_ _ SHARING SOME THOUGHTS LE HERRON JR. Copyright® 1979 by The O. M. Scott & Sons Co., Marysville, Ohio 43041 Second Printing, April, 1983 Library o f Congress Catalog Card Number: 79-91469 F. Leon Herron, Jr. Chairman and President O.M. Scott and Sons Co. Foreword We, Scott associates, are proud o f the reputation o f our company. As our president and chairman, Le Herron, has pointed out: “There are very few companies that have been in exist­ ence over a hundred years. There are even fewer with a heritage of leadership that has weathered the trauma of change, and yet remained strong and contemporary. The more we know about who we really are, the better we can plan what we want to be. Roots are an important part of growing and they are an important part of Scotts.” We in the Research Division believe that the “Sharing Som e Thoughts” letters are a unique and inspira­ tional way o f bringing hom e to all associates, who we are, what the com pany stands for, and our belief in the importance of fundamental values. Le has reminded us in these letters o f many things: we are a family o f associates not employees; we all work for one person, the Consumer; we are in busi­ ness to offer people better ways to surround them­ selves with green and grow ing things; and trust can't be bought — it can only be built, bit by bit, by all of us. So that these letters will be available to all Scott associates in the future, we in Research have taken the opportunity to reproduce all the letters to date o f “Sharing Som e Thoughts. ” The Associates Dwight G. Scott Research Center Contents The Heart o f Our Business....................................................... 7 The Pioneers ..........................................................................................3 The Little Revolutions................................................................... 6 Thinking C h e a p .............................................................................. 9 Price and the Customer............................................................ 13 Heritage....................................................................................................16 We Associates — Part O ne .......................................................21 C. B. “Chid” Mills R em inisces ..............................................25 We Associates — Part T w o .....................................................29 Who Is The Real B o s s ? ..............................................................33 Lawn C a re ........................................................ 38 Satisfaction Guaranteed............................................................41 C h a n g e ...................................................................................................45 T ru st..........................................................................................................49 The Value o f E xcellen ce ........................................................... 52 Involvement......................................................................................... 54 Phantom Products ......................................................................... 58 The Heart of Our Business The other day I was having lunch with a friend when an acquaintance o f his cam e up to us to say hello. In the course o f the greetings my friend was good enough to introduce me: “ Scott. ’’A nd then, as we were met with a blank look, he added, “You know, Scott Seed.” Instant recogni­ tion: “Oh, o f course.’’ is Le Herron, ofO . I'm sure that’s happened to you. You’ve been intro­ duced as being with “Scott Seed. Or with “Scotts, the people who make Turf Builder.” O r with “Scotts, the lawn people. they make me w ince a little, because none o f them really gets to the heart o f who we are. O r why we are. I’d like to take a few minutes to share som e thoughts on that with you. ”We have a lot o f identities. And Scotts is not in business ju st to sell seed. O r Turf Builder. O r any other product perse. We are in busi­ ness to offer people better ways to surround them ­ selves with green and grow ing things. 1 Sharing Some Thoughts The truth is that our business is rooted in the dreams o f nearly every human being the longings for greenery that is partly love and partly need, a desire for natural beauty that is one o f m a n ’s fundamental instincts. All we have done is to recognize the limita­ tions o f m an’s ability to fulfill this dream — and help him to make it happen. And the dream goes on. As the pressures o f life increase, the need for greenery, far from being sup­ pressed, intensifies. O ur opportunity to grow and to prosper will be limited only by our ability to help people achieve satisfaction. Ten or twenty or fifty years from now our raw material and our finished products may be totally different from what they are today. But the need for our particular capabilities will never disappear, and so our business purpose will not change. Perhaps we should measure everything we do against the question, “Is it helping som eone make their dream com e true?” If it is, then we are being true to Scott's tradition and we can't go very far wrong. I w ould like very much, someday, to be introduced as “Le Herron ofScotts — you know, the people who help bring you nature. ness to be in. ”THAT is a wonderful busi­ 2 The Pioneers O. M. Scott decided to market We at S cott’s have a history o f pioneering that goes back to day one, when the first truly weed-free seed. Since then, it’s been one innovation after another: the first turf fertilizer, the first accurate lawn spreader, the first weed-and-feed. And, since then, a series o f technological develop­ ments has led us to our high-density fertilizers, our labor-saving control products, and our improved turfgrasses. It seems as though all we have to do to stay at the forefront o f our business is to continue to innovate. All we have to do is make sure our Research Division keeps burning the candle at both ends to give us an unending stream o f new products. With all respect to the great abilities and dedication of our Research people, I have to say I just d on ’t believe that. As important as new product development is, it w on’t make or break us as a com pany all by itself. What our 3 Sharing Some Thoughts future really depends on is our pow er to understand and com m unicate what we can do for people. New technology is ju st a way to keep expanding that capability. This does not dim inish the heavy responsibility we place on research. Rather, it increases the responsi­ bility o f the rest o f us to com m unicate the value o f what Research has developed. Not ju st the “what" but also the “h ow " — and, most importantly, the “w hy" (in terms o f benefits for the customer). In an indirect way, this com es back to understand­ ing what business w e’re in. We are really pioneers o f new ideas... and before we can sell a new product, we usually have to sell the new idea that it’s based on. That makes the jo b m uch tougher, o f course —you ca n ’t ju st put a new idea in a box and say “Special Introductory Offer” and expect people to snap it up like hotcakes. You have to understand it. And you have to make other people understand it. This is the responsibility I m entioned earlier. It starts with us — with all o f us, not ju st ourR & D people. In fact, we are all R&D people when it comes to our future. “Research,” after all, means thoroughly” and “developm ent" means “opening" or “revealing." A nd that’s the business not ju st o f a couple o f hundred people who work with test tubes and turf plots, nor ju st the handful o f Marketing asso- 4 Sharing Some Thoughts The Edgeivood Turf Plots, the first form al research area of O. M. Scott and Sons. dates who work all o f us at Scotts. Each o f us needs to understand thoroughly what our business is, and what the ideas are that we are trying to reveal. Each o f us, even if indirectly, contributes to or supports the overall com m unication effort. Each o f us has the choice o f either “standing always looking for an improved method here and a new wrinkle there, o f being a “pioneer.” p a t ” directly on communiations, but o f in what w e’re doing or, by That’s our future. And that’s our challenge! 5 The Little Revolutions “What our future really depends on is our pow er to understand and com m unicate what we can do for p e o p l e . " I honestly believe that's the key to our success. And as I mentioned in a recent memo, ¡think it’s a respon­ sibility all o f us at Scotts share. We’re in business to help people achieve their natural desire to surround themselves with green and grow ing things. For over a hundred years, w e’ve been pioneering new ways to do that. A nd — some times better than others — we have com m unicated those new ways so well that people have accepted them with enthusiasm. Let me give you an example: the marketing o f Wind­ sor. A revolutionary grass o f its t i m e . . . ten years in research . . . a real breakthrough in improved Ken­ tucky bluegrasses. Why did it succeed?Because we told people what it could do for them. We told them about the vigorous rhizom ing that meant it was denser and stronger and filled in bare spots quicker. 