How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I
How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I
How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I
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i U j4ylJ A1<br />
Why's a tiny company you never heard of<br />
invading the crowded electric shaver market?<br />
Because It thinks it has a better product .<br />
Father says,<br />
! " l um " F p<br />
By Jerry' Flint<br />
}<br />
Lro WAHL began making electric<br />
hair clippers in 1919 . He kept his<br />
Wahl Clipper Corp . going for almost<br />
half a centnn,, selling to barbers <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
living otl' rovaldes <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> patent infringement<br />
fines .<br />
But then his s<strong>on</strong> Jack took o%er in<br />
Jack Wahl, chief executJve of Wahl CI!pper Corp .<br />
Haven't you seen his "Dancing Mustache"7<br />
1977 <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> things started popping .<br />
When Jack R'ah1 took o% er, recenues<br />
were $7 milli<strong>on</strong> . Last vear they were<br />
5100 milli<strong>on</strong>-16% annual compounded<br />
growtll o~er neari\• trnn decades<br />
. The Sterling, I1L-based company<br />
now employs 1,100 ~corlters <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> is<br />
owned iock, stock <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> barrel bv Jack<br />
6t%ahl <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> his famif .- .<br />
Jack Wahl credits the grosr°rh to a<br />
simple principle : "I realized the difference<br />
bemeen sales <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> marketing-that's<br />
a big thing for a small<br />
companv ." Wahl explains that sales<br />
means simplv presenting<br />
_ the product <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> collecting<br />
the m<strong>on</strong>ey . •`hiarketing,"<br />
11e saxs "means stepping<br />
back <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> looking for the<br />
needs of the customer, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
for the best way to get<br />
through to that user ."<br />
Jack FVahi decided the<br />
place to ewrcise his marketing<br />
skills was in the c<strong>on</strong>sumer<br />
market, his Pathcr<br />
ha~ing focused ot1 barbershops<br />
. The big move was<br />
the introducti<strong>on</strong>, in 1984,<br />
of a batten~-operated<br />
beard-<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g>-mustache trimn1er,<br />
the Groomsmun, It<br />
turned out to be % er ' v good<br />
at shaving heads, too . It's<br />
now the big product in<br />
10ahl Clipper's $50-milli<strong>on</strong>-a-vear<br />
domestic cottsumer<br />
products divisi<strong>on</strong> .<br />
The Groomsman recenthgot<br />
a big plug from Pulp<br />
Ficti<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> Die Hard star<br />
6ruce Willis . When Dacid ~<br />
Leaerman asked Willis how ~<br />
11e acilieces his shaved-skull ~<br />
look, Willis told Letter- Q„<br />
man-<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> milli<strong>on</strong>s of late- '<br />
night tv sietcers-that he T<br />
shaves his head even• other ~<br />
day with Wahl Clipper's ~ ~<br />
Groomsman .<br />
Today Jack 4Va11I is ob- ~ I<br />
I"t Forbes .August 14, 199i<br />
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/agf97d00/pdf