Eat Your Own Dog Food
Founder + Partner + CEO
Published Thursday, July 2, 2020
Have you tried your company’s product or service? Whatever it is you manufacture, sell, or service; you best have tried it. You must trust your product and use it yourself to know what makes it great. I love the phrase, “Eat Your Own Dog Food” and have to admit it is not something I came up with. The term is widely used to encourage organizations to test their own products and encourage those outside the organization to do the same, giving honest feedback. Is it easy to use? Does it solve a problem? Does it smell? You should know all these things and more.
J.P. Morgan “ate his own dog food’ when he bought Thomas Edison’s company and wired his home with electricity. Apple computer “ate the dog food” when they required all employees to stop using typewriters and use their new Apple Computer. While at Screenbroidery we are not Chase Bank or Apple computer, we do practice the same philosophy. We eat our own dog food… our dog food being apparel and merchandise products, eCommerce stores, and fulfillment services.
As a leader, I want our team to fully commit to our company’s values, our mission, our products, and our services, and our customers. I want them to truly love them and recommend them to everyone they know – AKA I want our team to eat (and like) our dog food! To do this we outfit our team with items we sell -- whether it be high-end coffee mugs, tumblers, pens, power banks, business cards, embroidered polos and jackets, screen printed tees, journal books and tons more. And because quality matters to us, we frequently send products to customers seeking their honest feedback. ScreenBroidery.com is a web product we can create and use it because we want our customers to use the same quality of work. And through our fulfillment and kitting services, we prepare and send quarterly sample kits and packages to customers. If we are expecting our customers to love and use our products and services, we very well love and use them as well.