When a CEO Picks Up the Phone: How Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates Learn About Customer Experience

Jeff Bezos, the former CEO of Amazon, shared a fascinating leadership story on the Lex Fridman Podcast about how he wanted to ensure his customers received the best customer experience. In Amazon’s early days, Bezos noticed a discrepancy between the “wait times” the customer support department was reporting and the feedback customers shared. The support team reported wait times of less than 60 seconds, but customers told a different story. Instead of asking for more data, Bezos took matters into his own hands. He picked up the phone during a meeting with the leadership team and called Amazon’s customer service number himself.  

The result was a 10-minute wait! 

That one phone call did more than just expose a problem. It demonstrated the kind of leadership that sets the tone for others to follow. When the CEO is willing to experience what customers experience, it sends a clear message: customer service and CX are more than a department or a strategy. They are everyone’s responsibility.   
When leaders get out of their offices
This story illustrates the importance of leaders getting out of their offices and experiencing what’s happening in the field or on the front line. Reading reports and analyzing data are part of the job. But when it comes to customer experience, nothing beats getting firsthand information. 

Bezos, in effect, mystery shopped his company, pretending to be a customer. What he was really doing was trying to get to the truth. Sometimes the truth can be experienced directly, or it can be observed.  

For example, as I wrote about in my book I’ll Be Back: How to Get Customers To Come Back Again and Again , Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, visited the company’s product support center and talked to customers. He sat down at a desk in a cubicle, put on a headset, picked up the phone and said, “Hello, this is Microsoft Product Support, William speaking. How can I help you?” 

The beauty of these simple strategies, which provide firsthand information about what customers are experiencing, what they’re asking or what they’re complaining about, is that, for the cost of a little time and effort, they’re incredibly revealing. You don’t need surveys. You need to be willing to see your company through your customers’ eyes.  

One other thought about what Bezos and Gates did. They didn’t keep their efforts a secret. When your team sees you personally calling your company or taking customer support calls, they understand that customer service and CX are a priority that starts at the top. 

So, take a page from the Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates playbooks. Pick up the phone. Visit a store. Experience your website. Spend time on the front line. Experience and learn about your business as your customer would. You might be surprised by what you discover, and your customers are sure to appreciate the changes that follow.

Shep Hyken  is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s  customer service and customer experience keynote speeches  and his  customer service training workshops  at  www.Hyken.com . Connect with Shep on  LinkedIn .