zappos | Customer Service Solutions, Inc. - Page 3

Home  /  What’s Most Important: Culture v. Customer Service…the Zappos Debate  /  zappos

Familying with Customers - 10/28/25


In our transactional society, it’s hard to think about customers in the long-term.  But if we want to be as successful as we can as an individual or as a business, we need to view customers through a relationship lens. What do we need to know about them to Read more

Avoid These Techniques - 10/21/25


We had a Customer Service Tip of the Week recently that addressed gaining control of the conversation.  One of the key points was that the focus should be on gaining control of conversations in various circumstances, but trying to avoid making it your goal to gain control of the Read more

View Quality through the Customer’s Eyes - 10/14/25


Geri had been dealing with backups in the downstairs plumbing system of her house on and off for the past year.  The most recent company that she called in to unclog the pipes stated that they could send a camera down the pipes and tell her exactly where the Read more

Be Supportive, Not Defensive - 10/7/25


[An employee on the phone with a customer…] Who told you that you didn’t have to submit that form? … Bob?  Oh brother!  You see Bob is our “special” co-worker.  He seems to always tell customers the wrong thing to do, and we’re having to clean up after him.  Read more

Some Customers LOVE Predictability - 9/30/25


I was facilitating focus groups of businesses that utilize local government services.  The phrase that popped up multiple times was “Time Is Money!”  What these municipal customers were conveying was that their time was valuable, and delays were wasting their time.  But the conversations were not just about how Read more

Find Your Special Sauce - 9/23/25


When I watch a football game and I see a great quarterback (somebody who may be considered a “Star”), he might be an excellent runner, have a big arm, be able to diagnose the defense and get his team into the right play.  But he’s likely not great at Read more

Gain Control of the Conversation - 9/16/25


The customer’s angry or upset or they have a complaint.  They’re very chatty or very wordy or they just want to talk to somebody.  You’re on a time crunch, and the customer obviously is not. There are times when you need to gain control of the conversation.  It’s important for Read more

Complement with a Compliment - 9/9/25


We perform many tasks for our customers every day, and when we’re done with a step in the process, oftentimes we will tell the customer what’s been done.  But if we want to create more of a WOW experience, if we want to make the customer feel a little Read more

When Patience Begets Patience - 9/2/25


Jennifer, the server, walked toward the couple in the restaurant.  The customers had been seated for a minute or two, and they noticed the server was walking briskly toward their table.  Jennifer recognized the couple she was about to serve, because they had been in the previous week. Since the Read more

Address the Expectations that Were Set - 8/26/25


Before the caller ever got to Marco – the customer service representative, the customer had been working with the company for months.  They had read the marketing brochures, had a conversation with a sales rep, reviewed the new customer information on the website, and read all the information e-mailed Read more

•••••

What’s Most Important: Culture v. Customer Service…the Zappos Debate

Posted on September 29, 2011 in Business Advice Please leave a comment

At this week’s BoxWorks 2011 conference, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh stated that if an organization gets its culture right, that everything else – including great customer service will follow. Unfortunately, the conclusion that some in the media world have made is that culture is more important than customer service.

That conclusion is faulty, not because it’s untrue but because it’s comparing apples and oranges. Culture drives business performance. It drives the level of customer service, the quality of the product. It’s not more important than customer service or product quality; it’s a driver of them.

To the customer, product quality and customer service are more important than corporate culture. They couldn’t care less about the culture; they care about how they’re treated and the pricing and quality of the product. Now if the culture drives the product and customer service performance, that’s fine. But the customer couldn’t care less if it does. They’re concerned with what they receive, not what the company did to provide that product in a customer-friendly manner.

Think of this from the flip side. If your company is late in delivering a product, the customer cares that it was late to get to them. They don’t much care what happened internally in your organization to cause it to be late. The customer cares about the outcome.

So let’s avoid the debate of culture v. customer service. That’s irrelevant.

Now if you want to debate what’s most important to the customer – customer service v. product quality – now that’s pretty interesting. If you want to talk about what businesses truly prioritize customer service v. quality v. operational excellence (i.e., Wal-Mart), and then truly create a culture to become GREAT at their priority, then that’s a fun discussion as well.

But don’t argue about culture v. customer service. Argue for the need for both to be great.

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more at our new website! http://www.cssamerica.com/

Listen to our latest podcast episode of “Stepping Up Service” on The MESH Network at http://themesh.tv/stepping-up-service/


« Previous   1 2 3