Visiting Customers in Stores - A leader's way of life and success!

This is a true story of how leaders work during recessionary / bad times .

It was 1933—the middle of the Great Depression. Yet immediately after the repeal of Prohibition, Ernest Julio Gallo started the E. & J. Gallo Winery with $900 of their own money ( their own equity) and a $5,000 loan. 

Ernest was twenty-four. And Julio was twenty-three. 

At the time, there were eight hundred competing wineries in California alone. Thirty years later, the two brothers, sons of Italian immigrants,had built E. & J. Gallo into the largest wine maker and wine seller in the world.

Ernest was the marketing expert and behind the creation of this awesome enterprise.

What did this great leader do in bad times, good times, all times to win in a crushingly competitive marketplace?

In the early 1960s, Legh Knowles, then a sales manager for E. & J. Gallo, received a communication that Ernest would be visiting Cincinnati, Ohio,( a state of USA) on the Thursday before Labor Day weekend. Legh was to show Ernest the marketplace 

Ernest outlined his weekend plan.

Legh said, ‘‘But Ernest, this is Labor Day weekend.’’

‘‘Exactly,’’ Ernest answered. And they proceeded to call on over a hundred stores and wholesaler branches.

Ernest peppered store managers, clerks, and customers with questions. 

‘‘What products are selling?’’

‘‘Why do you think that product is selling?’’ 

‘‘What do we need to do to help you sell more, to make you more money?’’ 

‘‘What do you think of the brand name … of the label … of the price … of the taste?’’ ‘‘Can I count on you to push Gallo wines?’’ etc etc 

Ernest Gallo knew that the secrets to business success are discovered in the marketplace, not in the office.

Ernest also knew that the word would spread that the boss worked on Labor Day. When the boss labors on Labor Day, everyone else works harder on Monday and Wednesday and Friday.

Thirty years later, when Michael Mondavi, son of the charismatic Napa Valley wine pioneer Robert Mondavi, met Ernest Gallo,

Ernest asked Michael, ‘‘Do you know what I do?’’

Michael answered, ‘‘Yes, you run the largest winery in the country.’’

‘‘No,’’ Ernest said. ‘‘I go out and visit customers in stores.’’

Think Bigger, Better, Bolder, Beyond and Before Others!

( Adapted from" The functioning of great leaders" )