Bezos learned customer service from Miss. bookseller

[DuckieTigger]

August 5, 2014: Bezos learned customer service from Miss. bookseller

The real reason for Amazon's success is simply better customer service?

Later, he said he found out from a mutual friend that Bezos "had taken my customer service gestalt to heart."

[Lemurion]

Customer service matters to me, and it's one reason why I keep giving them my business.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Customer service matters to me, and it's one reason why I keep giving them my business.

Me too.

I thought it was an interesting tidbit of information. Come to think about it that was also how McDonalds got successful - by continually making their customers happy.

[jersysman]

If one running a business cannot see the CS will help their business be successful, I see an unsuccessful business in the long run.

[Mike L]

I remember reading a biography of Jeff Bezos some years ago (sorry, I don't remember the title or the author). The book related the same story about the car wash and the influence it had on Bezos.

The only (small) point in the article that's different from the book was: "When he [Richard Howorth] pressed Bezos for details on his plans, the businessman remained poker faced." According to the book, Bezos went around telling everyone in the class that he intended to open an on-line bookstore, to which everyone more or less laughed in his face.

Mike

[DuckieTigger]

And both stories may be true at the same time. What one man considers a poker face, another might see as shamelessly blurting out the truth. Especially when everybody thought it was joke.

Robert A. Heinlein — 'I do know that the slickest way to lie is to tell the right amount of truth--then shut up.'

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

And both stories may be true at the same time. What one man considers a poker face, another might see as shamelessly blurting out the truth. Especially when everybody thought it was joke.

They laughed at Icarus too

[Fluribus]

I haven't read the book. Perhaps he was too intimidated to tell the teacher his plans, but blabbed to all the students.

As for Icarus, to be fair, the look on his face when he started falling was terribly hilarious. The gigantic splash as he hit the water was also fairly funny.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by jersysman

If one running a business cannot see the CS will help their business be successful, I see an unsuccessful business in the long run.

I'm sure you can find some examples.

One counter-example is AT&T, first established, under the current name, in 1885. They are regarded by some as right at the bottom for customer service today. Yes, I remember the break-up, but the pieces did well enough for that to be no punishment at all. And going back further, for the longest time they forced you to lease their brand of phone, and wouldn't give you a straight answer on whether a party line would really have another party.

An opposite type of counter-example consists of the many long-gone local department stores that asked you if you wanted to carry your purchase, or have it delivered for free. Try that at WalMart, now about 50 years old under that name. Whether they will last as long as the Philadelphia Wanamaker's did (93 years), we don't know, but I'd be surprised if they don't have at least another 20 years in their run, and they have already exceeded the averages:

http://csinvesting.org/wp-content/up...-firms-r11.jpg

[DuckieTigger]

SteveEisenberg: But Walmart has great customer service. Maybe not the most competent people to do that for you. The no questions asked 90 day money back guarantee (even on live fish as long as you bring the corpse back) is awesome. I don't feel bad in the least to occasionally take advantage of it.

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

I'm sure you can find some examples.

One counter-example is AT&T, first established, under the current name, in 1885. They are regarded by some as right at the bottom for customer service today. Yes, I remember the break-up, but the pieces did well enough for that to be no punishment at all. And going back further, for the longest time they forced you to lease their brand of phone, and wouldn't give you a straight answer on whether a party line would really have another party.

Customer service isn't that important when your customers have nowhere else to go. That's still a problem. I can go with the phone company, the cellular company, or the cable company. None of them have good customer service.

An opposite type of counter-example consists of the many long-gone local department stores that asked you if you wanted to carry your purchase, or have it delivered for free. Try that at WalMart, now about 50 years old under that name. Whether they will last as long as the Philadelphia Wanamaker's did (93 years), we don't know, but I'd be surprised if they don't have at least another 20 years in their run, and they have already exceeded the averages:

http://csinvesting.org/wp-content/up...-firms-r11.jpg

In that case, it's more customer service than I'd normally want. If I'm there at the store, it's generally easier for me to take my purchase with me than to arrange delivery. Why would I want to pay higher prices to enable them to give me the delivery option?

When I've needed customer service, Walmart has always come through for me. In my experience, dealing with them has been easier than Target or Best Buy.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

SteveEisenberg: But Walmart has great customer service.

This is a fair criticism of my comment.

The first few WalMarts I was in -- it must have been in the 1980's -- were in almost rural areas, and excellent for what they were.

But the ones near where I now live are rather disorganized, and the wait to return items can be almost prohibitive.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

I'm sure you can find some examples.

One counter-example is AT&T, first established, under the current name, in 1885. They are regarded by some as right at the bottom for customer service today. Yes, I remember the break-up, but the pieces did well enough for that to be no punishment at all. And going back further, for the longest time they forced you to lease their brand of phone, and wouldn't give you a straight answer on whether a party line would really have another party.

Comcast is a great example nowadays. They've been having near-continuous PR disasters this month with customers releasing recorded support calls that were more like an Abbot & Costello routine than anything resembling "customer service". And yet, they're huge and make insane amounts of money, because most of their customers have no other options for broadband. I'd really take the old "Ma Bell" over Comcast, at least AT&T back then cared about the quality of the network.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Me too.

Come to think about it that was also how McDonalds got successful - by continually making their customers happy.

I don't think you'd be happy if you saw the video of the McDonalds burger dipped in the stomach acid and how it didn't digest well at all.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I don't think you'd be happy if you saw the video of the McDonalds burger dipped in the stomach acid and how it didn't digest well at all.

<YOUTUBE>

On the bright side: if you accidentally forget your McDonalds for a long time in the fridge, you can still nuke it in the microwave and it is as good as new.
What they did right was to limit their menu to a few select items and concentrate on keeping the quality of the food the same - strictly enforced - no matter which McDonalds you go to. If you go you know exactly what you are getting. You may laugh at the term quality, but it is one of the main reasons the customers are happy and why they will come back. On vacation in a different town? No problem, McDonadls is McDonadls. You get what you pay for, and with fast food you pay for convenience.