Robin: Hello and welcome to this edition of Brandonomics, an inside look at top brands and their marketing strategies. I’m Robin Tooms, VP of strategy at Savage Brands. And my guest today is Jay Steinfeld, CEO and founder at Blinds.com. So, Jay, welcome to Brandonomics.

Jay: Robin, it’s great to be here. Thank you.

Robin: Wonderful. Let’s talk about the Blinds.com brand. So I know of the brand being kind of a customer-drive, service-oriented brand. And I’ve also heard you talk about that that approach really starts with the employees first, not the customers. Which sounds counterintuitive, but do you mind explaining that?

Jay: Sure. The whole purpose of our company is to help people become better than what they even dream possible, and that starts with our employees. You can think of a business as having a focus on people, products, and profit; and you have to do it in that order. Always putting people first. So we have four core values. First is to continuously improve. Second is experiment without fear of failure. Third is to be yourself and speak up. And the fourth is to have fun, enjoy the ride. So when you focus on people and they’re experimenting for the purpose of getting better and becoming better than what they even believe possible, then the company itself gets better and, of course, the customer experience ultimately gets better.

Robin: Right. So focusing on those people first is what ultimately makes the great brand and drives profits.

Jay: Exactly.

Robin: Well, great. Well, thank you for explaining that so much.

Jay: You’re welcome.

Robin: This has been another edition of Brandonomics, an inside look at top brands and their marketing strategies.