Yesterday, Scotts Miracle-Gro Company announced that it would close all Smith & Hawken stores (read more here).  The fortunate legacy that will live on are the business teachings of Paul Hawken, one of the Smith & Hawken founders.  I read his book, Growing a Business, last year; its relevance and applicability to today’s business world is astounding, despite its publication date of 1987.  Principles have not changed.

Here are some lessons from Hawken’s Growing a Business:

- “Begin at the beginning.” Drill down to what  your company does.  Think ahead but don’t skip ahead.  Lay the foundation, don’t try to put on the roof before the walls go up.  (Sorry for the excessive construction analogies).

- “A problem is an opportunity in drag.” We will always have problems in our businesses.  If we stop having problems, our businesses are no longer learning and are no longer progressing.  When a problem arises, through creativity and innovation, we are able to solve and then build even better companies.

- “We want to do business with companies that back their products and take care of the needs of their customers.” Do right by your clients and they will reward you with coming back and telling their friends.  This is simple.  Why don’t more companies do it then?

- “Don’t live up to a criterion, set it.” If you are the second, the third, or the fortieth business in your industry to do what you do, are you always chasing the competition?  If so, you will always be behind.  Forge your own way.

- “Laughter and good humor are the canaries in the mine of commerce.” If you are not having fun every day in your business, close now.  If you don’t let your customers or clients have fun with you too, they will find someone else to have fun with (and spend money with).

- “There’s no way to instill a positive customer service ethic before you embody a positive employee ethic.” Treat your people like you want them to treat your clients.

All simple right?  Let’s get to it then.

We recently had a less than ideal experience with the length of time it took to ship 3 dressers from San Francisco for one of our design firms in Manhattan.  Sadly, our industry is full of these less than ideal experiences; nothing surprises me now.  I am often surprised when I receive normal customer service–I am exceedingly surprised when I receive something out of the ordinary.

Kudos to Jiun Ho for their proactivity in customer service.  I did not expect anything like this but was so pleasantly surprised that I felt compelled to blog.  Below is the letter that I received.  The letter was accompanied by a beautiful box of Mini Mosaics chocolates.

Needless to say, an “I’m Sorry” note and a box of chocolates go a long way with this girl.

We can all learn a thing or two from the Zappos model.  They are one of the most talked about companies today because they do things right.  What do I mean by right?  I mean that they take care of their customers and they take care of their employees.  As a result, people talk about them…lots of people.  Just a couple of examples:

- A woman called Zappos because her mother died and had a few unopened Zappos shoes boxes.  The daughter called Zappos and they immediately said that they would be happy to take the shoes back and would arrange for the pick up.  At this point, we are all thinking that this is standard, good customer service.  However, a week later the daughter received a bouquet of flowers with a note that read “We’re so sorry for your loss – the Zappos team”.  The daughter turned out to be an influential blogger and this story was widely circulated (as I’m circulating it here).

Lesson:  Let your employees go above and beyond to do what is right.  Don’t just provide client service, provide exceptional client service and people will talk about it.

- Zappos now pays its employees $2500 to quit.  If, after an extensive training program, anyone feels that they cannot provide the level of service expected, they are offered $2500 in addition to the time worked to quit.  The company used to pay $250, then $1000, and now $2500.  I would surmise that Zappos easily makes back this money several times over by not only having employees that really want to be there but by also showing their customers that they have policies that put the customers first.

Lesson: Follow the word of mouth marketing mantra: Make your company remarkable and people were remark on it.  Stories like these make people even more likely to become clients because they like what you stand for.

Read more about Zappos in a recent AdWeek interview with Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh.