Trial And Error
When you think of some of the foibles that people in business make, it's funny to see those types of things happen again and again. Sometimes we don't understand the consequences of what we think a great idea will bring. With Walton and his managers it was no different.
Phil Green was famous at Wal-Mart (WMT) for having built the world's largest Tide display at one of Wal-Mart's oldest buildings. His fame may have got the best of him, as another project he initiated didn't go nearly as well.
What he decided to do to promote the celebration of George Washington's birthday on February 22 was to offer a TV to a customer for 22 cents. What was the catch? The customer had to find the TV set which was hidden in the store!
Can you guess the result? The store was ravaged and the place a disaster as consumers went everywhere throwing things around to try to find it.
Eventually he admitted that "playing hide-and-seek with merchandise was a terrible idea."!
Now some things don't have to be that much of a trial. When you think of hiding something in a store and what people must do to find it, it isn't much of a stretch to see what would come about from it. Ah, live and learn.
The moral of the story is don't get too cocky because you had a winner last week or month, you just may end up cleaning up a store that looks like your kids' bedrooms.
Other Walton Sources:
The Most Underrated CEO Ever The legendary Sam Walton
Sam Walton: The Power of Persistence
Sam Walton Business Quotes for Ya
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