6 Sharing Some Thoughts We told them about the care we took in trying to clean everything out o f the box except pure Windsor seed, so they w ould n’t have weeds grow ing up along with their new lawns. We d id n ju s t say Wind­ sor was a totally different kind o f grass. We told them why. Good com m unication, I think, has to start with understanding the small things that open up peo­ p le ’s minds. Often that opening-up happens because y o u ’re telling them som ething they never under­ stood before. It’s almost as if a little revolution goes on in som ebody’s mind, each time you share know l­ edge with him. He may not remember every detail you tell him, but he will never forget that you value him enough to educate him to the point where he can evaluate what you can do for him. That is why we continue to devote m uch o f our collective time and energy on activities such as our toll-free Hotline, personalized answers by mail, Weed-Indent service, seasonal LAWN CARE mailings, in-store booklet guides, STI classes, hom eow ner clinics, and so forth. There is a terrible risk — let alone a substantial expense — and many companies do not dare or care to get involved. They rely instead on a “me-too” approach, riding the coattails o f a more courageous or m ore foresightedcom petitor— which means they have given up hopes o f leadership. O r they may try to 7 Sharing Some Thoughts dazzle their customers with the sheer technological brilliance o f breakthrough after breakthrough, with­ out explaining why the custom er should care. But many com panies with great technological resources have gone broke when somebody less brilliant, but with more understanding o f what turns people on, took the great idea and explained it better. You may know the old saying: “A new idea belongs to whoever explains it best. ” We fully intend to continue pressing for technologi­ cal breakthroughs, for innovations, for leadership. But our growth, and our future success as pioneers o f ideas, depend on how well we can succeed with the “little revolutions"... the sharing o f knowledge that can make a custom er out o f a prospect, and a client out o f a customer. Over the next hundred years, our course will be charted not so m uch by whether we are first to create something, but whether we are first to make people understand what it can do for them. 8 Thinking Cheap One o f the most interesting things about Scotts to me is that people think we are expensive. I say “interest­ ing, ” but you can probably guess that I also mean “frustrating. our products, I have a bias. ”You see, when it comes to the cost o f My bias is that I think our products are cheap. Is that really true? Let me explore it a little with you. We are a nation o f jumpers-to-conclusions, when it com es to things with w hich w e’re unfamiliar. If you don't know m uch about fertilizers and y o u ’re in a store looking at them for the first time, unless som e­ one tells you differently you m ight ju m p to the con­ clusion that all fertilizers are alike, and y o u ’d pick the one that costs least. You m ight eventually regret that decision. But again, you m ight not, if nobody tells you what another product could have done for you. The fact o f the matter is, price is a very unreliable thing to base a buying decision on. All it really tells you is how m uch the manufacturer put into the product, and how m uch the retailer values it. (O r how little.) Price doesn’t tell you how long the product will last, 9 Sharing Some Thoughts how m uch trouble it will give you in the meantime, or whether you will have any occasion to be glad you bought it. A nd that’s what you really want to know before you buy, isn’t it? If som e genius could invent a cost-per-unit-of-benefit standard with w hich we could reprice every turf product on the market, you know w ho’d com e out ahead, hands dow n? That’s what I mean, I think our products are cheap. There’s already a general word for that cost-per-unit- of-benefit measure: VALUE. They haven’t found a way yet to standardize it so you can mark a value rating on a bag or box, which means it’s up to us to get the story across to the conclusion-jumpers. This isn'tjust som ething that’d be nice to do so people will sm ile when they see the Scotts name — som e­ thing we must do to survive. When som eone is com paring a Scotts product, pound for pound, with a lower-priced product, if we d o n ’t tell him som ething about the added units o f benefit we give him, why in the world should we expect him to spend more m oney with us? If h e’s a homeowner, h e’s paying out his own hard-earned cash; if h e’s a turf superintendent, h e’s giving us m oney he could use to hire another worker or to buy a new piece o f equipment. 10 Sharing Some Thoughts There is no other As I mentioned in an earlier memo, it is only this sharing o f knowledge that gives a customer a basis to evaluate what we can do for h i m . and what our competitors ca n ’t do. way to sell value than by education. A Scotts custom er has to understand the relationship between price and value. He has to understand that “cheap” seed that’s full o f chaff and weeds, that doesn’t produce good coverage or healthy turf and costs a m inor fortune later in herbicides and over­ seeding, is pretty expensive in the long run — which makes it outrageously expensive on the value scale. “Cheap” fertilizer that doesn’t produce any response, or burns the turf when you accidentally overlap or peters out after stimulating the grass to grow so fast you end up m ow ing twice as often, can be much more expensive than its original purchase price in frustration, time, and the cost o f corrective measures. My grandfather used to tell me, “Poor people always buy the cheapest shoes. That’s why they're always poor. ” If all you think about is price, that may get you out the door and down the block in your new shoes. But ten thousand steps later, value is what you notice. How m uch will you really have paid per unit o f benefit over the life o f those shoes? I called this m em o “Thinking Cheap, ’’and you might suspect I'm saying “d o n ’t do it.” But not really. U Sharing Some Thoughts SCOTT’S TURF BUILDER A special grass food of our own preparation with an analysis of 10-6-4, meaning 10 units of Nitrogen, 6 of Phosphoric Acid and 4 of Potash. This formula was selected by leading soil experts as the ideal grass diet. Turf Builder is only half mineral (unlike most of the plant foods enjoying large distribution). The balance is vegetable matter derived from ground soy beans and other legume seeds of suitable Nitrogen content thus insuring both quick and lasting fertilization. Turf Builder contains 2 ^ times as much Nitrogen as most other lawn fertilizers and may consequently be used much more sparingly. The slightly higher cost per pound is more than offset by the higher concentration. Application should be made at the rate of 10 pounds per 1000 square feet on an old lawn and at twice the rate when preparing the ground for a new lawn. Fur­ ther particulars, and a sample if desired, will be furnished upon request. The original Turf Builder. From the 1928 S cott publication, ‘B ent Lawns. ” Everybody’s got to think cheap; nobody’s got money to waste. What I’m saying is that w e’ve got to com ­ m unicate what “cheap" really means: the best value, the greatest real savings. If we can get a custom er to really think cheap, we will have him thinking Scotts. 12 Price And The Customer Outsiders and newcomers to our business invariably ask, “Why is Scotts high-priced? Can’t you produce products at low er costs?” Obviously we could. We could use lower-grade ingredients. We could scrimp on research, cut down our testing, lim it our new product development. We could scrap our Polyform and Trionized plants and manufacture our fertilizers by simple and inexpen­ sive m echanical mixing, like ju st about everybody else. We could put our products in plain brown bags. We could even stop telling people about the benefits and results those products offer, by elim inating our educational, advertising and sales support. But if we took any o f those steps, would our value — the cost per unit o f benefit — be maintained? Not likely. We w ould have lost the very essence o f what has kept Scotts standing out in the marketplace. Sure, we m ight enjoy a temporary sales bonanza 13 Sharing Some Thoughts a cheaper product. O ur reputation ensures that. with But what about later on, as we becom ejust another face in the crow d? What happens when people start saying, “Ho hum, there’s no difference in value between Scotts and anybody else, so I ’ll ju st buy whatever’s on sale at the lowest price?’’ On the other hand, I ’m not so naive as to believe that a product — regardless o f how good it is — can be sold at any price. In a competitive environment, manufacturers have to continually work on balancing the cost o f a product’s benefits against the lowest possible price they can charge, and still make enough m oney to keep the business growing. Scotts is no different: We are constantly reevaluating our products’ benefits, including all supporting factors. Do they justify what they add to the price o f the product? Can they be reduced without significantly impairing end results ? Is there a way to provide them more econom ically? O f course, in the final analysis it’s the customer who really determines whether or not the price/value rela­ tionship o f a product is valid. They have com plete freedom o f choice, and either they buy or they d on ’t buy. More importantly they either keep on buying, or they switch to som ething else. In our case, years is powerful evidence that our com m itm ent to our leading share-of-market many 14 Sharing Some Thoughts high-quality, high-benefit products supported by help­ ful com m unications is regarded as good “value” by our customers. It’s a com m itm ent w e’ve had for over one hundred years. Itjust com es down to giving the customer what he really wants, and what he ca n ’t get as well from any other source — regardless o f the cost. And that, I think, is the strength o f our position. We know our capability; we know what customers want; and we know what they have com e to expect from Scotts. If we continue to do our jo b right, value, rather than price, will keep our customers trusting us and com in g back to us again and again. And that’s what will keep us growing. 15 Heritage It’s impossible to talk about the roots o f Scotts with­ out thinking o f the four leaders who shaped its first century. That in itself when you stop to think about it, is a remarkable circumstance: just four leaders in one hundred years. All four were strong, independ­ ent individuals with substantially different personal­ ities, styles and talents. Yet they managed to bring a consistency o f purpose to Scotts. M.Scott himself, pioneering weed-free O. seed for farmers back in 1865, established the strengths that the heart o f this busi­ are J SSC$L f y M ness when he decided that our growth was to be based on a very fundamental principle: providing value to the customer. It was O. M. who made it part o f our business to supply help and information along with a quality product, and to stand behind a guarantee o f customer satisfaction. 16 Sharing Some Thoughts I think this was a very shrewd but tough decision at that time. With all the turmoil follow ing the end o f the Civil War, there were a lot o f businessmen out for a fast dollar. Those were the days before seed laws, o f course, and many farmers were being victimized by buying cheap, weed-laden seed. O. M. put this com ­ pany in business for the long haul with his belief that customers will pay for value, and will com e back to you if you provide that value consistently. supported that principle Dwight Scott, who with his brother Hubert was one o f the two “Sons" o f the com pany name, when Scott. Scotts became the quality front­ runner in supplying clean seed to farmers, and Dwight believed in com m unicating it. (As Chid believed in surrounding the prom otion with high- quality everything — our stationery was Swan Linen, an all-rag content paper — we used better shipping bags than anyone else — and the literature was top-grade from the beginning. ’’) he took over from O. Mills recalls, Dwight had an enterprising instinct that soon took us out o f farm seed into areas with greater potential: he explored the early-1920s g o lf course boom by send­ ing his young assistant over to Europe to corner the 17 Sharing Some Thoughts market in German bentgrass, with such success that by 1928 one out o f every five g o lf courses in this country was using weed-free Scotts seed. Perhaps most significantly for our second 50 years, he recog­ nized the grow ing potential o f hom e lawns, and began to develop the unique products and services that w ould help us fulfill the hom eow ner’s demand for quality weed-free grass. During this period, there was a happy marriage between D w ight’s foresight and the com m unica­ tions ingenuity o f the man who became Scotts' third leader, C. B. “C hid ” Mills. In 19 W he started working with Dwight as a 14-year-old mail sorter at IOC an hour. (As a matter o f fact, he was the “young assis­ tant” who cam e back from Europe with five tons o f bentgrass seed.) He becam e a pioneer in direct-mail advertising, and built a m ailing list o f lawnowners that still lets us com m unicate directly with our best customers and prospects. In 1928, he and Dw ight created an out­ standing vehicle for the “help and inform ation” that they agreed should remain a key part o f Scotts — Lawn Care, still going strong after nearly 50 years. Chid, though retired, is still very m uch a part o f Scotts, and if you have had the good fortune to meet him you can understand immediately why his very 18 Sharing Some Thoughts personal, down-to-earth way o f com m unicating has been such as important part o f our success. Under his guidance, our principles began to express them­ selves in words a custom er could appreciate and rely on. Scotts’ com m itm ent to value became a promise, an emotional contract with a customer. P. C. Williams, another Scotts veteran from the It was late 1920s on, who took this value com m itm ent a step further and built it into som ething o f national scope and size. As Scotts’ fourth leader, Paul Williams understood that it was our ability to com ­ municate what we could do for our custom er that created our success; that in order to grow we had to understand what the customer's needs were and com m unicate our solutions in ways that he could comprehend. This is what I define as marketing, and this is an area we were able to capitalize on under Paul's guidance. He took the emotional, direct prom ­ ise o f value and translated it into mass com m unica­ tions, without com prom ising any o f the principles Scotts stands for — an achievem ent O. M. would be proud of. I believe w e’ve been very fortunate in these hundred years. Most com panies have new leaders who want 19 Sharing Some Thoughts to leave their own stamp on the business, and gener­ ally do this with a shift in direction to som e new goals or values. At Scotts, w e’ve had a rare kind o f leadership — four men who furthered their com ­ pany’s progress by using their individual strengths and abilities to continue and enlarge upon the efforts o f their predecessors. There's a tough-mindedness that shows through in each o f these four leaders, w hich I feel is worth a few m inutes’ thought. If y o u ’ve worked with Paul Willi­ ams, I don't think y o u ’ll argue about his determina­ tion and strong opinions. But Chid Mills, and Dwight Scott, and O. M. w eren’t any less tough as leaders, in spite o f their different personalities. That toughness was what gave them their uncom prom ising attitude toward the heart o f our business — providing value to the customer, and com m unicating that value — no matter what lures there were toward easier but shorter-ranged gains. Very few companies can look on that kind o f com ­ mitment as their heritage, and it’s som ething in w hich we can all feel a great deal o f pride. But we also have to look on it, I think, as som ething to live up to. 20 We Associates Several years ago the state o f O hio had a campaign goin g to attract new businesses, under the slogan o f “Profit is not a dirty word in O hio.” That line has always intrigued me with its implications,, show ing how heated a controversy is raging over the topic o f a com pany’s proper business objective. Many times, the inevitable conclusion seems to be that it’s “them ” versus “us;" either people must be getting a raw deal if the com pany’s making money; or profitability will surely go down the drain if attention is paid to enriching people’s work experi­ ences. Ijust don't believe in that “either/or” conclusion. I ’d go even farther than that: I ’d say that for a com pany to take full advantage o f its potential in the human and econom ic com m unity it belongs to, it must be able to com bine both concepts: profitability and individual fulfillment. The successful balancing o f these two objectives is one o f the toughest job s a 21 Sharing Some Thoughts com pany’s leader can have. I consider it one o f the biggest on-going challenges I face here at Scotts but I have a significant advantage to work with — som ething