Dear Customer:
Recently, we attended HABA Toys’ very first international sales
meeting, held at HABA headquarters in Bad Rodach, Germany. I’ve
been on plant tours before, but this one was the best ever. HABA’s
workforce is about 1500 employees. The facility took up about 3
city blocks, plus had some other buildings scattered along the drive
in to the main factory area, and they’re adding on a new building
to expand their administrative area.
Once we arrived at the conference room, Mr. Habermaass (wonderful,
inspiring, charming man) spoke to all of us about his amazing company.
I must say, this was probably one of the most memorable moments
for me in our entire trip. It was here that I realized that HABA
is about a whole lot more than “price points” and “play value” (two
terms that I don’t think I ever want to hear again – they were so
thoroughly overused by the other attendees). When Mr. Habermaass
spoke to us, I saw a man who was truly thankful for the opportunity
to present his company to us, and for the opportunity to present
his products to American families.
When someone presents themselves or their business, they tend to
tell you the things they value most first, and move down the list
in descending order of importance. None of the things are unimportant,
just the most important ones come first. Ask me about myself, and
I say that I am a wife, mother of 6 kids, and owner of a socially
responsible direct sales business that supports natural parenting
choices like attachment parenting, breastfeeding, natural childbirth,
and environmental awareness. I don’t start with statistics about
sales or growth, although I will probably bring those things up
at some point in the conversation. Likewise, Mr. Habermaass expressed
what I perceived to be the things he values most.
One of the first things Mr. Habermaass told us was the story of
how Bad Rodach became part of Bavaria. Big deal, right? Wrong! This
was the pivotal moment that decided the future of HABA as a company.
Bad Rodach had a choice whether to be part of Bavaria or Thuringia.
The deciding factor? Beer! The beer in Bavaria was 20 cents cheaper
than it was in Thuringia, so the people of Coburg and Bad Rodach
decided to join Bavaria. Why is this so important? Well, when Germany
was divided into East and West Germany, Thuringia became part of
East Germany (what Mr. Habermaass called “the Soviet side”), and
Bavaria became part of West Germany (what Mr. Habermaass called
“the American side”).
The HABA factory is about 1 km away from the Thuringia/East German
border. HABA never could have flourished as is has if it had been
part of East Germany. It immediately became obvious how meaningful
the HABA USA venture is to him. Put yourself in his shoes, and imagine
the sense of pride, accomplishment, and gratitude you would feel
towards the Americans. Without the American and allied forces liberation
of Germany, HABA could not have become the company it is today.
OK, now put yourself in my shoes (not for too long though – my feet
were killing me by the time the tour was over!). Imagine how honored
Barry and I felt to be invited to HABA’s very FIRST International
Sales Meeting! This was a really big deal for HABA, and for us.
Virtually nobody ever gets a HABA factory tour! It is also virtually
unheard of for anyone to actually meet Mr. Habermaass!
Mr. Habermaass went on to talk about the core corporate principles
for HABA as a company:
• We want our customers to be satisfied.
• The owners of this family company identify with the social market
economy.
• We stand by our hometown, Bad Rodach.
• Employee identification with the company is very important to
us.
• We are striding courageously into the future.
• We accept responsibility for the environment.
• We play fair.
I must say, I’ve never seen another for-profit company that really
lived their philosophy like HABA (except, of course, for NFB!).
Everything we saw at HABA served to emphasize HABA’s commitment
to its corporate principles.
A lot of times, I see corporate mission statements as some sort
of trite, meaningless corporate babble. But, with a select few companies,
their corporate mission is truly genuine. I’ve seen this with La
Leche League International. As any La Leche League Leader will tell
you, the entire focus of the LAD (Leader Accreditation Department)
is upon discerning whether a Leader Applicant will faithfully represent
LLLI Philosophy as a Leader. If she isn’t willing to put her own
personal biases aside and represent LLLI Philosophy to the letter,
she will be put through several more months of dialogue and exercises
aimed at helping her overcome that obstacle. If the obstacles can’t
be overcome, she won’t be accredited.
