By: Konrad Baumeister

Konrad Baumeister — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:23:12 +0000

corporate celebration This book traces Tony Hsieh’s rapid progress in the business world, from callow party dweeb with a high IQ to his selling of Zappos to Amazon for north of a billion dollars. Along the way, we get some ups and downs in business startups, the hunt for money, the hunt for the secret to corporate long-term success, and some input from partners and employees along the way. Zappos’ leadership eventually decided to emphasise sterling customer service as the key to their own corporate culture, and the last third of the book – the part worth reading – covers what this means to the customer, to the employees tasked with turning it into a reality, and to the bottom line. The idea was to infuse ten larger values (with numerous sub-meanings and applications) into every aspect of every department of the company. Since Hsieh is now a billionaire or very close to it, one can say that, certainly in this case, it worked.In general the book is a very light read. It is destined to be given out to employees for free, and to serve as a sort of corporate diary and the documentation of the corporate mythology. That’s not necessarily bad, just what it is. The last few pages are a little more thoughtful, where the author tries to relate his business experience to a philosophical discussion of life, the universe and everything. This stuff might be a bit of a stretch, but it is the kind of expansive view of things one can expect from a businessman in his position and there are few business books by hugely successful authors that can resist this kind of thing.

By: D. Sanderson

D. Sanderson — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:08:12 +0000

A must-read for inspiration … plus two other suggested titles for practical implementation There has been quite a crop of customer service related books recently, as well as the classics in the field. They each have their own angle, and I’m going to use this brief review as a chance to summarize where Delivering Happiness falls in this group as well as how to complement it with a couple of other books with different approaches that make for a very well-rounded outlook in tandem.As far as [[Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose:]] I was privileged to get a galley of this much-anticipated title. It’s the story of an entrepreneur and the different paths he took (or twists in the one path, depending on how you look at it). A fascinating story, and not just because of the bezillion dollars he got selling the company to amazon. (And: how can you not like a guy who calls his warehouse WHISKY (WareHouse Inventory and Supply in Kentucky — Page 118)? Heavy emphasis on his pursuit of happiness for himself and his staff — very admirable and inspiring. If you’re looking to directly transform your customer service/customer experience, you may want to add to Tony’s inspiring autobiography some directly actionable books to help you turn his ideas into techniques you can put into practice right away — and that are highly consonant with Tony’s pro-employee, pro-customer, outlook — I suggest two books –one a classic, one that’s new this Spring — that can take care of this for you.1. The new book of the season on customer service in a social media and tech-informed context: [[]] I found “High-Tech, High Touch Customer Service” helpful (and a fun read) starting on page 1. Lots of practical, success-oriented insights for business on how to actually implement what is great about Zappos, Four Seasons, and many others, as well as hilarious insights on where companies go wrong.Where does High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service especially shine? In the way it’s up to the minute on social media, smartphones, apps, connectivity in general, and the trend toward self service, explaining in practical terms where they fit into the customer service picture and where they can be safely ignored. As someone in business, I found this absolutely invaluable — especially since it’s written in a truly non-intimidating and fun style.2. A venerable, wonderful classic: [[Customers For Life: How To Turn That One-Time Buyer Into a Lifetime Customer]] This is an older title, and a classic: how a texas cadillac dealer, of all people, mastered great customer service. Extremely simple, but never simplistic. Has inspired many business leaders since it was written. Many pages have usable, actionable insights. If you don’t have this in your library (and in your psyche) yet, why not? You can probably grab it used for next to nothing, and the wisdom is timeless enough that you hardly need the “latest revised edition” if you need to save a few dollars.

Comments on: Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

By: Konrad Baumeister

By: D. Sanderson