By: Bob Leisy

Bob Leisy — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 04:23:59 +0000

Dave, A very thoughtful piece. I’d like to send it to several of the local retail stores with whom I’ve done busines for years who are now struggling to compete with the big box stores. It’s sad to see their staffs and inventory decline, and sad faces where there always used to be a busy,happy welcome. I’ve often tried to convince them to focus on what their long experience in the business enables them to do what the local WalMart can’t. Two examples are the local camera store and the local nursery. Your way of putting it may help them create their own “secret sauce” and return their business to profitability in a new way uniquely theirs. I know you like to focus on businesses larger than the typical “Mom and Pop”, but some, hopefully,are capable of utilizing the you so clearly stated here.

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By: Michael O'Daniel

Michael O'Daniel — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:44:15 +0000

Amazing how it changes the orientation (and the success) of your enterprise when you think first about “What do our clients need” rather than “How can we sell them what we have?”

I had a firsthand experience with this when our clients in the graphic arts industry made a sudden transition from buying services from vendors (typography, camera work, prepress) to thinking they could do it all themselves because now desktop publishing was available. While everyone else thought the sky was falling, this is the end of civilization as we know it, I said, “You know what? They AREN’T going to be able to do it themselves. They’ll need hand-holding, they’ll need site visits, they’ll need support.” So we became consultants, we became in essence a “help desk,” and we had a new revenue stream.

I’d love to be able to say this turned things around for us, but we went out of business anyway due to circumstances totally unrelated to our product line or our customers…

Comments on: Where there’s mystery, there’s margin.

By: Bob Leisy

By: Michael O'Daniel