Unpaid Tour Endorsement "The company's relationship with employees is what makes the company a success. Employees there are truly committed to the image Sewell's trying to achieve. I talked with a few salespeople who told me their approach: 'Not everybody buys their Cadillac from us the first time around, but if they come here for service, they certainly will next time.' "
-- Ronald Johnston, general manager
Brown's Honda City, Baltimore
(continued)
TOUR 4
MARKETING MASTERS
Company Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc.
Location Waterbury, Vt., 25 miles from Burlington
Telephone (802) 244-6957
Business With an iconoclastic marketing style, this company makes and sells $60 million of superpremium ice cream a year. It was enough to land victorious rebels Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield on INC.'s July 1988 cover, "The Bad Boys of American Business." Everything the company does -- from turning its manufacturing facilities into Vermont's second-largest tourist attraction to loudly priding itself on its financial investment in its 315 employees, the environment, and ethical business activism -- reinforces the marketing effort.
Tour Capsule The quintessential marketing tour. Reasons president and CEO Fred "Chico" Lager, "I went on the Hershey tour when I was a kid and became a customer for life." The 30-minute tour begins with a 10-minute slide show. Tour the factory and learn about plant hygiene, the recycling program, the 1% for Peace Organization, and the company's first public offering, made only to Vermonters to benefit the community. See real good ice cream being made . . . and taste it. Last year the plant saw 170,000 visitors. In the summer, tours begin every 15 minutes. Charge: $1. Picture-taking allowed. Gift shop. No billboards along the highway. Bring a map.
Unpaid Tour Endorsement "In most companies like this, the factory would be stripped away to the bare essentials of the process of making ice cream, and it would be boring. This tour unveils a whole culture the visitors learn about. People don't go because they want to see ice cream being made. They want to see their favorite ice-cream company. The tour maintains the entertainment value of the delight associated with ice cream while stressing the hygienic quality of the product. We love free spirits like Ben and Jerry, but we don't like it if they mess up our food. Ben and Jerry prove they can be responsible free spirits. Customers come away learning these guys aren't just bucking the corporate image but are creating a new one."
-- Paul Hawken, CEO, Smith & Hawken, a mail-order
distributor of gardening supplies, Mill Valley, Calif.
TOUR 5
THE GREAT GAME OF BUSINESS
Company Springfield Remanufacturing Center Corp. (SRC)
Location Springfield, Mo.
Telephone (417) 862-3501
Business Here, 475 financially savvy employees rebuild $50 million worth of auto and truck engines a year. President Jack Stack keeps his employees motivated by keeping them informed about the company's finances. He makes reaching profit goals a game -- the "Great Game of Business," we called it in "The Turnaround" (August 1986). The company's balance sheet serves as the game's scorecard. Today managers from across the country come to see how Stack motivates employees to improve his company's bottom line.
Tour Capsule Stack tries to greet all visitors. Pull up a chair and sit in on the 9:00 a.m. Wednesday meeting, when 25 production employees from every department crowd into the conference room. Listen to them analyze goals and projections. Watch them tally the past two weeks' score and calculate the odds for the coming weeks. Then pair up with an employee and take a tour of the plant. Chat with workers about what they think of the Great Game of Business, and how they play it on the floor.
Company finances are out in the open; it's hard to be too nosy. Groups are limited to six. Sometimes visitors can shoot the business breeze with Stack and crew at an informal lunch. Real numbers used.
Unpaid Tour Endorsement "I was struck by how many people were in a meeting that would normally be reserved for the five or six key managers. The people doing the work are involved financially here at the highest levels.
"We walked in and saw 42 written on the middle of a bulletin board. I asked a woman in charge of fuel-injection rebuilding what it meant. 'That's what it costs the company per minute per employee when an employee isn't working,' she said. 'Multiply 42 by 60 minutes and it's $25.20 per hour.' Now, she probably earns $8 an hour, so I asked, 'Do you feel you're carrying the rest of the organization because they charge $25 per hour but only pay you $8?' 'No,' she said, 'there are other things that matter besides making a product, like selling, shipping, accounting. The number is on the board so employees will know that time equals money and so meetings will be kept short and the day'll be productive.' "
-- Bob Miller, acting general manager
DRG Plastics Inc., Union, Mo.
(continued)
TOUR 6
BASIC TRAINING
Company Quad/Graphics Inc.
Location Pewaukee, Wis., 20 miles from Milwaukee
Telephone (414) 246-9200
Business Long before the miserable education levels of employees became the popular gripe for business executives, Harry Quadracci, CEO of $375-million Quad/Graphics, was pioneering what was to become one of the most admired employee education programs in the country. Last year 162 volunteer teachers at Quad's printing plants taught more than 70 courses for a total of 62,000 hours of class time. (We chronicled Quadracci's efforts in December 1986.)
Tour Capsule Quad hospitality hooks visitors up with line employees. Tell your guide what you want to learn about. Then take free run of the cavernous plant floor to see the Quad work/education ethic in action. On Saturdays sit in on a class and see how employees train, support, and lead one another on their own unpaid time on topics ranging from press operations to improving interview skills.
After class stroll out to scenic Camp Quad to peek in on an Outward Boundtype trust exercise. Employees lead one another blindfolded around the woods. Have a bite to eat in the new 24-hour cafeteria in the Sussex plant.
Unpaid Tour Endorsement "I was impressed with how they integrate new employees into the teams that operate the presses. All the training is done on unpaid time. Instructors aren't paid. I asked, 'What's the cost per student?' and the education teacher said, 'A buck and a half.' It's amazing. The people are highly invested in the company emotionally. Their training curriculum is pretty heavily operations and technology oriented. That makes sense when you see how capital intensive the [printing] business is. They do a good job hammering home what they expect of the employee."
-- James Duffy, manager of employee development
Applied Materials Inc., Santa Clara, Calif.