that makes it possible for us to be both a people-oriented family, and a profit-oriented, $ 100- million-plus business enterprise. “s o m e t h i n g ”is the fact that Scotts does not That really have 1,200 em ployees. We have 1,200 associates. What’s the difference? To my mind, there’s a clear distinction between the two words. A n employee ca n ’t exist without an employer; right away the potential is there for polarization o f viewpoints and o f interests, and w e’re back to the barricades with “us” versus “them .” In contrast, there is an equality o f value between one “associate” and another, with a strong bond o f com m on purpose linking them. I see that purpose as being the desire to excel and be rewarded for excellence. Any associate has the right to personal fulfillment, no matter what his position. In this 1,200-strong volun­ tary family, w e’ve com e together for essentially one reason: we want our association with each other to enrich us, develop our potential, give us a sense o f accom plishm ent and the material rewards that go with it. O ur motives are frankly selfish... we expect our association with Scotts to bring each o f us more 22 Sharing Some Thoughts value than we could obtain anywhere else, or on our own. But a tremendous thing happens when an associate works with other associates toward his own enrich­ ment, development, and accomplishment: he makes it easier for the people he works with to grow, and he makes it possible for the family to succeed. Each thing each one o f us does is important to the rest o f us and to the total, and each o f us is critical to the success o f the total. This kind o f interrelationship doesn't happen by edict. It can be supported and nourished by a com ­ pany’s leaders; yet in the end it’s not a question o f leaders or followers, but o f 1,200 individuals who really want to excel, to make the best possible use o f the potential each o f us has been given. The determi­ nation to fulfill our potential is, I believe, the most powerful single resource we can use to trigger our own personal growth and the growth o f our company. That brings up another question: what about Scotts, the com pany? Does the “fam ily” have a responsibility toward the associates who are helping it to profit through their efforts? Yes, o f course it does: and that responsibility is the counterweight in this finely tuned balance. I ’d like to spend a little time exploring this area with you in the next memo. This is a difficult subject to write a bou t... one o f the 23 Sharing Some Thoughts most com plex and one o f the most important that I want to discuss with you. Books and books have been published on the theory o f the individual and the corporation, but it is rare for a com pany to try to define exactly what it wants that relationship to be in reality. Quite simply, all I’ve been saying is that Scotts’ asso­ ciate concept depends on every one o f us — that means me, and it means you. You and I gain directly from its success; and by m aking it succeed, we help the entire Scotts fam ily to take advantage o f our full potential. I greatly prefer that team effort to a partisan battlefield where nobody can hear beyond his own war-cry, whether it is “profit” or “people.” It’s only with profit and people together that we can expect to succeed. 24 M It seems appropriate in this year o f the 50th Anniver­ sary o f LAWN CARE to invite the originator and first editor o f this publication to “share some thoughts’’ with us. C. B. “C hid" Mills was Scott’s Chairman from 1957 to 1967 and President from 1948 to 1956. He gave the com pany fifty years o f service — feat that probably can not be duplicated in the future. Scotts, Marysville, and Chid Mills are almost syn­ onymous. There are few Scott Associates who have not been directly or indirectly touched by Chid’s refreshing sense o f hum or and his continuing inter­ est in Scotts and its associates. He remains a remar­ kably young man with a keen interest in the future. mi Dear Scott Associate: It must have been in early spring o f the year 1910 when I was walking hom e from the East Building about 3:15. It must have been my freshman year, as a matter o f fact, because I was 14, weighed about 85 pounds and consisted mostly o f bones, slightly red­ dish hair and freckles galore. The seed company was not many years old. In fact, I probably walked past it many times to and from s c h o o l. . . although I often went down Fifth Street if by chance I had an extra dime or nickel to spend for peanuts. How Dw ight happened to be standing in the seed com pany door at the time wasn’t one to be standing still at any time. “How would you like to com e in and help fold the m ail?” he asked. I never know, because he That was how my 50 years as an active Scott Asso­ ciate began — with that innocent question. How far Scotts has com e since then! 26 Sharing Some Thoughts I well rem em ber the days when, if you m entioned “Marysville,” people thought only o f the W om en’s Reformatory; when the name “Scotts” meant the Scott Paper Company. We vowed to make Scotts Seed first, and we worked hard to get it there — through good years when everything seemed to be goin g our way, and the lean times when there was not m uch that stood between us and our outstand­ ing bank loans but determination. True grit was one o f the prerequisites for being an Associate then. And it worked. People now know our com pany’s name from coast to coast, and it means m uch to me to have had som e small part in putting Scotts on the map. But regardless o f my interest in the past, the early days when m ice were more prevalent than dollars, my ch ief concern is for the present and the future. I have no intention o f rem inding you about the wond­ ers o f the past, the early struggles and the endless working hours. We are now in a new age and I like it. That is where I want to be. What I miss now is know ing personally all o f you. I remember when I could call everyone by name. No more. But as lon g as you are on the Scott Team, we are teammates. I know you ’re doing your level best to keep Scotts at the head o f the procession. A nd if you will accept a tribute from a fellow Associate who has racked up enough birthdays in this business to be able to unapologetically say it: I ’m proud o f you . . . o f 27 Sharing Some Thoughts your spirit, and o f your continuing accom plish­ ments. You are the kind o f team Dwight Scott, that man o f imagination, would have delighted in. I wish you all a Very Happy 1978... and I hope that by the start o f next year, I ’ll know all o f you better. Meantime, my very warmest regards and May God Bless all o f you and all your families during the year ahead. Sincerely, C. B. “Chid” Mills 28 We Associates A few days ago I happened to be discussing the ins and outs o f Scotts’ associate concept with a good friend o f mine, and I shared with him the frustrations I was feeling in trying to do justice to this very em o­ tional and com plex subject in these memos. My friend, who is the head o f a com pany we do business with, said with frankness, “Yes, it’s so m uch easier ju st to strike out the word ‘em ployee’ and write in ‘associate’ instead. A nd so many companies I know just leave it at that. ” How m uch easier it w ould bejust to pay lip service to the associate concept. You know, it’s m uch less time- consum ing to tell som eone exactly what to do than to spend hours encouraging him to take the initiative himself. It’s m uch less bruising to hide in a corner andjust “do your jo b " the same way, day after day, than to struggle to keep doing it better and faster and more proudly. So why are we trying to do it the hard way? 29 Sharing Some Thoughts For one thing, the personal rewards are greater. An associate relationship is a two-way street — when you excel at you r jo b y o u ’re helping a lot o f other people to excel at theirs; when they perform well, they make it easier for you to perform. This interrela­ tionship, or interdependency, is really the spirit o f our associate philosophy. And its result is a far greater potential for personal growth and reward than the traditional employer/employee outlook permits. But along with this opportunity to grow comes a greater responsibility. A n employee can always say, “Well, I ca n ’t help such-and-such; that’s not my jo b .’’ (In fact, the word “em ploy" simply means “to make use of;” it doesn't really imply any initiative on the part o f w hom ever y o u ’ve em ployed.) But an asso­ ciate ca n ’t hide behind that one-way-street sign, because he knows he can help it — and not only that, but he has to help it if h e’s g oin g to do his jo b right and give others the opportunity to do theirs. There are no excuses in an associate business, not on any level; I ca n ’t hide from my responsibility to my fellow associates any better than you can. Not if I ’m serious about the value that I intend to gain for myself out o f the association. The word “associate" is long-standing terminology here at Scotts; and the sense o f this com pany as a fam ily certainly dates back to the days when it was 30 Sharing Some Thoughts by O. M.,Dwight, and Hubert Scott. a real family: run It’s the successful com bination o f these two concepts — the family and the associate — that has allowed us to develop the kind o f working environment that people can grow in. Like a family, the com pany has a responsibility to protect, support, and reward the people who have gathered together to becom e its “family members’’; and those people, the associates, have a reciprocal responsibility to help the family unit as a whole succeed. The result: when the com ­ pany performs well, its associates should profit; when associates perform well, the com pany should profit. These are the counterbalancing responsibilities I mentioned briefly in the last memo. In addition to the tangible elements o f fulfillment, there are all the intangibles that are part o f providing a satisfying work environment. Determ ining the right levels o f all these variables isn’t a very simple job, as you may know, and the irony o f it is that there’s never a m om ent when you can step back and brush off your hands and say, “Well, that’s that!’’ — because it’s never completed; a company has to keep working at it continuously. We could be the best-paying com ­ pany in the state o f O hio with the best benefits pack­ age there is, but if we d id n’t have a working envir­ onm ent that let people develop their potential, I’d consider that we had failed our associates. Con- 31 Sharing Some Thoughts we could have a terrific working environ­ uersely, ment, but if our compensation plan didn’t reward people for their contributions to the com pany’s growth, w e’d have failed ju st as badly. it.And in the process, I like to ’’ Like any other term, it can be So we keep w orking on think that we're breathing more life day by day into that word “associate. misused or misinterpreted — but the implications it brings are so significant that y o u ’ll rarely see the word “ ciate concept is what makes us succeed as a family; it’s what produces the creative friction that sparks great ideas; it's what gives each o f us the opportunity to grow and to help others grow. A nd the more each o f us lives up to that concept, the farther we will go — as individuals, and as a company. e m p l o y e e ”used in this company. O ur asso­ 32 Who Is The Real Boss? Who Do You Work For? If you stood at the door o f any o f our offices or plants and asked this question o f every Scott associate who passed you, I im agine y o u ’d end up with a clipboard full o f answers in no time. “I work for John Jones. “I work for Mary Sm ith.” “ work for a division o f Scotts. work for myself!” ”You m ight even get a fiercely independent “I Every one o f these responses w ould be true, and yet they're only part o f the answer. Because when it com es right dow n to it, we all work for the same person — OUR BOSS, THE CONSUMER. “Sure,” you may say, “ that all along. ” A nd I agree, you may have known this basic principle for years. However, those o f you who have been out on the front lines, so to speak, may have had more opportunity to see how im por­ tant the consum er really is to our success. that’s nothing new. I knew 33 Sharing Some Thoughts The consum er com bines the best elements o f a good boss with the worst elements o f a bad one. If we do a good jo b for him, h e’ll sing our praises to everyone within earshot, w hich is the kind o f acceptance that can mean significantly greater rewards for us. On the other hand, if he thinks w e’re putting som ething over on him, or fail to measure up to his expectations, h e’ll be equally outspoken to all his friends and neighbors about our failings, with the result that everyone in his neighborhood will eventually hear that we betrayed his trust. This can easily shatter the crucial (but often fragile) confidence all those other people were build­ ing up in us .. . and next tim e those “bosses” are about to make a purchase, they’ll look someplace else. Our business depends 100% on whether we estab­ lish, sustain, and strengthen our customers’ confi­ dence in us. That’s why, as you probably know, we place such tremendous importance on consum er com m unications like LAWN CARE — w hich now reaches close to two m illion households — STI, PTI, and the Consumer Hot Line. Each associate is a big part o f our success in this endeavor. Whether full-time or not — y o u ’re a repre­ sentative ofScotts to the consumer. You may have a dozen or a hundred chances to affect a consum er’s decision about Scotts in the course o f a year, even if 34 Sharing Some Thoughts it’s only in the way you answer a telephone inquiry, or in what you say to help out a confused neighbor at the local store’s lawn and garden department. In those cases you have a real opportunity by making your boss, the consumer, feel that he made a smart decision in turning to Scotts. It’s hard to go far wrong if we keep our boss's interests at heart. We know the consum er wants our help in achieving green, pleasant surroundings for himself; and if we can do that jo b well, we should profit from it, as individuals and as a company. In the process, we have essential tasks to perform — controlling costs, meeting forecasts, manufacturing quality pro­ ducts, and so on — but in the final analysis it’s still the consum er w h o’ll evaluate how well w e’re doing at thejob he pays us to do. H e’s the person w e’ve got to please. So in order to keep improving, we need to look at that jo b not just through our own eyes, but also through the consum er’s eyes... not as an end in itself, but as a means to an end. There’s nothing new about this concept o f the con ­ sumer. In fact, it's really ju st a matter o f getting back to our roots, to the days when everybody in the com pany — from O. M. Scott on down — dealt with consumers and learned firsthand what they wanted. We’ve redefined our markets since then and will be m aking further definitions as time goes on .. . but even in the retail products market, where we have a 35 Sharing Some Thoughts two step distribution process, we must recognize that it’s the consum er who keeps us in business. As important as he is to us, the retailer him self is only a vehicle to reach the consumer. We ca n ’t afford to lose our direct contact with the user, no matter how m uch we grow. In fact, I ’d go so far as to say that if this com pany ever goes out o f business, it will be because we have fallen out o f touch with the consumer. Try to see your jo b through the consum er’s eyes. Rem ind yourself o f what he really wants, and ask yourself how you could best meet his need. Then you may end up with the kind o f recognition that three outstanding Scott associates obtained in the follow ing letter from one o f our bosses. George Morris sounds like a man w h o’s happy with our w ork 36 GEORGE I M I S I n d i a n a August 2J, 1977 4 6 2 2 0 6 0 0 2 N o r w a l d o A v e n u e - I n d i a n a p o l i s , To the President O.M. Scott & Sons Marysville, Ohio Dear Sir, I*m writing to you because I feel certain that you will be interested in my recent experience with your company. In these times when we have come to expect a lack: of interest in our problems, 1 would like to tell the rest of the world — so feel free to pass this on to your Editor of Lawn Care if you so desire. But "your people" have been so outstandingly kind and considerate to me that I wanted you to know. I have -- and dearly love -- a Scotts Electric mower which I purchased in 19&3* When the motor quit in mid­ summer, I tried unsuccessfully to have it tepaired here in Indianapolis and was told that the motor was a complex, custom-made -- and extremely difficult to repair. So, in desperation, I called your "hot-line” and a well-informed man told me that the mower had not been made since 1962 and that very few parts were still available -- but he gave me the name of Mr. Simpson to call in your "Mechanical Service" section, as an authority on what is still avail= able. And authority lie was — and sent me one of the last replacement motors -- and at a price which had to be from the 1962 list! And sent on open account by UPS the same day 1 called. So that would have made an impressive story if it had stopped there, but that was the easy part. A few weeks later 1 had installed the motor but had nearly destroyed the flange that holds the blade, so could only operate with difficulty. So... another call to Mr. Simpson who had no spare flanges, but whose Supervisor'offered to have your machine shop make the part for me -- for $5.uu! I was overwhelmed, but accepted and received within a week the new part. So