WILL YOU EAT? OR BE EATEN?
by Randy Krone, Olmsted-Kirk Paper Stores

The lion and the antelope make for an interesting analogy with today's business environment. Alan Proctor, General Manager of the O-K Paper Centers located throughout Texas, uses them as an example of where his people need to be when it comes to keeping ahead of the competition.

The story begins as the antelope wakes up every morning and knows it must be keen to its environment, run swiftly and pay close attention to its surroundings or it will be stalked and caught by its enemies.

The lion also awakens each day knowing that if he doesn't pay attention to its surroundings, run swiftly and work hard that he's not going to catch any food, thus perhaps not eating that day and putting his own survival at risk.

Proctor reminds his people that each day as they wake up to go to their store to make their sales calls that if they are lazy and don't take care of business that they can be eaten by the proverbial lion, which basically means beaten by the competition.

They also have the option of waking up as the lion. If they're swift, fast, aggressive, work to track down orders and establish some new customer, at the end of the day they'll not only survive... but thrive and succeed.

To do this they've got to begin each day with the right attitude and outwork the competition that is always lurking in the jungle. There is always someone around the corner who is more than willing and able to take your business.

"While you're home eating a donut and reading the sports section," Proctor stresses, "there is someone out there working on ways to steal your customers away with new products and services. There's always a kid in the minor leagues who's hitting .300 that wants to take your job."

"The number one thing that we do," according to Proctor, "is to make sure that, as a company, we keep our name in front of the customer on a regular basis. We do this through emails, price books, our website, direct mail, open houses and, most importantly, direct contact between our store employees and our customers. We aggressively try to have the customer come in contact with our name somehow every day to remind them that we want to be their first choice in paper."

It's Marketing 101... plain and simple. So ask yourself, do you have what it takes to be the lion? DC