Alfred C. Fuller knew how to get results. He'd been getting
them
since he was a child, and he had no intention of stopping
now.
''The only way I learned how to earn money was by giving a
definite
measure of production for it. There was no loafing on the job,
no fringe
benefits that encouraged idleness,'' Fuller wrote.
Expanding on that principle, Fuller (1885-1973) built a
company that
became a cultural icon known for its hard-working sales force.
His
Fuller Brush Co. revolutionized the manufacturing process for
brushes
and made door-to-door selling acceptable.
He came by his work ethic honestly. The 11th of 12
children, Fuller was
born and reared in the farming community of Welsford, Nova
Scotia.
For the Fullers, results were what counted. As a child, he
picked
berries for a neighbor who lived three miles away. Fuller earned
1 cent
per quart. If he hustled, he might make as much as 30 cents in a
12-hour
day.
Fuller later wrote that the method of organization of the
Fuller Brush
sales force was born in those berry patches in Nova Scotia.
Fuller Brush
salesmen drew no salary from the company; they earned only from
their
own sales.
''If I had picked strawberries on an hourly wage, I would
have eaten
most of them, and quit early to swim in the enticing river that
was
never out of view,'' he wrote.
''I know what would have happened to me - I'd be in Nova
Scotia yet,
gazing at my weedy fields and wondering why times were so hard,
bitter
against a world which had not given me something for nothing,''
he
wrote.
Determined to move up in the world, Fuller, then 18, moved
from Nova
Scotia to Boston in 1903. He saw that others had moved to the
city and
found jobs that paid better than farming, and decided he wanted
part of
the action.
For three years, Fuller moved from job to job. Then he
started to work
for William Staples, who hired men to sell his brushes door to
door.
In 1906, no one with formal education wasted time selling door
to door.
Only the crudest methods were used to make brushes, and
door-to-door
selling was hardly considered a noble profession.
But Fuller saw the potential. There was no other way to
sell a product
that customers had to see in action. He knew that if he could
show
buyers how effective the brushes were instead of just telling
them, he'd
be a hit.
Fuller saw, however, that many of the brushes Staples sold
were
ill-formed for their task. Few had multiple purposes.
So he did some digging. He turned to customers to get their
comments. He
talked to housewives and maids, asking them how they would
change the
brushes, what brushes they needed and what they wanted to see a
brush
do.
Then he sat down with Staples and suggested he make design
changes to
the brushes. Staples, unconvinced, ignored Fuller.
Fuller believed in his idea, despite Staples' lack of
enthusiasm. He
decided to take a stab at forming his own brush company. He
listed all
the materials he'd need. He sketched out his designs. He planned
the
order in which he would make the brushes. Then, with $ 375, he
bought
the equipment he needed and began to make brushes in 1906.
He wanted only the best-quality brushes, so he worked
countless hours so
that each one met his standards.
Customers loved the new, practical designs and clamored for
the brushes.
In its first year, the firm made $ 8,500.
Success, though, was tiring Fuller out. There was no way he
could keep
up with the demand by himself. He realized it was time to
delegate. In
1909, Fuller placed a four-line want ad in Everybody's
Magazine
appealing to salesmen to come work for him.
The add drew thousands of responses. In no time at all,
Fuller hired 270
dealers throughout the U.S. to follow his business plan.
Soon, the Fuller Brush man became a welcome caller at
doorways
everywhere in America. Before media fully realized that
representations
of products had the same effect as paid commercials, Fuller
Bush
products and salesmen were featured in magazines and newspapers,
and on
the stage and screen.
Fuller knew a good ad campaign when he saw it, and he
encouraged the
branding of his company. Donald Duck was cast by Walt Disney as
a Fuller
Brush man. In Disney's version of ''The Three Little Pigs,'' the
big bad
wolf was disguised as a Fuller Brush man.
Fuller's success was built on his reliance on strong
personal
relationships. He kept his word, and he tried to be cheerful and
fair.
People wanted to work hard for him. He built such a strong work
crew
that he'd put people he trusted in charge of business areas he
couldn't
directly oversee.
He believed that hiring someone meant trusting him. So he
didn't
interfere with his employees.
Personal relationships were so important to Fuller he had
the company
motto reflect his attitude. It reads, ''With equal opportunity
to all
and due consideration for each person involved in every
transaction, a
business will succeed.''
Succeed it did. From his initial investment of $ 375 in
1906, his
company grew to a $ 1 million- a-year business in 1919. By 1960,
that
figure had mushroomed to $ 109 million.
He didn't let let success give him a swelled head, though.
Once, late in
his career, he told a group there was a simple strategy for his
success:
staying humble.
''It says here,'' he said, ''that I was fired from my first
three jobs,
after which I went into business for myself. I guess it's quite
evident
why I became self-employed - I had no choice.'
BYLINE: By Peter Cleary, Investor's Daily
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