hi I’m Evan Carmichael and welcome to
another edition of modeling the masters
I believe that the fastest and most
effective way to grow your business is
to model the strategies of people who
have already done what you’re trying to
do so today we’re going to look at how a
young man who couldn’t hold down a
steady job and couldn’t get his mind off
of thinking about hunting and fishing
turn his passion into a business and
would go on to be named one of the top
ten entrepreneurs of the 20th century by
the Wall Street Journal this is the
story of LL Bean and the top three
lessons and you can learn from his
success
Leon Leon wood beam was an inventor
author outdoor enthusiast and founder of
the company LL Bean as a young man beam
couldn’t hold a steady job and drifted
from place to place
who would much rather be out hunting and
fishing than working for someone else
after a series of outdoor expeditions
being returned home with his feet
soaking wet because it wasn’t a good
shoe that could keep them dry he set out
to solve the problem by visiting a local
cobbler and creating the new shoe for
outdoorsmen he called it the Maine
hunting shoe bean got a list of hunting
license holders set up shop in his
brother’s basement and drafted a letter
to be sent by a male to his list bean
road outside of your gun nothing is so
important to your outfit as your
Footwear you cannot expect success
hunting deer or moose if your feet are
not properly dressed the letter was a
success and he sold a hundred pairs only
to have 90 of them returned because they
broke apart being refunded his customers
too money took out a loan to modify the
design and began selling again by the
time Bean died in 1967 company sales had
passed four million dollars per year and
the Wall Street Journal named him one of
the top ten entrepreneurs of the 20th
century today with over 1.7 billion
dollars in annual sales LL Bean remains
one of the most successful family-run
businesses in the United States by
following what excited him and by taking
action LL Bean was able to transform
himself from men who couldn’t hold down
a steady job into one of the top 10
entrepreneurs of the 20th century to
help you transform your business here
are three action items and you can learn
from LL Bean
action atom number one care for your
customers if you want people to keep
buying from you and tell their friends
to buy as well you need to care about
their well-being and provide as good an
experience as possible for them this is
especially true in industries where
there isn’t really that much that’s
different between what you’re offering
or what your competitor is selling the
differentiating factor that will make
customers want to buy from you is the
customer service and the experience that
you give them beans name became
synonymous with outstanding customer
service one of his policies was the 100%
money-back guarantee with no expiration
date no matter how long ago you bought
his products bean would refund you all
of your money if you weren’t completely
satisfied he even paid for the postage
for you to mail it back to him knowing
that his customers were hunters and
fishermen who often needed equipment in
the middle of the night bean also threw
away the keys a historian Freeport and
kept it open 24 hours a day 365 days a
year to give them a better experience
it’s only been closed twice in its
history according to bean no sale is
really complete until the product is
worn out and the customer satisfied a
customer is the most important person
ever in this office in person or by mail
above all we wish to avoid having a
dissatisfied customer we consider our
customers a part of our organization and
we want them to feel free to make any
criticism they see fit in regard to our
merchandise or service action item
number two be your target market one of
the best ways to do market research and
really know if you’re onto something or
not is to be your own customer does your
product or service work as you would
like it to would you be willing to pay
money for it does it solve a real
problem the more you’re a part of your
target market the better your chance
you’ll have to create a product or
service that will really sell you’ll
know because it helps make what you’re
currently doing better faster or somehow
more effective beans passion was hunting
and fishing it’s what led him to create
the Maine hunting shoe I kept him
inspired to continue growing his
business whether his executives wanted
to launch a new fishing rod shirt or 10
being insisted on personally testing all
of his products because it had his name
on it and it needed his personal seal of
approval after the failure of his very
first Maine hunting shoe he always took
his products out into the real world to
make sure they worked before they were
sold even when his team around him
advised that they were better uses of
his time and someone else could do it if
it worked for him he knew his customers
would like it because he was one of them
bean once wrote in his catalog it is no
longer necessary for you to experiment
with hundreds of flies to determine the
few that will catch fish we’ve done that
experimenting for you being continued
being a part of his target market for as
long as he could hold a fishing rod and
lace up his boots action Adam number
three network entrepreneurs often aren’t
great at promoting themselves and
networking many of us are happiest when
we’re working on a new product or
providing the service instead of
actually getting out there and selling
but getting your product or service into
the hands of the right people can often
make or break your company and you need
to be an effective networker
to make sure that they know what you’ve
got bean was always an outdoorsman at
heart but he knew how to network and
promote his business after the avid
hunter started buying his products being
made a point of connecting with
high-profile people to introduce them to
his company everyone from Franklin
Roosevelt to Babe Ruth the John Wayne
found about his products and began using
them bean also sponsored high-profile
athletes like the 1932 Macmillan Arctic
expedition team who wore his boots on
their expedition but you didn’t have to
be famous for being to let you know what
he did as one local writer from Maine
wrote of being if you drop in to shake
his hand you get home to find his
catalog in your mailbox be your target
market and network
to finish up this video I wanted to
share one of my favorite true stories
about alveen and some of his best quotes
when bean first threw away the keys to
his store and invited hunters and
fishermen to come visit the store
whenever they wanted he installed a
late-night Bell to allow people to ring
for assistance customers who arrived
late at night would see the Bell and
assign that ride push once a minute
until clerk appears pushing a bell would
bring a watchman and often even being
himself to come help the customer no
matter what time of day it was
you
thank you for joining me for another
edition of Mali two masters if you liked
the video and want to see more please
give it a thumbs up I’d also love to
hear your thoughts and feedback if you
want to leave a comment below the video
and stay tuned for the next episode
you
