00:00:02another edition of modeling the masters
00:00:04today we’re going to look at how a
00:00:06housewife who was told by her husband
00:00:08that her business concept was a stupid
00:00:10idea
00:00:10created an international brand with
00:00:12almost 500 retail locations this is a
00:00:15story of cookie connoisseur mrs. Debbie
00:00:17fields and a top three lessons that you
00:00:20can learn from her success
00:00:42Debbie Fields is the founder and current
00:00:45spokesperson of mrs. Fields bakeries
00:00:47additionally she has written several
00:00:49cookbooks she currently lives in Memphis
00:00:51Tennessee with her husband and is very
00:00:53involved in philanthropic work
00:00:54throughout the area
00:00:55when Fields first decided to create her
00:00:58own business baking cookies she was
00:00:59ecstatic
00:01:00she thought her family would be too but
00:01:03even her loved ones the people she had
00:01:05expected the counter for support turned
00:01:07their backs her husband told her Oh
00:01:09sweetie that is such a stupid idea
00:01:11and her parents said that she didn’t
00:01:13have any business going into the cookie
00:01:15business with no family support Fields
00:01:18began visiting banker after banker to
00:01:20try and get the startup capital she
00:01:22needed for her business but the response
00:01:24was poor with only two years of college
00:01:26under her belt
00:01:27nobody wanted to back a woman with no
00:01:29business experience and little formal
00:01:31education she became so desperate to
00:01:34find financing that she began going
00:01:36through institutions one by one through
00:01:39the Yellow Pages finally she found the
00:01:41banker who agreed to give fields the
00:01:43money she needed to get her dream off
00:01:44the ground but it came at a steep price
00:01:47twenty-one percent interest according to
00:01:50fields it was the cheapest money I could
00:01:52have because it was the only money I
00:01:54could get in Palo Alto California in
00:01:581977 Fields opened up her first cookie
00:02:01store although sales were slow to start
00:02:03and Fields was forced to go out into the
00:02:05street to offer free samples she
00:02:07eventually got it up and running over
00:02:09the next six years mrs. Fields would
00:02:12multiply throughout the US by the end of
00:02:141984 there are more than 160 cookie
00:02:17outlets across the country which along
00:02:20with four international stores were
00:02:21bringing in forty five million dollars
00:02:23in revenue in 1993 she eventually sold
00:02:26out to private investors and still
00:02:28remains a spokesperson of mrs. Fields
00:02:30bakeries so the next question is how can
00:02:34you model the success of Debbie fields
00:02:36here are three action items and you
00:02:38could put to use into your business
00:02:39today
00:02:40action item number one don’t let
00:02:43rejection hold you back every new
00:02:46business is going to have a chair of
00:02:47doubters you’ll have potential customers
00:02:49lender suppliers partners and employees
00:02:52turn you down you may even have your
00:02:55friends and family question what you’re
00:02:57doing if you’re sure that your idea has
00:03:00merit then you owe it to yourself to
00:03:01give it your best use the rejection as
00:03:04fuel to motivate you to keep going
00:03:06remember that each no gets you closer to
00:03:09a yes as far as Fields was concerned she
00:03:13knew she was not going to disappoint her
00:03:14husband and her parents who did not
00:03:16believe in her the only person she
00:03:18resists appointing was herself if she
00:03:20did not try and so my journey began says
00:03:23Fields I made the decision and I was
00:03:25going to see it through meanwhile Fields
00:03:28his parents continued to discourage
00:03:30their daughter’s plans again Fields his
00:03:33mother told her to give up telling her
00:03:35that there’s magic in those words
00:03:37because when she said Debbie just give
00:03:39up instead of giving up Fields creative
00:03:42a mantra for herself and maintained the
00:03:44faith that there was someone out there
00:03:46who would finance a yes to her dream her
00:03:49advice you do not have to be superhuman
00:03:51to do what you believe in the most
00:03:54important thing is for you to believe in
00:03:56what you’re doing absolutely know that
00:03:58there are people out there who want to
00:04:00say yes action item number two let
00:04:05customers try before they buy with any
00:04:08new product or service customers are
00:04:10reluctant to buy because they don’t know
00:04:12what they’re getting if you can think of
