Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos on branding through its people:
"We view our call center as a branding opportunity.
Every phone call is a branding opportunity."
Zappos is an online, Fortune 50 shoe shop. Founded in 1999, the company went from US$1.6 million in sales in 2000 to US$1 billion in 2008. In 2009, it was the highest-ranking newcomer in Fortune magazine's annual
Best Companies to Work For list (see video at 7:42) and later in the year was acquired by Amazon for more than US$1.2 billion.
One reason for Zappos' success?
HSBC Global Connections wrote, "Workers get seven weeks of training on company culture and how to make customers happy..."
(reference: Jeff Beer, Canadian Business magazine, April 18th, 2012 HSBC Global Connections)
Question to ask a company:
How many weeks does your company give to your new hires?