The business intellect of kiwis

[Fatjim]

I'll hold your "Gherkins" Mom.

[Finn]

I've been in retail for 20 years

And you still don't get it. Some people really are slow learners.

[vifferman]

And you still don't get it. Some people really are slow learners.

Bad habits. Some people like to hang onto them, because they are their habits. "It's my opinion, therefore it's right! So fuck off!"

[Goblin]

"Every day it's the same thing! Two obese Patty's, special Ross, Lester Cheatum picking bunyons on a Seasame Street bus".

[Finn]

Sorry about your predicament Finn but maybe it's more of a problem in the main centres as I'd have to disagree with you based on my own experience of the last 3 or 4 years since we prepared to live in Coromandel full time.

I'd agree with that.

You're also right about the UK. They are masters at uselessness and people generally except it which is strange. France is also useless. The common theme... lazy race of people.

The US is a very good example of how to do things right - domestically I might add and it doesn't stop at retailers and distributors. My brother & I were leaving his house just outside San Fran for a few weeks and had to pop into the local municipal office (Council, police and other public SERVICES in one office - well duh NZ) to pay vehicle reg. A cop overheard us say we were overseas for 3 weeks and asked where we lived. We told him and he said he'd keep an eye on the place for us and even asked what day / time we were coming back. 3 weeks later we arrived and within the hour there was a knock on the door. "Everything okay sir?"

Another example this morning. I had a breakfast meeting with a supplier that has let me down in my business (funny that) and parked in a Wilson parking building. Upon leaving, the machine wouldn't accept my credit card. Out of service. I call the number, it says "Our office hours are 8:00am bla, bla. It was 8:50. I tried for 15 more minutes to make contact then broke the barrier.

Hey, and it's only 9:35. I'll have more by the close of business.

[vifferman]

You're also right about the UK. They are masters at uselessness and people generally except it which is strange.

I've been watching that "Grand Designs" programme, and it always astonishes me how long the houses take to build, and how useless the tradespeople are - failing to deliver things or turn up when scheduled, delivering the worng things, shoddy workmanship... It's flabbergasting.

France is also useless. The common theme... lazy race of people.

The tour director on our recent bus tour was French/Italian (but living in London) and on our long, boring journeys between tourist traps, he had some very interesting insights into the French mentality.
Firstly, their arrogance stems from centuries of deliberate effort on the part of the rulers (the various Louis's, Napoleon, etc.) to make France a great nation, via military action and propaganda.
The uselessness stems from a public 'service' system where being a civil servant had some prestige, and they were well paid and in the job for life. There was therefore no incentive to provide good service. The "system" was summed up nicely by a friend of the tour director who was from the former Soviet Union (or was that "Onion"?), who said, "your country is just like the USSR, except socialism works in your country".
(This was why he left France - he loves the country, but "the system" stinks.)

The US is a very good example of how to do things right - domestically I might add and it doesn't stop at retailers and distributors.

I wonder if that's because Mrka is very much driven by the almighty dollar, AND there is no guaranteed meal ticket? It seems very easy to get fired there, and their are many jobs in the 'service industry' that pay very low wages, and income is very much dependent on tips received for service provided.

[ManDownUnder]

or.. take it international ???

DON'T TAKE IT INTERNATIONAL!

THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!

DB - tell us where you work so we can chose to bring you custom - or not. You have voiced your opinions, aired your customer service ethic, and now, as always, the customers get to choose their supplier.

You still the big man?

[Max Headroom]

I've been following this thread with some interest. I've been involved in sales for almost 20 years as a sales rep/area manager selling industrial products, mainly bearings and transmission equipment. I went into sales with no prior experience other than a trade background. About 3 1/2 years ago I bought a service-based business employing 4 staff and dealing primarily with other businesses, with vitually no retail customers.

I now appreciate some of the challenges facing business owners.

My business' turnover has grown quite substantially, and we have added many new customers. That's good, right? Well, the downside is the cost of funding that growth by purchasing more product (almost 50% of our business is rentals-based) and bigger equipment to keep up. Yeah, I can hear you say that the growth should be funded out of the huge profits I'm enjoying, and to some extent it is, but my prices must remain reasonably competitive. I have no shortage of competitors...

