Recently I began a new career as the General Manager for Homefield: The Outdoor Living Store in Corpus Christi, TX. Fortunately for me, I worked with this company over 12 years ago and grew up with the owner. This might have helped me land one of the most profitable markets in our organization, and a very nice transition from the Navy.
Now, to say I was chomping at the bit to get back into sales (where things make sense to me) is an understatement. I was very eager to implement all these grand ideas I had to take a good market and make it great. I was eager to prove my self to my old friend and boss... and so the set up for a potentially costly decision has been made.
Corpus Christi is a mid-sized town of around 300K and growing. There is a distinct "small town" flavor to this Texas port city, yet there is plenty of new development, especially in new homes (perfect for an outdoor living store). One of the cultural attractions of Corpus is the Corpus Christi Trade Center, a huge flea-market if you will. There are hundreds of vendors and thousands of visitors each weekend. You can find anything from jewelry to pottery, and car speakers to tattoos. With such a wide variety of vendors, products, and services I thought it would be a great idea to invest in an outdoor booth showcasing a few of our products.
The main focus I was planning to showcase was our redwood play systems ($3,000+), spring-free trampolines ($1,500-$2,000), our ceramic grill ($800-$1,200), and some patio furniture ($300+). I thought I had found a gold mine of new opportunities at the Trade Show. This was going to be my first home run in my new gig.
After gathering some initial information like cost, space, location, and arranged for our installation crew to make room for set-up I reached out to my old friend to share this vision and plan (and get his approval of course). Instead of the thunderous applause for my efforts and "go get em" attitude I had hoped for I got some voiced concerns and objections from my boss. He was not convinced this decision would be as fruitful as I thought it would be. He began to explain to me that this was not our typical clientele and I would be wasting a lot of effort, time, and money on a very little (if any) return on investment. Boy, was I going to enjoy watching hime eat his words!
What I didn't take into consideration was that while I was brand new to this town, job, and market my old friend had been a Pro for the past 20 years growing his business. There is not a single person with more experience and vision than he. While he had offered some sound business advice for me to reconsider this venture he made the best "Leadership" decision and said, "Go ahead if you like. I had to learn the hard way myself, and it taught me some very important lessons along my way".
I had my green light to take this risk and I moved forward with the plan. The end result was a lot of wasted time, effort, and money with a very small return on our (his) investment. Looking back I realize I ignored the best advice from the highest stakeholder in my company... the owner.
5 things stakeholders can bring into a collaborative decision-making process are: experience, different points of view, different frames of thought, objective vision, and an eye on the big picture. These are pretty valuable aspects of making decisions especially when the outcome affects more than just you.
Luckily, we did make a small profit from this venture, but pales in comparison to what we could have made had I listened to my boss and directed my efforts in areas that had proven success in the past. I learned three very important lessons from this decision. First, listen to what other stakeholders have to say. Second, don't be too anxious to charge in unprepared and without all the information available. And lastly, Sometimes we learn more from mistakes than we do from successes... However, we are better served by acknowldgeing other's mistakes rather than making our own new ones.
While this example was a small decision with small consequences it was an important lesson for me to learn how collaboration is a far better tool to use in decision-making than going it alone.
JP
Now, to say I was chomping at the bit to get back into sales (where things make sense to me) is an understatement. I was very eager to implement all these grand ideas I had to take a good market and make it great. I was eager to prove my self to my old friend and boss... and so the set up for a potentially costly decision has been made.
Corpus Christi is a mid-sized town of around 300K and growing. There is a distinct "small town" flavor to this Texas port city, yet there is plenty of new development, especially in new homes (perfect for an outdoor living store). One of the cultural attractions of Corpus is the Corpus Christi Trade Center, a huge flea-market if you will. There are hundreds of vendors and thousands of visitors each weekend. You can find anything from jewelry to pottery, and car speakers to tattoos. With such a wide variety of vendors, products, and services I thought it would be a great idea to invest in an outdoor booth showcasing a few of our products.
The main focus I was planning to showcase was our redwood play systems ($3,000+), spring-free trampolines ($1,500-$2,000), our ceramic grill ($800-$1,200), and some patio furniture ($300+). I thought I had found a gold mine of new opportunities at the Trade Show. This was going to be my first home run in my new gig.
After gathering some initial information like cost, space, location, and arranged for our installation crew to make room for set-up I reached out to my old friend to share this vision and plan (and get his approval of course). Instead of the thunderous applause for my efforts and "go get em" attitude I had hoped for I got some voiced concerns and objections from my boss. He was not convinced this decision would be as fruitful as I thought it would be. He began to explain to me that this was not our typical clientele and I would be wasting a lot of effort, time, and money on a very little (if any) return on investment. Boy, was I going to enjoy watching hime eat his words!
What I didn't take into consideration was that while I was brand new to this town, job, and market my old friend had been a Pro for the past 20 years growing his business. There is not a single person with more experience and vision than he. While he had offered some sound business advice for me to reconsider this venture he made the best "Leadership" decision and said, "Go ahead if you like. I had to learn the hard way myself, and it taught me some very important lessons along my way".
I had my green light to take this risk and I moved forward with the plan. The end result was a lot of wasted time, effort, and money with a very small return on our (his) investment. Looking back I realize I ignored the best advice from the highest stakeholder in my company... the owner.
5 things stakeholders can bring into a collaborative decision-making process are: experience, different points of view, different frames of thought, objective vision, and an eye on the big picture. These are pretty valuable aspects of making decisions especially when the outcome affects more than just you.
Luckily, we did make a small profit from this venture, but pales in comparison to what we could have made had I listened to my boss and directed my efforts in areas that had proven success in the past. I learned three very important lessons from this decision. First, listen to what other stakeholders have to say. Second, don't be too anxious to charge in unprepared and without all the information available. And lastly, Sometimes we learn more from mistakes than we do from successes... However, we are better served by acknowldgeing other's mistakes rather than making our own new ones.
While this example was a small decision with small consequences it was an important lesson for me to learn how collaboration is a far better tool to use in decision-making than going it alone.
JP
No comments:
Post a Comment