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Branding The Magic Bean or Field of Dreams
A lot of company executives I talk to have Jack-and-the-Beanstack expectations when it comes to branding. They see it as a magic bean that planted in the right spot, and properly nourished, will take their sales through the roof. As we talk, however, they realize branding isn’t at all a physical phenomenon. Good branding is more like building a Field of Dreams than planting a magic bean.

The Merchant of Maine: L.L. Bean is Born
For the first 39 years of his life, few people ever thought that Leon Leonwood Bean would amount to much. He floated from one undistinguished job to the next, and had little in the way of formal education. Instead, Bean was a young man happy to retreat to the woods, whiling away his time hunting and trapping instead of reading books. But it was Bean’s love of nature that would eventually become what is today a thriving multimillion dollar business. Named one of the Wall Street Journals Top Ten Entrepreneurs of the 20th century, Bean turned his passion into the internationally successful outdoor clothing and equipment company L.L. Bean.

Dressed for Success: L.L. Bean Takes On Retail
Bean had designed the Maine Hunting Boot to solve his own problem of wet feet, but once it was created, he knew it was going to be a hit. He was so sure of its innovative design that he even paid the hefty sum to have it patented. Once the local shoemaker had made a few more pairs, Bean began to promote his product.

Lesson #1: Plan for the Long Run If You Want to Run Long
Hunting was nothing new, and neither was hiking. Both had been around for as long as man and Bean knew it. His business had sprung up from a need that was not being met – getting wet feet in the great outdoors. It was a need that had not been met for centuries past, and one that would need to keep being met for years ahead. Bean knew that if he played his cards right, his company could be at the forefront of meeting that need for the foreseeable future, and beyond. Indeed, it was Bean’s long term vision and planning that explains the company’s continued success.

Lesson #2: Care for Your Customers and They Will Keep Coming Back for More
When Bean first founded his company, he did so with one golden rule in mind: “Sell good merchandise at a reasonable profit, treat your customers like human beings, and they will always come back for more.” Today, Bean is a legend in the industry for his willingness to go above and beyond the call of duties for his customers. From having a 100 percent money back guarantee to keeping stores open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Bean placed the customers’ priorities at the heart of everything he did. And that was why they continue to reward his company so well.

Lesson #3: Go Ahead and Get Your Hands a Little Dirty
Bean might have been an entrepreneur, and a successful one at that, but in his heart he was a hunter, and a fisherman, and an all around outdoorsman. He felt more comfortable in the woods of Maine than in the corporate boardrooms of the city. It was his passion that gave birth to the company, and a passion he never lost. It might have been for that reason that Bean insisted on being hands on and putting his personal touch on everything the company did. From talking to customers to putting new products through trial runs, Bean could always be found right there in the middle of all the action.

Lesson #4: Network to Bring Others Into the Know
By the end of World War II, L.L. Bean products were being found in the homes of everyone from Calvin Coolidge and Franklin Roosevelt to Doris Day, Babe Ruth, and the Aga Khan. Even John Wayne took off his country western getup to wear something a la L.L. Bean every now and then. But, was this just coincidence? Or was it part of a larger strategy on Bean’s part to grow his business by networking and creating word of mouth?

Finding Success in the Great Outdoors: How Bean Lived his Dream
When Bean died in 1967, the executives at the company he had founded were not sure if they should publicize his death. Bean’s attachment to the company was such that most customers believed he himself still personally tested each product and tended to each of their orders. His successors feared that if people knew he was gone, that perception would be eroded and the company would lose ground. They considered keeping his death a secret, until a television news show got wind and broke the story. That was the importance that Bean, at 94, still had on his company. But just how did this outdoorsman create one of the most successful and innovative mail-order catalogue companies of his time?

The Magic of Measuring
When you hear the word magic, what's the 1st thing you think of? Peter Pan? Harry Potter? For me, magic immediately evokes something so powerful that even I can't screw it up. And that's exactly how magic numbers and measuring work. My goal with this article is to help you get a perspective quite different and apart from what your accountant or financial adviser may suggest. And it's probably the best thing you could ever do for your business - making it fool-proof. Even better, it's MAGIC!
Get Your Sales Force to Perform Magic and Make Sales Appear!
I just finished a great novel called Law of Nines. A traveler from another world visits Earth in hopes of saving her own world. They have no technology where she comes from but they do have magic. Alex, the main character, just can't wrap his hands around the magic. Jax, the alien, tries to help. She said, "that little black thing you talk to where messages appear - in our world, that would be magic but we would do it without the black thing. That box that brings you up and down in a building - to me that's magic. Those enclosed carriages without horses to make them travel? Magic." Neither world could live without what they have but they simply have different names for them. We don't talk about it much but sales has a lot of magic to it.
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