“What’s the most important thing Amazon has done in the last 20 years?”
Jeff Bezos asked this question two weeks ago at a launch event for their new mobile phone.
Some would say it’s building up their Prime subscriber base while others might say it’s the technical chops of their team.
Jeff Bezos’ answer? Earning trust with customers.
The recipe for trust
- Do hard things well
- Repeat
Bezos notes that the recipe is simple but that it’s hard to execute on. It requires more than an isolated effort - it needs to be repeated “thousands and thousands” of times.
What you don’t do:
“You don’t ask for [trust]. That never works.”
Bezos always refers to trust as something that is earned and not built.
Reputation
“Reputation is a trailing indicator of excellence.”
Bezos pulled out a corporate reputation index poll for the past four years showing Amazon rising to the #1 position - underscoring his point that “Customers do notice.”
