Quotes from Bernie Marcus

The key is not to make the sale. The key is to cultivate the customer." At The Home Depot, cultivating the customer is much more important than creating a bottom line. We teach our associates that if you can save a customer money, do it. We're not looking to fleece the customer. If I can save them $100, why not do it? That reflects one of our values: caring for the customer. Care for them today and they'll be back tomorrow.

Pat never let a customer out of the store empty-handed, period. If there was something they needed that we didn't have, such as a quart size, he would give them the gallon size for the quart price. Pat believed you didn't let a customer leave The Home Depot without satisfying them in some way.