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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….

• 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
• To be the company that provides the absolute best service online.

Three Part Vision

• One day, 30% of all retail transactions in the US will be online.
• People will buy from the company with the best service and the best
selection.
• Zappos.com will be that online store.

A Shared Vision Equals Power

• The vision must be incorporated into every aspect of the organization.
• The Zappos vision is adhered to at all levels.
• Guaranteed 100% customer satisfaction with every purchase.
• Core concept is Legendary Service.

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 Importance of a Vision

Shared Vision is Key

• Centers on collective direction.
• Accomplished through empowerment, motivation and accountability.
• Maintain a proactive stance and adapt to changing situations.

Fundamentals of Zappos Shared Vision

• Mutual respect and admiration .
• Employees are an integral part of the corporate culture.
• Commitment to legendary service.
• 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

• Build a brand focused on customer
service.
• Created a higher purpose for
employees.
• Encouraged employees to become
more engaged.
• Enhanced customer service and
satisfaction with happy people.
• Company culture is priority #1.
• Customer service High-Touch
approach.
• 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 Self-
Awareness
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 • Open Mindedness

• Every one’s actions impact another

• Self-confidence
Natural Reward
• 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
• 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 Top 3 Goals by Zappos

Employees:
Designed to bring out best in
employees and business • Career Development
• Mage of Mayhem • Weight Loss
• Goals Coach • Personal Finance/ Budgeting
• Culture Evangelist
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
• Goals Coach; Philosophy of
• Career Coaching entry level to senior
leadership
• Coaching to Support
Learning • Raises tied to mastering new
skill sets
• Creating an Internal • Insight Team
Coaching Culture

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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 “Breathtaking video of birds flocking
from CEO Tony Hsieh regarding - (same principle can be used to
culture: 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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