The Bear Necessities of Business: Building a Company with Heart

This is a book about business by the founder and “Chief Executive Bear” Maxine Clark, head of Build-a-Bear Workshops.

The main sections include getting started, being a great boss, connecting with your customers, creating an incredible experience, using essential marketing strategies, growing your business and giving back.

It's a book geared towards people who are already in business, or people who are thinking of starting up their own business. As such, it might not prove of interest to the average Build-a-Bear shopper, but for anyone interested in how to improve owns own business, the book is pretty much a must.

I am very critical of and have little respect for American business in general, as I've made clear in my section on Japan. When I think of American business, I tend to think along the lines of Enron, and of the endless greed of drug-making companies and gasoline-selling companies. I tend to think of the greed of Wall Street, of the “bottom line” philosophy that results in multitudes of workers being released, and I think of “off-shoring” jobs, causing Americans to lose jobs.

I tend to think of the history of American business, including those which discriminated against immigrants such as the Irish (“No Irish Need Apply” signs, for example), which discriminated against blacks, and which treated women like trash (such as the shirtwaist companies, American sweatshops that were run so terribly that women even lost their lives due to the company's greed. .

I tend to think of how many companies treat their workers in today's companies, always trying to make them go faster, to squeeze as much out of them in the name of “productivity” as is possible, and how decisions are almost always made from the top-down with no input on the part of any of the workers; they just have to take it, period.

I could go on, but I won't. This feeling I have about American business extends to most businesses, but not all. I knew Build-a-Bear was somehow different from others. The times I have gone to the store I have seen a place that is well-run, clean, and where the people who work there are obviously enjoying their jobs and where the customers are enjoying themselves. There is no salesperson pressuring you to buy something, but there is almost always someone to greet you when you walk in and people who are eager to help you find what you want.

As I write this I get a mental image of a similar type of store I went into some time ago. The store no longer exists, and for good reason. The store was also of the make-your-own-furry-friend type as is Build-a-Bear, but there the resemblance ended. Whereas in BAB (I'll abbreviate) there are always several workers willing to help you, at this other place there was one lone worker. At BAB the animals are obviously of very high quality materials; at the other place they looked sort of pathetic. There's almost always a sort of excitement in the air at BAB as people pick out their animals, have them stuffed, look over clothing, name their animals, etc. The other place had no customers at all when I walked in, and not entered in the relatively short amount of time I spent at the store. The “atmosphere” was totally different. BAB felt friendly; the other place just was a store, nothing special at all.

So I knew BAB must have some different business concepts than the other store and that's why I bought the book (plus, I spent some time myself in retail, not a pleasant experience at all.)

The book should be required reading for business people. Maxine Clark presents, in very, very clear detail, how to get a business going, what things to consider, how to properly treat your workers, and how to properly treat your customers. She covers virtually everything you can think of in relation to running a business, from getting supplies to setting up your own web site. She spends a lot of time talking about how the workers are treated and the company policies that help keep those working there satisfied, happy, and eager to sell their product.

Business can't be only about the physical goods that are in a store and whether or not a person buys them. Business is about that, yes, but it's also about the atmosphere that is set up in the store, making it a fun place for the person to shop. It must be about treating workers properly and getting them actually to become part of the company itself, rather than almost like a mercenary-for-hire that most employees really end up being, at least as far as the companies are concerned.

She also includes a very good section on how a company can give back to the community its in, helping the community and itself at the same time, but not in a quid pro quo type of arrangement, but as a true helping arrangement.

Such a philosophy is shown by the Nikki bears, for example, that BAB sells.

Further, she seems to “walk the talk” that she gives in her book. When I enter a BAB, I can be pretty darn sure that I'll see a well-lit store, a clean store, and a store that has a good selection of items and has those items in stock. I can expect to be greeted in the entrance, and I can expect to get meaningful help if I have any problems at all. I can expect all people to be treated equally,whether they are 10-year-old girls or grown women. I can expect to see males and females treated equally; there are no strange looks given a male who wants his own stuffed animal.

I know I will learn about their charity projects through their ads, but this won't be in an “in-your-face” type of approach, but simply it will be a “this is what we do” approach. Their charity doesn't take top billing.

From the smiles on the faces of the workers I can also make the assumption that what goes on behind the scenes (in receiving, in stocking, etc) is probably also run well and fairly. I never overhear workers complaining about their jobs.

Now, I will grant that a business that has people make their own stuffed animals is quite different from a business that sells clothes, or one that sells cars, or one that sells food, but still her book contains information that can apply to all those types of businesses. There are certain basics in how businesses are run that are universal, or at least should be.

One of the main ones, and I can't emphasize this enough, is how customers are treated (she refers to customers as “guests” in her book, by the way.) The “guests” are treated well. They are greeted, and their questions are answered. There are various freebies for them. The containers that their items are put into are work keeping in themselves (the cub condos, the wardrobes, the paper bags, etc.) The environment is friendly, both physically and in the attitude of the workers. It's a place that people will want to return to.

If a person wants, they can be kept updated via e-mail about new animals, causes and celebrations. BAB has its own well-organized web site where you can get materials you won't necessarily find in the stores (for example, a beautiful selection of international clothing.) You don't get lost trying to figure out how to get around in the web site, and you don't get swamped by loads of pop-ups.

Again, that's just another example of the overall philosophy of how the company is run. Her book would be anathema to many bosses, but that type of boss only cares about the bottom line and cares little, if at all, for his or her workers or customers. Greed should not be the be-all and end-all of business. Making the shopping experience pleasant for the customers, and making the work experience pleasant for the workers are both important, and both can be done and still maintain a nice level of profitability for the company, if only the bosses would follow the sage advice given in Maxine Clark's book.

If more businesses were run this way, then maybe American business wouldn't have the negative reputation it has today. If you own a business, or if you plan to set one up, or even if you're a manager of a business but don't own it, then this book is an absolute must for you.

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