I recently ordered some shoes for my four kids online from Zappos, the shoe store.

If you wear many hats in your business like I do, you might find yourself short on time when it comes to things like shoe shopping.

You might be a bit nervous about ordering shoes online without being able to try them on, make sure they fit, make sure they’re comfortable, and so forth. I really was.

What I found when I visited the Zappos website surprised me. It’s an incredible company with some really creative ideas and solutions.

Zappos must have realized that ordering shoes without trying them on first can pose some challenges to shoe shoppers. So to compete with retail locations, Zappos has made the shopping experience easy and even pleasant.

My Zappos Experience

My parents bought a set of super cute pink, white, and black Heely’s for one of my daughters and had them shipped to us. The shoes arrived for her birthday and were a bit too small.

I called up the Zappos toll-free number, and the lady that I talked with was extremely friendly. She sounded like she was having a great day at a great job.

She emailed me a return shipping label while we were on the phone together. Then she told me that she would upgrade me to a VIP customer (understand here, that I myself had never ordered from Zappos at that point — mom had done the ordering). She sent the correct size of shoes overnight to me so that my young and disappointed daughter would have them right away.

And she did that before I even sent back the shoes that were the wrong size!

All I had to do on my end was put the shoes back in the box that they came in, print out the shipping label from my email, and drop the whole thing off at the UPS store. Zappos even paid for the return shipping!

The Heely’s arrived the next day, my girl was thrilled, and I decided to buy some shoes myself for the kids.

The Power of Being a Zappos VIP Customer

When I went online to order, I still had my VIP status. That means that when I purchase anything, it’s shipped to me overnight. Free of charge. Anything that I have to return is shipped back on the Zappos nickel, and whatever exchange I need is also shipped to me overnight free of charge.

Zappos solves a problem with the free overnight shipping policy. Retail shoppers are often have an “instant gratification” mentality, meaning that shoppers want to buy something and take it home right now. Shopping online usually means that a shopper has to wait for the order. But the Zappos overnight shipping gets the product to the shopper as fast as possible.

Choosing Shoes

I picked out the shoes for the kids using the awesome selector tools on the Zappos site. You can input choices like color, size, style, heel height, etc.

They’ve really simplified the process of looking through pages and pages of so many types of shoes. I always like tools to save my time and my eyesight!

The shoes were shipped out overnight as promised, and the kids were thrilled. The only setback was that I ordered the wrong size for my littlest one.

Another Call to Zappos

I called the toll-free number for the company, and as I listened to the computerized menu choices to get to the right department for my needs, I heard the last choice, number 5. You push number 5 to hear the joke of the day! I did actually choose 5 on the first go-round, and indeed it was the joke of the day! (I did call back the next day to see whether or not they had a new joke of the day, and they did).

While chatting with the very nice and very enthusiastic customer loyalty gal, she emailed me the return shipping label and info for the pair of shoes in the wrong size. She had the correct-sized pair sent to me overnight once again, and she suggested that I wait for that pair to get to me so that I could use the box to return the wrong pair (the box the original order came in was a big box with several pairs of shoes).

I am Now a Loyal Zappos Customer

I am now a firm believer in Zappos. They have a great selection with competitive prices, an easy-to-use website, and a really great customer loyalty team (that’s their title for that department).

What’s the Real Point?

Here’s the real point of this little story: Zappos has adopted an original business approach, finding ways to create excitement and loyalty from their customers, even though they are in a market traditionally cornered by brick and mortar retail locations.

They didn’t focus on all of the reasons that an online shoe store won’t succeed; instead they have found creative solutions for those things that looked like limitations and turned them into ways to win the customer’s loyalty.

Take a Look at Zappos Core Values:

As we grow as a company, it has become more and more important to explicitly define the Zappos core values from which we develop our culture, our brand, and our business strategies. These are the ten core values that we live by:

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

How’s that for a set of company core values?

During September, I start thinking about all of the fall activities, such as the new school year for my kids, football games, and Halloween costumes.

The summer time is often spent thinking about vacations or outdoor activities or even just plain staying cool. As the summer comes to a close, it’s time to focus once again on all of the things that seem less important than what flavor Slurpee you want to try.

Fall is Here

Along with school and football, September brings back to the forefront thoughts of marketing and business getting back in full swing once again.

Fall is here, and it’s time to focus on all of those business things that we let fall to the wayside during the summer months.

Why Wait?

If you have been thinking all year about setting up a corporation or LLC for your business, now is a great time to get it done. You still have time to take advantage of some tax savings for your business, and the investment for starting a new business entity will be a write-off for your business this year.

And if you have been waiting to start your entity to be ready for the new tax year in January of 2010, now is the time to get started. The transition of any business from a sole proprietorship to a corporation or LLC takes a bit of time; along with filing the entity, we will need to transition from the old way of doing to business to the new way of doing business, through an entity.