my fifteen year old mower is once again purring happily and 1 am a dedicated Scotts booster forevermore• Sorry l*ve been so wordy, but I thought you‘a like to know. To me, this was your typical story of a small-town treat­ ment of a neighbor around tho turn of the century. When l ten my friends about it, l m oortain that they think 1‘m stretching the truth — people just don't do that! Most sincerely, Lawn Care The first issue appeared exactly 50 years ago, on the brink o f one o f the turning points in this com pany’s history. Dwight Scott and Chid Mills had just made the decision to expand out o f the g o lf course market and start selling grass seed to homeowners. cour­ ageous move, considering that we had a substantial but still expandable 20% share o f the g o lf course seed market at that time, and we d id n ’t know m uch o f anything about consumers. What was even more intimidating was the fact that the consum er d id n’t know m uch o f anything about grass seed, either. The genius o f these two men, I think, was that they realized the issue at stake wasn’t really selling grass seed. The consum er didn't — and doesn’t — really want grass seed, or fertilizer, or a control product; what he wants is a lawn. You know, Dwight and Chid could have developed a direct-mail bulletin back then and called it “Principles o f Growing Grass” or “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Grass Seed Germination . . . ” instead, they called it 38 Sharing Some Thoughts LAWN CARE. A nd I believe that was brilliant. With those two words, they defined this com pany’s busi­ ness not in terms o f products, but in terms o f results. They recognized the basic human need for greenery and beauty that is our tie to nature; they appealed to it in words and later pictures; and they explained how Scotts could help fulfill it The marketplace has changed in these 50 years, as a result o f our efforts. We’ve educated people to under­ stand that a lawn is som ething they can create for themselves; w e’ve removed a lot o f the “g o lf course m ystique’’ that surrounded grow ing healthy grass, and people d o n ’t take it for granted any more that they’re stuck with whatever scraggly or balding ground cover they may have inherited or caused through error or neglect. It’s a measure o f our success at this task that so many other com panies have join e d us in the market we created, to the point where the consum er now has many dozens o f different products to choose from. But as w e’ve been saying, it’s not really the products he’s interested in; it’s how to turn them into a lawn. What should he buy, when should he use it, how should he use it, what results can he expect? How can he realize this basic human dream to find his roots in nature? This is th ejob that LAWN CARE set for itself, back in 39 Sharing Some Thoughts h e ... helping people grow flow ­ As I look at the other areas w e’ve becom e n 1928. involved in since t ers, vegetables, foliage plants, shrubs (and yes, help­ ing g o lf course superintendents and other turf man­ agers to grow better grass so we can refresh ourselves in recreation) . . . I see the evolution o f a company that in the midst o f change has remained true to its fun­ damentals. Now we have STI and PTI, handbooks and manuals, informative advertising, selling aids, and other custom er publications. O ur salespeople would be the first to tell you that that’s what makes them so powerful; that’s what has built the customer base that supports us now. We’ll certainly be faced with critical turning points again during the next half-century, but as our evolu­ tion continues, as our product m ix shifts to meet new needs and our services change accordingly, the axis that Scotts moves on ca n ’t change if w e’re to main­ tain our m om entum : we must always make it a vital part o f our business to keep explaining to our cus­ tomers what we can do for them. The spirit that conceived o f LAWN CARE, brought it to life, and com m itted the energy and resources to make it flour­ ish, is what I consider to be the extraordinary and fundamental spirit o f Scotts. 40 Satisfaction Guaranteed l ’ue heard it said that nothing baffles man as m uch as straight talk and plain dealing. When it com es to som ething unfamiliar, we are all as suspicious as a pack o f sea lawyers, trying to x-ray every angle to figure out what the "catch” is. In the case o f Scotts, I ’d m odify that original com ­ ment to say that few things seem to baffle man as m uch as the "No-Quibble Guarantee.” Yet o f all the thousands o f words we generate each year in explaining about ourselves and our products, I believe the two sentences o f this guarantee tell our customers more about Scotts than nearly anything else we can say. "If for any reason you are not satisfied with results after using this product, you are entitled to your m oney back Simply send us evidence o f purchase and we will mail you a refund check promptly. ’’ A very plain and simple statement, wouldn't you agree? It doesn’t leave m uch room for misinterpreta 41 Sharing Some Thoughts ’tdo what you wanted it to, w e’ll give tion or legal hairsplitting — what it means is “if this product doesn you your m oney back.’’ You’ll note that what w e’re actually guaranteeing is not the product, but the custom er’s satisfaction. And satisfaction, o f course, is purely in the eye o f the beholder; there’s no way a researcher, o ra lawyer, or anybody else can predict in advance how high a custom er’s satisfaction thre­ shold is. This approach doesn’t baffle our customers; it makes im mediate sense to them. But it sure puzzles a lot o f other people, especially outsiders to Scotts. They want to know: how can we possibly afford to make that promise; w on ’t we lose our shirts? We make that prom ise for two reasons. One, because we believe our products will work, and we want our customers to have confidence in them when they buy. They have to buy on confidence, because we deal essentially in a phantom product. They just ca n ’t kick our tires or take us out for a test drive before putting their m oney down on the counter. There’s another side to that same point. Before we can market a product with this strong a guarantee, we, at Scotts, are forced to make sure we can have a good deal o f confidence in it ourselves. This is a horrendous m anagement discipline . . . we can never afford to rush a product to market half-tested or badly 42 Sharing Some Thoughts researched, no matter how anxiously we think our customers are waiting for it. In addition to wanting to com m unicate our own confidence about our products, we have a second reason for m aking this promise to our customers; to let them know that we have faith in them. We’re being as open with them as a com pany can b e . . . and I believe that with this guarantee, we make it pretty clear that we basically trust them. What w e’re saying is in effect “we want you to have a nice lawn; we want it so badly that w e’re w illing to put our faith in you on the line.” People usually fulfill the expectation you have o f them, and our customers are very slow to abuse that trust. O ur refunds generally run at a very low percent o f sales, year after y e a r . . . and even at that, it’s not unheard-of for us to receive a personal check in the mail from one o f our refundee customers, with a note saying his com plaint was premature and his Scotts products are indeed to. w orking as were supposed All in all, I suspect that we run a lower risk in talking about our guarantee than if we kept quiet about it. When we are this straightforward with a customer about our confidence in our products and our faith in his honesty, his first inclination if som ething goes wrong on his lawn is to w onder whether it wasn’t his 43 Sharing Some Thoughts fault rather than ours. If we hadn’t made him aware o f our guarantee, h e’d have little basis for gauging our reliability and integrity as a m anufacturer... and I tend to think he’d be m uch more inflexible in dem anding his m oney back. This simple concept o f a promise between us and our customers is one o f the things about Scotts that out­ siders find most difficult to understand. We guaran­ tee som ething that we have no control over — satisfaction. But we do everything we can to make that satisfaction p ossib le... and because we guaran­ tee it, we end up creating som e control over it. With the "No-Quibble Guarantee,’’ we try to remove as many barriers as possible between us and the customer. In fact, the only condition we place on a custom er taking advantage o f it is that he send us som e know how m uch m oney to refund to him. We d o n ’t want any custom er o f ours to suffer a loss as a result o f having trusted us; ideally, w e’d like to restore things to a point a little on the plus side, so he has some encouragement to try us again. proof o f purchase — and that’s primarily so we In this process, w e’re strengthening a bond o f trust and confidence between ourselves and our custo­ mers. That, rather than the dollars and cents that are refunded, is the bottom line on our guarantee. And that’s what really makes it som ething o f value. 