Jan 6, 2011

I was skeptical.

I have too many things to keep up with already.

Half the time I suck at the things I do keep up with.

I routinely fail at Twitter and checked my Google Reader and Tumblr for the first time in three months today.

Enter Quora.

I like good marketing books as much as the zombie kid likes turtles. I asked this simple question.

Now, I honestly can’t keep up. I’ve had incredible responses in minutes. Including Dave Morin, Ramit Sethi and other folks that I look up to. Minutes.

I’m getting an update notification per sentence typed in this post.

Which leads me to my main point…

I am an idiot.

I refer to myself as a dumb guy, but I honestly doubted Quora. Purely for intelligent Q&A alone… this is gold. Consider me sold, hooked, signed, sealed, delivered. This is awesome.

Now I have the best marketing and product book list there is and it is being added to as I type.

Join in with your suggestions.

Out of the blue… Sears has an incredible Zombie catalog for Halloween

Now… this is Sears we are talking about. The same Sears catalog that we probably used to pick our Christmas gifts just “rebranded” for Halloween with zombies…

Really?

This. Is. Awesome. Rock on Sears and way to come out of nowhere with this.

Check out some of the videos…

Check out all the Sears zombie goodness and you can even build your own zombie friend.

Coolest Halloween branding ever?

5 things I learned by hanging at Zappos HQ that you can apply to your company

Zappos Front Desk

When you hear Zappos… you think service. Delivering happiness is actually the new mantra and there is also NO “customer service” department. There is however, a customer loyalty department tasked with the goal of creating happy customers who will go out and spread the Zappos word to the rest of the world.

Thanks to BlogWorld, the Zappos Insights team (@zapposinsights) and the Zappos Blog team / bus, I had the opportunity of taking a tour of the Zappos HQ in Nevada with several other bloggers (@balanon, @bchesnutt, @wei_yang and others). This isn’t going to be a hip hip hooray post, but I’d like to discuss some things I’ve learned, what I plan to implement when I get back home and some other general thoughts about the company.

1. Companies are run (well or into the ground) by people.

The Zappos Shuttle

I have a little supply chain background and definitely appreciate logistical advantages… which Zappos has. But companies are run by people. If you have bad people, you have a bad company. If you have good people, you could have a good company. One person can make a big difference. Zappos puts a great deal of focus on their people.

Front line hiring makes sure that the right folks are brought into the interview process and there are plenty of questions that focus around the company’s core values. How each candidate answers those questions is extremely important. We discussed one example of a candidate that had 16 – yes SIXTEEN – interviews before joining the Zappos team. Once you join the team, the folks in your department must all approve of you. In other words, YOU FIT THEIR CULTURE.

But wait! There’s more! Every employee goes through training and is then offered a bribe (my word not theirs) of $2,000. If Zappos isn’t for you, leave with $2,000 in your pocket. For Zappos, this is a small investment to avoid a bad seed working in their company.

A mere 1 to 2% of folks take the $2,000 to leave Zappos.

Now that’s all warm and fuzzy and we all know that joining a company with great core values gives you a burst of energy and enthusiasm, but what happens when that starts to dissipate over time? Each employee has a progression plan to document their horizontal and vertical growth. There are various coaches throughout the company and even a throne (literally) where you can sit and discuss your career progression. If you aren’t doing something you are passionate about, voice it and adjust. If it doesn’t exist, make it. There is even a company goal to have a very large percentage of the leadership team being “home grown” coming through the ranks at Zappos and not always sourced from the outside.

Another cool element… an employee bookshelf with tons of awesome books (Seth Godin, Jim Collins, Chris Brogan, etc) to read to further your personal development. Want one? Just take it with you…

2. Walk the talk and be authentic.

A Typical Zappos Office Space

Making delivering happiness a tagline may get an extra customer or two. Saying it and meaning it is what creates strong customer bonds. Employees are empowered to do anything they can do to create an experience that may deliver happiness. There is even a budget for flowers and several great stories of customers dealing with tough times where Zappos has solved their issue and included flowers to show their appreciation.

