Samuel (Sam) Moore Walton

March 29, 1918 April 5, 1992

"There is only one boss: the customer, and he (or she) can fire everyone in the
company from the chairman and down, simply by spending their money
somewhere else"
- Sam Walton
History
Born: March 29, 1918 in Kingfisher, OK
He went to University of Missouri-Columbia and majored in
economics
Growing up during the great depression, Walton had
numerous chores to help make financial ends meet for his
family as was common at the time.
Died on April 5, 1992 of cancer, buried in Bentonville near
Wal-Mart headquarters
When Walton died in 1992, the family's net worth
approached $25 billion
I had to pick myself up and get on with it, do it all over again, only even better
this time.
States youngest Eagle Scout
Richest man in the world 1982 1988, worth $21 - $23
billion at his death Ranked 2
nd
, behind Bill Gates,
in 1992 when he died
Awarded Medal of Freedom in 1992
Highest honor awarded to a civilian
Recognizes individuals who have made an especially
meritorious contribution to the American society in
some way



Prior Work
Childhood: milked cow and drove it to customers, delivered
newspapers and sold magazine subscriptions
College: waiting tables, lifeguarding, and delivering
newspapers
First Job in Retailing: JC Penny in Des Moines, as a
management trainee until 1942. This position earned him
$75 a month
US Army Intelligence Corps, supervised security at aircraft
plants and prisoner of war camps


Accomplishments
High expectations are the key to everything.
Walton took over management of his first variety store at
the age of 26
In 1945, Walton purchased a Ben Franklin variety store in
Newport, Arkansas
the store was doing $250,000 in sales annually, due to
Walton's ideas and practices


Before He owned Wal-Mart
Capital isn't scarce; vision is.
A chain of Ben
Franklin stores
The first stores
Walton went on to open more Ben Franklin Stores with the help
of his brother, father-in-law, and brother-in-law
By 1962, Walton co-owned 16 stores in 3 states, Arkansas, Missouri
and Kansas

Then Came
Wal-Mart
The phrase "everyday low prices" has become
synonymous with Wal-Mart that people still continue to
shop at this retail giant.
He started Wal-Mart on July 2, 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas
By 1970, the Walton Brothers owned 18 Wal-Marts
By 1976, Walton closed ALL his 5 & 10 stores
1991- Wal-Mart became worlds largest retailer whit a
total of 1,700 stores
There are more than 6,700 stores around the world today
They employ more than 1.8 billion people world wide
discount store has now transformed itself to the
headquarters of the second-largest company in the world.




First to automate inventory process using a UPC
barcode
1983- set up a private satellite system to track
deliveries, process credit transactions, and transmit
data
Eliminated need for storage in each store, products
could be tracked and trucked in from local
distribution warehoused when a store ran out

Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no
trust.
To keep his stores running in tip top shape, Walton was always trying to
find new ideas to improve business
After the company went public in 1970, Walton introduced his "profit
sharing plan". This was a plan for Wal-Mart employees to improve their
income dependent on the profitability of the store
Wal-Mart employees were offered stock options and store discounts.
His management style was popular with employees
By giving employees a part of the company and making their success
dependant on the company's success, they would care about the company.
He believed that a happy employee meant happy customers and ultimately
more sales
Sam Walton believed that "individuals don't win, teams do".

Rule 1: Commit to your business
Rule 2: Share your profits with all your associates, and treat then as
partners
Rule 3: Motivate your partners
Rule 4: Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners
Rule 5: Appreciate everything your associates do for the business
Rule 6: Celebrate your success
Rule 7: Listen to everyone in your company and figure out ways to get
them talking
Rule 8: Exceed your customer's expectations
Rule 9: Control your expenses better than your competition
Rule 10: Swim upstream

Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. Nothing else
can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of
praise. They're absolutely free and worth a fortune.