What It's Like On the Zappos Headquarters Tour

Where: 2280 Corporate Circle Suite, #100 [map], 89074

September 21, 2009 at 6:06 PM | by juliana | Comments (0)

A friend of VegasChatter did something we've been dying to do for a while--he took the Zappos.com Tour, a free behind-the-scenes look at the culture and the business of the Zappos headquarters in Henderson. Here's all that he saw. Enjoy!

The Zappos Royalty Tour
Ok, that�s not really what they call it. They actually refer to it as "an experience of the Zappos environment." I thought my name was more fitting. Where else but Zappos would you get to meet a cagillionaire, a life coach, have your photo taken wearing a crown as you sit on a royal throne, and learn how to take a company from zero to 1 billion dollars in sales in 10 years � all in 90 minutes? Needless to say, this is not your typical stodgy corporate tour.

It was actually a lot of fun, kind of like a pub crawl without the alcohol.

Our guide Ray �The Bricklayer� started the tour with a brief lesson in the history of Zappos, where we saw the shoes that inspired Zappos.com, and learned about their obsession with customer satisfaction.

He then took us through every department, from shipping to finance to fashion to marketing, describing their role in Zappos mission to provide excellent customer service. Each department was a bigger party than the last.

We were greeted by friendly faces of employees with noise makers of every kind � maracas, cow bells, kazoos, � you name it, they played it. Ray even cautiously introduced us to the viral marketing team, responsible for tweeting, blogging, and videos like this. It was pretty clear that Zappos is a company where it is OK to be yourself. They accept - dare I say encourage - weirdness.

Half way through our tour, we met Tony Hsieh, the �Head Monkey� (his term, not mine), sitting in his cubicle (yes, his cubicle. Apparently he doesn�t have my affinity for locked doors and privacy). Tony, warm and inviting, greeted us with a friendly "Hello" and "How are you guys doing?", then graciously offered us our choice of tchotchkes that he had collected over the years. I wisely chose a potato gun.

Our tour ended with a meeting with the Zappos Life Coach, Dr. Vik, who took a polaroid photo of each of us wearing a crown in the "I�m Royalty At Zappos" Throne. In addition to the Royal Photo, we also received a copy of the 2008 Zappos Culture book, written by the employees of Zappos about that it means to work at Zappos. Honestly, it�s not a bad read.

Zappos even lets you write on their wall!

Zappos.com offers three, free, 90 minute tours Monday through Thursday at their headquarters in Henderson, Nevada, which is about 15 minutes from the Strip. Keeping with their obsession with customer satisfaction, they offer a free shuttle to and from your hotel. Tours are by appointment only, visit http://tours.zapposinsights.com/ to sign up.

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