Built from scratch by Bernie Marcus

Author:Bernie Marcus
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Marcus, Bernie., Blank, Arthur, Home Depot (Firm) -- History., Businessmen -- United States -- Biography., Do-it-yourself products industry -- United States -- History., Building materials industry -- United States -- History., Entrepreneurship -- United States -- Case studies.
Publisher: Times Business
Published: 1999-08-05T16:00:00+00:00

BUILT FROM SCRATCH

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Internally, we have many different opinions as to what approach we should take versus our competition. When you are the leader in the marketplace, should you even think about mentioning number two? How high a road do we want to take? Should we just sit back and ignore the competition just because they are not hurting us? We produce about eight commercial spots a day, 2,000 spots a year, so we can usually manage a little of everything.

Part of our marketing department's job is to make sure that all of the orange-blooded folks wearing our aprons are charged up and saying, "We are a kick-ass company." We won't just let the competitors come in and throw jabs at us. They haven't hit us hard yet, but they keep punching.

Should it be personal against the competition? Well, our associates do love that stuff. It depends on how edgy you want to get.

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Builders Square was our most visible competitor of the 1980s. When it closed its last store in Atlanta, our store managers put on a vicious skit at a citywide store meeting.

The theme was how we deal with the competition. When the big rolling front door of the store went up, in drove a black funeral hearse. Inside was an actual funeral home director. He gently opened the back doors of the hearse, slid out a coffm, and lifted the lid. Everyone gasped at the sight of an assistant manager holding a stake that read:

BUILDERS SQUARE REST IN PEACE

We shared a particular antipathy with Builders Square because it was founded by Frank Denny, our ex-associate at Handy Dan. He started the company in San Antonio, Texas, as Home Centers of America. It was the first Home Depot clone. In 1985, Denny sold the nine-store company to Kmart, which changed its name to Builders Square.

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