This past weekend, Leon Gorman—the head of apparel company L.L. Bean, and grandson of the brand’s original founder, Leon Leonwood Bean—died at the age of 80 in Maine, where the company was founded and is still based today.
Nancy Koehn, professor at the Harvard Business School, looked back at Gorman’s nearly fifty years at the head of the company—during which time their sales ballooned from $4.75 million to $1.5 billion.
One of the company’s selling points, according to Koehn, is their famous '100% Satisfaction Guarantee’ return policy, where customers can return any item purchased at any time for a full refund, regardless of how damaged or worn the return is. In an age where customer service is becoming increasingly automated—and where nightmare interactions with customer service agents go viral—Koehn says L.L. Bean’s policies make them stand out, and have won them a base of devoted, loyal customers.
“They talk about on the website and in the catalog about 'we do things by the handshake,'” she said. “That’s very, very powerful in an age where so many...basic rules of the road of living well and treating others well in public life have become at least frayed if not destroyed in some instances.”
Another pillar of the company’s success, says Koehn, has been their ability to expand beyond hunting gear without diluting the brand. She points to the wild success of Bean boots—their company’s signature leather and rubber boots—of an example of how a utilitarian item could explode into mainstream culture.
“They’re very savvy brand stewards and business people,” Koehn said, “and they’ve done it all without sacrificing what all of us might call values and respect for the individual. So bully for them!”
To hear more from Nancy Koehn, tune in to Boston Public Radio above.
