Thank God for Grandmas and Zappos! A Tour of Zappos.com

After reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s, The Thank You Economy, I was inspired to read Tony Hsieh’s, Delivering Happiness…  After learning about Tony and how his extraordinary company, Zappos.com, offered friendly tours of the corporate headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, I knew a field trip was on the horizon.

As a result of some logistical good fortune, I was in Vegas last month with a group of dear friends from the special events, entertainment and production industry who also wanted to see this Zappos Culture that we heard and read so much about, in person.    Zappos turned out be the real deal and left our many of our heads spinning with traces of wonderment and unequivocal WOW.

In the Culture book that each guest receives at the end the tour, Thich Nhat Hanh writes, “The amount of happiness you have depends of the amount of freedom you have in your heart.”  To me, this quote encapsulates the Zappos.com mojo that fuels its uncharacteristically happy employees, appreciative customers and ridiculous numbers.  The Zappos team is given the freedom to make their workplace as comfortable as their living room, to be a little weird, to obsess over the customer- in a healthy way, to be inspired- not intimidated by the success of others, and to contribute beyond self through philanthropy and mentorship.  All of these core values, among many others, translate into daily WOW on a scale that was tough for a few of us to wrap our aspirational minds around.

Did you know it was possible to generate 12 million dollars in sales in one day?  Me neither.  Did you know that there’s a company out there that intentionally makes less profit each year so they can make the lives of their employees better instead?  Me neither.    And did you know that you can get paid to train for a job at Zappos and then get paid even more to quit if you don’t gel with the positive culture DNA that their looking for?  I did, because I read the book… but it was still impressive to hear it again nonetheless.

I’ve learned a lot about branding over the past few years.  Zappos used to be known as a shoe company. Now, even though they still sell a gazillion shoes, they are known for their exemplary company culture and their laudable level customer service.  How does this happen?  When your employees feel like this… Here’s a Culture book excerpt from Stacy H., a six year Zappos veteran;

“Coming to work at Zappos is like going to visit Grandma’s house as a kid.  You are spoiled, you have fun and get fed.  At Zappos, we get fed so much that I am convinced that I will not lose any serious weight until the day I leave.  It makes me think about the letters people write when they have to leave.  Usually it is due to moving out of state, because, well, why else would you leave Zappos?  The e-mails are sent out to the entire floor to say goodbye to their work-family.  We typically throw a mini-happy hour for the person who is leaving and demand to see them back for visits.

Our Zappos culture is more than just 10 ideas to live by, or a fun environment, or even happy customers.  It’s looking at those around you, those you will never see but hear their voice on the phone, or read their words in an e-mail, as family.  When you can see the world in this caring light, you become a better person and the joy spreads.  The Zappos culture is paying it forward to everyone that comes in contact with us.  Our vendors, our employees, our customers, and even our tours get joy out of the experience that is Zappos.  Thank God for Grandmas and Zappos!”

If you have a trip planned to Vegas and like the idea of going home with more than you came with-  do yourself, your team and your organization a favor and set up a tour.

Special thanks to Jodi Harris and Andy Ebon for setting up a day filled with joyful experiences.

As Tony likes to say, “Live in The WOW!”

 

 

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