So we had a dinner table conversation about how a local dealer called us and demanded we were selling too cheap and that we “price fix or that he would start a war with us among the local dealers and that we had better have deep pockets to survive it” and my response was that I would “eat Top Ramen before I would do something like price fixing.”
My six year old daughter responded, “yay! Top Ramen, I love it!”
I laughed so hard.
I guess I have the family support… lol… how great is that! This then started a conversation at the dinner table with questions from the six and seven year old about what price fixing was and why people call and say ugly things to their mommy. Price fixing was an interesting topic… how do you boil it down to early elementary terms? I admit, I have the upper hand in that I was a principal for years and can relate back in my day to that thought frame.
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And still I’m really confused… why not focus on your business and marketing rather than copy everything the Frog is doing? If I wasn’t so busy here I might actually jump in the car and see this person, but I don’t have time for ugliness. Get on with life, focus on the great things and enjoy. Life is too short to wage a war that is one-sided. And, if you’re doing great straight business you don’t need to price fix.
Reminds me about a story my late father-in-law told me about price fixing years ago. The industry he was in had a meeting offshore where bigwigs from different companies were discussing price-fixing. One company basically tried to strong-arm his company. He was a smart man, he tape recorded the conversation and when he was back in the states and they tried to force his hand and deny the price fixing… well…
Don was a great man. Business savvy and he taught me a few things about standing up for what is right in business, having a backbone and management. I really miss his presence, that’s for sure. And in this situation I can hear him telling me, “You’re doing the right thing, girl, continue to do it” as he pats me on the back.
As a principal I used to tell my students, “it’s not always the easiest choice to do the right thing, but it pays off in the end.” I suppose today my own words are coming to support me. A lot of times my friends tell me I’m a bit naive and I guess I am. I just really can’t believe grown men would stoop to this level. Maybe I’ve left a bit of the uglies out of this post, I just can’t bear to write some of the things I was told down.
It’s not in my nature to think the worst of people. I’m an optimist, maybe even a bit of a dreamer/ idealist, at heart. I want people to succeed. There’s enough restaurants open and if you’re good at what you do you should be able to make a living in a competitive market.
Anyway, guess I just needed a few minutes for this sidebar. Back to selling restaurant equipment- flying in and out in truckloads.
Great meeting with our warehouse and sales staff. We get so busy here the warehouse isn’t always as clean as I’d like it. I admit it, years ago when we were smaller and quieter it was easy to keep the warehouse clean. We didn’t have the walk in traffic or the phone traffic that either of our stores has now, we didn’t do a tenth of the volume and even though our support staff and team has grown in a crazy manner it still doesn’t make the warehouse maintenance any easier. I think the hardest thing is that we have so many truckloads coming in each week and it’s hard to keep up with inventory coming in and going out in an efficient manner when sometimes you’re unloading your umpteenth truck and it’s getting late.
This brings me to another growth issue. We occassionally get customers who want us to open on Sunday afternoon- something we were able to do when we were small and had ten pieces of equipment in the warehouse and always hit the road at 5 p.m. because it was quieter. I think those were the days I would help move equipment and my late-father-in-law would work on equipment. Now there’s too much work for me to do. I can’t possibly run the company the same way I did when we were a lot smaller. Never believed in micromanaging.
Another side bar, just saw a stainless steel table we sell here posted on Williams Sonoma for $1200… I wonder if their president/ technician/ warehouse man/ delivery guy will call me and tell me we’re selling too cheap? muhhahahaha…. okay, I have to go, things to do like picking up my kids from the YMCA summer camp and little things like dominating the world.