Likewise, Natural Family Boutique sticks to its mission. When I
started NFB, my very first step was to define the corporate philosophy
and put together my own mission statement. Every product choice,
every corporate decision, every vendor choice, has had to pass the
litmus test of our corporate mission statement. If it didn’t jive,
it didn’t happen.
Visiting HABA, listening to Mr. Habermaass, seeing the employees
living their mission – wow! HABA, when it comes down to the basics,
has a whole lot in common with NFB!
Mr. Habermaass made it very clear that this business is about children.
HABA strives to provide products with ingenuity, pride, and attention
to detail, so that the children who play with HABA toys are playing
with the finest toys available. Children deserve nothing less, and
it was apparent, from Mr. Habermaass’ introduction, that this principle
is of the utmost importance to him personally.
Sound familiar? How many times have I said things like, “breastfeeding
is every baby’s birthright?” Or, “our children deserve to grow up
in a world where natural parenting choices are the preferred choices.”
Or, “I started this company because I found the mainstream stores’
‘detachment parenting’ products to be disheartening.” Or, “these
products are so wonderful; wouldn’t it be great if THIS were the
mainstream?” NFB is all about our children’s futures. We’re working
very hard to leave this world as a better place than we found it.
We’re working with the hope that our children will feel supported
for making the same choices we’ve felt so unsupported for in making
for them.
What about HABA’s commitment to their employees (as described in
their mission statement)? I feel good knowing that HABA, like NFB,
would never use child labor to produce their products. They provide
a safe, comfortable work environment and a living wage for their
employees. They provide opportunities for recognition and identity
within the company. NFB doesn’t have 1500 employees, so you can’t
make an “apples to apples” comparison, but for the four employees
that we do have, we treat them very well. We try very hard to recognize
their individual strengths, and help them to grow and learn with
the company as we grow and learn.
Of course, one thing really struck me in HABA’s mission statement.
They said, “We Play Fair.” Mr. Habermaass went on to say that they
want to succeed as a company, that they want to win… but not at
any price. Mr. Habermaass feels very strongly about playing fairly
in business.
HABA has a very strong ethical backbone, something Barry and I greatly
admire and respect. When we started our company, we began pursuing
membership in the DSA (
www.dsa.org)
because we felt very committed to honest and fair direct selling.
The direct selling industry has been tainted by a few scam artists,
and this kind of perception was something we wanted to avoid from
the very beginning. NFB underwent a 15 month process of accreditation
by the DSA before we were accepted as members. Every policy, publication,
form, even our website was reviewed by the DSA to see if we met
their very stringent accreditation standards. After just 15 months
of business (lightning fast for a new company), NFB was accepted
as a DSA member. What this means is that we are committed to ethical
direct selling. See the DSA’s code of ethics here for the full story:
http://www.dsa.org/ethics/ethics.htm.
Our commitment to ethical business practices didn’t start with NFB
though. Several years back, Barry and I founded WebChamber.com:
The World Wide Web Chamber of Commerce. Go to
http://www.webchamber.com,
and you’ll see that the very first thing on the home page is our
mission statement. And, the very first tenet of our mission statement
is “to promote responsible and ethical Internet business and businesses.”
OK, enough about mission statements and ethics for now…
… on to the tour! This tour showed us how HABA toys are made – from
logs from the local forests to the tiniest wooden bead. HABA uses
every bit of scrap wood and every speck of sawdust – nothing goes
to waste. The wood that isn’t suitable for toys gets recycled to
heat the HABA factory buildings during winter. The sawdust is vacuumed
into silos, and is later pelletized and made into fuel for local
residents to heat their homes. HABA’s respect for the environment
is extraordinary.
The wood is kiln dried. Why is this important? Check out this website
for a lot of great information on kiln dried wood:
http://www.loghome.net/kuhns1.htm.
But, briefly, the kiln drying removes much of the moisture from
the wood. This helps to prevent splitting and warping of the final
product. It also increases the wood’s strength.
