As promised I am going to try and bring you some highlights from PubCon 2009. Brett Tabke conference organizer said a few opening words and declared that PubCon is the best conference ever in the tech industry and not just because he is the organizer but because of the great people behind the conference. It certainly ranks up there especially for Search and Social Media Marketing.
Tony opened his keynote with a little history of how he started in the business:
- 1994 to 1995 Tony started a Pizza Biz in College with his now CFO Alfred Lin
- 1996 to 1998 Tony started LinkExchange which sold to Microsoft for $256 million
- In 1999 Tony started Venture Frogs, LLC Investment fund and invested in Zappos.com
- In 2000 Tony joined full time and remains Zappos.com CEO recently selling to Amazon.com for $1.2 billion.
Web hosting companies can learn a lot from Tony Heish and the Zappos culture and customer service excellence. I urge you to read on and explore more about the Zappos culture.
Fortune declared Zappos in the top 100 Best companies to work for in 2009 an accomplishment for which they are most proud. Zappos is more than just an online shoe store they also sell apparel and even a bit of electronics.
According to Tony, Zappos has 11 million customers and seventy percent of them are repeat customers. That is an impressive statistic that anyone in business should aspire to.
Customer Service:
- They put their 1-800 number on every page.
- They offer free shipping
- They offer free RETURN shipping
- They have a 365-day return policy for the indecisive
- Fast, accurate fulfillment
- Most customers are “surprised”-upgraded to overnight shipping to create a WOW response.
- Friendly, helpful “above and beyond” customer service.
- Occasionally direct customers to competitor’s websites because they are trying to build life-long relationships.
Surprisingly though the number 1 priority for Zappos is not Customer Service but company culture.
This is what they do internally:
- No call times, no sales-based performance goals
- 5 weeks of culture, core values, customer service and warehouse training for everyone in the Vegas office.
- They’ll pay you $2,000 to quit.
- Interviews and performance reviews are 50 percent based on core values and culture fit.
- Twitter helps to build the company culture (all of Zappos on Twitter)
- They have a Culture Book they put out once a year. They ask employees to write a few paragraphs to say what the Zappos culture means to them. It’s completely unedited so you get to see the good and bad.
Zappos Core Values:
- Deliver WOW through service
- Embrace and drive change
- Create fun and a little weirdness – they ask people in the interview process how “weird” they are.
- Be adventurous, creative and open-minded – they ask people how “lucky” they are in life. Luck is about being open to the opportunity.
- 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
Zappos is also committed to Transparency
2. Ask anything newsletter
3. Extranet for vendors
4. Tours and reporter visits
6. Zappos Insights live events – www.zapposinsights.com/live
Here are a smattering of Tweets during the @Zappos Keynote at #Pubcon
Hsieh says a positive, memorable phone interaction stays with the customer, drives repeat biz, @lauriefoley #pubcon
Hsieh of Zappos #pubcon – 50% of performance evals are about culture. Ppl sometimes fired for lack of culture fit by @rogerdooley
Zappos #1 priority is company culture EVERYONE in company trains to answer phones and help customers #pubcon #zappos by @carriehill
Tony Hsieh of Zappos: Underlying goal for most people: Happiness. Drives purchases, activities, etc. #pubcon by @rogerdooley
It doesn’t matter what your culture is or what your values are. It matters that you have them and that you commit #pubcon by @LisaBarone
Download free audio book, Tribal Leadership, on @zappos http://bit.ly/zydgV #pubcon by @blastam
I hope you bring you some more great highlights from Pubcon. View PubCon 2009 Conference Photos.
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