It is reputed that Henry Ford, though a brilliant engineer, had a few homemade rules of thumb he applied to business tactics. One of these was a simple test he used to determine if a subordinate was worthy of promotion. The aspirant would be invited to lunch with Henry at the company executive dining room. Ford would observe how the young man approached his meal. If he tasted his food before he applied salt and pepper, he got the promotion, if he salted first, his career with Ford was over. This little drama showed Ford’s engineering approach to running his business; test (taste) your theory (food) before committing to a course of action (eating). Not a bad idea, particularly in the business climate today. A small test could save a lot of grief later on.

 

Ford was truly an innovator. He is credited with developing the first automobile assembly line, an idea that was actually first applied by Ransom Olds. Ford saw the wisdom of a moving assembly line and refined it and applied it to his manufacture of Ford cars and trucks. The lower labor costs afforded by the assembly line put car ownership within reach of the working class, creating the huge auto-centric economy of the USA in the Twentieth Century. 

 

Ford’s vision extended beyond his manufacturing plants. He recognized the importance of establishing customer loyalty, thus repeat business. He knew that every one of his cars on the road was a potential parts and service customer. Ford Motor Institute was established to train engineers, designers, production supervisors and even salesmen. In the early 1960s FMI produced a film for salesmen called, The Sale That Begins With Delivery. This training film promoted the idea that if a salesman takes care of the customer after they buy a car and stays in contact with them, he will sell them their next car or truck.

 

Ford’s ideas are still valid today. Professional salesmen now use computers to keep records and provide the tools for after-sales-follow-through, but the theory is still the same as when Ford salesmen used a manual ledger system. Stay in touch with your customers and follow through on any of their needs for service, product information, upcoming events (the new car showings were huge in the ‘olden days’) and the like. If you did this right you had a customer for life . . . and you would often sell their children as well.