Sam Walton: Principles for a Successful Business
Sam Walton is profoundly known for starting the Walmart brand and a series of stores. He grew up in a humble background in a farm community in rural Missouri. This was during the Great Depression. He is often quoted for narrating that the poverty he experienced while growing up instilled in him the value of money as well as perseverance. Even amidst all the poverty, he managed to attend the University of Missouri. After his university education, he worked for J.C Penny where he got his first taste of the retailing business. After the First World War, he became a franchiser of Ben Franklin five-and-dime stores where his growth vision for the brand was rejected by the management.
Determined to excel, Walton pursued his vision and would, later on, found the Wal-Mart stores. He started a retailing success story and developed the brand to a net worth of about 25 billion dollars. Even though he passed on in 1992, Walton left a legacy to business management mastery. Our experts have compiled the following as Walton’s winning formula for a successful business.
Always Commit to Your Business
Walton was a strong believer that one should commit to his or her business more than anyone else. This kind of passion enables one to overcome personal and business shortcomings. A business owner should be ready to exhibit love for what he or she is doing. That way, there is even a chance to try out new things that may be beneficial to the business. Customers will want to buy from your business once they notice the passion you have.
Share Profits with Associates and Consider Them as Partners
Sharing your profits with partners with will challenge them to start treating you as a partner. Collaborating with others can help us perform beyond wildest expectations. Behave as a servant leader in your partnership but remain a corporation and retain control of the business. Inspire your associates to obtain a stake in your business. You can also offer discounted stock and grant the associates some stock for their retirement.
Motivate Your Partners
Investing money and getting a share of ownership of the business is not enough for your partners. As the business owner, constantly think of new and more interesting ways to motivate and challenge your partners. One of the ways to do this is setting high goals and encouraging competition.
Communicate Everything to Your Business Partners
The more the partners know, the more they will understand the various dynamics affecting the business. More so, the more they understand, the more they will care to give the help needed to solve the issues at hand. That care will make your partners get more interested in every activity of the business. Trust your partners with information about the business.
Appreciate Everything the Associates Do For the Business
A paycheck from an investment and a stock option at retirement may buy one kind of loyalty. Nevertheless, most partners would like to get information about how much entrepreneurs appreciate what we do for their businesses. This has a psychological effect where the partners feel appreciated for their efforts towards the business.
Celebrate Your Success
Always show enthusiasm and cheer up yourself. When everything else fails, remember your successes and let them be a reason to smile. Try to find some humor in your failures. Loosen up and do not take failures of the business as personal failures. Many entrepreneurs who develop psychological sicknesses are often too serious even to laugh at their failures. Put on a costume and sing a silly song when you are faced by a hard situation.
Listen To Everyone in Your Business
Always find a way of talking to these people who are usually talk to customers. These people are better placed to know what the customers are saying about your products and services. As a business owner focused on success, it is prudent to inquire what everyone else in the business knows. You will get ideas that can be used to improve the business.
Strive to Exceed Your Customer’s Expectations
If you exceed your customers’ expectations, they will come back repeatedly. Be ready to give your customers what they want and perhaps a little more. Make every effort to let them know that you appreciate them. When something goes wrong, do not make excuses. Instead, apologize to customers and promise that the problem will be solved.
Control Your Expenses
This implies that you should find a way to reduce your expenses. All the same, you should aim at finding the competitive advantage that will help you reduce expenses more than your competition. Financial managers would say that a business should purpose to operate with the lowest ratio of expenses to sales.
If you need more tips on how to succeed in business, get in touch with us. Our experts will give you more insights on how to build a successful business.
