As the hit television show Duck Dynasty launched its third season last week, setting viewership records for A&E and topping American Idol in key demographics, I was struck by the management success of the company – often in spite of themselves. While the reality show at times seems more scripted than real, the company, Duck Commander, is as real as they get and more profitable than ever. Here are a few lessons on management from the seemingly inept Robertson family.
Keep it simple. All the family sells are duck calls. High quality, industry proven duck calls that work so well tremendous demand made the family some serious cash. If you identify a market with a need and some purchasing power, build some expertise around a product or service that adds value to that market, the management of the business then becomes pretty easy. If the Robertson family began adding products that they don’t understand as well as duck calls it would clearly be a disaster. I don’t think it was planned but the focus the company has had – and is committed to drives their success.
It’s all about the story. The Robertson family doesn’t just sell duck calls anymore; the television show is based on their story – and the way they tell it. They have become professional storytellers. But the stories are the brand and the brand sells duck calls, lots of duck calls. The ability to attach a compelling story to your product or service gives it life, the consumer isn’t buying a duck call, they are buying a Si Robertson handmade duck call (or so they think) and that adds huge value, value consumers will pay high margins for.
Not all dog barks mean the same thing. Sometimes a dog barks because its just happy to be out in the woods. Sometimes a bark means its got fleas, the Robertson family knows what each bark means. Customers are the same way. Not all customer barks mean we need to jump through hoops to satisfy them. There is the occasional customer who has fleas – and just needs to bark to let you know. Let them bark, thank them for sharing but remember that if they leave you for a competitor they take their fleas with them.
If you’re too busy to hunt and fish, you’re too busy. Episode after episode has the duck call room left empty while the family engages in another adventure. Frog hunting, water park building or donut eating contests take priority over the work. But at the end of the day all of the work always gets done, every order leaves the warehouse on time. Yeah I know, a bit scripted but the producers are making a point – this family loves to be together. Sure they bicker about Willie’s leadership style but they never let the company down. Take a look at companies like Zappos, Twitter and Google, employee satisfaction is driving growth and innovation. (I can’t believe I just compared the bearded brothers to Google.)
Rednecks for sure, business geniuses they are not, but the show provides some simple reminders of practices that are often forgotten as we struggle to keep customers, employees and shareholders happy, happy, happy.
No comments:
Post a Comment