Next, the wood is cut into usable pieces, and visually inspected
for imperfections. Knots are cut out by hand. Yes, by hand. The
machine cuts the wood into sections, but real people inspect the
wood to make sure it is suitable for HABA’s use.
Speaking of people… HABA’s employees go through a 3 YEAR training
program before they’re put on the line. Many of HABA’s employees
have been a part of the HABA Family for 10, 20, even 30 years or
more. HABA’s workforce also includes roughly 3-5% disabled/handicapped/physically-mentally
challenged people. HABA’s employees enjoy liberal vacation benefits
(I think the average German company provides something like 6 weeks
vacation per year). Plus, HABA offers flexible work schedules. When
business is slow, people take time off, and when business is busy,
people make up those hours.
There was so much to see on the tour! I think we visited 2 or 3
buildings, each 3 levels or more. My words could not do it justice.
I saw everything from hand sanding to quality control testing to
distribution. Some of it was very low-tech (hand sanding), and some
of it was truly space age (machine picking of orders). It was clear
that every member of the HABA team truly cared about the quality
of their work.
About 2 to 3 hours later, we came back to the conference room for
lunch. Their cafeteria food rivals many restaurants in quality!
We got better food there than I usually get working from home! OK,
so, admittedly, I frequently skip lunch at home, but that’s another
story.
Then, we were on to our meetings. We discussed product development,
packaging, and competitive strengths and weaknesses. HABA had chosen
a very diverse group for the meeting attendees. There were several
regional sales reps, as well as people from HABA’s leading online
retailer, overall leading HABA USA retailer, three retail stores,
plus Barry and me. Each attendee represented a unique perspective
for retail sales in the USA. It was very interesting to hear the
challenges each business faced, as well as the approach each took
to selling HABA. It was interesting to note that it seemed that
the majority of the attendees saw HABA as a “boutique-y” product.
This feedback, combined with the inspiring plant tour, contributed
to my HABA epiphany. After I came back to the hotel and had some
quiet time to reflect, it was like a light went off – HABA is not
just some cute boutique-y toy line.
HABA makes toys the way toys are meant to be made.
HABA’s core values are completely in line with Natural Family Boutique’s
core values. We’re a perfect fit. Don’t our children deserve toys
made with integrity? Don’t our children deserve our support of companies
who make the tough choices in favor of preserving the planet for
future generations? Don’t our children deserve our support of companies
who are loyal to their community by providing meaningful work and
security for its residents? Don’t our children deserve quality toys,
made with products of nature, designed with ingenuity? Don’t our
children deserve to play with toys they can love rather than little
plastic pieces of junk you can find at the local mass market chain
store? Yes, indeed, our children deserve HABA, and HABA is a company
who is worth our support.
I challenge you to take this message to heart, and make product
choices that support companies like HABA and Natural Family Boutique.
Make HABA toys your “toy of choice,” and make NFB your “store of
choice.”
Develop your own HABA wish list. Learn how, by hosting a party,
you can get your most pricey HABA products for HALF PRICE! Nobody
else has a deal like that! All you have to do is to collect at least
$100 in guest sales to get your first half price item! Is that HABA
Orchard Floor Game out of your reach? You can get it for half price!
Remember, even if you never host another party, you’ll still get
5% off your purchases for the next year with our prior hostess discount!
But, if you do take advantage of our party shipping, you can order
as much as you want and only pay $3.75 party shipping (in the 48
contiguous US States)!
Oh, and another little gem I found out while we were in Germany.
HABA backs up all of their products with a
LIFETIME Guarantee
(under normal use). In addition, if you need replacement parts (lose
the piece to a game, etc.) HABA will, for a nominal fee, provide
replacement parts. So, you can buy HABA with full confidence that
HABA will back up their purchase for a lifetime of use. Where else
can you get a guarantee on toys like that?
Now, go out there and work on that wish list!
Thanks,
Kim Pekin
