Jim Clayton

“During those tough times with 20% interest rates, Clayton grew sales by 25% each year while keeping factories open and sales centers staffed.”

“When the industry standard for double wides was to build them separately and hope they fit together at the site, often involving a sledgehammer, Jim insisted on building them as one unit, then sawing them apart.”

“Plowing the money back into my business was a smart move. I get to keep all the proceeds from extra seeds, so it really increased my cash flow. But I learned something far more profitable. Forgo those things that give you momentary satisfaction. Look at the lo…”

“He discovered he could sell Volkswagen as a gray marketer, buying beetles that Volkswagen secretly supplied while keeping official dealers on the allocation to create artificial scarcity.”

“Abandoning a well-thought-out and well-researched plan is an act of desperation that occurs just before a crash and burn. Stay with the plan. A bad plan is more likely to work than no plan at all.”

“One way that they used to do this in the fifties, sixties and seventies was to go to a nearby shopping center, walk through the parking lot and look through each car window to see where the radio dial was set. Almost always, most of the cars would be set to th…”

“Jim and Joe made a vow. They would pay back not just the 41 cents on the dollar required by bankruptcy, but 100 cents on the dollar to every single creditor. It took five years, but they paid everyone back in full.”

“The manufacturing plant lost money for six straight years.”

“A bright red phone is set aside in the sales center office specifically for this test, a new number assigned to it. This number only appears in the Yellow Pages ad. The deal is that if the red phone rings even a handful of times, we'll remove the yellow handcu…”

“Sometimes you don't make money on the product itself. You make money on what the product makes possible.”

“My experience he reflected later indicates that over 80% of legal claims Originally, because of a failure to deliver customer satisfaction. Therefore, it has always been my conclusion that most of our claims can be eliminated if we simply meet or exceed custom…”

“The last thing you should do is the first thing you feel you should do. In other words, during predicaments, when you've lost all sense of direction, don't trust your senses. Don't act on impulse.”

“For 30 years, Clayton Holmes operated with a legal department of one person, Jim himself.”

“This kind of reminds me of Jim Clayton, who said you can solve 90% of all legal problems with good customer service.”

“I had dinner with Jim Clayton a few weeks ago, and he mentioned why they were so good at underwriting. They would Keep the very last payment, the most risky payments. This gave them every incentive to be very conservative with who they were lending money to.”

“Jim realized that 80% of legal claims weren't about the product. They were about a failure to deliver customer satisfaction.”