A culture book is also compiled each year. Every Zappos employee shares what the company culture is doing for them – good, bad or ugly. The comments are not altered and are only edited for grammar or spelling. This is a direct indicator of what is going on in the company and allows management to read all the comments, pinpoint potential problem areas and try to identify ways to remedy any “unhappy” situations.

There is also a 360 evaluation – manager down and employee up – to get a good pulse of the work environment and additional skip meetings where a supervisor will bypass the manager to meet directly with the team and get feedback. These processes are in place to take care of their employees and to match their core values and value proposition.

3. Lead by example.

Henry poses as Tony Hsieh at his actual desk

Tony Hsieh is a multi-millionaire. He had actually sold Link Exchange before starting Zappos for over $250 million. Now imagine what kind of office he would have. A huge corner suite. Tons of windows. Massive amounts of cool trinkets. Maybe even a putting green. A super expensive comfy office chair. An incredible view of the strip. Something akin to the sweet offices we’ve seen on television and in the movies right? Well Tony sits in a cube. Beside him is another executive. They are in the middle of the floor with everyone else.

When the holiday rush comes and millions of shoes are going out the door… who fields the calls? Every. Single. Employee. Including Tony Hsieh. Everyone has a mandatory four weeks of customer loyalty calls in their “initiation” and each holiday season, everyone is on the phone to keep and make customers happy.

4. Measure what matters or metrics are meaningless.

What are you measuring for your customer support or customer satisfaction success? Call time? Call quantity? Tickets opened? Tickets resolved? Response time? Are your metrics a true indication of customer satisfaction?

Zappos has a net promoter score (NPS) and a personal service level (PSL) for each rep. The goal is to identify if customers will shop again and spread the word and to see what percentage of time is spent with customers. Which with complex deduction (or just the ability to read), we can conclude that talking to customers for a longer amount of time increases your PSL.

We discussed several 7+ hour phone calls with some resulting in no sales. How would you react if one of your direct reports was on the phone for 7 hours and didn’t make a sale? What is the ROI on that? One thing that came up several times was that the most important part of the Zappos business is the unmeasurable. Sure, we need to be market focused and results driven, but creating an added value of great service from happy folks will surely have a positive correlation on the customer experience and their likelihood to spread your company’s gospel.

5. Word of Mouth is king – internally and externally.

Are you doing things to try to create word of mouth? Most folks focus on trying to get customers or potential customers talking (externally focused), but many folks neglect finding ways to get your own employees spreading the word of your company.

When Zappos asks “how did you hear about us?” – the biggest response is friends and family.
70-78% of their business is repeat customer business.

How are you changing the game? What is your purple cow? Are you innately trying to create an experience people will rave about? If not, I fear we have some meetings we need to schedule where we all work. I love what we do with Phonebooth and I think we are on the right track, but hanging out at Zappos was the shot in the arm I needed to try to make things even better.

As my friend Scott Stratten says, “people don’t spread meh.”

Let’s stop being so ordinary and corporate. Deal?

Update: We have some new information. :)
@EpicSkin Shannon Smith

@cnmoody Hi Chris… I went to @Zappos last week too. Enjoyed your post! BTW, they offer the “on the fence” employees $3K now! Woot!

Bonus Points

Zappos has a wall of fame for folks that accidentally hit reply-to-all on their emails… a joy that I also hold near and dear to my heart.

: The Reply-to-all Wall of Fame

10 signs that your company shouldn’t use social media

Is social media right for you?

Everyone is doing it and you should too! Right? Honestly, social media isn’t a fit for everyone and there are visible signs that should alert you that you may be barking up the wrong tree. Let’s discuss 10 signs that your company shouldn’t use social media.

1. You haven’t explored social media yet.

While it is easy to immediately jump into Twitter or start a blog, you should spend some time exploring the communities. Lurk around and see what people are talking about. How can you make an impact? What can you add to the conversation? Are there people talking about what you want to talk about? Being eager is great, but be prepared before you jump.

