BatteriesInAFlash Blog » ideas http://www.batteriesinaflash.com/blog Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:01:14 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Chatting with the Professionals, Zappos http://www.batteriesinaflash.com/blog/general/chatting-with-the-professionals-zappos/ http://www.batteriesinaflash.com/blog/general/chatting-with-the-professionals-zappos/#comments Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:14:52 +0000 Avel Ureño http://www.batteriesinaflash.com/blog/?p=29 #conversation-text { background-color: #EFEFEF; padding : 0px 0px 0px 20px; } #ytext { background-color: #FFFFFF; border-left: 1px dashed #CCCCCC; padding: 0 0 0 5px; } .chat-line { padding : 0px 0px 4px 0px; } .operator-name { font-weight : bold; color : #00f; } .client-name { font-weight : bold; color : #f00; } .chat-announcement { font-style : italic; color : #060; }

BatteriesInAFlash conduct's a Live Chat Interview with Zappos Customer Service Rep, Darren

The Internet is a man made digital universe. It has no beginning and no end. It has proven that it is self evolving with the ability to make nothing into something and reduce the something into nothing. It has no happiness, fears, sympathy or remorse, the internet simply “Is”.

“HUH?”, you say. The internet grows and evolves faster than anything in this world today. It gets smarter, bigger and faster than we can calculate. Knowing this I must seek out the best of the best and challenge them for knowledge so that I may merely keep my head above water gasping at what little air I can. I decided that to do this I would begin to try to get a hold of anyone that has notably made a mark on the folds of history with a significant contribution, idea or theory and interview them via Live Chat, Twitter, Messenger or whatever acceptable social media they desire. I will be posting these from time to time when I am able to.

Live Chat Interview w/ Darren of Zappos.com

I wanted to talk with someone with Zappos to find out if they lived up to the hype with all the buzz about them and how some of their policies work for them. I was very pleased to find out that it was all true and learned some interesting information that will help influence BatteriesInAFlashes’ decisions in the future. Lets see how it went.
Chat posted with permission.

You are now chatting with Darren
Darren: Thank you for contacting Zappos.com Live Chat. My name is Darren. It is my pleasure to assist you today.
Darren: Hi Avel, how can I help today?
Avel: Well I have a few question regarding your policies
Avel: I am an internet website owner and wanted to learn a few things today.
Avel: my website is www.batteriesinaflash.com
Avel: do you have a moment
Darren: Happy to help answer any questions that I can!
Avel: Awesome
Avel: We are located in Las Vegas also and have a small showroom, 3 websites and 2 eBay stores
Avel: So I’m curious, how is it that you able to offer free shipping so easily, wouldn’t that cut into profit terribly
Darren: It’s all part of the business model, products that we carry are selected to allow profitability while still allowing for us to ship everything free. We have decided that it is important to provide simple policies that fit every item on our site rather than confuse people with different policies for different products.
Avel: makes sense. So how do you have such a liberal return policy. Its great that you offer it but don’t you find that people try to abuse it?
Darren: Very occasionally people try to abuse the return policy, but as with nearly everything, we’ve found that people tend to essentially be honest, and the majority of people don’t try to abuse it. Please keep in mind of course that you’re talking to one of the customer service representatives here, and I really can offer only my own opinions. For this kind of business inquiry, you might be better off getting in touch directly with Tony, our CEO – you can reach him via his Twitter of @Zappos.
Avel: I am going to setup a meeting with him however, you are the backbone of the customer service and your policies state that anyone is approachable. So that’s why I am conduction a live chat interview
Darren: Sure!
Avel: I wanted to know your opinions
Avel: How do you like working there
Darren: I can honestly say this is the best company I’ve worked for.
Avel: What seams to set them apart from any other company from before, besides the antics? I have been watching the videos and reading the blogs… pretty funny stuff..
Darren: It’s the culture here… for example, if you’ve been checking the website you’ve probably run across the 10 core values… that really holds true here! It’s just a totally different environment from anywhere else I’ve ever worked, and it fits my personality a lot better.
Avel: yeah I saw the 10 fundamentals and there great values to abide by… how long have you worked there?
Darren: I’ve been here about a year and a half.
Avel: Do you have a blog or anything of the sort?
Darren: Me personally? No. I tend not to put my personal life out there on the internet – I understand the technology a little too well to feel comfortable doing that.
Avel: So last question. can you pull up my website using www.biaf.com as a redirect
Avel: If you can, 2 things you like and 2 things you dislike about our site at first glance and use
Darren: I can indeed, and I don’t know about 2 things for each per se… but the website looks very similar to the layout of Newegg as far as visual styles… it also strikes me as extremely cluttered, it’s a very busy site. Having the phone numbers readily available at the top is good though.
Avel: Thank you, We are rolling out a BatteriesInAFlash ReCharged in 2 weeks and your thoughts will be heavily considered.
Darren: You’re quite welcome!
Avel: I will let you go but before I do I would like to know if I may use this chat conversation on my blog as a topic about what things can be learned from Zappos, if you like I will disclose your name
Darren: As long as you’re not taking any quotes out of context, and keep in there the fact that these are just my opinions, you’re welcome to duplicate the chat!
Avel: No I was going to use the chat as is and simply talk about my goals with learning new ideas by doing these live chat interviews
Darren: No problems then!
Avel: If you would like I will submit it to you before hand and let you approve it.
Darren: No need, I have a record of this transcript, but we do like to have a lot of transparency in our dealings. After all, our core value #6 is “Build open and honest relationships with communication.”
Avel: Ah Yes, Noted!! Have a great day Darren. Thank you for you time.
Darren: You’re so very welcome! If there’s anything more we can help with, just let us know!
Avel: ok

What I learned from Zappos

Price is not the only deciding factor in selling a product. Values set and followed help maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty. Don’t be afraid to be a little abnormal and push the envelope. So you can expect that we will be bringing you friendlier updated policies, a better website experience and fun media, blogs and more.

I still am currently seeking Tony for the one on one about what it takes to be “The Bees Knees”. So what do you say, Tony? Let’s have a sit down for lunch or a cup of coffee.

]]> http://www.batteriesinaflash.com/blog/general/chatting-with-the-professionals-zappos/feed/ 2