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Tony Hsieh (prounounced shay), CEO of Zappos
I always love reading about successful entrepreneurs and CEOs of multi-million and multi-billion dollar companies.
Since I was young, I've been trying to decode the mindset of these type of people and learn how I can apply the good and chuck the bad that I glean from studying them.
Today, Mother's day (happy mothers day!), is a day that my family relaxes and spends time with each other. So my day consisted of hanging out with family and then lounging in the pool reading about the CEO of Zappos.com.
Personal Experience with Zappos:
Zappos.com is one of those websites that I love to use. I buy all my designer jeans from them both for myself and my fiance'. The reason I do is because of the amazing service. The first purchase I made, I got free overnight shipping and though it was a mistake that I got the package so quickly.
Another time, I had ordered my fiance' some diesel designer jeans which looked smokin hot. Sadly, when we got them, they just didn't fit right. I sent them back and got credit to zappos.com with no questions asked. AND I didn't even have to pay for return shipping! Awesome... 
Aftermath:
After reading about Zappos.com, they say that they do not advertise free overnight shipping on their site on purpose. It invokes a response of surprise and almost a feeling like you got a little something extra for nothing.
As I was reading that, I smiled realizing that I responded exactly how they had intended me to respond. That is the goal in marketing. You want to get into your target audiences mind to the point where you know what to do to invoke the exact response that you desire!
Reading page after page of this CEO's mindset really got me thinking. He is considered a marketing guru by many and as I began to read more, it be came increasingly evident.
Employee Training:
Another interesting thing that Zappos does is have each employee go through 4 weeks of training. After the training they are offered $2000 plus time spent training to quit. They only want people with buy-in of the company.
At first I thought of all the people who would apply and then quit in hopes of getting that "essentially" free $2000 bucks. The more I thought about it, the more I realized what a great idea it was. By offering the $2000 bonus, they offered the employees a way to create a feeling of ownership of the company; it's almost like getting initiated into a clubhouse.
Management:
Tony encourages the Managers to fool around with the employees. No, I'm not talking about that type of fooling around. 
I'm talking about just messing, joking, hanging out, relaxing, etc. In the corporate world where stress levels are high, corporate thresholds are pressed onto the workers, and there is a strict, work only policy, this company is different and is thriving because of it.
There are no scripts that customer representatives need to follow... there are no forced way of doing things. People are encouraged to be themselves.
Customer Service:
One story I read about was where a Zappos customer had purchased a set of boots for her husband. Her husband dies shortly after the purchase and the lady wants to know if she can send the boots back. The customer support representative not only allowed her to send them back but the lady received a bouquet of flowers on the day of her husbands funeral from zappos. The customer support rep had ordered them (on Zappos' account) without permission from her manager or anything.
By doing so, the lady told every single person at her funeral. Not only did they have a customer for life (however long that was! ) but also had 30-40 new customers.
Now that is how a business grows from a small start up to over $1 billion dollars per year in sales and having sales days over $3 million dollars (and I thought a $24,000 dollar day was a good record...)
The list of things that you can learn from that company are quite large and as most of us on this website are those trying to make many millions (or more) online it's a great example to look to for innovative ideas.
Enjoy your Mothers Day!
Awesome post. You know, I was thinking about one of my college professors while reading this post, she was always telling our class how much she loves Zappos. And now I understand why. She says she usually orders a shoe in a bunch of different sizes and would try them all on, and then send the ones that didn’t fit back. She told how easy and awesome it was.
Not only that, but look at how viral Zappos is. I mean, afterall, you made a post about it.
Thanks! Yea, Zappos really relies on the word of mouth and it’s working great for them…
What’s the name of the book you’re reading?
Inc + google search.
Great review!
Thanks!
@affbuzz – Its from an article in INC. Magazine I believe.
In the book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, the author mentions that as a kid you have heroes (usually athletes), but when you become an adult, you lose that. But we should have heroes in business as well. Young entrepreneurs can learn a great deal from him. As an entrepreneurs myself, he is definitely one of my business heroes.
Love that book. Great addition to the post.
Thanks
awesome business model…..just awesome.
Thanks for posting
Yea. It is pretty awesome. I want to go check out the tour they offer next time I am in vegas.
Wow thats one good business strategy. I cant explain how happy it makes me to see people going out of there way to make that lady’s day little brighter “that lost her husband”. Little things like that is what makes a company stand out from the rest. Great post Johnathan.
Thanks! Yea, I was impressed by that part quite a bit.
Can you point me in the direction where you talk about this little achievement? “$24,000 dollar day was a good record” . . . Please
I actually don’t mention it on this site and have stopped making posts about my income level simply because a lot of family and friends have found this blog. I simply don’t want people who ACTUALLY know me to know this type of information.
Also, if you’re looking to not be an “affiliate failure” I highly recommend checking out this post.
PPC Coach Review
“they say that they do not advertise free overnight shipping on their site on purpose. It invokes a response of surprise and almost a feeling like you got a little something extra for nothing.” <– Seriously slick.
Yea! And the best part about that was I was a real life example of it working. No Flog needed! HAHA
Wow, that was a great review of Zappos. I have heard a lot of good things about them, but none quiet as good as yours. I like the idea of free overnight shipping being a ’surprise’ bonus to customers, that in itself will evoke loyalty.
I like the idea that management and subordinates can have a good working relationship hanging and goofing around with one another. It does make the atmosphere lighter and less stressful. I had an office environment similar to this, and we had the best time and got our work done too.
it does help with the morale.
Your Message That is a great story on customer service. Every CEO needs to see that. To many people forget about being the customer when they reach a certain stature. I will remember the name Zappos.com and share it with everybody I know!!
Zappos is awesome I gotta say.
[...] Learn from Others – Zappos.com Jonathan Volk says that he has always enjoyed reading about successful entrepreneurs and CEOs of multimillion- and multibillion-dollar companies.He gives a rave review of Zappos. [...]
[...] Learn from Others – Zappos.com Jonathan Volk says that he has always enjoyed reading about successful entrepreneurs and CEOs of multimillion- and multibillion-dollar companies.He gives a rave review of Zappos. [...]
I have looked at many sites and not come across such a site as yours that tells everyone everything they need to know. I have added you to my bookmarks, can anyone else suggest other related topics that I can search for to find out more information?