Customer Service Lessons From the World's Most Customer-Centric Company

Amazon may be the most customer-centric company in the digital and brick-and-mortar world. That's because founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is laser focused on serving the needs of 164 million American customers. Why does Amazon stand out? Here are several important reasons why as well as lessons to learn.

Understand Your Customers

Amazon does not simply listen to its customers; it strives to understand them and their needs. Bezos and thousands of Amazon managers attend two days of call center training annually to teach and reinforce the concept that it is more important to not only listen to customers, but also to understand what they truly want.

Cater to Customer Needs

Bezos has said that Amazon does not focus on their competitors. Instead, the company focuses on customer needs and works backwards. That's how the Kindle came into existence. Customers wanted a tablet they could use to read books. It took a while for Amazon to perfect the technology. Lore has it that when one finance executive asked Bezos how much he was prepared to budget for the Kindle, Bezos responded, "How much do we have?"

Translate Bezos' philosophy and commitment into catering to your customers' needs. Brainstorm at your next staff meeting regarding what changes you need to implement to make your customers and their projects more successful.

The Most Important Person in the Room

In the early days of Amazon when it struggled, Bezos would bring an empty chair into meeting rooms and tell his fellow execs to pretend that a customer was sitting in that chair. Bezos wanted to emphasize that the customer should be viewed as the most important person in the room. This practices continues today to help assure that the customer is omnipresent.

100% or Nothing

Most companies the size of Amazon would be satisfied it if met its fulfillment goals 99.9% of the time. Not Jeff Bezos, who told his team they should not be satisfied until they hit 100%. Because Amazon's delivery goals are met so often, the company has created customer expectations that everyone should be able to deliver like Amazon. This is a customer mindset that needs to be addressed with every project.

Customers Own Your Brand

If customers are unhappy with product or service quality, there's nothing to prevent them from writing negative reviews on multiple social media sites or sharing their experiences on Facebook, Pinterest, Houzz, Instagram, et. al. That means decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms need to double down on service quality and respond immediately to negative reviews.

Align Your Interest With the Interests of Your Customers

Amazon's market capitalization is $98 billion higher than Costco and Target, which are also known for outstanding customer service. The primary reason for the valuation gap is Amazon's commitment to building a customer-centric company. Using data derived from customer experiences, Amazon can decide what is best for the customer and the company. In a profile in Forbes magazine, Bezos stated, "We don't focus on the optics of the next quarter; we focus on what is going to be good for customers."

Take Ownership of Mistakes

If you make a mistake, own up to it and apologize, which is exactly what Amazon did when it remotely deleted copies of "Animal Farm" and "1984" from Kindles in 2009.

Mistakes are opportunities to shine because so many companies play ostrich when something goes wrong. Most people will appreciate and forgive if you own a shortcoming and do everything in your power to make things right, even if you fall short.