The "Ten-Foot Attitude"
One
of Wal-Mart's secrets to customer service is our "10-foot
attitude," handed down to us by Wal-Mart Founder, Sam
Walton. During his many store visits, he encouraged associates
to take a pledge with him: "... I want you to promise
that whenever you come within 10 feet of a customer, you will
look him in the eye, greet him and ask him if you can help
him."
This pledge is what we now call our "10-foot attitude," and it was something Sam had practiced since childhood. He was always ambitious and competitive, and by the time he reached college at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Sam decided he wanted to be president of the university student body.
In his words, "I learned early on that one of the secrets to campus leadership was the simplest thing of all: speak to people coming down the sidewalk before they speak to you ... I would always look ahead and speak to the person coming toward me.
"If I knew them, I would call them by name, but even
if I didn't I would still speak to them. Before long, I probably
knew more students than anybody in the university, 
and
they recognized me and considered me their friend. I ran for
every office that came along."
Not only was Sam elected to just about all of those offices, but he also carried that philosophy into the world of retail, where you can see it practiced every day by Wal-Mart associates throughout the world.
(Sam was president of the senior men's honor society, QEBH, an officer in his fraternity, president of the senior class and captain and president of Scabbard and Blade, the elite military organization of ROTC.)