The Zappos Experience: 5 Principles to Inspire, Engage, and WOW


Book Description

Make every day a WOW day for your customers, your staff—and your bottom line! “In your hands is a manifesto on how Zappos completely blew away the standard of delivering a consumer-centric experience and a revolutionary company culture. Joseph helps us all understand how to achieve a little more of that Zappos magic.” —Eric Ryan, method cofounder and person against dirty “If you’re looking for an inspirational path for creating a likable, trustworthy, and wow! organization, you’ve hit the mother lode.” —Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist of Apple and author of Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions “This book provides a roadmap to a successful business by taking inspiration and examples from one of the most innovative, progressive companies of our time. Don’t just read it; use it.” —Tony Hawk, professional skateboarder and author of HAWK—Occupation: Skateboarder and How Did I Get Here? The Ascent of an Unlikely CEO “Thanks to Joseph Michelli, you can learn exactly how Zappos hit it big and how you can too. By using the five principles Joseph has distilled, you can supercharge your efforts and start down the path to legendary success.” —Mark Sanborn, President, Sanborn & Associates, Inc., and author of The Fred Factor and You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader “Often, business owners look at media darlings like Zappos with their mouths agape, full of awe but unable to take action. For those eager to do more than watch, Joseph Michelli deconstructs the Zappos story and makes it attainable.” —Seth Godin, author of Poke the Box About the Book: ZAPPOS. The name has come to stand for a new standard of customer service, an amazing online shopping experience, a great place to work, and the most impressive transformational business success story of our time. Simply put, Zappos is revolutionizing business and changing lives. Now, Joseph Michelli, author of the internationally bestselling business books Prescription for Excellence and The Starbucks Experience, explains how Zappos does it—and how you can do it in your industry. The Zappos Experience takes you through—and beyond—the playful, offbeat company culture Zappos has become famous for. Michelli reveals what occurs behind the scenes at Zappos, showing how employees at all levels operate on a day-today basis while providing the “big picture” leadership methods that have earned the company $1 billion in annual gross sales during the last ten years—with almost no advertising. Michelli breaks the approach down into five key elements: Serve a Perfect Fit—create bedrock company values Make it Effortlessly Swift—deliver a customer experience with ease Step into the Personal—connect with customers authentically S T R E T C H—grow people and products Play to Win—play hard, work harder When you enhance the customer experience, increase employee engagement, and create an energetic culture, you can’t help but succeed. Zappos has woven these five key components into a seamless strategy that’s the envy of business leaders. Now that strategy is yours. With The Zappos Experience, Joseph Michelli delivers a package for instant success right to your doorstep. All you have to do is open and use it.




The Power of WOW


Book Description

Happy customers. Passionate employees. A highly recognizable brand known for delivering on its promises. That's the power of WOW. From its birth during the Dot Com Boom in 1999 to its acquisition by Amazon in 2009, Zappos, the customer service company that just happens to sell things online, continues to turn heads with its disruptively entrepreneurial spirit and radically innovative employees. Ever unfolding throughout two decades, Zappos continues to outlive the seemingly inevitable short lifespan of the average corporate company. How do they do it? In The Power of WOW, the essential follow-up to Tony Hsieh's Delivering Happiness, Zapponians from every part of the business share powerful stories and lessons that they have learned in business and life––from delivering empathetic customer service in the face of devastating circumstances to creating a self-organized organizational structure using Market-Based Dynamics and everything in between. Fast-paced and filled with authentic, diverse voices, The Power of WOW gives readers an exclusive and immersive understanding of how one company is finding resilience. This glimpse inside the world of Zappos shows how a self-organized company is opening up avenues for passionate individuals to unleash their undiscovered strengths in the workplace and evolve the business from the inside out. Whether you are a customer, an employee, a business leader, shareholder, entrepreneur, or just happened to pick up this book, The Power of WOW will, ultimately, show how leading and infusing humanity into the workplace can change everything in your business, your community, and your life.




The Zappos Experience


Book Description




When Fish Fly


Book Description

"You can energize your people and delight your customers by modeling the fabulous ideas that come from the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market." -- Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager In this revealing business advice book, the magic of the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market proves a dynamic example of what a group of people can create when they are aligned and living a powerful vision. Here for the first time, owner John Yokoyama explains in his own words just how he transformed his business into a workplace that is renowned worldwide. When Fish Fly offers Yokoyama's cohesive strategy for achieving world famous results for owners, managers, and front-line workers alike. Once you understand the generative principles behind the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market you, too, can develop a culture that leads to excellent employee morale and legendary customer service.




