Happy New Year!
During the festive break, I was fortunate enough to visit the Jack Daniels Whiskey Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee. I took a guided tour and it was both fascinating and enjoyable; unfortunately, I was driving so I had to forego the tasting sessions at the end…
I always enjoy finding out how other companies do things, no matter how disparate they may be to the IT and website business. For Jack Daniels I think there were two particularly interesting highlights:
1) Whiskey is relatively commoditised – anyone can make it. How did a small distiller in mid-South Tennessee build a global brand that is now one of the most recognized and popular in the world? There are numerous reasons for this, but the primary one is genuineness.
- The brand has always remained true to its values – a specific recipe with high-quality ingredients. During World War Two, when high-quality grain was at a premium and being diverted to the war effort, the company refused to compromise on quality, and cut back production rather than use inferior ingredients.
- They were undoubtedly helped by word-of-mouth marketing – Frank Sinatra (if you don’t know who he is Google him!) took a sip of JD before every concert and carried a bottle with him when touring. When he died and per his Will, he was even buried with a bottle!
2) Ensuring the commitment to quality was – and is – instilled in every worker. There are signs everywhere in the facility which state very simply ‘Every day we make it, we’ll make it the best we can’.
I couldn’t come up with a better statement of intent than that. In 2020, I’ve asked everyone in our Group of Companies to ensure that every single ticket, prospect and customer support request is dealt with as best we possibly can.
Have a great 2020 everybody.
