The larger truth that I failed to see turned out to be another of those paradoxes-like the discounters' principle of the less you charge, the more you'll earn. And here it is: the more you share profits with your associates-whether it's in salaries or incentives or bonuses or stock discounts-the more profit will accrue to the company. Why? Because the way management treats the associates is exactly how the associates will then treat the customers. And if the associates treat the customers well, the customers will return again and again, and that is where the real profit in this business lies, not in trying to drag strangers into your stores for one-time purchases based on splashy sales or expensive advertising. Satisfied, loyal, repeat customers are at the heart of Wal-Mart's spectacular profit margins, and those customers are loyal to us because our associates treat them better than salespeople in other stores do. So, in the whole Wal-Mart scheme of things, the most important contact ever made is between the associate in the store and the customer. I
( Sam Walton )
[ Sam Walton: Made In America ]
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