Prescription for Excellence: Leadership Lessons for Creating a World Class Customer Experience from UCLA Health System


Book Description

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER! “Like any business, a hospital must be true to its core values in order to succeed. ‘Trickle-down values’ start at the top with the best leadership, so that all the stakeholders understand and carry out the institution’s mission. That is the gift that David F einberg has brought to U CLA. I am in awe of his management skills.” —Lynda Resnick, owner of Pom Wonderful, Fiji Water, Teleflora, and Wonderful Pistachios “With clear purpose, unwavering principles, and steadfast leadership, the people at UCLA have established a new bar, a compelling promise, for what healthcare can and should be.” —David M. Lawrence, M.D., former CEO, Kaiser Permanente “An absorbing and educational account of a large institution’s astonishing transformation. The strong, courageous, and focused leadership of David Feinberg and his outstanding team is evident on every page. A tremendous lesson for all large enterprises.” —William E. Simon, Jr., cochairman, William E. Simon & Sons “Most leadership authors describe how to apply common-sense principles. Michelli is a notable exception. He artfully describes the compelling, uncommon leadership practices that transformed UCLA Health System. The resulting lessons are plentiful and powerful for today’s business leader.” —Lee J. Colan, Ph.D., author of Sticking to It: The Art of Adherence About the Book: Joseph Michelli, author of The Starbucks Experience and The New Gold Standard, is among the world’s top authorities on the principles of creating an organizational culture dedicated to service excellence. In these bestselling books, he examines how leading service companies dominate their respective industries with innovative customerexperience strategies. Now, Michelli turns his attention to one of the most complex, controversial, and critical industries—healthcare. In Prescription for Excellence, Michelli provides an inside look at an organization that has become the envy of its industry—and explains how you can dominate your own industry by using the same approach. UCLA Health System is revered worldwide for its top-tier patient/customer care. Great physicians, nurses, researchers, and staff are only part of the equation; UCLA’s overall success is a result of organization-wide collaboration that is driven by leaders with a shared vision of unyielding excellence. Michelli breaks down UCLA’s approach into five simple principles: Commit to Care Leave No Room for Error Make the Best Better Create the Future Service Serves Us From administrative offices to operating rooms to research centers, continued adherence to these five principles has guided UCLA to financial strength, social significance, and sustainability. The best part is that these principles translate to any industry, so you, too, can achieve similar goals. Michelli gives you the tools to adapt UCLA’s ideas, systems, and leadership principles into your own best practices. Whether it is a healthcare organization, a financial institution, or a neighborhood hair salon, good business begins and ends with customer connection. When all workers in an organization focus on providing quality care for those they serve, success inevitably follows. Business is always personal; UCLA’s leadership ensures that this simple truth drives every UCLA employee, every day. Apply the lessons Michelli spells out in Prescription for Excellence to create a system that ensures that your people take business personally, day in and day out.




The Power of Community (PB)


Book Description

Boost engagement—and profits—by feeding your staff’s craving for communityIt seems the more connected we are through email, smart phones, and social media, the more disconnected we become on a personal, human level—and teamwork suffers tremendously. If this is happening in your company, fear not. The solution is here. The Power of Community provides a step-by-step approach to transforming your organization by tapping into the human need to connect with and feel valued by others. By creating a company culture based on core community values, you’ll empower your workforce, build customer loyalty, and drive profits and growth. This game-changing guide describes why “community” is the answer to employee disengagement—which is now at a record 70 percent—and it explains how to develop the kind of culture that makes an industry leader of your business. It takes hard work and determination, but the rewards will astound you.“When people feel like they belong to one another, when they feel cared for, and they believe that the vision is worth sacrificing for, they will go the extra mile for the company,” the author writes. This is true community, and it’s at the core of today’s most successful companies.Business leaders often tell their people, “We’re all in this together,” but very few follow through on this sentiment. Separate yourself from the pack by implementing the simple but profoundly effective methods in this book. When people feel they’re part of something bigger than themselves, they’re more collaborative, creative, and innovative—and this will always drive organizational success. Everyone wins in The Power of Community




