A friend of mine has an interview for a sales position back in the beverage industry. She's been out of it for about 5 years now, I've been gone for 3 but still keep my fingers in what's going on. So we agreed that she would call tonite to just do beverage talk and kinda get her game face on.
She's gonna do fine. She loves that industry (as do I) and it shows in her words, tone of voice and (having seen) on her face. It's in her blood.
The beverage industry is incredibly competitive. And once you've existed in that enviornment, it's really tough to change. For instance, when I worked for Tropicana, owned by Pepsi, you only drank product offered in our portfolio. You go into a resturant, ask for Diet Pepsi, they ask if Coke is alright you answer No, I'll have ....... You only bought Pepsi products, you only drank Tropicana OJ and you only ate Quaker cereal. Period. (Only problem is that I think Diet Coke mixes better with Cpt. Morgan.)
It may sound stupid, but hey - our retirment was based on how well our company did, and you'd be amazed at how many resturants will change their soda provider if they get enough answers like that. Hell, if we went to a place we KNEW didn't carry Pepsi products, we'd bring our own in. We were hard core. It was soooo fun.
This all led to a funny story one of our retiailers asked us to participate in a golf outing tht they were doing for charity. No Problem. Being me - I started 2 days ahead of time arranging for all the sodas, waters and juices, double checked that my beverage cart was there, bought the ice myself and reconfirmed (several times) the number of participants.
The morning of the outting dawned and I was at the golf course at 5:30am. Complete with all my drinks, ice, banners, flyers, gadgets, hats and shirts. Give aways are very important. We had coordinated with the entire team to all wear tan shorts, white trop shirts (with black trim) and black Trop hats. We were styling.
By the time everyone else got there, I had the cart loaded and everything ready to go. I did notice a competitor's team was there around 7:00 but they were just standing around. They were all dressed in a hodge podge of golf shirts. (I notice those things)
Tee off was at 8:00 and I was in charge of driving the beverage cart - I don't golf.
As the time to start approached, I hear our competitor on his cell phone screaming and cussing. Oops. It seems their local office had forgotten all about it so there was no product there. :) Not to mention no freebies. :)
They had brought along a GB Packers football player (don't remember who at this point) that played in their foursome and did some autographs.
It's Florida. In July. Really Hot. Really Humid. Really Hot.
The only thing to drink were Pepsi Products.
They refused so much as a bottle of water. Now I need to admit we would have done the same thing. Actually - we would have gone out and BOUGHT what we needed, but that's just us.
Luckily, by paying attention to the amount of paticipants, I brought more than enough for everyone. Afterall, I figured everyone would perfer my stuff anyway - so that's what I planned for.
It's hot. They're thirsty.
They looked rather foolish.
Finally the Packer grabbed his bag and told them to go to hell. He was riding with us. #1 we were more fun. #2 we had stuff to drink and he was damn thirsty.
Hee Hee. They lost 5 displays in the local store due to that. To us. The customer was very disappointed in their level of participation. I can't begin to calculate how much lost revenue that worked out to be, but it was HUGE.
And it was Hot. They were thirsty. They got chewed out. I rubbed it in.
Ahh yes, the memories.
Posted by Tammi at September 22, 2004 09:17 PMAhhh....I love an evil woman after my own heart!
I remember when one of our customers was complaining about the amount of paperwork they had to do with us and the amount of information. They kept insisting that our competitor did not make them do it and that they came in with all the paperwork ready to be signed. I kept sending the sales guy back with excerpts from the fed regs and Medicare regs about what had to be covered and who had to complete the paperwork (we are not allowed).
They told us to FOAD basically after three months of struggle. Sales guy was really perturbed, but what could I do? Regs are regs.
Six months later our competitor is in the news for medicare fraud and a number of other violations that amounted to appx 9 mill in fines (10k per incident found plus penalties). Newspaper said additional investigations underway (ie, whoever participated was up sh*t creek without a paddle).
I cut the article out, wrote a nice letter about how we do Quality Admissions and Documentation and how our procedures were designed to to protect not only my company, but the patient and our referring customers from these problems.
BAda bing, bada boom! Guess who called us the same day to take their referrals?
And I felt nothing for our competitor because I knew they were cheating bastards who were just waiting to get caught (we had taken over three partnerships from them and every time I did due diligence I would cringe and insist that we not buy their old accounts receivable, which we never did, because I knew we'd get screwed).
Revenge is sweet!
Posted by: kat-missouri at September 22, 2004 11:26 PM"you only drank product offered in our portfolio"
You understand then exactly how I feel about the automotive industry. Growing up it was a mortal sin (well still is) to drive a "foreign car". You just didn't do that. You bought the car from the company you worked for. Simple as that. You invested in where you worked.
Of course now that I actually work for a Japanese Auto Supplier I have moral issue to deal with everyday.
Posted by: Machelle at September 23, 2004 08:00 AMAs a former Trop employee myself, I still buy only Trop/Pepsi/Quaker/Lays products. Habit at this point and I prefer the quality. If we go somewhere and they don't have Pepsi, guess what? I'm drinking water with lemon.
Doesn't take long to become indoctrinated and once you are, you're "family" for life! Besides, one day they may wake up, come back home and need us all back again! :D
Posted by: Lee Ann at September 23, 2004 08:52 AMNote to self - work WITH Tammi, not against her :-)
Posted by: Harvey at September 23, 2004 09:20 AM