MBD is our internal term for creating a mini-economy within the four walls of Zappos to mimic what happens in the real world. Part of the reason for implementing MBD at Zappos is because the research has shown that markets are one of the primary forces that drive innovation.
Whether you consider yourself a leader, a follower, an entrepreneur, a civil servant, a homebody, or a couch potato; whoever you are, wherever you are in work or in life, I hope you’ll find that this book is written in service to you. Because it truly comes from the heart, from all of the Zappos employees you’re about to meet. And my greatest hope, their greatest hope, is that this peek into the ever-unfolding story of Zappos will WOW you—so you’ll be inspired to go out and WOW the world, too.
—Mark Dagostino
THE HEART OF THE SERVICE-MINDED CULTURE
Teri McNally
Team Leader, Customer Service
I once spent my vacation living in a working lighthouse.
It’s amazing how opening your heart changes everything.
In this case, it all started with a phone call.
“Hello?”
“Hi, this is Teri calling from Zappos.com. Is this Susan?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Hi, Susan. I believe you called into our Customer Loyalty department yesterday to let us know that most of your shoe order didn’t arrive on time as promised.”
“Yes.”
“I just wanted to call back to let you know that I reviewed that call, and I’m just so sorry for everything you and your family are going through.”
“I . . . thank you. Is there another problem with my order?”
“No, no. The rest of the shoes will arrive tomorrow. I triple-checked that they’re en route before I called you, so I just wanted to let you know that they’re definitely on the way, and I also wanted to apologize that we didn’t do more for you when you called in yesterday. I know this is a difficult time for you and your family, and I just felt like we ought to do something more, so I’ve gone ahead and credited your account for half the cost.”
“You what?”
“The shoes that were delayed will still arrive tomorrow, but I’m refunding half of your money.”
“Wow! You’re joking. That’s amazing. Why would you do that?”
“Well, after hearing why you ordered them, it seemed to me like the last thing you needed was for this shoe order to add any more stress to your life, so I just wanted to apologize for the delay and make it right if we could. So you should see that credit back on your card within forty-eight hours.”
“That’s just . . . I don’t know what to say. That’s really generous of you. I told the woman on the phone yesterday that the memorial service had to be pushed back because of the weather. So the shoes coming late isn’t even that big of a deal, so long as they get here.”
“I understand, and I’m very glad they’ll get there in time for the service. I’m just so sorry for your loss.”
Susan paused. “Thank you. I appreciate that. We’re all just so heartbroken . . .”
We’re known for striving to deliver some of the best customer service in the business, and it’s my job as a Customer Loyalty Team (CLT) lead to help make sure that continues. As such, I do spot checks of our customer service call logs to make sure that people who call in with a question or concern about something are being taken care of as they should be. I’m not sure why I happened to review that particular call that day—it truly was random—but I was immediately struck by what I heard.
One interesting challenge we have is when we hire employees with prior call center experience. We sometimes have to untrain old bad habits and encourage new employees to focus more on WOWing the customer instead of minimizing call times and costs to the company if it’s in service of a better customer experience. We have a team that audits random phone calls to look for coaching opportunities when we feel a rep provided good but not necessarily great service. One of my favorite quotes is from business author Jim Collins, who likes to say that good is the enemy of great.
Susan, this lovely woman with a Tennessee accent whom I was now on the phone with, had called in because most of her shoe order hadn’t arrived as promised. Her order was unusual: eleven pairs of Lacoste sneakers, all of them red, in all different sizes. She told our phone rep that only one of those pairs of shoes had arrived, and that this was really important to her because these red shoes were going to be worn to a funeral—a memorial service for her teenage daughter’s boyfriend, Luis.
The amazing thing is, Susan wasn’t angry about the delay. She was just frustrated—you could hear it in her voice—and rightfully so. She wanted to make sure the shoes were still coming and would be there in time for this very important day. It turned out that Tennessee, which normally doesn’t see much snow, had been hit by a major snowstorm, so a lot of planes and delivery services were shut down across the state. Our Customer Loyalty Team member explained that the shoes came from two different warehouses, and while one of the warehouses had been able to fulfill the shipment for one pair of shoes, all of the others that didn’t arrive were coming from a different warehouse that was affected by the storms. Susan understood. Things happen. She said it would be all right, and the call ended cordially.
I wanted to follow up because I felt that our representative could have been more empathetic. She was friendly. She did some research and assured Susan that her shoes were now on their way. But she didn’t offer much of an apology for the inconvenience and worry we had caused Susan and her family, and an apology certainly seemed warranted. I also thought that the shoes we had promised to deliver must’ve meant something really special to them. It wasn’t a small order. It was $845 worth of shoes! There had to be some symbolism to ordering all of those particular red shoes to wear to a funeral,