I recently read the book Sam Walton: Made in America. Some of the things that really impressed me about Sam's life are -
Clarity on Life: He figured out pretty early what he wanted. "By the time I went into the Army I had two things settled: I knew who I wanted to marry, and I knew what I wanted to do for a living-retailing."
Making the best of your college and job: Sam Walton first learnt the ropes of retailing working as a salesman at a JC Penney store in Iowa while trying to save money for Wharton. Later on he ran a store as part of the Ben Franklin franchise program. This was a complete education for an independent retail merchant - from learning the accounting systems, merchandise statements, profit and loss sheets to handling accounts payables.
Learning: Sam was a big believer in continuous learning and improving. He felt, "..you can learn from anybody. I didn't just learn from reading every retail publication I could get my hands on, I probably learned the most from studying what John Dunham was doing across the street." He would always be checking on the competition and telling his staff, "We're not concerned with what they are doing wrong, we're concerned with what they are doing right, and everyone is doing something right."
Hiring talent: ".. I needed someone to run my new store, and I didn't have much money, so I did something I would do for the rest of my run in the retail business without shame or embarrassment whatsoever: nose around other people's stores searching for good talent."
Ideas: Sam Walton was always on the lookout for ideas and items that would make his stores stand out. ".. most everything I've done I've copied from somebody else..".
Go ahead and try it: Sam Walton welcomed experimentation. One of his early employee recalls, "He was always open to suggestions, and thats one reason he's been such a success"
Estate Taxes: Sam Walton learned a great deal from his father-in-law, L. S. Robson, who was an astute businessman. Learning from him, Walton from early on organised all his stores as partnerships. The main principle behind this being, the best way to reduce paying estate taxes is to give your assets away before they appreciate. No wonder, the Waltons use Jackie O trusts to manage their family fortune and pass it to future generations.
Volume retail: By cutting one's price one can boost one's sales to a point where you earn more overall than you would selling the same item at a higher price.
Operations vs Merchandise: In retail one can be either operations driven or merchandise driven. Operations driven retail has its main thrust in reducing expenses and improving efficiency. While merchandise driven retail is all about identifying items that can really pull off big volumes and big profits by promoting them. Sam believed the real winners in retail are merchandise driven as one could always work on improving operations but not the other way round.
Clarity on Life: He figured out pretty early what he wanted. "By the time I went into the Army I had two things settled: I knew who I wanted to marry, and I knew what I wanted to do for a living-retailing."
Making the best of your college and job: Sam Walton first learnt the ropes of retailing working as a salesman at a JC Penney store in Iowa while trying to save money for Wharton. Later on he ran a store as part of the Ben Franklin franchise program. This was a complete education for an independent retail merchant - from learning the accounting systems, merchandise statements, profit and loss sheets to handling accounts payables.
Learning: Sam was a big believer in continuous learning and improving. He felt, "..you can learn from anybody. I didn't just learn from reading every retail publication I could get my hands on, I probably learned the most from studying what John Dunham was doing across the street." He would always be checking on the competition and telling his staff, "We're not concerned with what they are doing wrong, we're concerned with what they are doing right, and everyone is doing something right."
Hiring talent: ".. I needed someone to run my new store, and I didn't have much money, so I did something I would do for the rest of my run in the retail business without shame or embarrassment whatsoever: nose around other people's stores searching for good talent."
Ideas: Sam Walton was always on the lookout for ideas and items that would make his stores stand out. ".. most everything I've done I've copied from somebody else..".
Go ahead and try it: Sam Walton welcomed experimentation. One of his early employee recalls, "He was always open to suggestions, and thats one reason he's been such a success"
Estate Taxes: Sam Walton learned a great deal from his father-in-law, L. S. Robson, who was an astute businessman. Learning from him, Walton from early on organised all his stores as partnerships. The main principle behind this being, the best way to reduce paying estate taxes is to give your assets away before they appreciate. No wonder, the Waltons use Jackie O trusts to manage their family fortune and pass it to future generations.
Volume retail: By cutting one's price one can boost one's sales to a point where you earn more overall than you would selling the same item at a higher price.
Operations vs Merchandise: In retail one can be either operations driven or merchandise driven. Operations driven retail has its main thrust in reducing expenses and improving efficiency. While merchandise driven retail is all about identifying items that can really pull off big volumes and big profits by promoting them. Sam believed the real winners in retail are merchandise driven as one could always work on improving operations but not the other way round.
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