Sam’s Club execs discuss their playbook at Elevation Forum
Sam’s Club SVP health and wellness Jill Turner-Mitchael at Drug Store News’ 2014 Industry Issues Summit.
Bentonville Ark. — “Are you comfortable being uncomfortable? None of us like being unbalanced, but that tension is where creativity lies and many of our best ideas are birthed. And if we try to eliminate uncertainty, often times that is the precursor to a fall.” That was the opening idea shared by Elevation Forum founder and Mack Elevation Forum leader Dan Mack. “Being comfortable is code for not pressing into new ideas and pushing the boundaries of your business. The goal is to learn to enjoy the feeling of being uncomfortable with status quo thinking and status quo growth.” That was one of twenty five unique characteristics of today’s growth organizations discussed during the elevation forum moderated by Mack.
On Sept. 22 the forum group and keynote speakers, Jill Turner-Mitchael, Senior Vice President, Sam's Club Health and Wellness and Trent Weller Vice President & DMM Health and Beauty also laid out their current growth strategies including Sam’s strategic agenda, new member services, targeted membership goals, their four core business segments, how to optimize member insights, omni-channel philosophies and ideas for creating meaningful differentiation.
Turner-Mitchael shared, “It is the job of merchants to say ‘no’ more than they say ‘yes’. This statement is driven by the unique shopping experience we offer members based on our business model. There’s no such thing as an average club; one size does not fit all. We need to make sure that we are not trying to achieve an average, but rather putting the right items in the right clubs - driving the best results.”
The second part of the forum focused the special cultures that create distinct brands. Mack shared, “Perfection is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves; the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough. Perfection kills curiosity. Imagination and mistakes actually spur momentum, not perfectionism.” The group brainstormed twenty one attributes of companies that build distinct brands and organizations.
The winners embrace diverse ideas, people, cultures and points of view. They learn to authentically celebrate diversity on all levels and these organizations go deeper with the most valuable customers, ensuring the whole team is aligned to their top customer’s agenda. Ironically, these companies practice and encourage risk taking and decisive decision making. Furthermore, they get to the blind spots, threats & risks buried in your organization, while not being afraid of “others” uncovering their warts.
The thing I appreciate the most of these companies, shared Mack is that “they ask bigger questions positioning them to think and act very differently than their nearest competitors.”