Bringing the Zappos Culture to Your Branches

If you're going to learn, learn from the best!  

Zappos went from a struggling start-up in 2000 to being acquired by Amazon for $1.2 billion in 2009.  And the driver to their success?  An unmatched dedication to customer service fueled by a relentless focus on a positive corporate culture.

"If we get the culture right, then everything else, including 

the customer service, will fall into place."

Tony Hsieh, 

CEO, Zappos

Hsieh is a genius.  It works for Disney, it works for Ritz-Carlton and it will work for you!  Focus on the culture.  Your competition can copy products and beat your price.  They can build more branches or out-tech you.  But if your culture rocks, they cannot take that.

We need more retail strategy in banking and the bank or credit union in your market that differentiates on culture will win the market share.  Here's how the best in the biz has done it:

ZAPPOS FAMILY CORE VALUES
1. Deliver WOW through service: To WOW, you must differentiate yourself, which means doing something a little unconventional and innovative. You must do something that's above and beyond what's expected. And whatever you do must have an emotional impact on the receiver.
2. Embrace and drive change: If you are not prepared to deal with constant change, then you probably are not a good fit for the company.
3. Create fun and a little weirdness: We don't want to become one of those big companies that feels corporate and boring. We want to be able to laugh at ourselves. We look for both fun and humor in our daily work.
4. Be adventurous, creative and open-minded: Over time, we want everyone to develop his/her gut about business decisions. We want people to develop and improve their decision-making skills. We encourage people to make mistakes as long as they learn from them.
5. Pursue growth and learning: We believe that inside every employee is more potential than even the employee himself/herself realizes. Our goal is to help employees unlock that potential. 
6. Build open and honest relationships with communication: Strong, positive relationships that are open and honest are a big part of what differentiates Zappos from most other companies. Strong relationships allow us to accomplish much more than we would be able to otherwise.
7. Build a positive team and family spirit: The best leaders are those who lead by example and are both team followers as well as team leaders. We believe that, in general, the best ideas and decisions are made from the bottom up.
8. Do more with less: While we may be casual in our interactions with each other, we are focused and serious about the operations of our business. We believe in working hard and putting in the extra effort to get things done.
9. Be passionate and determined: We value passion, determination, perseverance, and the sense of urgency.
10. Be humble: We believe that no matter what happens we should always be respectful of everyone.

Think of the power and freedom of these values.  Every single employee understands what is expected of them, every day - in customer and internal interactions.  In recruiting and hiring, candidates and employers know if Zappos is the right fit.  If you want to wear a suit and tie, fill out TPS reports all day and disappear into the woodwork to pick up a weekly check ... Zappos is not for you.  


So it's easy, right?  Just add these 10 values to your employee manual and voilà, your world will change overnight.

No so much.  What makes the Zappos brand and culture so powerful is that you CAN NOT simply slap anyone's logo on it and make it work.  Are you prepared to shave the heads of your employees?  Are you ready to have a record-long 10 hour service phone call to get it right for the customer?  Will you hire a corporate life coach?  Will your culture support a daily photo game where staff match employee photos to names so they get to better know each other?  Zappos did!  The Family Core Values are not just words on paper, but demonstrated every single day.

When you sit down to define who you are, make sure that it is unique to you.  Something that defines who you are and aspirationaly what you want to be.  And above all, it needs to be centered around the people who walk into your doors, click your website and call you every day.


Folks, this stuff works!

Zappos list of awards:

• J.D. Powers Customer Service Champion, 2011
• WGSN Global Fashion Awards - Outstanding Customer Service, 2010
• CMG Vision Award, 2010
• Innovation All-Star, Fast Company, 2010
• NRF Innovator of the Year, 2009 & 2010

We bring these marketing philosophies to credit unions and community banks nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too. Contact us to see how.

With more than 265,000 visits worldwide, we hope that you enjoy this blog.  If you find it helpful, please share it with your colleagues. Also, check out our YouTube Channel for short video blogs about financial marketing.  

MarketMatch is also a nationally and internationally requested speaker. Contact us to bring our marketing ideas to your next conference.

Here are the conferences where you can find MarketMatch.

See our story here. (click)

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937-426-9848

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Everything's Changing ... Nothing's Off Limits.

I love it when they “get it!”

Our industry is in a critical time.  With changes in banking, nothing is off limits any more:

• Stricter regulations
• Expanding competitive channels
• Technology changing at warp speed
• Consumers changing the way they, well, “consume”
• People communicate and learn in new ways

Often, we need to adapt to survive.

We met, last week, with an institution that understands just that.  Anytime we get a call to discuss branding, we need to first understand the caller’s definition of the word.  Are they looking to simply change their name and logo, or do they REALLY want to rebrand?

After meeting with these folks, they get it! 

“We know that everything needs to change … nothing is off limits.”

What’s in a Name?

We have crafted the brands for many credit unions and banks from all over the country, but we’ve only changed the name of about 2.  In fact, we rarely recommend trashing years, or decades of awareness with a rename, unless:

• There is a negative perception of the name in the marketplace.  We sometimes see this with credit unions who are still named after their core SEG – usually a company who has no corporate affiliation with the CU, but has enormous impact over the brand.
• The name is limiting.  A “Teachers” Credit Union with a community charter, for instance.  Or a community bank named after a small town long before they expanded into several new markets. 

It’s a Cultural Thing

The brand is not simply your name and logo, but EVERY aspect of the customer/member experience.  It’s the way someone feels when they walk into your front door … more importantly, how they feel when they walk out.

The brand isn’t a snappy tag line or a great color palette, it’s emotion.  It’s touchy feely.  It’s a cultural thing.

Extreme Makeover

In our meeting last week, the CEO got it.  He knew that everything is changing … so everything had to change.  

They DO need a name change.  They DO have a perception issue.  They DO need to do a better job at the point of sale.  They DO need to update the look of their branches.  They DO need to define and better understand who they are and where they’re going.  And we can help!

For more ramblings on branding, check out these links:

Branding DIY

Wake up Your Brand the Starbucks Way

Branding, It’s Not Rocket Science

4 Steps to an Authentic Brand

Branding … It’s not what you say, but what you do.

When it Rains … It Pours!

With more than 140,000 visits worldwide, we hope that you enjoy this blog.  If you find it helpful, please share it with your colleagues.  Also, check out our YouTube Channel for short video blogs about financial marketing.  

We bring these marketing philosophies to community banks and credit unions nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too.  Contact us to see how.

MarketMatch is also a nationally and internationally requested speaker.  Contact us to bring our marketing ideas to your next conference.

Here are the conferences where you can find MarketMatch.

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MarketMatch is a marketing firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the right story that will generate the greatest  MOMENTUM and prove the best RESULTS with our written ROI Guarantee.

See our story here. (click)

Chat with me LIVE! (click)

Or email me directly (click)

937-426-9848