Sunday, May 02, 1999
ENTREPRENEURS
Willis takes a look at its mission
BY JOHN ECKBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When a company is around Cincinnati for a century, expanding from sales at one downtown location to sales around the globe, it is safe to assume that a lot of people have done a lot things right through the years.
The Willis Music Co. of Florence celebrated its 100th anniversary last month with a charity golf outing, a banquet and a mission statement. The banquet and golf outing raised money and spirits among the 125 employees, but the newly created mission statement will likely have the lasting impact:
Focus on people. Offer the highest value. Realize potential. Tradition of integrity. Enrich lives. Take the first letter of each phrase and make a word for the essence of this mission statement.
“It spells forte,” said Kevin Cranley, president of the Willis Music Co., which has a publishing division and eight stores in Greater Cincinnati, Lexington, Louisville and Knoxville, Tenn. “Forte means to play in a loud manner — with emphasis and attention. It is something in which someone excels.”
The company was founded April 1, 1899, by Charles H. Willis, who sold sheet music at 41 E. Fourth St. A path was soon blazed that is evident today: Figure out what music teachers need, and generations of music lovers and sales to music lovers would follow.
Though Willis today sells every type of musical instrument, the company has never strayed far from its original business mission: to sell sheet music and provide educational texts.
“The John Thompson Piano Course is sold all over the world. The original book came out in 1935. For a method to last, it has to be outstanding musically,” Mr. Cranley said. “You can't be here for 100 years without integrity in what we sell and say.”
Mr. Cranley acknowledged that for the company to survive and thrive, it helps to have a demographic trend somewhere in the mix. For Willis Music, there have been two: development of pop music and the average American's thirst for self-improvement.
The radio dial is full of music, so there's no doubt that Americans love melodies.
And every time a pop star performs a song, somewhere, a kid is dreaming of becoming famous and practicing scales on dining room piano to become the next Joni Mitchell, Isaac Hayes or Glen Campbell on his way to Phoenix.
Sheet music sold by Willis Music is probably propped in front of both.
“You take a person in a machine shop and while they're performing a great service for their company and industry and society in general, they go home and they may be involved in music,” Mr. Cranley said. “It may be their passion in life.”
Like most businesses, Willis Music has not always looked to what the company does right.
That is what the mission statement is about. It was developed to get people thinking about what they do, why they do it and the best way to keeping on doing it. Still, there is flip side to that tune.
“We've tended to think about what we're doing wrong,” Mr. Cranley admitted. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, he said.
“Maybe that's how we grow.”
Willis Music celebrates 100 years of service
John Eckberg covers small-business news for the Enquirer. Have a small-business question, concern or quandary? E-mail him at jeckberg@enquirer.com and he will find the expert with the answers.
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