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Blog Archives > June 2011
Blog Archives
June 2011
Come on in!
Late last summer I was down in San Diego at a WHS trunk show at Leo Hamel Jewelers; while I was there, I stopped by and visited my friend Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars. Over the course of a couple days, I got to spend time with Bob and his team, and Leo and his team – these are two very good businesses that do a great job of focusing on their core values, and on their customers. It made me wonder how well WHS was doing on those same essential issues, and I decided to step back a bit from the day to day and look at the big picture of what WHS had evolved into.
What I found was a business that had, at least from my vantage point as the founder, lost its way a little bit. So I got busy! The results were many and continue to be articulated today as I work with my staff to rebuild WHS around the belief that EVERY decision needs to be about our customers, the people who actually buy our work and enable our livelihoods.
Some of these changes include a focus on new technologies and social media (I love the idea of having a conversation with people about WHS, instead of talking at them), a decision to offer direct sales of our products via our website (if you want to buy online, I want to be there saying ‘yes’ on your terms), changes to our sales and distribution structure, and a continued focus on making sure that there are great retailers out there who do a great job stocking and showing our product in person. And we will continue to invest in a dynamic and evolving range of programs that focus on our customers, putting them where they belong – at center stage.
Moreover, I believe that luxury need not be exclusive – that we can make the absolute finest products we can, every day, and still open our doors and extend a warm welcome to anyone who is interested in our work. To me, the idea of luxury is antiquated; I am interested in excellence. Excellence, in our case, translates into relatively expensive products. Not overpriced, but expensive. I do not know any other way to bring our work to life except to source the best materials in the world and try to do the best work in the world – and that costs money. But that is about excellence only – not about status or arbitrary brand identity or exclusivity as traditionally seen in ‘luxury’ brands. If you are a collector of our work, I thank you sincerely. If you don’t yet own one of our pieces, but admire and take an interest in our work, I thank you sincerely as well. Community, in the case of this brand, need not be limited to those that own but should include all who appreciate the work – and I want you to know that we appreciate your interest and take it seriously, whether or not you buy something today, tomorrow, or in ten years.
I love that people like this work and I love that I can do this for a living – and that is because of you. You knock on my door, I say “Welcome, and come on in!” However I can serve your interests, however I can show you more about what we do, however I can answer your questions, I am here to serve. And I am deeply grateful for so many people out there doing just that every day.
Thanks for checking in.
Matt Conable, Founder
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