Blogger: Colleen Thayer, APR, CPRC, Central West Coast Chapter
As our lunch session began with Scott Stanzel, Director of Corporate Communications for Amazon, the focus on customer service became clear. It’s all about relationships at Amazon, as it is in public relations.
With 380,000 employees worldwide, Amazon knows that they will achieve better business outcomes if they continually focus on the customer.
To do this, Amazon sticks to its Leadership Principles:
- Customer Obsession
- Ownership
- Invent and Simplify
- Are right, A lot
- Hire and develop the best
- Learn and be curious
- Insist on the highest standards
- Think big
- Bias for action
- Frugality
- Earn trust
- Dive deep
- Have backbone; disagree and commit
- Deliver results
If it isn’t important to the customer…
Scott shared how these principles and Amazon’s values for customer service translate into its PR practices. If it isn’t important to the customer they don’t need to communicate it. They want to be service-oriented as a public relations team and aggressive in their storytelling.
How Amazon does PR
First, they listen to employees, their internal customers, focusing on their needs and their professional development. This translates into excellent customer service on the external side.
The central tenants to Amazon’s public relations strategy focus on trust, honesty, and quality, and therefore successful relationships with the customer. Which brings better business results for the company – and an Amazon smile.
Scott Stanzel
Director of Corporate Communications