Delivering Happiness

Deliver WOW Through Service

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At Zappos, anything worth doing is worth doing with WOW.
WOW is such a short, simple word, but it really encompasses a lot of
things. To WOW, you must differentiate yourself, which means do
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. We are not an average company, our
service is not average, and we don’t want our people to be average. We
expect every employee to deliver WOW.
Whether internally with co-workers or externally with our customers
and partners, delivering WOW results in word of mouth. Our philosophy at
Zappos is to WOW with service and experience, not with anything that
relates directly to monetary compensation (for example, we don’t offer
blanket discounts or promotions to customers).
We seek to WOW our customers, our co-workers, our vendors, our
partners, and in the long run, our investors.
Ask yourself: What are things you can improve upon in your work or
attitude to WOW more people? Have you WOWed at least one person
today?
Deliver WOW Through Service by Martha C.
In 1984, I had spent seven weeks traveling throughout Europe. By
the time I got to London, my last stop before returning to the States, I
had no money left except for my lucky US dollar and a handful of
foreign coins at the bottom of my handbag.
Thirsty, I grabbed a soda from the snack bar and read the sign:
FOREIGN MONEY ACCEPTED
. By the time I reached the front of the
register line, I had almost downed the whole can when I spotted
another sign: 
NO FOREIGN COINS. PAPER CURRENCY ONLY
. My attempt to
convince the cashier to take all my coins was futile and the last thing
I wanted to do was part with my lucky dollar.
Suddenly, the gentleman behind me reached over and paid for my
soda. I thanked him and tried giving him all my coins but he refused.
He just asked that I start doing random acts of kindness for others.

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That one incident with a stranger in the London airport stayed with
me forever.
Fast-forwarding to last Tuesday morning, 2008, I just finished
checking off my long shopping list at Walgreens and stepped up to
the register. Two people who only had a few items got in line behind
me so naturally I let them go first. When it was my turn, the cashier
was about a third of the way through my items when an older
gentleman filed in line. Two cans of peanuts, salve, and Chapstick
were in his hands.
I turned to him and asked him to give them to me. With a puzzled
look on his face, he asked why. I had completely meant to say, It’s a
random act of kindness, but instead the words “It’s a random act of
WOWness” came out of my mouth. Since working at Zappos, the
word WOW replaced kind on its own. Rather than correct what I said,
I just went with it. The cashier scanned and placed the items in a bag
and handed it to the gentleman.
He looked at me and said, “Tell me about this ‘random act of
WOWness.’ ” He listened to my story about the stranger in London,
profusely thanked me, and left the store. Now it was the cashier’s
turn to look at me strangely. He too wanted to know about “random
acts of WOWness” and I explained how I work at Zappos and one of
our core values is to WOW our customers.
Leaving that store, I had an incredible feeling. Not only did I
share WOWness, I shared it with two people and could only hope
they might pay it forward as well someday.
A few days later, on my way home from Zappos after my night
shift, I walked in to the same Walgreens at 7:00 
AM
. I had barely
stepped foot into the store when I heard, “Hi Martha.” I realized it
was the same cashier from the other day.
Surprised, I said, “I can’t believe you remember my name.” He
replied, “I wrote your name down from the credit card receipt,
because I didn’t want to forget the person that taught me about
‘random acts of WOW and kindness.’ I’ve told others about it too!”
The funny thing was, he was the one now WOWing me in return.

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