55 Sam Walton Quotes On Business, Success, And Life
In the business and entrepreneur world, Sam Walton is a household name. Through his hard
work and determination, Sam Walton founded Walmart in 1962. Like most businesses, Walmart started small with only one store open and operating in Rogers, Arkansas. But using his tenacity and good business practices, by 1967, Sam quickly built Walmart into a million-dollar company with over 24 stores.
Since then, Walmart has remained the world’s largest retailer with 10,500 stores in 24 countries and 4,742 Walmart stores existing across the U.S. Sam Walton is an excellent example of success. Though Walmart began as a small and noble idea, Sam’s legacy continues to flourish around the world.
If you’re considering taking business advice from anyone, Sam Walton should be at the top of your list. Here are 50 of the best Sam Walton quotes on business, success, and life.
While some may disagree with the phrase: “The customer is always right”, Sam Walton took that sentiment to heart. Some of his most popular quotes directly refer to the importance of listening to and satisfying his customers.
Sam Walton Quotes on Providing Great Customer Service
1. “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” ―Sam Walton
2. “Exceed your customer’s expectations. If you do, they’ll come back over and over. Give them what they want – and a little more.”―Sam Walton
3. “Focus on something the customer wants, and then deliver it.” ―Sam Walton
4. “For my whole career in retail, I have stuck by one guiding principle. It’s a simple one, and I have repeated it over and over and over in this book until I’m sure you’re sick to death of it. But I’m going to say it again anyway: the secret of successful retailing is to give your customers what they want.”―Sam Walton
5. “Job security lasts only as long as the customer is satisfied. Nobody owes anybody else a living.”―Sam Walton
6. “I had confidence that as long as we did our work well and were good to our customers, there would be no limit to us.”―Sam Walton
7. “If you don’t listen to your customers, someone else will.”―Sam Walton
8. “The two most important words I ever wrote were on that first Wal-Mart sign: “Satisfaction Guaranteed.” They’re still up there, and they have made all the difference.”―Sam Walton
9. “The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary.”―Sam Walton
Along with great customer service, Sam Walton valued being a team player. In his autobiography Sam Walton: Made In America, he discussed the significance of listening to, trusting, and appreciating his associates.
Sam Walton Quotes on Being a Team Player
10. “The key to success is to get out into the store and listen to what the associates have to say.”―Sam Walton
11. “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.”―Sam Walton
12. “The way management treats associates is exactly how the associates will treat the customers.”―Sam Walton
13. “One person seeking glory doesn’t accomplish very much.”―Sam Walton
14. “Leaders must always put their people before themselves. If you do that, your business will take care of itself.”―Sam Walton
15. “I learned this early on in the variety business: You’ve got to give folks responsibility, you’ve got to trust them, and then you’ve got to check on them.” ―Sam Walton
16. “There’s absolutely no limit to what plain, ordinary, working people can accomplish if they’re given the opportunity and encouragement to do their best.” ―Sam Walton
17. “If you take someone who lacks the experience and the know-how but has the real desire and the willingness to work his tail off to get the job done, he’ll make up for what he lacks. And that proved true nine times out of ten.”―Sam Walton
18. “Communicate everything you can to your associates. The more they know, the
more they care. Once they care, there is no stopping them.”―Sam Walton
19. “If you want a successful business, your people must feel that you are working for them – not that they are working for you.” ―Sam Walton
20. “Great ideas come from everywhere if you just listen and look for them. You never know who’s going to have a great idea.”―Sam Walton
21. “Information is power, and the gain you get from empowering your associates
more than offsets the risk of informing your competitor.”―Sam Walton
22. “Share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners. In turn,
they will treat you as a partner, and together you will all perform beyond your
wildest expectations.”―Sam Walton
23. . “Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. Nothing else can
quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They’re
absolutely free and worth a fortune.” – Sam Walton
24. “We’re all working together; that’s the secret.”―Sam Walton
25. “Individuals don’t win, teams do.”―Sam Walton
There are many qualities you can attribute to being successful in business. For Sam Walton, his success with Walmart couldn’t have occurred without having a vision, being a good salesman, working hard, and embracing change.
Sam Walton Quotes on Having a Successful Business
26. “Capital isn’t scarce; vision is.”―Sam Walton
27. “I have always been driven to buck the system, to innovate, to take things beyond where they’ve been.”―Sam Walton
28. “Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else.”―Sam Walton
29. “Keep everybody guessing as to what your next trick is going to be. Don’t become too predictable.” ―Sam Walton
30. “I think I overcame every single one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work. I don’t know if you’re born with this kind of passion, or if you can learn it. But I do know you need it.”―Sam Walton
31. “If you love your work, you’ll be out there every day trying to do it the best you possibly can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you – like a fever.”―Sam Walton
32. “When somebody made a mistake – whether it was myself or anybody else – we talked about it, admitted it, tried to figure out how to correct it, and then moved on to the next day’s work.”―Sam Walton
33. “Do it. Try it. Fix it.”―Sam Walton
34. “I had to get up every day with my mind set on improving something.”―Sam Walton
35. “I’ve always had a strong bias towards action.”―Sam Walton
36. “What we guard against around here is people saying, ‘Let’s think about it.’ We make a decision. Then we act on it.”―Sam Walton
37. “I had to pick myself up and get on with it, do it all over again, only even better this time.”―Sam Walton
38. “Take the best out of everything and adapt it to your needs.”―Sam Walton
39. “You can’t just keep doing what works one time, everything around you is changing. To succeed, stay out in front of change.”―Sam Walton
40. “And like most other overnight successes, it was about twenty years in the making.”―Sam Walton
When it comes to making money and managing money, Sam Walton knew a thing or two. Until his death in 1992, Sam Walton was one of the wealthiest men in America. Some of his wisest quotes offer valuable money advice.
Sam Walton Quotes on Managing and Making Money
41. “There are only four things in life that matter. The first is happiness and I’ll sell you the other three for a dollar.”―Sam Walton
42. “Control your expenses better than your competition. This is where you can always find the competitive advantage.”―Sam Walton
43. Expenses should never exceed one percent of our purchases.”―Sam Walton
44. Money and ownership alone aren’t enough. Set high goals, encourage competition, and then keep score.”―Sam Walton
45. I’d hate to see any descendants of mine fall into the category of what I’d call ‘idle rich’ – a group I’ve never had much use for.”―Sam Walton
46. “Here’s the thing: money never has meant that much to me, not even in the sense of keeping score. If we had enough groceries, and nice place to live, plenty of room to keep and feed my bird dogs, a place to hunt, a place to play tennis, and the means to get the lads good educations—that’s rich.”―Sam Walton
Sam Walton’s hard work and success are undeniable. Though he was best known for being a successful businessman, he was also known as a man with good character. His wisdom on business, success, and life are all worth remembering.
Sam Walton Quotes on Living a Good Life
47. “Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up.”―Sam Walton
48. “You can make a positive out of the most negative if you work at it hard enough.”―Sam Walton
49. “All of us profit from being corrected – if we’re corrected in a positive way.”―Sam Walton
50. “You can learn from everybody.”―Sam Walton
51. “High expectations are the key to everything.”―Sam Walton
52. “I believe in always having goals, and always setting them high.” ―Sam Walton
53. “Celebrate your successes. Find some humor in your failures.”―Sam Walton
54. “Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom.”―Sam Walton
55. “When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a silly song.”―Sam Walton