Provider of Choice
• What is a Zappos anyway?
• Found in 1999
• A variation of the Spanish word Zapotas which means “shoes.”
• Zappos is a service company that happens to sell shoes, clothing, handbags, eyewear,
watches and a bunch of other stuff.
• Zappos is powered by service
• Provide the best service and online shopping experience possible.
• Free shipping and return policy.
• 365-day return policy.
• Fast fulfillment .
• Expedited delivery.
• Free referral service to competitor sites.
• Best selection
• Over 1200 brands.
• Over 160,000 styles.
• Over 850,000 unique UPCs.
• Over 3 million pairs of shoes.
• Products are photographed in multiple angles.
• All products inventoried.
Zappos – Employer of Choice
If you treat your employees well they treat your customers well….
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Fun, happy atmosphere.
Life coach.
Free vending machine and dining facility.
Attract and retain top employees.
Ranked No. 6 CNN Money places to work.
Zappos – Investment of Choice
Believe in me and my business model.
• 1999.
• Founder Nick Swinmum raised $150,000 for start up.
• CEO Tony Hsieh invested $500,000.
• 2000-2008.
• Sequoia capital $48Mil.
• 100mil line of credit.
• 2009.
• Sold to Amazon.com for $1.2Bil
Power of a Vision
Zappos Vision
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To be the company that provides the absolute best service online.
Three Part Vision
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One day, 30% of all retail transactions in the US will be online.
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People will buy from the company with the best service and the best
selection.
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Zappos.com will be that online store.
A Shared Vision Equals Power
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The vision must be incorporated into every aspect of the organization.
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The Zappos vision is adhered to at all levels.
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Guaranteed 100% customer satisfaction with every purchase.
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Core concept is Legendary Service.
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Importance of a Vision
Shared Vision is Key
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Centers on collective direction.
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Accomplished through empowerment, motivation and accountability.
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Maintain a proactive stance and adapt to changing situations.
Fundamentals of Zappos Shared Vision
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Mutual respect and admiration .
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Employees are an integral part of the corporate culture.
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Commitment to legendary service.
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Remaining customer driven.
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Zappos Core Values
• Deliver WOW Through Service
• Embrace and Drive Change
• Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
• Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
• Pursue Growth and Learning
• Build Open and Honest Relationships With
Communication
• Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
• Do More With Less
• Be Passionate and Determined
• Be Humble
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Vision and Leadership
Tony Hsieh: The Visionary Leader
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Build a brand focused on customer
service.
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Created a higher purpose for
employees.
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Encouraged employees to become
more engaged.
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Enhanced customer service and
satisfaction with happy people.
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Company culture is priority #1.
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Customer service High-Touch
approach.
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Zappos is delivering happiness.
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Customer Service
Zappos Legendary Service
• 1-800 number on every Web page
• 24/7 life customer service representative
• Free shipping both ways
• 365 day return policy
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Relentless Focus on Customer Results
Blanchard
Zappos
• Ideal Service
• Handwritten “Thank you”
cards
• Culture of Service
• Customer Loyalty Training
• Attentiveness
• 24/7 Customer Service –
Blogs, Facebook, Twitter
• Responsiveness
• “We serve therefore we are.”
Christina C.
• Empowerment
• $2000 Customer Rep
allowance
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Serving Customers at a higher Level
Potential Customers
• Internal
• External
• Vendors
• Investors
Customer Experience
• Fast, Accurate Fulfillment
• Friendly, helpful “above and beyond”
customer service
• Refer customers to competitors’ web sites
Customer Reaction
• New Customers through word of mouth
• Customers come back
• Repeating Customers order more
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Serving Customers: Empower People
Zappos approaches to empower
their Employees
• No call time limits
• No sales-based performance goals for
reps
• 5 weeks of culture, core values,
customer service, and warehouse
training for everyone in Las Vegas
• Zappos Culture book
• Interviews and performance reviews are
50% based on core values and culture fit
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Self Leadership
“ If we get the culture right . Then everything else falls
into place” Tony Hsieh
Blanchard
Increase Individual SelfAwareness
Improve Behavioral
Management & Cues
Self - Goal Setting:
Personal Values &
Priorities
Self Reward & Self –
Discipline
ZAPPOS
Focus on the value &
identity of individual
employee
Self-awareness and
Innovation
Enhance scope of
creativity without reserve
Cohesive work-groups
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Self Leadership: Strategies
3 Self-Leadership Strategies
Behavior Focused
Natural Reward
• Open Mindedness
• Every one’s actions impact another
• Self-confidence
• Conviction
• Organizational Pride
• Innovative Ideas & Solutions
Constructive Thought • Create opportunities
• Positive beliefs & ways of thinking
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Self Leadership at Zappos
Sustaining the Self-leadership Culture at Zappos
• Challenge Assumed Constraints
Focus leadership training systems towards a
deeper awareness of individual personal
constraints
• Celebrate Your Power Points
A deeper understanding of power provides breadth
to expand its value
• Collaborate for Success
Engage in Supportive Leadership Training which
concentrates on emotional & behavioral elements
self-leadership
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Coaching: Pursue Growth & Learning
Hires the right people
• Entry level with mindset of
training to eventually take on
leadership position
• “On a scale of 1-10, how
lucky are you?”
