1. Act Upon Risk
There is a common misunderstanding within businesses that usually affect their potential revenue. Many businesses shy away from the idea of risk, although the positive outcome may have been a game changer for the company and industry. Many businesses tend to think with a risk averse view. This way of thinking leads to “analysis paralysis” and inaction.
Bezos is definitely not one to fall into this trap. He is well aware of all the potential consequences of a risk yet he does not mind:
“If you decide that you’re going to do only the things you know are going to work, you’re going to leave a lot of opportunity on the table.”
Jeff Bezos; Founder & Former CEO of Amazon
2. Never Stop Experimenting
Most industry leaders and experts will agree that experimentation is absolutely imperative to a successful business. This is the birth of innovative ideas, which showcases the best of business competition with businesses rising or falling within a small period of time.
High performing companies like Amazon and Google do a lot of experiments, with Google Lab being the location for many of these. Even sports teams have to experiment to find the perfect chemistry between players etc.
3. Think Long Term
Bezos focuses on long term effects. When the Amazon founder was asked if he is aware of his revenue growth, he replied saying:
“I’m thinking a few years out. I’ve already forgotten those numbers.”
Since Amazon retail was founded in 1994, a time when computers were approximately the size and shape of a microwave, Bezos knew the recently founded internet would revolutionise the retail industry and soon people would be purchasing via the web.
Bezos avoided taking action at such an early stage because that would purely benefit the short term and he knew very well of the distances he wanted to reach with this innovative project.
At Croud Luxe we focus on the long term goals. We place a great importance to having perfect client relationships and deem to retain these relationships.
4. Focus On Organic Growth
Bezos did not have a budget. Like Croud Luxe he relied on the service he provided and the belief that people would spread the word of the quality of his work.
“If you build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.”
Jeff Bezos, CEO & President of Amazon.com
We believe the best way for a business to grow and truly be noticed for ability is through referrals and word of mouth. The best way to do that is to produce work that is worth speaking about. We also believe that this relies on excellent customer service in which you meet the customer needs.
5. There is Nothing More Important than the Customer
In most (if not all) businesses you have to understand that the customer is always right. Well Bezos has focused on this theory to an extreme level. To the Amazon founder, customer satisfaction is the single most important feature of his business. It’s the very foundation of his business model:
“The most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the customer. Our goal is to be earth’s most customer-centric company.”
Jeff Bezos, CEO & President of Amazon.com
At Croud Luxe we believe our customer service sets us apart from the competition.
“If there’s one reason we have done better than of our peers in the Internet space over the last six years, it is because we have focused like a laser on customer experience.”
We are at a stage where customer satisfaction is imperative for online shopping. Word of mouth is trusted and spreads quickly thanks in no small part to social media.
6. Base Your Strategy on Things That Won’t Change
“I very frequently get the question: ‘what’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ And that is a very interesting question; it’s a very common one. I almost never get the question: ‘what’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’
And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two – because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time….in our retail business, we know that customers want low prices and I know that’s going to be true 10 years from now.
They want fast delivery, they want vast selection. It’s impossible to imagine a future 10 years from now where a customer comes up and says, ‘Jeff I love Amazon, I just wish the prices were a little higher”
Jeff Bezos, CEO & President of Amazon.com
Customers care more about what will remain and be improved on the site over the course of 10 years than they do about new features made from scratch added to the site.
Making a feature or service perfect holds a lot more value than having 10 new average features over a period of time. Amazon are always working on lowering prices and improving delivery and they are continually focusing on adding new products into their service every day.
This is what makes Amazon such an industry great, as their service is near perfect.
There are many examples like Amazon. Netflix for instance, are always focusing on how to improve their streaming because for their customers it is the most important function that the company offers.
One thing we can all learn from Jeff is his business code, it will help us all in our business environments. Even having built a company as large and successful as Amazon, Jeff is always striving to improve, to innovate and to adapt to the ever-shifting circumstances of modern-day technology. And it is this drive that has allowed him to be so successful and why I believe that companies who refuse to abide by this mentality will struggle to grow at the pace they would like, if at all.
