by Jayme B. Porkolab
I grew up in a large Midwest city; one of five children with a working father and for most of my childhood a stay-at-home mom. My grandparents lived about an hour outside of the city on a farm whose fields had once been filled with tobacco; but when my grandfather retired the fields were no longer tilled and planted with crops.
That is until my father came up with an idea to instill a work ethic into his children and help feed his growing family. I was about 5 at that time, so my contributions were purely voluntary and not very impactful. However, as a family we spent the weekends and several weeknights during the growing season, sowing and reaping corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and onions. The crops yielded enough produce to feed our family, my grandparents and cousins with plenty left over to give to neighbors.
My mother then came up with the idea for my older twin sisters to sell the extra produce in our city neighborhood with all revenues deposited in a “back to school” clothing account. (This was a large jar in our kitchen closet.) Sometimes I would accompany them on their “sales territory” as they pulled their wagon full of goods and a scale for measuring the orders. They seemed to work hard (although I can’t say they enjoyed it) and for the three years they were in charge of the region, they had annual gross revenues of about $300. However, as they approached their teen years they negotiated an early retirement and I was unceremoniously picked to take over the region at the ripe old age of 8. Yes management had concerns. I was young, inexperienced and there was only one of me. However, I was confident that I could do the job because all the times I tagged along with my sisters I was making mental notes on how I would do things differently.
After my first week on the job, I suggested to upper management that I could be more efficient and make more sales if I segmented the customer base. My mother decided to humor me and listen, but as I explained my rational, I drew her in to my way of thinking.
I divided the Customers into three groups: Regulars, Occasional and Potential. For my regular customers, I made an in person initial visit to their home (without my wagon and scale in tow) and asked if they would like to place an order. I then advised them that if they wanted to give me their phone number when I delivered their order, that in the future I would call them when I had fresh produce to see if they wanted to place an order. For my occasional base I would stop by their houses during my deliveries (so they could see the merchandise) and ask if they would like to place an order. By taking this approach I was able to grow my regular customer base and still have plenty of time to “cold call” potential customers.
For cold calling, I would carefully arrange the tomatoes and corn in the wagon creating a visually pleasing display of color. Potatoes and onions were left back in the warehouse (our basement) and mentioned as an “add-on” to any cold call; i.e. “by the way, I’ve also got some great home-grown potatoes and onions if you need any and I can deliver them to you later this afternoon”.
Business was booming and my mother, for the moment, was very proud of my marketing and sales ability. She was also impressed that I had carefully studied my sisters and recognized opportunity for process improvements. What she didn’t realize is that I had also been observing her and the marketplace.
You see, I would accompany my mother to the grocery store and even though she had no need to shop for vegetables; I would always take a stroll down the fresh produce aisle. What I noticed was that my mother had severely underpriced our products. For example, tomatoes were selling for 25 cents a pound and they weren’t nearly as plump and ripe looking as ours which she had priced at 10 cents a pound. That’s when it hit me; because like anyone who crosses the line, I had a vice…..candy. My mother didn’t believe in buying candy; it was not only a waste of money but it would rot your teeth. Candy was reserved for Halloween, Christmas and Easter; that’s a long time to wait in between fixes. So I came up with a plan…..
Unbeknownst to my mother, I increased the price of tomatoes from 10 cents a pound to 15. I made sure that I wore clothing that had two deep pockets; one to keep the money from the sales my mother expected with tomatoes being priced at .10/lb and the other for my additional mark-up plus the tips I would get. I never told my mom about the tip money.
It was a glorious start to my first year in the business. I had increased reported sales two-fold and I was making little fists full of money with my illegal mark-up and tips. I was a big shot in my circle of friends; frequently buying bubble gum for all!
However, greed got the best of me, as I aggressively sought out more Customers, taking more orders, then one day I made a critical error. I must have gotten distracted and used the wrong pocket full of cash when making a sale; because when I went to settle-up at the end of the day, I couldn’t reconcile. I was short by a little, not a lot, but enough that my mother innocently asked me to check my other pocket to see if I had accidently placed the money in it. That is when she saw the look of fear in my eye as I tried to fish a quarter or two out of my pocket without looking.
She seized the moment and ordered me to empty my pockets immediately and to turn them inside out. Quarters, dimes and a dollar bill or two spilled onto the floor as the tears began to well up in my eyes. Busted! I tried to pass off all the money as tips, but my mother knew better as she raised her voice and said “Jayme Lynn you have some explaining to do and you better not lie!” (Lying was a cardinal sin in our house.)
I then told her the whole truth; about how I raised the price of tomatoes without telling her and how I had planned to increase the price of the corn too, but was afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep track of it all. (After all these were the days before hand-held calculators). She listened and although upset, I now know that she was trying to also conceal a smirk. The punishment was swift: grounded for the weekend and a heavy fine that just happened to equal the extra money in my pockets and what I had stashed under my bed. I also received a lecture from my father, a former Master Sergeant whose bark was worse than his bite.
However, as embarrassed as I was to get busted, I was flattered that my mother took my advice about our pricing strategy. She kept the tomatoes at .15/lb and raised the price of corn the next week. My mother also made a concession in my work contract, she allowed me to keep my tip money for candy expenditures.
With the increase in Customers and the new pricing strategy, I was able in my first year to grow annual revenues 270% taking in over $800. I held the territory for another 3 and each year I would exceed the previous year’s revenues.
Although I didn’t realize it until I was much older; those three years influenced and shaped my business acumen. I walked away with the following lessons etched in my mind:
· Continually monitor operations to identify opportunities for process improvements that will create efficiencies, generate revenues and lower costs
· Understand your Customers and use segmentation not only to optimize your marketing and sales messaging, but also to help improve operations, specifically order taking and fulfillment
· When cold calling, product display is important. Make sure that the presentation of your goods is visually appealing; take into consideration color and shapes. You want to draw the customer in with their senses if possible.
· Know your market; how much are competitors charging for similar products? Is your pricing strategy in line with what the market will bear?
· And, most importantly, Crime Does Not Pay!
About the Author
Jayme Porkolab is currently the Chief Marketing and Sales Officer for The Global Leaders Holdings LLC (TGL), a networking platform for senior level executives, government officials, educational leaders and board members of leading philanthropies. She is also a Consultant with Group 50 Consulting.
Prior to joining TGL and Group 50 Consulting she spent over 15 years in the Cruise and Airline industry. Past roles include senior leadership positions in Sales, Operations and Customer Service. Jayme was also the Business Champion for multiple I.T. projects, including one that changed the way cruise air was marketed & sold. A certified Six Sigma / Lean Green Belt with an MBA in International Business; Jayme is known for her ability to innovate and lead change while continuing to drive results. In 2006 she was named Contact Center Leader of the year by IQPC (International Quality Productivity Center).