Winning Is for a Lifetime Blog

The Cost of Toilet Paper March 12, 2010

Recession is nothing new to economies. Heck, we’ve been having them ever since someone figured out that they could obtain something someone else had by trading something with them. Economies may have begun by trading furs for food, and later a commodity that everyone found valuable like gold. Surviving recessions is a practice that obviously then goes back to the days of that first trade. The recession of 1875 – 1869 BC we find that the Jews under Jacob’s leadership would move farming and herding operations to Egypt and begin working together for the betterment of both groups.  

In 2000-2001 I was an executive officer of the Dallas Chapter of SMEI (Sales & Marketing Executives International). The nation was once again going through a brief recessionary period. That is when I first learned the art of working with others who may be like you, but do some other things. As a Senior Consultant with Performisys in Dallas, I learned that by promoting our assessment tools to consultants that already had customer bases, both parties could benefit. We were both consultants; yet I did something these others didn’t. They did things we didn’t. By strategically working together we were able to grow our business in client companies that we never would have been able to get into that fast. We adopted the SMEI philosophy of Partner or Perish. All of us are still here today.  

I have recently seen a company in the office supply business that sells everything a company would need for its office; from desks to toilet paper. In the same networking group is a person who sells paper products to businesses and restaurants. Recently the paper person mentioned that she sells toilet paper in restaurants. Makes sense to me. It is a paper product; and restaurants do use it. The office supply person complained about encroachment by the other person for mentioning toilet paper. That baffled me. Here’s why.

Both parties call on the same customers for mostly different reasons. It seems to me that if the paper sales person has a customer that is in the market to purchase $10,000 worth of desks, chairs, and other office equipment, a referral would be given to the office supply person. But the office supply person doesn’t want the paper sales person to make sales calls on the customer because she believes that she should get all the paper business, even though she has never made a sales call on that customer. It seems to me that toilet paper is costing the office supply person a ton of money.

How are you fighting this recession? Do you find yourself collaborating with others who do some of what you do, but have a strength somewhere else? Or do you do like the office supply owner and lose desk sales for the price of toilet paper. That must be some pretty fancy toilet paper.

Brian Kennedy is a speaker and coach to individuals and organizations for the purpose of achieving peak performance. You can learn more about Brian’s speaking, performance improvement workshops, and coaching at http://www.1wp.com/go/briankennedyglobal