In our previous three articles about my new business hero, Le Herron, we’ve learned some principles of leadership that many of today’s CEOs would do well to follow. That is, if they’d like their tenure, like Mr. Heron’s, to result in more fulfilled and productive employees, a continuous growth of loyal and responsive customers, and a huge increase in their company’s bottom line.
In his tremendous book, Making Your Company Human: Inspiring Others to Reach Their Potential, the near nonagenarian (yes, that would be 90 years old. And, yes, I did have to look that up on Google) :-), documents how leading a company through consciously putting other peoples’ interests first is the key to success.
He ran, with record profits, O.M. Scott & Sons over an 18 year period stretching from the mid 60’s to the early 80’s. In the first article, we saw how he was first inspired to lead with that focus; in the second one, we learned how he developed a very loyal and happy team, and, the third article let us in on some of his customer-focused marketing strategies that led to massive and consistent sales.
Today, let’s look at some quotes from the book having to do with what cements a customer relationship. Several of these will include what was known as their “Non-Quibble Guarantee.” They did not only guarantee product performance; they guaranteed personal satisfaction. Which meant that even if the problem had nothing to do with the product but was the fault of the customer (entirely possible with their product line), it didn’t matter. They gave them their money back; no quibble involved. And, all this did was account for huge profits, immense loyalty…and very rarely a refund.
The first quote asks an extremely important question that we should all consider regarding our product or service. Our answer won’t necessarily be the same as Mr. Heron’s, but think hard enough and you will come up with the answer that’s right for you:
“As you consider your own business, are there aspects of its success that are unique? When you have an opportunity to do something radically different, what qualities of the way you do business are worth protecting?”
“Consumers depend on what we’ve promised as a company – and their trust is in us as a company, not in any individual product per se. We strengthen that contract by offering a guarantee, not of product performance, but of personal satisfaction. In effect, Scott’s promise bridges the gap between the product itself, and the results the buyer anticipates.”
“Of course, in the final analysis it’s the customer who really determines whether or not the price/value relationship of a product is valid.”
“There are no commodity business. There are only businesses with weak consumer relationships.”
“We encouraged consumer phone calls and letters, and always responded personally.”
“How does your business succeed? The answer may not be obvious, requiring you to be clear in your perception and in the way you articulate it to your audience.”
“Open communication has the power to unlock people’s loyalty.”
“Over the next hundred years, our course will be charted not so much by whether we are first to create something, but whether we are first to make people understand what it can do for them.”
“There is no other way to sell value than by education.”
“A Scott’s customer has to understand the relationship between price and value.”
“It’s hard to go far wrong if we keep our {customer’s} interests at heart.”
“The Non-Quibble Guarantee required us to trust the consumer as much as we wanted the consumer to trust us. In my opinion, this was a low-risk proposition. Most people try to live up to the trust of others, and not take advantage of it. And in fact, we found that very few people asked for their money back.”
“What we are actually guaranteeing is not the product, but the customer’s satisfaction. And satisfaction, of course, is purely in the eye of the beholder.
{Note from Bob: Regarding their guarantee, there was a lot of marketing psychology that was involved here that is beyond the scope of that article, but was quite fascinating and enlightening. Pages 78-81 when you read the book.}
You might recall that – in the initial article – I mentioned that I didn’t know Mr. Herron personally. Well, now I do (I love my job) :-). Having heard about this blog series from Kristin Kern (while I knew she designed the book’s cover, I didn’t know she knew him personally), Mr. Herron actually called me to thank me. And, he was as sweet and humble as one would imagine by reading his book.
And, remember his encounter with the old sergeant that resulted in Mr. Herron’s entire leadership philosophy? He shared with me some additional thoughts about that which takes the importance of the encounter to an even higher and more dramatic level.
And, we’ll discuss that conversation in our final article about Mr. Le Herron.
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Bob, great post. It reminds me of when I was a top producing Realtor. I gave all my sellers the “Todd Smith Guarantee” which simply stated they could cancel the listing agreement at anytime with a 24 hour notice. (No stipulations) This was not allowed by our MLS, so I simply wrote it on the sellers copy of the listing agreement.
In 4 1/2 years I sold 430 homes and had one person cancel his listing agreement and choose another Realtor. When I gave people this guarantee I said it in such a way they knew I was confident in my ability to exceed their expectations. It made me stand out from ALL of my competitors. It was a “Little Thing” that made a “Big Difference”.
Thank you, Todd. Amazing how success principles just work right across the board, isn’t it?
I know you’ve had immense success in several businesses and, while the specifics might change according to the profession, you work the same basic way and with the same “other-focus” regardless. Not hard to understand why you are such a champion in everything you do.
Bob
Some really great quotes there Bob!
“Open communication has the power to unlock people’s loyalty.” – the truth is that in order to communicate openly we have to communicate using our view of what we percieve as truth and truth builds trust. So open communication is what teaches us to speak the truth to our customers and the people we serve, in turn gaining us their trust.
“Over the next hundred years, our course will be charted not so much by whether we are first to create something, but whether we are first to make people understand what it can do for them.” – I think that the greatest challenge for me in network marketing is getting people to understand what network marketing model can do for them. The challenge is unlocking their minds to the idea wide enough for them to realize the potential and begin educating themselves on the subject.
“There is no other way to sell value than by education.” – I think this definitely rings true because all the people whom I really respect and like have been people who have been freely teaching their beliefs and strategies for success to others.
I think that we are experiencing a complete global makeover in how we do business. It’s really amazing and many people have unfortunately not yet grasped the extent of the changes that are taking place. You have proven that the changes are indeed real, Bob, by marketing your latest book through social media and blogosphere.
Martin, I can totally relate with you and network marketing. It can be quite frustrating to find people with an open mind and DESIRE to want more. That combination is one that is critical to success in network marketing, and yet how do we find people with those 2 qualities. If you don’t have thick skin, this business will chew you up and spit you out.