Sell It Yourself or They'll Misunderstand It

“Another consequence of the LEGO values was that Godtfred insisted on doing most things themselves – from development through production to marketing and sales. For example, from the beginning, Godtfred opposed having the LEGO system sold by wholesalers along with thousands of other types of toys. They would not be motivated or have the time to explain the principles behind LEGO well enough. Therefore, LEGO systematically built its own staff of salespeople. Typically, they did not have a background in the toy industry because Godtfred did not consider LEGO to be a toy. LEGO was much more – it was about children’s development and learning, and therefore LEGO should not be sold with words and concepts derived from the toy industry.”

“Godtfred hired two sales representatives solely to travel around and sell LEGO Bricks and explain to toy retailers the possibilities of the bricks. They did so without success. The representatives’ poor results led Godtfred to spend time himself traveling around and selling toys to retailers. This gave him an understanding of the importance of how the toys were displayed in stores and warehouses. He thought that the bricks should be seen as fully built models so that people could see what could be done with them.”