Nearly two and a half years ago, I had the opportunity to attend a taping of The Martha Stewart Show while on a trip to New York. I had attended TV tapings before, and knew what to expect, but I was curious to see how the purportedly well oiled Martha machine would run in a live setting.
During the taping, Martha’s perfectionism was on full display (especially during the commercial breaks), but she was certainly not the witch many have made her out to be. True, Martha expects a lot–not only herself, but those who work for her. If you have given her your word, she expects your best. This apparently extends to the celebrity guests who agree to appear on the show. Martha was annoyed that The Tudors actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers was ill and had to cancel at the last minute, leaving Martha’s team scrambling to find a last minute replacement. SNL‘s Seth Meyers came through (he joked that he was next on the Rolodex and he probably was!), but Martha didn’t hesitate at every opportunity she got to express her disappointment that the other Meyers had cancelled. (This was apparently supposed to be in jest, but this was hard to tell.)
However, what impressed me most about Martha that day (and there were many–including the gift bags!) occurred off camera. After each taping Martha fields questions from the audience. The girl I was seated beside (a 20-something like myself that I got to know a bit during the taping) raised her hand. Martha walked over to our side of the set, and the girl asked her question. As she began to speak, Martha’s focus narrowed to encompass only the girl and her question. She told Martha that she had recently moved out on her own, and was looking for one or two healthy, but easy and reliable recipes that could become part of her (small) repertoire. While Martha could have suggested spaghetti carbonara or a dependable roast chicken, she used the moment to inform her about Everyday Food, a monthly magazine that is small in size and caters to the busy person who wants to cook meals that use healthy ingredients, but doesn’t want to break the bank or spend all night preparing them.
Therein lies one of the key components to Martha Stewart’s monumental success: Her ability to recognize her customer and give them a product that is reliable and exactly what they want. Moments after Martha told her about the magazine, one of her staff marched out and presented the girl with a stack of Everyday Food magazines tied with the requisite Martha Stewart gossamer ribbon. You can bet that those magazines have been well used in the last two and a half years.
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Read Andy’s Actionable summary of The Martha Rules here.
