UnSelling: The New Customer Experience

Chapter 24Big Ass Chapter

Big Ass Fans sells high-end, the only-one-you'll-ever-need-to-buy fans. The founder, Carey Smith, is as passionate about the quality of his product as he is about his suppliers, employees, and customers. The company not only pays well but respects and values all of those who come in contact with it.

What caught our attention was an article about how the company paid its employees 30 percent above the national median and 50 percent above Kentucky's median, where they are located. Then we read that during the economic downturn and recession, they didn't lay off a single employee.

“Smith's policy of paying employees well goes back to a remark he heard in his 20s when he worked for an insurance company. A senior executive said the insurer could afford to pay people much more than they did—but since employees were willing to accept low wages, why bother?”

The comment, and the attitude behind it, rankled Smith so much that he began thinking of starting an enterprise “where employees could share in the company's financial success.”

And Big Ass Fans does just that. Smith pays out about 30 percent of the company's annual profits as bonuses. Although they dipped a bit during the recession, Smith takes pride in the fact that no employees were laid off.

“Not only is the no-layoffs policy good for company morale,” Smith says, “it also saves Big Ass Fans thousands of dollars in recruiting and training new employees.”¹

So we read all that great stuff, and then we ...