00:04:14a way for your clients to try out what
00:04:16you’re selling on a small scale they’re
00:04:18much more likely to buy assuming that
00:04:20you have a quality product or service of
00:04:22course trying something that reduces the
00:04:25risk for the customer and increases the
00:04:27chances that they’ll place an order with
00:04:29you when Fields opened up her first shop
00:04:32she had trouble getting the foot traffic
00:04:33outside to come inside her store to
00:04:37create an incentive for new customers to
00:04:39come in
00:04:39she began sending out trays of free
00:04:41cookies into the streets people would
00:04:44try her cookies outside and wander into
00:04:46the store to see where they could find
00:04:48more according to mrs. Fields I wanted
00:04:51to make my first investment in my
00:04:53customer
00:04:54I wanted to give the product away I
00:04:56wanted people to actually experience the
00:04:58product try the product and they thought
00:05:01it was worthy if they liked it then they
00:05:04could buy it try it and buy it that was
00:05:07the way we really found customers action
00:05:12item number three good enough never is
00:05:14if you want to have long-term success as
00:05:17an entrepreneur then you need to
00:05:19constantly be upping the quality of the
00:05:21product and service that you provide
00:05:22create a high standard of quality for
00:05:25what you’re currently producing and be
00:05:27on the lookout for other ways that you
00:05:29can make it even better and add more
00:05:31value one day Debbie fields walked into
00:05:34one of her stores to see a long line of
00:05:36customers waiting to purchase a huge
00:05:38batch of cookies that she immediately
00:05:40knew had been over baked Fields was
00:05:43upset she did not want those cookies to
00:05:46be sold or for those customers to
00:05:48associate her name with over baked
00:05:50cookies Fields approached the manager to
00:05:53figure out what was going on what do you
00:05:56think of these cookies Fields asked him
00:05:58he responded by saying Oh Debbie they’re
00:06:01good enough Fields was upset and
00:06:04immediately threw out all of the cookies
00:06:06good enough she said good enough never
00:06:09is fields now had a long line of hungry
00:06:13customers waiting to buy cookies that
00:06:15had just been tossed in the garbage she
00:06:18went over to them and explained one by
00:06:20one what had happened we’ve over baked
00:06:23these cookies she said and I want them
00:06:25to be perfect and whatever you are
00:06:27standing in line for I will absolutely
00:06:29give them to you free plus I’ll match
00:06:32for free if you will come back according
00:06:35to mrs. Fields good enough never is set
00:06:38your standards so high that even the
00:06:40flaws are considered excellent so
00:06:45remember don’t let rejection hold you
00:06:47back let customers try before they buy
00:06:50and good enough never is I wanted to end
00:06:54this video today by sharing one of my
00:06:56favorite true stories about mrs. Debbie
00:06:58fields in growing her business Fields
00:07:01was determined to bring on board only
00:07:03those people who shared her passion for
00:07:05cookies to make sure she was her
00:07:07people who are going to love their jobs
00:07:09as much as she did fields began
00:07:11auditioning all of her employees people
00:07:14who wanted to work for mrs. fields we’re
00:07:16not just going to sit through the
00:07:17regular interview process field fields
00:07:20would send her candidates into the
00:07:22street with trays of cookies and told
00:07:24them that if any customers came into the
00:07:26store mentioning their name they would
00:07:28be hired Fields would also make her
00:07:31candidates sing happy birthday to her in
00:07:32middle the store that’s how I found the
00:07:35best cookie people in the world she said
00:07:37because if they would sing and belt out
00:07:39happy birthday
00:07:40I knew that smiles were going to be
00:07:42created laughter fun times and we were
00:07:45going to have a relationship her formula
00:07:48was a success and as a result fields
00:07:51never wrote a customer service manual
00:07:53because she felt that customer service
00:07:55comes from the heart thank you for
00:07:58joining me for another edition of
00:08:00modeling the masters I hope you enjoyed
00:08:01if you liked the video and you want to
00:08:03see more please leave a thumbs up below
00:08:05the video and feel free to leave a
00:08:07comment and love to hear your thoughts
00:08:08and feedback thank you and stay tuned to
00:08:10the next episode
00:08:18Oh
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