44 Change So far these thoughts have attempted to deal with Scotts’ heritage o f fundamental and enduring values — “principles” m ight be another word. As a group, they’re sort o f a North Star o f the conscience, som e­ thing that doesn't change, som ething we can take our bearings from to make sure w e’re tracking on course. Not everyone will agree with all o f these values, but they’re a basic part o f Scotts today, and will be an important part o f our future. Does this mean w e’ll stay exactly as we are for the rest o f our existence? I fervently hope n o t . .. because if we do, that existence will probably be short and relatively unhappy. The need and the urgency for change is part o f the fabric o f every company. Whether we like it or not, everything around us is changing: our customers’ habits and attitudes change, the econom y changes, the climate changes, we ourselves change as indi­ viduals. As a living organism, Scotts must adapt to new conditions to survive, or — like the dinosaurs — we'll be left behind by evolution. 45 Sharing Some Thoughts The most crucial part o f change, it seems to me, is m aking sure that none o f our fundamental values are lost in the transition. They are the constants that must not vary; if w e’re considering a shift in course to take advantage o f more favorable conditions, it’s our values that should tell us how helpful that shift would be in terms o f where we really want to go. It concerns me that there’s somewhat o f a feeling these days that you have to feed people about the future, because they will resist or ignore change. A nd it’s true, som e o f us do see change — any change — as bad. Nobody likes agony, and all change carries with it som e agony. But I believe most people will respond to change if they can see the benefit, even if it means some initial difficulty or hardship. People do respond to challenge when it means a real opportunity to grow and to p rosp er... and our fundamental values can help us determine in advance ju st how m uch opportunity we can expect any change to provide. In fact, sometimes the yardstick o f our values is the only way to estimate how m uch a potential change could benefit us. By and large, w e’re a young group here at Scotts; most associates haven’t worked for many other companies, and d on ’t have a lot o f prior experience to draw from in evaluating the potential results o f a change. We all have opinions on changes 46 Sharing Some Thoughts w e’d like to see in the com pany — associate relation­ ship, for instance — but how many o f us have worked with a com pany that didn’t give a darn about its em ployees? Many o f us have strong opin­ ions about the competitiveness o f our product quality standards and our prices — but how many o f us have experienced the frustrating jo b o f selling “me- to o ” products when y o u ’re ju st another face in the crow d? Oftentimes, it seems we can only appreciate the good when w e’ve had to struggle through the bad to get there. O . M. S c o t t o f f i c e a t 6 t h a n d P l u m S t s . , J u n e 1 9 3 6 47 Sharing Some Thoughts O ur principles can save us a lot o f unnecessary agony, because they remind us what w ere in busi­ ness for: to help fulfill people’s need for natural greenery; to provide a superior value; to inform our customers so they can better evaluate our capability; to act as true associates in an enterprise. We’ve spent over a hundred years exploring and verifying these fundamentals, but essentially they’ve stayed the same — w hile Scotts itself has evolved from a family store selling farm seed, to an international company marketing everything from little packages o f fertilizer to big broadcast spreaders that weigh nearly a quar­ ter o f a ton. That’s real change, and there’ll be more o f it in the future. I have no doubt about that. The law o f change, in fact, is a fundamental value all by itself. If it were written down, it w ould probably be som ething like “Change when it's necessary to pro­ tect your principles . . . but don’t change your principles. ” Sounds easy? You can guess how difficult a process it really is. But it’s one w hich I hope we never stop goin g through, no matter what the agony — because once that happens, w e’re adrift. 48 Trust “It’s a company you can trust “Well, they have integrity. “Everybody I know has always had luck with Scotts products; it’s a reputable company.” Time and tim e again, as we ask consumers what they think about Scotts products without revealing our own identity as the questioners, we hear answers like t h that most com panies w ould give their eyeteeth to possess. e ... answers which reveal a consum er trust e s O ur business, as these com m ents suggest, is more than ju st a transaction in which the consumer exchanges dollars for our product It's a business in w hich there are really three elements com bining to make that sale: First, the personal involvem ent o f the pur­ chaser. We d o n ’t offer him instant results with a snap o f the fingers; we require him to share part o f the effort, so that h e’ll be part o f 49 Sharing Some Thoughts the success. Whether he calls it “lu ck ” or good ju d g ­ ment, his success becomes a personal achievement. And that, I believe, helps bring him back to Scotts. Second, the information and knowledge we share with the consumer. This is an important part o f what we provide to help guarantee success. Without it, the best-intentioned consum er and the most carefully researched product could just be a recipe for disaster. Third, o f course, is the quality o f the product itself. At times w e’re tempted, as every com pany is, to lower our quality standards by whatever degree is neces­ sary in order to hold the line on consum er prices. Would consumers notice it if we did reduce quality? Eventually — but inevitably — yes, they would. And w hile they m ight or m ight not still trust the product, inevitcibly they w ould trust Scotts less. As the consum er quotes above indicate, our market research reveals that Scotts is relatively unique in the consum er goods industry, in that consumers trust us as a company. Generally speaking, it’s far more com m on for consumers to trust a product than its manufacturer. Trust is generated by the three elements I mentioned earlier — personal involvement o f the purchaser, a sharing o f knowledge, and a quality product — bonded together by our two-way relationship with 50 Sharing Some Thoughts the consumer. We ask him to share his experiences with us, we try to solve his problems, and if all else fails, he knows he can com e to us and w e’ll stand behind our products with a refund. We are involved with him, as he is involved with us. O ur marketing success thus far involves all these elements; as we look at new opportunities, we must remember that these are our strengths. If we try to go in a direction that doesn’t utilize them, w e’re in a foreign land where we ca n ’t derive any benefit from the strengths and skills we have developed. It’s hard to put a price tag on the value o f consum er trust to today’s and tom orrow ’s business. It’s a price­ less ingredient, worth more to us than anything we could buy. O nce we begin to take away from i t . . . once we begin to lose the consum er’s trust by skimp­ ing on the quality o f our response to h i m ... we risk losing the greatest part o f our success. Trust can't be bought. It can only be built, bit by bit, by all o f us. 51 The Value of Excellence As hard as we may struggle to fully serve lawn- owners, there’s always a temptation to take short­ cuts. What good does it really do, we ask ourselves, to maintain standards w hich seem far higher than those around us? John P. Bahr, a custom er o f ours in Florissant, Mis­ souri, answers that question in the follow ing letter —perhaps better than any o f us could. I think y o u ’ll find it interesting — and I hope y o u ’ll find it inspiring. Be sure to read the last paragraph, ju st above his signature. There is the value o f excellence. 52 February 12, 1979 Jcar Mr, Sweet, I received your questionnaire and copy of "Success With annual Flowers" in tne mail today. Accompanying this letter is the completed questionnaire, and I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you about the success I've had with the excellent products manufactured by 0. M. Scott. We have owned our present home for two years. The lawn was more dirt and weeds than grass that first spring. I decided to give Scotts products a try on the recommendation of my brother-in-law. It seemed easier than starting all over. The results to date have been little short of phenomenal. 1 now have grass wnere I thought even weeds could not survive. The first several applications were done with Turf Builder Plus Two. The dandelions disappeared in just a few days. Astonishingl This past spring I counted four dandelions in the entire front lawn. The grass is now thicker, greener and healthier than I would ever have thought possible. The last two applications in fall were done with Turf Builder alone. I am eagerly awaiting spring to see what improvements the lawn will show this year. Am I sold on Scotts' products? I wouldn't use anything but Scotts. My father allowed me to treat his lawn last year after seeing the results I achieved. He noticed a difference in his lawn within a month. Most notably, he had to cut it more often. I don't know if ne appreciates that, but the grass is now thicker and greener. Not only does Scotts offer the finest lawn care products on tne market, but you show a genuine concern for the people who buy your products. I know of no other company which offers the money back guarantee Scotts does. The toll free number to call with lawn problems the offer to evaluate any lawn samples sent to your offices, the Lawn Care magazine and the network of Lawn Care Professionals are all unique to the industry. Scotts is a customer service company. The interest in tne customer goes beyond selling him a bag of fertilizer. That is a most refreshing attitude to encounter in this day. I look forward to receiving your recommendations by return mail. Just tell me what product(s) to put in my Scotts Spreader this spring and summer to achieve the results indicated on the questionnaire If anyone at Scotts has ever wondered if the extra efforts Scotts' people put forth are worth it, tell them yes. I'm a customer for life - - - because Scotts cares. P. S. Just a closing note about the local lawn care professional. He's tne owner of Handy MAn Hardware here in Florissant. He answered my questions when no one else could or would. Next time Scotts' representative is through this area, tell him to pat the "pro" on the back. He knows his stuff. Involvement a tremendous emphasis in society today on There is convenience. Many o f us buy “convenience foods,” shop in conveniently located multi-store shopping centers, and even arrange our working hours, with flextime, to suit our convenience. Products that prom ise greater convenience are hard to quarrel with, because they seem to solve a prob­ lem: the finite limitations o f time. If consumers can achieve their desired result and spend fewer hours in the effort, none o f us w ould deny them that benefit — in fact, w e’d probably be next in line ourselves to buy the product. You can see how the logical extension o f that thought, for a shrewd marketer, is to try to totally eliminate the consum er’s time-investment in the effort. But here is where som e com panies run into trouble. 54 Sharing Some Thoughts may remember that a few years ago one o f the You major m ultifood corporations brought out a revolu­ tionary new cake mix. It was almost totally self- contained: no longer did the consum er have to add eggs or m ilk or anything else —just water. By cutting down on the involvement required o f the user, the com pany was able to promise great convenience in preparation time. The product was a terrible bomb. Consumers didn’t want that m uch o f the preparation done for them. The result just wasn’t “their” cake, because they hadn’t been allowed to contribute enough to its crea­ tion. The company, recognizing its mistake, backed up a few steps and changed its formulations to allow consumers to mix in the eggs and m ilk again. In som e businesses, there is just no substitute for the personal involvement o f the consumer. Ours is such a business. As hard as we may work to make our products more convenient — through innovations which decrease weight and bulk, increase ease o f handling, and m inim ize the time required to see results — we should never forget that if we totally eliminate the consum er’s involvement, we eliminate m uch o f the pride and pleasure that comes from being sur­ rounded by green and grow ing things. The consum er is a variable — and is well aware o f 55 Sharing Some Thoughts that fact. He or she m ight buy the same Scotts pro­ duct in the same store on the same day that a neigh­ bor does, and the two o f them could have totally different results. They’ve been required to make a series o f decisions, and to put in som e personal effort, w hich are vitally important to their success with the product. When the results are good, they share the credit, almost as if they were partners with Scotts. I believe that this process o f involvement is what ties the knot between the consum er and Scotts; it’s an important link that should be part o f everything Scotts does. It’s almost as though we were selling products with a missing piece. Because w e’ve always recognized that the consum er isn't buying a “what,” but a “how ­ to ”: how to have a thick, healthy lawn; how to have a successful vegetable garden; how to grow beautiful and vigorous ornamentals. We offer our products and information to consumers with the understand­ ing that they are the m issing p ie c e ... crucial to our success, ju st as w e’re important to theirs. That’s the true definition o f a partnership, and I believe they perceive it as one. The alternative is to present them with a completed result. That is the jo b o f a supplier, not a partner; and while it may produce satisfaction, I doubt whether it produces the degree o f pride, pleasure, and loyalty 56 Sharing Some Thoughts that comes from involving them in the process. Convenience, as the Latinists am ong you have know all along, is really the key to our success: it literally means coming together. As we keep working to make “grow ing things’’ more convenient for our cus­ tomers, let’s not forget that we want them to know we're working together. It's called “involvement” 57 Phantom Products Normally, when you go into a store to make a purchase — whether it’s a lawnmower,a spreader, a garden rake or som ething else — you can use information about the product to prove its claims o f durability, ease o f use, maneuverability or handiness to your satisfaction, before you spend a dim e on it. If nothing else, you can base a decision — right or w rong — on an eyeball assessment o f whether it “looks like good quality”. What does Scotts offer the consum er at point o f purchase? chem ical form ula or seed. You just ca n ’t “prove” the merit o f a product like this before you buy it — unknown, a phantom. an A bag or box, filled with little pieces o f At the next stage — usage — some other products which were phantoms at point o f purchase became “real”. As soon as you open a can o f paint, for instance, and begin painting your house, you can prove to yourself whether the product claims o f the right color, even spreading, odorlessness, or one-coat coverage are really true. Som e claims, like “long- lasting”, may need more time to evaluate, but by and large you know at that point whether the product works or not. 58 Sharing Some Thoughts does Scotts offer during usage? An opportunity What to see the pieces o f formula or seed fall out o f a spreader onto your lawn or garden. Still hard to see any proof of performance or quality. Finally, our products require people to wait several weeks for results. Meantime, a lot o f things may happen to affect those results: application errors, too m uch rain, too m uch sun, too m uch cold, and so forth. During all this time, our customers have abso­ lutely no reason to trust the product to perform as it’s supposed to. But they’ve bought it and applied it, in the confidence that the performance will be there. Not only that, but they continue to buy more Scott products than most of our competitors’ combined. Why? They trust Scotts. It’s as simple as that. Consumers depend on what w e’ve promised as a company — and their trust is in us as a company, not in any individual product per se. We strengthen that contract by offering a guaran­ tee, not o f product performance, but o f personal satis­ faction. In effect, Scotts' promise bridges the gap between the product itself, and the results the buyer anticipates. Manufacturers can be required by law to provide product information, but all the facts and figures in 59 Sharing Some Thoughts the world can't satisfy a skeptical consum er faced with a phantom product. What we do at Scotts is based on a m uch more sensitive and fundamental law: caring enough about our customers’ opinion that we try to earn their loyalty and trust in every way we can. Given the nature o f our products, this broader responsibility is essential for our success. And, in the truest sense o f the word, it is real consumerism. 60