another edition of modeling the masters
I believe that the fastest and most
effective way to grow your business is
to model the strategies of people who
have already done what you’re trying to
do so today we’re going to look at how a
young man who couldn’t hold down a
steady job and couldn’t get his mind off
of thinking about hunting and fishing
turn his passion into a business and
would go on to be named one of the top
ten entrepreneurs of the 20th century by
the Wall Street Journal this is the
story of LL Bean and the top three
lessons and you can learn from his
success
Leon Leon wood beam was an inventor
author outdoor enthusiast and founder of
the company LL Bean as a young man beam
couldn’t hold a steady job and drifted
from place to place
who would much rather be out hunting and
fishing than working for someone else
after a series of outdoor expeditions
being returned home with his feet
soaking wet because it wasn’t a good
shoe that could keep them dry he set out
to solve the problem by visiting a local
cobbler and creating the new shoe for
outdoorsmen he called it the Maine
hunting shoe bean got a list of hunting
license holders set up shop in his
brother’s basement and drafted a letter
to be sent by a male to his list bean
road outside of your gun nothing is so
important to your outfit as your
Footwear you cannot expect success
hunting deer or moose if your feet are
not properly dressed the letter was a
success and he sold a hundred pairs only
to have 90 of them returned because they
broke apart being refunded his customers
too money took out a loan to modify the
design and began selling again by the
time Bean died in 1967 company sales had
passed four million dollars per year and
the Wall Street Journal named him one of
the top ten entrepreneurs of the 20th
century today with over 1.7 billion
dollars in annual sales LL Bean remains
one of the most successful family-run
businesses in the United States by
following what excited him and by taking
action LL Bean was able to transform
himself from men who couldn’t hold down
a steady job into one of the top 10
entrepreneurs of the 20th century to
help you transform your business here
are three action items and you can learn
from LL Bean
action atom number one care for your
customers if you want people to keep
buying from you and tell their friends
to buy as well you need to care about
their well-being and provide as good an
experience as possible for them this is
especially true in industries where
there isn’t really that much that’s
different between what you’re offering
or what your competitor is selling the
differentiating factor that will make
customers want to buy from you is the
customer service and the experience that
you give them beans name became
synonymous with outstanding customer
service one of his policies was the 100%
money-back guarantee with no expiration
date no matter how long ago you bought
his products bean would refund you all
of your money if you weren’t completely
satisfied he even paid for the postage
for you to mail it back to him knowing
that his customers were hunters and
fishermen who often needed equipment in
the middle of the night bean also threw
away the keys a historian Freeport and
kept it open 24 hours a day 365 days a
year to give them a better experience
it’s only been closed twice in its
history according to bean no sale is
really complete until the product is
worn out and the customer satisfied a
customer is the most important person
ever in this office in person or by mail
above all we wish to avoid having a
dissatisfied customer we consider our
customers a part of our organization and
we want them to feel free to make any
criticism they see fit in regard to our
merchandise or service action item
number two be your target market one of
the best ways to do market research and
really know if you’re onto something or
not is to be your own customer does your
product or service work as you would
like it to would you be willing to pay
money for it does it solve a real
problem the more you’re a part of your
target market the better your chance
you’ll have to create a product or
service that will really sell you’ll
know because it helps make what you’re
currently doing better faster or somehow
more effective beans passion was hunting
and fishing it’s what led him to create
the Maine hunting shoe I kept him
inspired to continue growing his
business whether his executives wanted
to launch a new fishing rod shirt or 10
being insisted on personally testing all
of his products because it had his name
on it and it needed his personal seal of
approval after the failure of his very
first Maine hunting shoe he always took
his products out into the real world to
make sure they worked before they were
sold even when his team around him
advised that they were better uses of
his time and someone else could do it if
it worked for him he knew his customers
would like it because he was one of them
bean once wrote in his catalog it is no
longer necessary for you to experiment
with hundreds of flies to determine the
few that will catch fish we’ve done that
experimenting for you being continued
being a part of his target market for as
long as he could hold a fishing rod and
lace up his boots action Adam number
three network entrepreneurs often aren’t
great at promoting themselves and
networking many of us are happiest when
we’re working on a new product or
providing the service instead of
actually getting out there and selling
but getting your product or service into
the hands of the right people can often
make or break your company and you need
to be an effective networker
to make sure that they know what you’ve
got bean was always an outdoorsman at
heart but he knew how to network and
promote his business after the avid
hunter started buying his products being
made a point of connecting with
high-profile people to introduce them to
his company everyone from Franklin
Roosevelt to Babe Ruth the John Wayne
found about his products and began using
them bean also sponsored high-profile
athletes like the 1932 Macmillan Arctic
expedition team who wore his boots on
their expedition but you didn’t have to
be famous for being to let you know what
he did as one local writer from Maine
wrote of being if you drop in to shake
his hand you get home to find his
catalog in your mailbox be your target
market and network
to finish up this video I wanted to
share one of my favorite true stories
about alveen and some of his best quotes
when bean first threw away the keys to
his store and invited hunters and
fishermen to come visit the store
whenever they wanted he installed a
late-night Bell to allow people to ring
for assistance customers who arrived
late at night would see the Bell and
assign that ride push once a minute
until clerk appears pushing a bell would
bring a watchman and often even being
himself to come help the customer no
matter what time of day it was
you
thank you for joining me for another
edition of Mali two masters if you liked
the video and want to see more please
give it a thumbs up I’d also love to
hear your thoughts and feedback if you
want to leave a comment below the video
and stay tuned for the next episode
you
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