Delivering Happiness

This book clicked for me on a few different cylinders. It's relevant for me right now, partly because I might soon be launching an e-commerce business in the not-for-profit sector, but also because of the book's emphasis on doing good for the world through business.

Tony Hsieh co-founded an Internet startup that he was able to sell in his early twenties, netting him in the ballpark of $40 million. Quickly getting bored, however, he got involved as an investor, and later as CEO, of Zappos.com, the online shoe retailer. In the initial years Zappos struggled to earn a profit, and Hsieh sank his entire fortune (and then some) into saving Zappos. The company eventually turned profitable and was sold to Amazon.com.

Hsieh emphasizes that the reason for Zappos' success was largely due to its emphasis on a strong, but quirky corporate culture that was all about out-of-this world customer service. He and his team were able to create such a feeling of belonging that employees would do anything to serve the company and further its success. This culture of outlandish customer service, Hsieh explains, became its brand, its reason for being, and its reason for success.

Zappos' customer service is legendary. At one point in the book Hsieh speaks of daring a fellow shoe company executive to call their customer service line and anonymously ask them to order a pizza to be delivered to the hotel where they were staying. After putting them on hold briefly, the customer service rep gladly obliged. Now that's customer service!

Zappos' customer service certainly goes counter to most e-commerce businesses, which typically manage customer service as an expense to be minimized. Zappos takes the exact opposite approach. Knowing that most customers will only call customer service maybe just once in their lives (while potentially placing dozens of orders online over years of patronage), Zappos wants and needs that one phone call to generate a strong impression.

Zappos doesn't advertise their brand through traditional means; they invest all advertising funds in customer service, allowing customers to spread the word about the brand.

It works. Zappos grew organically from revenues of zero to $1 billion+ in less than ten years.

This culture of customer service has grown into a much larger mission for Zappos, which know believes its core mission is to "deliver happiness to the world". The company does everything it can to share its insights with other companies and business leaders, hoping that they will follow their lead in the pursuit of better customer service, better work cultures... i.e. a happier world.

Good to see that business and serving a larger mission can go hand in hand!