hi I’m Evan Carmichael and welcome to
another edition of modeling the masters
today we’re going to look at how a
housewife who was told by her husband
that her business concept was a stupid
idea
created an international brand with
almost 500 retail locations this is a
story of cookie connoisseur mrs. Debbie
fields and a top three lessons that you
can learn from her success
Debbie Fields is the founder and current
spokesperson of mrs. Fields bakeries
additionally she has written several
cookbooks she currently lives in Memphis
Tennessee with her husband and is very
involved in philanthropic work
throughout the area
when Fields first decided to create her
own business baking cookies she was
ecstatic
she thought her family would be too but
even her loved ones the people she had
expected the counter for support turned
their backs her husband told her Oh
sweetie that is such a stupid idea
and her parents said that she didn’t
have any business going into the cookie
business with no family support Fields
began visiting banker after banker to
try and get the startup capital she
needed for her business but the response
was poor with only two years of college
under her belt
nobody wanted to back a woman with no
business experience and little formal
education she became so desperate to
find financing that she began going
through institutions one by one through
the Yellow Pages finally she found the
banker who agreed to give fields the
money she needed to get her dream off
the ground but it came at a steep price
twenty-one percent interest according to
fields it was the cheapest money I could
have because it was the only money I
could get in Palo Alto California in
1977 Fields opened up her first cookie
store although sales were slow to start
and Fields was forced to go out into the
street to offer free samples she
eventually got it up and running over
the next six years mrs. Fields would
multiply throughout the US by the end of
1984 there are more than 160 cookie
outlets across the country which along
with four international stores were
bringing in forty five million dollars
in revenue in 1993 she eventually sold
out to private investors and still
remains a spokesperson of mrs. Fields
bakeries so the next question is how can
you model the success of Debbie fields
here are three action items and you
could put to use into your business
today
action item number one don’t let
rejection hold you back every new
business is going to have a chair of
doubters you’ll have potential customers
lender suppliers partners and employees
turn you down you may even have your
friends and family question what you’re
doing if you’re sure that your idea has
merit then you owe it to yourself to
give it your best use the rejection as
fuel to motivate you to keep going
remember that each no gets you closer to
a yes as far as Fields was concerned she
knew she was not going to disappoint her
husband and her parents who did not
believe in her the only person she
resists appointing was herself if she
did not try and so my journey began says
Fields I made the decision and I was
going to see it through meanwhile Fields
his parents continued to discourage
their daughter’s plans again Fields his
mother told her to give up telling her
that there’s magic in those words
because when she said Debbie just give
up instead of giving up Fields creative
a mantra for herself and maintained the
faith that there was someone out there
who would finance a yes to her dream her
advice you do not have to be superhuman
to do what you believe in the most
important thing is for you to believe in
what you’re doing absolutely know that
there are people out there who want to
say yes action item number two let
customers try before they buy with any
new product or service customers are
reluctant to buy because they don’t know
what they’re getting if you can think of
a way for your clients to try out what
you’re selling on a small scale they’re
much more likely to buy assuming that
you have a quality product or service of
course trying something that reduces the
risk for the customer and increases the
chances that they’ll place an order with
you when Fields opened up her first shop
she had trouble getting the foot traffic
outside to come inside her store to
create an incentive for new customers to
come in
she began sending out trays of free
cookies into the streets people would
try her cookies outside and wander into
the store to see where they could find
more according to mrs. Fields I wanted
to make my first investment in my
customer
I wanted to give the product away I
wanted people to actually experience the
product try the product and they thought
it was worthy if they liked it then they
could buy it try it and buy it that was
the way we really found customers action
item number three good enough never is
if you want to have long-term success as
an entrepreneur then you need to
constantly be upping the quality of the
product and service that you provide
create a high standard of quality for
what you’re currently producing and be
on the lookout for other ways that you
can make it even better and add more
value one day Debbie fields walked into
one of her stores to see a long line of
customers waiting to purchase a huge
batch of cookies that she immediately
knew had been over baked Fields was
upset she did not want those cookies to
be sold or for those customers to
associate her name with over baked
cookies Fields approached the manager to
figure out what was going on what do you
think of these cookies Fields asked him
he responded by saying Oh Debbie they’re
good enough Fields was upset and
immediately threw out all of the cookies
good enough she said good enough never
is fields now had a long line of hungry
customers waiting to buy cookies that
had just been tossed in the garbage she
went over to them and explained one by
one what had happened we’ve over baked
these cookies she said and I want them
to be perfect and whatever you are
standing in line for I will absolutely
give them to you free plus I’ll match
for free if you will come back according
to mrs. Fields good enough never is set
your standards so high that even the
flaws are considered excellent so
remember don’t let rejection hold you
back let customers try before they buy
and good enough never is I wanted to end
this video today by sharing one of my
favorite true stories about mrs. Debbie
fields in growing her business Fields
was determined to bring on board only
those people who shared her passion for
cookies to make sure she was her
people who are going to love their jobs
as much as she did fields began
auditioning all of her employees people
who wanted to work for mrs. fields we’re
not just going to sit through the
regular interview process field fields
would send her candidates into the
street with trays of cookies and told
them that if any customers came into the
store mentioning their name they would
be hired Fields would also make her
candidates sing happy birthday to her in
middle the store that’s how I found the
best cookie people in the world she said
because if they would sing and belt out
happy birthday
I knew that smiles were going to be
created laughter fun times and we were
going to have a relationship her formula
was a success and as a result fields
never wrote a customer service manual
because she felt that customer service
comes from the heart thank you for
joining me for another edition of
modeling the masters I hope you enjoyed
if you liked the video and you want to
see more please leave a thumbs up below
the video and feel free to leave a
comment and love to hear your thoughts
and feedback thank you and stay tuned to
the next episode
Oh
