“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”
-George S. Patton

During a seminar once I heard a speaker say this, “In a retail sales environment there are four types of salespeople. The first is the ‘Passive’ type, stays in the shadows and will help you only when asked. Then there is the ‘Routine Follower’ who goes through the routine of asking you, ‘Can I help you with something?’ He is proper and courteous. The third is the ‘Complimentary’ type. She is the one who will say, ‘Oh my God, that looks great one you. Wow! That really fits you perfectly. That dress was made for you, etc.’ The fourth is the ‘Customer centric’ type. He or she will listen to your needs, take you to the right areas of the store, find you the right sizes, match clothes for you, discuss current styles, assist you in arriving at decisions and take care of your needs and help you as best as they can.”

Here is a quick chart of percentages and business each type brings in:

What would it be like if you ran into a company that found a way to hire, train and keep 100% Customer Centric employees. Well, that would be a company that did $61,000 in gross merchandising sales in 1999 and in less than 10 years, crossed the $1 Billion mark. Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to Zappos!

In December of 2009 I was in Las Vegas on a much needed vacation. It so happened that Zappos is headquartered in Las Vegas as well. I had heard and heard much about them so I decided to check them out. News stories circulated that their customer care was legendary. I called their office up and requested if I could be given a tour. I was asked politely when would I be interested in stopping by? I asked if 11 AM was doable? The customer care consultant said, “Yes!” At that point I began asking for directions and he quickly said that not to worry. The would send someone to pick me up from my hotel. Now I was not planning to buy anything and had never bought anything from Zappos before! The consultant insisted and I gave him my name, hotel I was staying at and my cell number.

At 10:45 AM I received a phone call by a young woman who said that she was going to be in the hotel driveway at 10:40 AM and described the color and make of the car. When I came out, she met me with a great smile and handed me a bottle of water. She was very enthusiastic and you could tell that she loved her job and cared about everyone.

Once we got there the first thing I noticed was a huge table with all kinds of coupons and discounts on a table where employees had left them for others to you. Inside was a wall book case full of some of the best books on marketing, customer service, happiness, customer relations, etc. I was told I could take any and once I read it to pass it on to another. If I had taken one of each it would have been 25 or 30 of them. That is $500 in FREE books. I had just bought the kindle from Amazon so I just took out a pen and paper and jotted the name of each book.

A few minutes later, Jonathan, who was going to give the tour, showed up. He gave me and a few other visitors the tour. As we passed one happy row after other of happy attorneys, legal staff, customer care consultants, marketing people, accounts people, tech people and very once else we were greeted with love and smiles. Employees would have Pom Poms and noise makers when we passed.

They even had a royalty throne in which we sat and they took a picture of me, symbolizing that they treated everyone like royalty. I was also given a Zappos culture book. We were led to the kitchen and cafeteria where we were served freshly made pancakes, sausages and butter & corn syrup. The breakfast was divine.

The whole trip was exceptional. However, I had not been able to grasp everything so I requested a second more extended trip, for which there was a $195 charge. I registered and took the same trip again the next day.

To make a long story short, the experience was magical. I was among thousands of thousands of “customer centric” people. Tony Shieh had created a truly remarkable company. It would be gentle if I said, “I was blown away by the experience!”

In 2009 Amazon, in their largest purchase ever, bought Zappos for over a Billion dollars. Here is my advise to shoppers: Shop Zappos! It’s a great experience.

What has all this got to do with being a rental agent? Everything. The only way you are going to become a TOP agent and earn 6 figures is if you become customer centric. Give 100% to your customers. Give them what they want and you will get what you want. Do not look at you customers as your next car payment or rent. Respect your client for who they are, build great rapport with them and give them the best possible service and you will see Magic begin to happen for your income and sales.

Give! Give! Give!