Never Lose a Customer Again


Book Description

Award-winning speaker and business consultant Joey Coleman teaches audiences and companies all over the world how to turn a one-time purchaser into a lifelong customer. Coleman's theory of building customer loyalty isn't about focusing on marketing or closing the sale: It's about the First 100 Days® after the sale and the interactions the customer experiences. While new customers experience joy, euphoria, and excitement, these feelings quickly shift to fear, doubt, and uncertainty as buyer's remorse sets in. Across all industries, somewhere between 20%-70% of newly acquired customers will stop doing business with a company with the first 100 days of being a new customer because they feel neglected in the early stages of customer onboarding. In Never Lose a Customer Again, Coleman offers a philosophy and methodology for dramatically increasing customer retention and as a result, the bottom line. He identifies eight distinct emotional phases customers go through in the 100 days following a purchase. From an impulse buy at Starbucks to the thoughtful purchase of a first house, all customers have the potential to experience the eight phases of the customer journey. If you can understand and anticipate the customers' emotions, you can apply a myriad of tools and techniques -- in-person, email, phone, mail, video, and presents -- to cement a long and valuable relationship. Coleman's system is presented through research and case studies showing how best-in-class companies create remarkable customer experiences at each step in the customer lifecycle. In the "Acclimate" stage, customers need you to hold their hand and over-explain how to use your product or service. They're often too embarrassed to admit they're confused. Take a cue from Canadian software company PolicyMedical and their challenge of getting non-technical users to undergo a complex installation and implementation process. They turned a series of project spreadsheets and installation manuals into a beautiful puzzle customers could assemble after completing each milestone. In the "Adopt" stage, customers should be welcomed to the highest tier of tribal membership with both public and private recognitions. For instance, Sephora's VIB Rogue member welcome gift provides a metallic membership card (private recognition) and a members-only shade of lipstick (for public display). In the final stage, "Advocate," loyal customers and raving fans are primed to provide powerful referrals. That's how elite entrepreneurial event MastermindTalks continues to sell-out their conference year after year - with zero dollars spent on marketing. By surprising their loyal fans with amazing referral bonuses (an all-expenses paid safari?!) they guarantee their community will keep providing perfect referrals. Drawing on nearly two decades of consulting and keynoting, Coleman provides strategies and systems to increase customer loyalty. Applicable to companies in any industry and of any size (whether measured in employee count, revenue, or total number of customers), implementing his methods regularly leads to an increase in profits of 25-100%. Working with well-known clients like Hyatt Hotels, Zappos, and NASA, as well as mom-and-pop shops and solo entrepreneurs around the world, Coleman's customer retention system has produced incredible results in dozens of industries. His approach to creating remarkable customer experiences requires minimal financial investment and will be fun for owners, employees, and teams to implement. This book is required reading for business owners, CEOs, and managers - as well as sales and marketing teams, account managers, and customer service representatives looking for easy to implement action steps that result in lasting change, increased profits, and lifelong customer retention.




The Airbnb Way: 5 Leadership Lessons for Igniting Growth through Loyalty, Community, and Belonging


Book Description

New from bestselling author Joseph Michelli! How Airbnb has disrupted the hospitality industry for unparalleled success—critical lessons that apply to any 21st Century business No one understands better than Joseph Michelli how businesses create and leverage world-class customer experiences. Over the past decade, Michelli has guided businesses in human experience transformation and revealed how Starbucks, Zappos, Mercedes, and other top companies design and execute the strategies that made them the undisputed leaders of their industries. Now, Michelli turns his attention to major disrupter, Airbnb. In The Airbnb Way, he shows how innovative leaders have managed to build an unique brand by inspiring and engaging a community of hospitality entrepreneurs—a feat unparalleled in the shared economy. Inside, you’ll find: • Airbnb’s strategies and practices that drive customer engagement and loyalty • How to provide phenomenal customer service in the shared economy • Proven principles for getting the most from all stakeholders—including those who share resources and services • Exclusive interviews with Airbnb leaders, hosts, and guests that provide invaluable information for your business The shared economy is the future, but it introduces business challenges never before faced: How do you serve a broad range of customers across varying geographies through a distributed network of "partners? Airbnb has solved the puzzle, and Michelli shows you all the pieces—and how they fit together.




The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company


Book Description

Discover the secrets of world-class leadership! When it comes to refined service and exquisite hospitality, one name stands high above the rest: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. With ceaseless attention to every luxurious detail, the company has set the bar for creating memorable customer experiences in world-class settings. Now, for the first time, the leadership secrets behind the company's extraordinary success are revealed. The New Gold Standard takes you on an exclusive tour behind the scenes of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Granted unprecedented access to the company's executives, staff, and its award-winning Leadership Center training facilities, bestselling author Joseph Michelli explored every level of leadership within the organization. He emerged with the key principles leaders at any company can use to provide a customer experience unlike any other, such as: Understanding the ever-evolving needs of customers Empowering employees by treating them with the utmost respect Anticipating customers' unexpressed needs and concerns Developing and conducting an unsurpassed training regimen Sharing engaging stories from the company's employees--from the corporate office and hotels around the globe--Michelli describes the innovative methods the company uses to create peerless guest experiences and explains how it constantly hones and improves them. The New Gold Standard weaves practical how-to advice, proven leadership tools, and the wisdom of experts to help you create and embed superior customer-service principles, processes, and practices in your own organization.




Everyone Is an Influencer


Book Description

A stunning expose into the world of fake influencers and a guide to what it really takes to identify, become and work with real influencers who actually shape opinions and persuade millions through a combination of powerful stories and charismatic authenticity. The right story for your business, is the real story - and it needs to be powered by real people. Brand story expert Kelly Keenan demolishes the failure of fake influencers and flat, lifeless, who-cares brand stories with a proven approach for creating authentic and inspiring brand celebrations that inspire employees, friends, and followers to enthusiastically participate as influencers for your business and brand. For over a decade, Keenan and his team have used these strategies to help companies and nonprofits to transform their business and culture, achieving remarkable results. Now his proprietary strategies are laid out in step by step fashion, packed with real-life examples, tips and takeaways that any leader can put to use immediately.