Canadian, hey

Happy Canada Day , heh
Sitting at a picnic table looking out at the lake. Flat calm. Too early for boats. Folks who are fishing are out of sight if they are out there. Very difficult to read my screen outside, even though I am not in the direct sun. I need an upgrade on my laptop or perhaps some filter for the screen. I will have to check on that.

I recently attended a conference in the US. 3200 people in all, 22 companies represented from Canada, the most ever. There was a special session for Canadian attendees and the guest speaker pointed out that there is one thing that Canadians are very proud of, and this is that they are not American. Do you think that is true? Then they went on to show 3 Canadian beer commercials, including the “Joe”, “ I am Canadian” commercial.

Many independent office products dealers in the US and Canada are doing quite well. Some have seen marked declines in sales and have managed costs to minimize the impact on profits. There is certainly a reluctance to lay off staff, especially long term staff that have customer relationships and product knowledge. Many duties are being rejigged and more people are attempting to increase market share and streamline the order process so that it is easier and smoother for customers. Customers are more demanding than ever and independents are in a marvelous position to identify and meet the needs of each and every customer in their own way.

The definition of lunacy has come up a lot lately. Doing the same thing and expecting different results. That came up in the way we make sales calls, run our businesses, engage our staff, you name it. One speaker suggested you should never lose a deal on price. He said, if you do, and I quote, then it is because you “suck at sales”. Really, that is what he said.

We have a planning session coming up. I realized that our agenda is very similar to other planning sessions. Will we get any different results? Will it be the “same old same old” such that we will be the same as we are now? Are we happy with that? Retail sales down, commercial flat and furniture up? Costs pretty tight but always could be better. Systems in place but not all being followed. Some ongoing issues. Is that good enough? What do we do different?

Have to go now. I have a boat driver. Still flat calm