Your Culture Is Your Brand

An interesting post from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh claiming culture is your brand. I agree with how you get to "the brand" but I believe more emphasis needs to be placed on the culture. Question: Can company culture be defined by an executive team, a mandate of sorts? No. In my mind it has to come from within the entire organization and in an organic sort of way, else it will seem forced or contrived. Zappos has proven "if you build it, they will come". People want to work for great companies and customers buy from great companies.

Tony's take:

So what's a company to do if you can't just buy your way into building the brand you want? What's the best way to build a brand for the long term?

In a word: culture.

At Zappos, our belief is that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff -- like great customer service, or building a great long-term brand, or passionate employees and customers -- will happen naturally on its own.

My love affair with Zappos continues...

I will say it again the best customer service I have ever had from any retail store or web site is Zappos. I came across the 10 Core Values Zappos employs the other day and thought I would list them. If every company/service followed such practices the world would be a better place.

Zappos Core Values:
1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

Any business owner should appreciate the above

Zappos- Getting to $1 Billion

Zappos is one of my favorite internet businesses. The level of customer service cannot be beat. Zappos is also starting to diversify, they are no longer just shoes. Zappos is now in the apparel business. It really makes it easy to buy apparel/shoes from Zappos because they allow free shipping on returns AND they send your purchases overnight when you select "ground" shipping. I recently heard a story of a woman who bought 20 pair of shoes. She didn't know her size so she ordered multiple sizes and styles. She returned the 17 pair that didn't fit and Zappos happily paid for the return. Zappos is truly all about the customer.

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