I have very competent and loyal staff, and we have generated considerable loyalty from most of our customers too. But there are some new business opportunities I've turned down because I couldn't afford to carry the cost of purchasing additional rental stock. I'm also constantly aware of my cashflow, and it really hurts to have a customer go broke.

I'm also continually aware of the responsibility I have to my family for our financial future, and the sometimes delicate dynamic of employing relatives (I currently employ my son and daughter-in-law), as well as keeping our customers and suppliers and bank happy. This gig can be an emotional and financial rollercoaster.

I now have new-found respect for some of the employers I've worked for over the years. The pattern I've observed is that the folk who often have the most to say about how businesses should be run have never owned a business themselves. Not unlike the childcare books written by people who've never had kids of their own.....

my $0.02c

[Finn]

The pattern I've observed is that the folk who often have the most to say about how businesses should be run have never owned a business themselves.

Nice work Chandler.

I own 3 businesses - one employs 55 people. In our field, we are market leaders by a long shot. Our service and reputation is second to none. At great cost, I employ the best people I can find.

It's not rocket science. I left school (if you could call it that - I thought it was a place to make friends and eat lunch) at 15. So if a dumb arse like me can get the formula right, why can't other people do the same with the benefit of all those letters after their names?

[Fatjim]

maybe more dumb arses should get into business/

[vifferman]

So if a dumb arse like me can get the formula right, why can't other people do the same with the benefit of all those letters after their names?

I think you're being disingenuous, Mr Finn. It's obvious from many of your posts you're no dumbarse, but a very shrewd individual.
But in any case - it's not complicated. A lot of it boils down to treating people the way you'd like to be treated, and that in itself boils down to being honest. People would (usually) rather have the truth, even if it's not what they really want to hear, than be misled. And another important thing is doing what you say you will do; if you can't do something, don't say you can just so you look good, coz you look a hell of a lot worse when you don't meet promises.

[Brett]

Nice work Chandler.

I own 3 businesses - one employs 55 people. In our field, we are market leaders by a long shot. Our service and reputation is second to none. At great cost, I employ the best people I can find.

It's not rocket science. I left school (if you could call it that - I thought it was a place to make friends and eat lunch) at 15. So if a dumb arse like me can get the formula right, why can't other people do the same with the benefit of all those letters after their names?

Perhaps you have just alluded to one of the centers of the issue...education.

Perhaps, just speculating here, an entrepreneuer who starts out on his own with bugger all 'formal' education is a faster learner and puts new things he has learnt into practise than someone who has studied a subject and possibly been taught how to do something, and thus does not see other/better ways of going forward?

Nothing teaches better than loosing or earning your own money. And, of course, some people ornately understand the fundamentals of good business while others , no matter how learned, just never seem to get there and are a detriment to their own business.

[The Stranger:Me]

And you still don't get it. Some people really are slow learners.

That's 20yrs of chasing kiddies around with candy treats and trying to extort money form them.

[ManDownUnder]

So if a dumb arse like me can get the formula right, why can't other people do the same with the benefit of all those letters after their names?

Never EVER confuse education for intelligence. Mate I've done an apprenticeship and I've done my degree. Both were as hard as each other - and the latter was no more use to me than getting me a job. The number of people leaving Uni with me that year scared the hell out of me... One guy approached me and asked if we could go into business together and my one (and only) question to him was if he would be willing to sweep the shop floor.

His answer confirmed it for me. He was too good for that... he wanted the money, not the work.

I believe he's currently enjoying time at the taxpayers expense for Fraud.

(snip)

[Tank]

So what area of retail are you in?

DB - tell us where you work so we can chose to bring you custom - or not. You have voiced your opinions, aired your customer service ethic, and now, as always, the customers get to choose their supplier.

You still the big man?

DB's is online, but yet again he does the DB 'thing' of coming into a thread, posting wild and weird comments without thought, knowledge of the subject, or reason, then simply backs out of the thread when someone questions or disagrees.

He is probably complaining to the mods at this very point. It would be better if he came and backed up his ramblings ....