You may also be looking for creative ways of investing and protecting profits you will have in the business for the year. You still have time to plan for some of the available options you have for your profits.

Procrastination

Some business owners wait to take care of important details like their corporate minutes or their bookkeeping or even their marketing. Those kinds of details are much easier to maintain if you don’t get behind. So take this transition time to catch up on the details and then devise a plan for maintaining the details.

The summer is over. It’s time to dust off the old brain and get back to work.

Communicate with Your Employees: Allow your employees to speak freely about the feedback that they receive from clients. Be open to employees’ ideas on how to reduce operating expenses. Employees sometimes even have great marketing ideas. The survival of your business is important to your employees, especially in today’s job market. Your employees can be a great resource; you just have to ask and then be open to listening.

Talk to Your Customers: Take the time to call customers and ask them what your company can do to strengthen the relationship. Ask them how your company can make your product or service better for them in the future. Remember, your customers know what they want and how they want it, all you have to do is deliver exactly that. Also be sure to ask your customers for any referral business. Some companies, like NexStep Innovations, even pay customers for their referrals. Happy customers are the best lead source.

Collection Karma: Your patience with delinquent accounts will pay future dividends. As the economy improves, you will have the loyalty of those customers. Work with your customers on payment plans, and reduce or eliminate late fees. This could do wonders for the growth of your business. If you work with people through the hard times the rewards will come during economic growth.

Overhaul Products & Services: Do away with products or services that are not selling. Package products together to make them more powerful or to market a product that needs more exposure. Review all of your pricing and hard costs. Look at new products and services to offer.
Re-vamp Your Budget: When business is good we tend to forget about budgeting. Shop your vendors and their competition. Take advantage of the fact that your vendors are more motivated than ever to do business with you. Now is a great time to find deals. Look for other ways to save money, like trimming down wasteful spending. Take inventory on things like office supplies and don’t buy supplies that you don’t really need. Cut down on other expenses by planning ahead, like using ground shipping instead of overnight shipping. It all adds up.

Make Plans for the Future: Look to the future and plan for growth. Step outside the circumstances that you face today, and think about the time that is to come. Create products and services to roll out in the future. Brainstorm guidelines that your company will follow to help launch you at the initial signs of growth. Put together marketing concepts. Plan to re-launch your business.

Get Involved in Your Community: You have an unlimited amount of things that you can in your Community. Look for events to sponsor. Offer your goods and services as door prizes at community events. Get involved with the Chamber of Commerce. If you go to Church, attend regularly and know your neighbors. Volunteer.

Legal Advantages of Corporations Filed in Nevada:

· Piercing the corporate veil in Nevada requires the presence of “fraud” or “manifest injustice”. This is the highest standard for personal indemnification available. NRS 78.138 (7)

· Charging order protection for stock of closely-held corporations protects stockholders of all Nevada corporations with between 2 and 75 shareholders. Nevada is the first – and only – state to offer this level of shareholder protection! NRS 78.746

· Nevada’s charging order protection statute protects S corporations from losing their federal S election in the event of a judgment against a shareholder. This prevents potentially significant negative tax consequences. NRS 78.746

· Corporate directors have greater flexibility in consenting to corporate actions. NRS 78.115 – 78.140

· Reinstatement of entities has the legal impact as if the corporation had always been in good standing, thus preserving the corporate veil. NRS 78.180(5)

· Dissenting shareholders prohibited from voting shares or receiving dividends in certain circumstances. NRS 92A.380(3)

· Stock transfer agents are required to be licensed, ensuring high ethical standards. NRS 90.310

· A corporation may elect to renounce specific business opportunities. NRS 78.070(8)

· Articles of incorporation may require more than a plurality of votes cast by stockholders in order to elect directors, if desired. NRS 78.115 – 78.130

· Restated articles of incorporation do not need an accompanying resolution upon filing. NRS 78.403

· Corporate revival procedures are simple. NRS 78.730

· Efficient, predictable Business Court minimizes the costs and risks of business litigation.

· Amendments may be filed with delayed effective dates. NRS 78.380, 78.390 and 78.403

· Entities formed in other states may be converted in Nevada entities so they can have the same advantages and flexibility. NRS 92A.195 and 92A.205

Legal Advantages of LLCs Filed in Nevada:

· The charging order is the sole remedy of the creditor of a member, preventing foreclosure of the membership interest and protecting other members from adverse economic impacts. NRS 86.401

· Professional LLCs are allowed. NRS 89.040

· Series LLCs are allowed. NRS 86.1255, NRS 86.161(1)(e)

· Indemnification of members or managers of LLCs has been increased to offer greater statutory separation between the entity and the individual. NRS 86.411 – 86.451

· Operating agreements adopted after filing the articles may be enforced. NRS 86.286

· Non-economic members may bring an action on behalf of the LLC. NRS 86.483

· Perpetual life of an LLC is allowed. NRS 86.155

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