Samuel Moore Walton is the founder of Wal-Mart – the world’s largest and most successful retailer. With a capital of $25,000 (of which $20,000 was borrowed), within 44 years, Walton turned his retail store into a global giant with sales of $256 billion in 1999.
He introduced several innovations that are now standard in the retail industry, including discount merchandising, where he bought goods at a discount from wholesalers and sold them at a lower price than other stores. He also initiated a policy of giving employees the opportunity to share profits with the company (thus increasing employee loyalty) and shared Wal-Mart sales data with its major suppliers via a computer system to ensure that goods were delivered just in time when they ran out. These innovations helped Wal-Mart become a leader in the retail industry.
Here are 10 business building tips from Sam Walton's book “Made in America”:
1. Stay true to your business goals. Be the person who believes in this goal the most. I think I can overcome all my shortcomings by having a strong passion for my work. I don't know if that passion is inborn or if you can learn it. But I know you need it. If you love your work, you will show up every day and give it your all. Then that passion will quickly spread to everyone around you, like a virus.
2. Share your profits with all your partners. Treat them as partners first, and they will treat you as partners. Then everyone will work together to exceed your expectations. Keep the organization the same and maintain control if you like. But act as a servant leader in the partnership. Encourage your associates to own shares in the company by offering them shares at a discount and giving them stock when they retire. It was the best thing we ever did.
3. Always motivate your employees. Money and ownership alone are not enough. Every day, try to think of new and exciting ways to motivate and challenge your employees. Create exciting goals, encourage competition and… keep score, and have big bonuses ready. If your managers’ jobs start to get boring, allow them to switch jobs to keep them challenged. Keep people guessing about what you’re going to do next. Don’t let them guess too easily!
4. Share everything you can with your colleagues. With more information, they will understand more and be more focused. Once they are focused, there is no stopping them. If you do not trust your colleagues enough to keep you informed, they will know that you do not really see them as partners. Information is power, and empowering your colleagues will help you manage the risk of that information falling into the hands of your competitors.
5. Appreciate every contribution of your colleagues. In some cases, salaries and stock options will keep employees loyal to you. But remember, we all like to hear people express their appreciation for what we do for them. We always like to hear it, especially when we have done something we are truly proud of. There is no substitute for a few well-timed, sincere compliments. They are free and well worth it.
6. Celebrate your successes. Try to make a joke of your failures. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Relax, and everyone around you will relax too. Have fun and show enthusiasm. Come up with your own entertainment. All of these things are more important and fun than you think, and they really do relieve the stress of work pressure.
7. Listen to everyone in the company and give them a voice. The people who work with customers are the ones who know the story. Find out what they know. This is what we call total quality. To distribute responsibility in your organization and help good ideas flourish, you have to listen to what your colleagues have to say.
8. Serve customers better than they expect. If you do, they will keep coming back. Give them more than they want. Show them you appreciate them. Make amends for your mistakes, don’t just make excuses or apologize. Take responsibility for everything you do. The most important words I ever wrote on the first Wal-Mart sign were “Satisfaction Guaranteed.” Those words are still there, and they have made all the difference.
9. Cost control your business better than your competitors to gain a competitive advantage. For 25 years before Wal-Mart became the largest retailer in the United States, we were the leader in the retail industry because we had the lowest cost-to-sales ratio. You can make a lot of mistakes and still recover if you run a business efficiently. If your business is not efficient, you can still go bankrupt even if you are very talented.
10. Boldly swim upstream. Try a different path, don't follow the conventional wisdom. If everyone else is going one way, you'll probably find your niche by going the opposite way. But be prepared for people to discourage you and tell you you're going the wrong way. In my life, the most common thing I've been told is that a town with a population of less than 50,000 can't sustain a discount department store for long, and I've proven that wrong.
According to Vietnamworks