picture-10 Tony Hsieh, the 35 year old boss of Zappos.com, an online shoe retailer, has an ambitious goal. He aims to offer world beating customer service, no matter what industry Zappos expands into, be it shoes, hotels or airlines. So far Tony Hsieh is doing incredibly well. As other retailer suffer during the recession, Zappos just rang up a $1 billion sales.

Started in 1999, Zappos places great emphasis on company culture and core values. The company publishes a “Culture Book” annually that is made up of contributions from employees describing what the company culture means to them. The core value is to “deliver ‘wow’ through service.” These are the ten core values that Zappos employees live by:

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3.Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

Now most companies pay lip service to their values but at Zappos All employees that are hired for their corporate office, regardless of position, are required to undergo a 4-week Customer Loyalty Training course, which includes at least 2 weeks of talking on the phone with customers in the call center. Mr Hsieh describes Zappos as a “service company that just happens to sell shoes” According to his customers, he is right, there isn’t a company in the world that wouldn’t want testimonials like these:
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I’ve not bought anything yet from Zappos but intend to test them out and I’ll let you know how it turns out

Cheers Dean

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