The Invisible Mentor

There is a Creative Response to Every Problem: An Interview with the Wealthy Barber

July 2nd, 2009 |

Interview With David Chilton, author of The Wealthy Barber

I have been going through work that I have done to determine if there are relevant pieces for the Invisible Mentor blog, and I am amazed at how much is very relevant today. I met David Chilton a few years ago at an event and asked him if I could interview him for my newsletter, and published his responses in Ambeck Edge April 2005. When I first met David, what I appreciated about him was his humility. For those who do not know about David Chilton, his book the Wealthy Barber is a bestseller. During the telephone interview, I asked David the following three questions:

Describe a business challenge that you had and how you resolved it
What lessons did you learn in the process
In your opinion what is the formula for success

Challenge: I approached the Shopping Channel in 1997 to have two sisters, Janet & Greta Podleski, promote their Looneyspoons cookbook. The Shopping Channel was somewhat skeptical about dealing with books because the price point wasn’t high enough. Also, how would the brick and mortar stores such as Costco, Chapters and Indigo react?

Resolution: To eliminate the low price point problem with The Shopping Channel we offered them a two-for-one deal that they would pass on to the consumer. That way their volumes would reflect the great value proposition that the consumer was receiving. Therefore, their total revenue would be more than acceptable. This would have an unintended consequence because The Shopping Channel would be getting a better deal than the brick and mortar booksellers who bought a larger quantity of the cookbooks. To alleviate their concerns, I offered a personal guarantee that after one appearance on the Shopping Channel, if sales of the cookbook didn’t increase in the stores, I would no longer use that marketing strategy. I personally believed that most viewers wouldn’t call the Shopping Channel to purchase the cookbook. Instead, they would actually purchase the cookbook when they were in the store. However, for the 30-minute appearance on the Shopping Channel we had no idea what a tremendous impact it would have on sales. The Shopping Channel opened up several new accounts and the brick and mortar stores saw sales double and even triple after the sisters’ appearance on the Shopping Channel.

Lessons Learned:

There is a creative response to every problem.
You always have to think, “How can the other parties benefit?”

Formula for Success

I do not know if there is a formula for success, because if it were that simple, everybody would be doing it. To become successful, it takes a lot of hard work. Every business is different. Execution is very underrated and too much emphasis is placed on ideas. You must pay attention to detail. You must look for ways to help others – you have to help people achieve their objectives. Success also requires great flexibility, you have to see things as they are and not the way you would like them to be. You must accept reality and deal with it.

If you faced David’s challenge, how would you have resolved it? Do you believe, like he does, that there is a creative solution to every problem? How can you look at a problem that you are facing differently? Could you apply David’s solution in a unique and different way?

Related Resources

Ambeck Edge April 2005