Melissa Meyer Reiff
Politics of the 1970s – Watergate, Richard Nixon’s pardon, Jimmy Carter’s election – fascinated Melissa Meyer Reiff (’77), spurring an interest in law school. After graduating with a B.A. in political science from SMU, however, she took a different career course through a job that eventually led to her position as president of The Container Store.
Reiff spent her first two years after graduation soaking up business advice from some of the biggest names at the time in sales, motivation and positive mental attitude – W. Clement Stone, Norman Vincent Peale, Zig Ziglar – while traveling nationwide to set up seminars sponsored by Stone and his magazine, Success Unlimited.
While in daily contact with these mentors, Reiff says she gleaned valuable lessons about business, accounting, sales and organization, as well as nuggets of wisdom such as "execute with excellence" and "a goal without a plan is a wish."
She draws on those early lessons in leading The Container Store, managing sales performance and day-to-day operations of the retail chain that produced revenues of $550 million in 2006. The privately held Coppell, Texas, company has created a niche with 40 stores across the nation that sell storage and organizational products. Sales have increased on average 20 percent every year since 1978.
Reiff, who joined The Container Store in 1995, credits the company’s unique culture for its success. "Our style of managing is the opposite of laissez-faire – a very hands-on approach. We try every day to practice consistent, reliable, effective, thoughtful, compassionate and courteous communication" to make employees feel valued and part of the team, she says.
At the Container Store, full-time sales staff members make twice as much as other retail workers and spend more than 241 hours in training during their first year, she says. "I’m most proud of our low employee turnover rate – less than 10 percent – compared to the retail industry turnover average of more than 100 percent." For the past eight years, Fortune magazine has listed The Container Store among its "100 Best Companies to Work For."
After her years with W. Clement Stone, Reiff joined LaPapillion Inc., a national manufacturer representative firm, eventually becoming principal and national sales manager and helping to achieve $14 million in sales. In 1989 she joined Crabtree & Evelyn, a skin and beauty products retailer, as national sales manager before being named vice president of marketing and sales for The Container Store. She became president in 2006 and continues in that role after the company’s recent sale to Leonard Green Partners.
Reiff relies on her years at SMU when marketing The Container Store products to space-starved college students. "You have to be reasonably well organized in your dorm room. Think of every inch of wasted space – behind doors and under beds," she says. "College is the best training ground to learn organizational skills."