What does masterful customer service mean? While everyone swears that they are the best, there is few who are. Maybe it’s because "being nice" for the client is not described in the regulations. And the strength of a really good service is its authenticity. Zappos – the online fashion store is an example of what true client-oriented strategy should be like.
The history of the brand is unique. At the end of the 1990s, Nick Swinmurn, the founder of Zappos, wanted to buy shoes. He was strolling the streets of San Francisco for many hours but he couldn’t find any interesting model. It was either a matter of the right size or the right color, etc. Finally, he returned home with empty hands, tired and irritated. After this experience, the idea of creating an online shoe store that will offer a very wide range of shoes came to his mind. He contacted Tony Hsieh with the idea of selling shoes online. Tony Hsieh decided to invest and began building the company.
The overarching goal of Zappos from the beginning was to provide the best customer service. They built a culture focused on the client, being aware that customer service is not an expense, but an investment. The client-oriented strategy is not just about building a good service. The foundation is to offer customers the best possible experience for the entire time they spend with the brand – from the moment of the first contact, through purchase/service engagement until after the transaction. The client is simply in the center of interest. In business, customers are often seen as a means to achieving profits, not as a motivator. For Zappos, this dynamic is reversed and customers become the paramount objective of the business.
The path to become a client-focused company is complex and long. The best advice is – do not be discouraged. Even the smallest changes in the approach and actions, will have tremendous benefits for everyone – company, employees and customers. Moreover, focusing on the client should be implanted every day in every department of the company, not only in the sales department. Perfect accommodation of customer expectations need to be based on authenticity where organizational culture will be conducive to building a lasting brand.
Zappos client-focused approach resonates with my experience. Some time ago, I was asked by my friend to help her improve the student organization she was in charge off. The organization’s mission was to provide tutoring sessions for students. Despite many attempts to organize tutoring sessions, there has never been enough interested participants. Based on the survey we conducted among students, we could identify the main cause which was the fact that the sessions were organized based on general assumptions rather than students’ actual needs. After changing the approach and putting the main focus on students’ needs and expectations, we were able to provide sessions crafted for them. Ever since, the organization’s main focus is directed at students, and sessions are designed to meet their needs and expectations.
Hsieh, T. (2017, January). How I built this from NPR; Zappos: Tony Hsieh. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this