Mitzi Perdue

Be the Person Others Want to Do Business With: Be fair

The Beginnings of the Sheraton Hotel

The international Sheraton Hotel Chain grew from an investment of just $1000. My father, his brother, and his college roommate received war bonuses after their military service that totaled $1000 for the three of them. They decided to pool their resources to go into business together. The result was an international company that at the time of my father’s death employed 20,000 people and was worth close to $1 billion. People often ask me the secret for Sheraton’s spectacular growth..

Interestingly, that’s exactly the question I often asked my father. He actually had several answers to this question, and I’ll address them in future blog posts. But the one that stands out most in my mind is: he said it was a tremendous advantage to have a reputation for being fair. People want to do business with people they can trust, people who will do what they say they’re going to do.

Leave Something on The Table

Part of his approach to being fair included a negotiating style that was generous. He made it a practice to “leave something on the table.”

What he meant by this phrase was, he wouldn’t drive the hardest bargain he could.  He felt that it wasn’t a good deal unless both sides were enthusiastic about it. He contrasted this to “the sharks” that entered a bargaining session with the goal of winning every last penny.

This approach may have been one of the bigger factors in the growth of Sheraton. A lot of Sheraton’s growth came about because when someone wanted to sell a hotel – and this happened a lot in the case of widows – over and over again, father would discover that Sheraton was the first company that the individual would offer the property to. The reason? The individuals (or their lawyers) knew that they’d be treated fairly – even generously. They didn’t have to be worried about being taken advantage of.

My father’s view was, you don’t make as much as you could on each individual deal, but you make it up dozens of times over when you get the pick of the best hotels that are being offered for sale.

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Mitzi Perdue is a speaker, author, and businesswoman. She is the widow of Frank Perdue and daughter of Ernest Henderson, founder of the Sheraton Hotel Chain.

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To find out more about her programs and services,
write to: Mitzi@MitziPerdue.com
or call 410 860 4444.