Anyone working in the past 25 years knows the story of Zappos – started by a guy who had a bad experience buying shoes at the mall. It was a company with a unique company culture, full of fun and weirdness. Back then, a purchase most often started with a phone call, and unlike just about any other company that did customer service over the phone (then or now), theirs was great. Because they put themselves in the mindset of the customer. In the ensuing 25 years, too few others have learned and followed the Zappos’ message. They showed it could be done – but it needed employees who enjoyed their work, managed by people who cared in dozens of small but important ways, and practiced the Golden Rule – threat the customer like you want to be treated. Just this week, I had to call three different companies – all 3 had answering messages that started by apologizing for “wait times impacted by unusually high call volumes”. Back when Covid started and nobody could go to work, that excuse was plausible; today it’s most likely caused by short staffing, either by design or because nobody wants to work in those poorly managed businesses. You want your business to grow and prosper, take care of your employees and they’ll take care of your guests. There’s no magic to it: happy employees make happy customers. The moral of this story – focus on making your employees happy[1]. Unfortunately, that’s a lesson too few companies seem to care about learning today.
Stephen Covey (1932 – 2012): American author (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People), businessman, educator, and speaker.
[1] Do that by (a) hiring only people who care, (b) providing training, coaching, and support, (c) listening to their concerns and giving them straight answers, (d) making sure they have what they need to do their job, (e) treating them fairly – as individuals, not numbers, (f) trusting and respecting them, (g) catching them doing things right, (f) practicing emotional intelligence, and (g) being a servant leader.
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