2. You don’t have any time.

Everyone is busy, we get it. Social media isn’t a magic cure to all of your ROI needs. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes planning. It takes engagement. If you can’t sacrifice some amount of time daily towards social media, it will be very difficult to have a successfully social media strategy and an engaged community.

3. You are not in tune with your industry.

Once you get to the point where people are talking to you (this is a good thing!), you’ll eventually receive questions. It is fine to run interference and get the best answers from your resident expert, but you have to start absorbing that knowledge. If you can’t have an impromptu conversation with someone in an elevator about your industry, how can you develop a positive image in a community?

4. Your Twitter strategy is to repost blog entries.

Repurposing your content is extremely important and your blogs should be on Twitter. However, this is not a strategy. If all of your tweets are “New blog post: I’m doing this all wrong” or “New post: I don’t engage with my community” – you won’t pass the sniff test and people won’t engage with you.

5. You want immediate results.

What is the ROI of taking a client out to lunch? How many sales did you get from that round of golf with your client? Did revenue increase with the hire of your last employee? Are you even answering these questions? Analytics and measurement are extremely important. You need to have the correct KPIs (key performance indicators) to give you an idea of what is going on. At the same time, expecting to immediately see a return on social media is a bit foolish. In time, you can get there… but expecting to jump right in and sell stuff is not going to happen. Prove yourself, develop your community and add value – this will have an ROI.

6. You are not inquisitive.

Every person that I have ever met that is crushing it in social media has a natural curiosity and likes to learn new things. The idea of connecting with folks with similar interests throughout the world should be exciting. You can build new connections, form new relationships, and even connect with people that will become true friends. If this stresses you out or sounds boring… this probably isn’t for you.

7. You are not a people person.

I’m not saying you have to be an extrovert, but as mentioned above, you should want to connect with others. In order to build a community, you need to connect with people on a personal level. This is extremely evident at social media conferences and events. There is usually a correlation between the folks with large, supportive networks and the people who can carry on a conversation with someone they don’t know.

8. You don’t have management support.

In my opinion, skepticism is okay. This can give you an opportunity to get in there, figure it out, crush it, and make something positive happen. It is a story that is easy to tell and visualize. However, if management is not supportive… this makes it difficult to overcome. A pat on the back isn’t required to make social media work, but there should be an acceptance of trying something new… even if there is an initial lack of full understanding.

9. You don’t have clear goals.

What are you using social media to accomplish? How is social media helping you reach your milestones? How is social media related to your main corporate goals? Do you even have a strategy including social media? I’ll go back to the five Ps: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Plan how you can use social media to reach your goals (and hopefully better and faster).

10. You don’t ask questions.

The fastest way to learn about social media is to ask. Everyone is trying to make their impact on the world and show their expertise. Many of these people are honest, nice and helpful folks. Ask questions. Share your plan with a few influencers you trust. Get a friend to introduce you to someone who “knows social media” and brainstorm. Don’t assume that you have to figure it all out yourself. Reach out and get some feedback.

Don’t be afraid to get started!

Spend some time using social media outlets personally and find what you like and dislike. Not every network will work for you or your business, but there is no reason not to get out there and explore!

Note: @schneidermike pointed out that “you” is referred to as your brand and culture… not necessarily you as an individual. I missed spelling that out. :) Thanks Mike!

Photo credit to melodi2

How the incredible Old Spice videos are being made and a few of my favorites

How the Old Spice videos are being made If you’ve lived under a rock the last two days… you may have missed that Isaiah Mustafa (the man on a horse) is responding to individual tweets, Facebook and Youtube comments. The videos are hilarious and personal.

ReadWriteWeb just posted some insight into how the videos are being made. Check it out.

The fact that these videos are being made very close to real time is something astonishingly new. Old Spice is rapidly building a loyal community of followers by using an innovative campaign.

It will be interesting to see how long this continues and what they’ll do to follow it up.

Which video is your favorite?

A few of my favorites are below, including replies to two friends named Jason (Peck and Keath).

Response to @jasonpeck