another edition of modeling the masters
today we’re going to look at how a
housewife who was told by her husband
that her business concept was a stupid
idea
created an international brand with
almost 500 retail locations this is a
story of cookie connoisseur mrs. Debbie
fields and a top three lessons that you
can learn from her success
Debbie Fields is the founder and current
spokesperson of mrs. Fields bakeries
additionally she has written several
cookbooks she currently lives in Memphis
Tennessee with her husband and is very
involved in philanthropic work
throughout the area
when Fields first decided to create her
own business baking cookies she was
ecstatic
she thought her family would be too but
even her loved ones the people she had
expected the counter for support turned
their backs her husband told her Oh
sweetie that is such a stupid idea
and her parents said that she didn’t
have any business going into the cookie
business with no family support Fields
began visiting banker after banker to
try and get the startup capital she
needed for her business but the response
was poor with only two years of college
under her belt
nobody wanted to back a woman with no
business experience and little formal
education she became so desperate to
find financing that she began going
through institutions one by one through
the Yellow Pages finally she found the
banker who agreed to give fields the
money she needed to get her dream off
the ground but it came at a steep price
twenty-one percent interest according to
fields it was the cheapest money I could
have because it was the only money I
could get in Palo Alto California in
1977 Fields opened up her first cookie
store although sales were slow to start
and Fields was forced to go out into the
street to offer free samples she
eventually got it up and running over
the next six years mrs. Fields would
multiply throughout the US by the end of
1984 there are more than 160 cookie
outlets across the country which along
with four international stores were
bringing in forty five million dollars
in revenue in 1993 she eventually sold
out to private investors and still
remains a spokesperson of mrs. Fields
bakeries so the next question is how can
you model the success of Debbie fields
here are three action items and you
could put to use into your business
today
action item number one don’t let
rejection hold you back every new
business is going to have a chair of
doubters you’ll have potential customers
lender suppliers partners and employees
turn you down you may even have your
friends and family question what you’re
doing if you’re sure that your idea has
merit then you owe it to yourself to
give it your best use the rejection as
fuel to motivate you to keep going
remember that each no gets you closer to
a yes as far as Fields was concerned she
knew she was not going to disappoint her
husband and her parents who did not
believe in her the only person she
resists appointing was herself if she
did not try and so my journey began says
Fields I made the decision and I was
going to see it through meanwhile Fields
his parents continued to discourage
their daughter’s plans again Fields his
mother told her to give up telling her
that there’s magic in those words
because when she said Debbie just give
up instead of giving up Fields creative
a mantra for herself and maintained the
faith that there was someone out there
who would finance a yes to her dream her
advice you do not have to be superhuman
to do what you believe in the most
important thing is for you to believe in
what you’re doing absolutely know that
there are people out there who want to
say yes action item number two let
customers try before they buy with any
new product or service customers are
reluctant to buy because they don’t know
what they’re getting if you can think of
a way for your clients to try out what
you’re selling on a small scale they’re
much more likely to buy assuming that
you have a quality product or service of
course trying something that reduces the
risk for the customer and increases the
chances that they’ll place an order with
you when Fields opened up her first shop
she had trouble getting the foot traffic
outside to come inside her store to
create an incentive for new customers to
come in
she began sending out trays of free
cookies into the streets people would
try her cookies outside and wander into
the store to see where they could find
more according to mrs. Fields I wanted
to make my first investment in my
customer
I wanted to give the product away I
wanted people to actually experience the
product try the product and they thought
it was worthy if they liked it then they
could buy it try it and buy it that was
the way we really found customers action
item number three good enough never is
if you want to have long-term success as
an entrepreneur then you need to
constantly be upping the quality of the
product and service that you provide
create a high standard of quality for
what you’re currently producing and be
on the lookout for other ways that you
can make it even better and add more
value one day Debbie fields walked into
one of her stores to see a long line of
customers waiting to purchase a huge
batch of cookies that she immediately
knew had been over baked Fields was
upset she did not want those cookies to
be sold or for those customers to
associate her name with over baked
cookies Fields approached the manager to
figure out what was going on what do you
think of these cookies Fields asked him
he responded by saying Oh Debbie they’re
good enough Fields was upset and
immediately threw out all of the cookies
good enough she said good enough never
is fields now had a long line of hungry
customers waiting to buy cookies that
had just been tossed in the garbage she
went over to them and explained one by
one what had happened we’ve over baked
these cookies she said and I want them
to be perfect and whatever you are
standing in line for I will absolutely
give them to you free plus I’ll match
for free if you will come back according
to mrs. Fields good enough never is set
your standards so high that even the
flaws are considered excellent so
remember don’t let rejection hold you
back let customers try before they buy
and good enough never is I wanted to end
this video today by sharing one of my
favorite true stories about mrs. Debbie
fields in growing her business Fields
was determined to bring on board only
those people who shared her passion for
cookies to make sure she was her
people who are going to love their jobs
as much as she did fields began
auditioning all of her employees people
who wanted to work for mrs. fields we’re
not just going to sit through the
regular interview process field fields
would send her candidates into the
street with trays of cookies and told
them that if any customers came into the
store mentioning their name they would
be hired Fields would also make her
candidates sing happy birthday to her in
middle the store that’s how I found the
best cookie people in the world she said
because if they would sing and belt out
happy birthday
I knew that smiles were going to be
created laughter fun times and we were
going to have a relationship her formula
was a success and as a result fields
never wrote a customer service manual
because she felt that customer service
comes from the heart thank you for
joining me for another edition of
modeling the masters I hope you enjoyed
if you liked the video and you want to
see more please leave a thumbs up below
the video and feel free to leave a
comment and love to hear your thoughts
and feedback thank you and stay tuned to
the next episode
Oh
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