A Best of Barry: Playing in the Sandbox

A Best of Barry: from May 26, 2010

With a downsized economy also comes another important talent needed for companies to succeed:

Being able to play in the sandbox with others.

Many large corporations have employees who need to stay busy. They are now being assigned to duties that used to be the responsibility of suppliers. In the past, a supplier could play "hardball" and demand they were in charge of all that work. Now, for suppliers to thrive, they have to be willing to share responsibilities and collaborate with internal departments.

This development is ultimately a good thing. The corporation can learn which suppliers are truly dedicated as partners and which ones are merely trying to protect their turf.

It's critical to get along in the sandbox, because as the economy has shrunk, the sandbox has become smaller.

Barry LaBov

LaBov & Beyond

www.labov.com

A Best of Barry: The Toughest Decisions

It's hard to make decisions relating to business: do you have the right employees? the right clients? the right business model?

But it's even harder to make the decisions that many businesses are or will be dealing with soon. Those decisions are not black and white. As the economy continues to struggle, businesses will be facing the toughest decisions.

For example, say you run twenty stores across the nation. You need to shut down at least two. The problem is that there are no terrible stores in the group, in fact most are doing fairly well. No one deserves to be shut down, yet something has to happen.

The first cuts are the easiest, those are the ones that were first made when the economy crashed. The next ones we'll see will be more difficult to make and may seem more unfair. They will still need to be done.

Barry LaBov

LaBov & Beyond

www.labov.com

LaBov Sales Channel

PB&J Newsletter

Making it difficult

Products have warranties that make us feel safer when buying those items. But if it takes an act of God to make that manufacturer replace it under warranty, what's the message to the customer?

I had a water heater that didn't work properly and over a four-month period it malfunctioned numerous times. It was under warranty, but the manufacturer resisted replacing it, so did the distributor. Over those four months I learned more about water heaters than I ever wanted to know. Finally, after the dealer intervened, we were delivered a brand-new beautiful water heater.

I had two learnings over this ordeal. First of all, I have never appreciated the luxury of having hot water before. Now, I do. I also learned that I will never buy a product from that manufacturer again. They had a great warranty that was designed to sell products, not service and retain customers.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
http://www.labov.com/