“People buy from people” is one of the oldest business sayings in the book. We connect, we relate, we transact with individuals – people – not whole companies.
“People buy more from happy people” is the updated version of this classic corollary at Zappos, the wildly successful online seller of shoes and apparel. Creating and delivering happiness is at the core of everything they do. They write it, say it, and live it day in and day out.
CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh (pronounced SEE), and Jenn Lim wrote about this approach in their 2010 book Delivering Happiness. In it they talk about the art and science of hiring happy people and keeping them happy. As a result, they also have happier and more profitable customers.
Here’s one “Framework of Happiness” they identify in the book. I like it because it’s also one of the simpler ones:
- Perceived control (control of your decisions, destiny)
- Perceived progress (growing and developing)
- Connectedness (depth and breadth of relationships)
- Vision/meaning (being part of something bigger than yourself)
When people are happy they’re more productive and more pleasant. Go to 12:32 of the video below to watch Lim discuss this Framework and others. She does a nice job of laying out some good ideas.
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