I was lucky enough to get myself an advanced copy of Tony Hsieh’s new book, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose. Tony is CEO of the online shoe store, Zappos. I hadn’t known much about Zappos previous to reading the book so I wasn’t biased in any way. My experience went beyond the pages of the book. Midway through my reading, I placed my first order online at Zappos.com. What I experienced as an actual customer was exactly what was described to me in Delivering Happiness.
I am an avid reader when it comes to any book related to being in business or being an entrepreneur. Some are simply a bio of how a person got to where they are today. Others are more of a how-to, listing items that you can implement into your own business. This one falls somewhere in between. I always find it refreshing to learn where someone came from, learning how they went from someone like me to running a million dollar business. Tony does not linger in this area too long as he moves on to the greater approach to Zappos later in the book. Zappos is all about customer service. There are countless stories in which I highlighted throughout the book, hoping to retell in my post here. However, I now realize that there are far too many that I’ve liked to attempt to reproduce here. I will only speak from my personal experience. While placing my first order through Zappos, I simply tweeted out that I had ordered new shoes, and I was upgraded to free overnight shipping. Not only that, but I was placed in there VIP program, which entitles me to such shipping priority for future orders. I felt kind of special. I told all my friends about how easy it was to order, and that if I didn’t like my shoes, I could mail them back (with free shipping of course!). I didn’t get how they weren’t loosing money with giving me a lifetime of free shipping. Well, through the 244 pages that I continued to read, it became quite clear. Doing the little things that can actually make a customer stop and say, wow, I never would have expected someone to do that for me.
I believe that is what I got most from Delivering Happiness and the entire Zappos brand as a whole. You know what the #1 Core Value of Zappos is? Deliver WOW through service. If you want to be enlightened on how you can possibly transform your own business, pick up a copy of the book here. Even better.. as if I wasn’t wowed enough when I was sent a free advanced copy of the book just for being a blogger- I was sent two. One for me and one to give to you. Email me (jasonkoontz4@gmail.com) and I’ll send you your own copy. Tony’s words will provide insight and inspiration.. you can’t afford to pass this one up.