• $4000 offer to leave after
training if fit is not right
Pipeline & Culture
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4 week new hire training
Answering phones
Zappos History
Zappos Culture
Science of Happiness 101
Tribal Leadership
Public Speaking
Delivering Happiness
Intermediate Microsoft Office
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Coaching Continued
Zappos Insight Team
Designed to bring out best in
employees and business
• Mage of Mayhem
• Goals Coach
• Culture Evangelist
Top 3 Goals by Zappos
Employees:
• Career Development
• Weight Loss
• Personal Finance/ Budgeting
The only way to get a raise at Zappos
is to engage in continuous learning and gain new skill sets.
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Coaching: Outside Current Employee Base
Training for college students beginning freshman
year, through internships and special workshops, so
that they are ready for Zappos when they graduate.
Zappos Insights consulting to other businesses,
including:
• 2 day quarterly boot camp, including:
• Developing Core Values
• Hiring and Firing
• Training for Leaders and Longevity
• Customer Service
• Empowerment and Engagement/Inspiring Purpose
• Leadership
• Meetings with Zappos Top Management
• Use of templates
• Online subscription to Insights Core Curriculum and blog
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Zappos Compared to 5 Applications of Coaching
Blanchard:
Zappos:
• Performance Coaching
• Unknown
• Development Coaching
• Goals Coach
• Career Coaching
• Goals Coach; Philosophy of
entry level to senior
leadership
• Coaching to Support
Learning
• Creating an Internal
Coaching Culture
• Raises tied to mastering new
skill sets
• Insight Team
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Zappos Leadership: Developing a Point of View
Main Elements
• Think About your life’s purpose, why are you here, what do you wish to
accomplish?
• What are your core values that will guide your behavior as you attempt
to live life “on purpose”?
• What can people expect from you?
• What do you expect from your people?
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Zappos Leadership: Developing a Point of View
Suggestions:
• Provide everyone with a copy of your mission, vision and values.
Adopt the mindset that these guidelines are as important as your
work values – and treat them accordingly.
• Adopt the mindset that your employees don’t work for you – you
work for them. Refer to your team members as: the people I
work for.
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Zappos Leadership: Point of View
• Tony Hsieh describes his purpose as “ Generally, I
associate drama with negative emotions, and
I want to
experience positive emotions.” His purpose is to deliver
positive emotions to others.
• Hsieh has outlined his values in the 10 Core Values for
Zappos.
• Those who work for Zappos can expect from the company
“ an environment of fun, creativity, and the ability to be a
little “weird”.
• Hsieh expects from his employees continuous efforts to
learn and improve their performance, especially under less
than ideal situations, to “do more with less”, and
importantly, humility towards customers.
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Zappos’ Culture
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Zappos’ Culture
• Zappos relocated to Las Vegas in order to obtain a workforce that was
accustomed to working 24 hours per day to deliver the standards it held itself
to.
• Zappos seeks culture fit before skills fit when hiring new employees
• Zappos uses interview questions that get at the applicant’s own core values
• Applicants are evaluated in formal and casual settings such as happy hour
with the prospective team
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Zappos’ Culture
Zappos leaders asked these four questions in order to stay on
track to culture identification:
• Do you have explicit corporate values? If so, do those values reflect a
blend of your founding principles and the evolving demands of the
marketplace? Or are they static and immutable?
• What do your customers value? How do your corporate values match
up with the wants, needs, and desires of your customers?
• Since values can be both explicit (stated) and implicit (unstated), do
your corporate actions align with your stated values? If not, what do
the major decisions of your business suggest about your company's
real values?
• How willing are you to consider revising your stated values to match
your demonstrated actions or revising your actions to match your
stated values? What might those revisions look like?
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Zappos’ Culture
The following is a Tweet on Twitter
from CEO Tony Hsieh regarding
culture:
“Breathtaking video of birds flocking
- (same principle can be used to
scale culture)”
The flocking birds are truly representative of the Zappos culture…organized
chaos creating patterns of smooth flowing processes!
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Conclusion – Is Zappos a High Performance
Organization?
Zappos is a company like no other. Having explored their
corporate structure, values, leadership attributes, and
pipeline strategy, it is clear their unique corporate culture is
what drives their success.
With low turnover and a stringent hiring policy, they create
loyalty among their employees through rigorous training.
With a firm commitment to their team, Zappos has
consistently hit their goals and lives their ten core values
with fervor and passion.
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Could it be done better?
Our Suggestions:
• Never stop improving customer service
• Managers identify gaps and help employees
improve
• Create “Supportive Leadership” program
• Don’t get spread too thin so that customers
don’t recognize the core business
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Did we convince you?
Or do you still have questions?
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