Most companies say they put the customer first. The real test is how easy they make it for that customer to actually do business with them. In this episode, Joe shares the story behind About You, Vortex’s first core value, and how a lesson from his dad helped shape the way Vortex approaches the customer experience to this day. The idea is simple: understand what life looks like from the customer’s side and work backwards from there.
Most companies say they put the customer first. The real test is how easy they make it for that customer to actually do business with them.
In this episode, Joe shares the story behind About You, Vortex’s first core value, and how a lesson from his dad helped shape the way Vortex approaches the customer experience to this day. The idea is simple: understand what life looks like from the customer’s side and work backwards from there.
That thinking shows up everywhere, from answering the phone with a real person and removing unnecessary hoops from the VIP Warranty to designing complicated products that are easy to use. Sometimes it even means taking an order written on a napkin because asking the customer to fill out another form only makes their life harder.
Joe gets into:
• Why most “customer-first” companies aren’t actually customer-first
• How friction quietly drives customers away
• What it means to build your business backwards from the customer
• Why making things easier can become a real competitive advantage
• What Vortex learned from Amazon, Chick-fil-A, Tesla, Pink’s and Apple
Vortex entered the optics industry about 100 years late. Joe shares why he believes making it easy to do business with us is a big part of how we caught up and eventually became the market leader.