The To-Do List

Musings from Dennis #26: It was 7pm at Takashimaya (more than 25 years ago) and I packed my bags and stood up to leave the office. My boss who was in the cubicle to my left caught my eye. He was thoughtfully writing down a list of things on his memo pad. I was never, until that time, a stickler for being so disciplined to do such things. He explained as I peered over “At the end of each day before I go home, I spend about 20 minutes to go through what I had done for the day and then re-write my list of things to do for tomorrow and the next days. This way I get a sense of accomplishment and achievement each day”. Wow, such a simple action and yet what a great habit to cultivate, and so my own “to-do list” writing regiment began, till today. These days, we have apps, and even the Outlook reminders to help us. But somehow nothing beats doing it old-school - imagine you are the chef at your restaurant looking at each order slip in your kitchen and when the order is fulfilled, you just swipe out that slip and be done with it! I do it with post-its!

The LRP

Musings from Dennis #25: The LRP. We know it as Long Range Planning, or in my previous job, the Strat Plan but it really is a plan across 5 years and so more simply just called the 5-year plan which all companies work on every year to review the current and plan for the future. The first time I came across this term and learnt about it was not at work and way before I entered the industry. I was 25 and dating this girl from church and hoping I would tie the knot by 30 (and hopefully with her). We dated for about 6 months and were really into each other (you know it when you see her face in just about everywhere you go!). She then decided to join her varsity mates for a mission trip to a third world country to help build infrastructure, teach the children etc. The first thing she did when she returned in 2 weeks was to call me (remember: no mobiles, no laptops, no internet etc in those days) at home and of course I missed her incredibly. Excitedly she said to me “Hey I’ve got a 5-year plan, do you want to hear it?”. 5-year plan? Hmmm. Of course I said yes and she went on to present over the phone. At the end of that speech, I realized I wasn’t part of that “LRP”! I don’t think she wanted to hint anything negative about our relationship at that time but she was younger and naïve then. But it killed me and I had to do the inevitable. So people, sometimes our LRP changes along the way! Have a great weekend!

"Let me tell you..."

Musings from Dennis #24 : He asked me to sit down at his desk. I had come into his office for a discussion on a licensing opportunity. Instead he said “please have a seat and let me share with you my past 15 years of sales experience”.. it was totally unrelated but more of his chest-beating session upon me. I thought to myself “what an a**hole but then I stopped. Instead I found myself thinking: he wants to boast so why not let him share his 15 years of experience to you and in 15 minutes you get to learn it all.. and save that 15 years of learning on your own?”.. Now many years later, while I cannot recall what my meeting was all about and what I was trying to sell him, I still remember his story on how he used his cigarette brand to dominate at retail using the counter tops and not the overhead signages which his competitors were using – and think – gosh that was a pretty brilliant marketing strategy actually!!

Don't Think Just Do

Musings from Dennis #23: For those who have yet to watch Top Gun: Maverick, please do yourself a favour and do. Unlike the other much touted summer franchise sequel, this one has real heart and an emotional story! In many ways, the challenges that Captain Pete Mitchell (Tom Cruise) faced, the ‘what ifs’ and ‘if onlys’ and the thrilling (!) real battle scenario reminds me often of all the tough challenges I faced at work in my early formative years, given tasks that I thought ‘whoa how is that even possible to be done’. The movie was so exhilarating yet when the phrase “Don’t Think Just Do” gets quoted repeatedly, it just aligns with my earlier Musings #9 to not ‘analyse until you’re paralysed’. So, enjoy your job, “don’t think just do”! You’ll be surprised and amazed at what you can accomplish.

The 'Shut-up' Toy

Musings from Dennis #22: This is a special shout out to this Malaysian former GM of a notable Department Store, who has since left more than a decade ago. Our meetings were very engaging, involved and animated! Once we were discussing how to planogram a section of a Disney permanent counter (or home site) we had in her store when she said “hey why not place ‘shut-up’ toys here?”. Huh? First time I heard of this word… it’s those toys or merchandise that parents have no problems buying for their kids due to their value product positioning and low pricing. Then the kids will shut up and not pester their parents to buy the more expensive items out there - you can sell lots of those! How insightful! So if you are reading this Ros (formerly of Metrojaya Malaysia), this post is dedicated to you.

"I Don't Know"

Musings from Dennis #21: I have trained myself and my team to never just say “I don’t know” if we were asked for information that we do not have the answers for but to add on “I’ll go find out and get back to you”. And really do! It’s fine if we don’t know the answers but it isn’t fine when we push away those who wanted to know. Such was many a times when I set up event retail pop up shops in Malaysia and needed info like layouts, and stock delivery times from the department store managers in charge. “Saya tidak tahu, buyer tu tidak chakap dan saya” (I don’t know I was not given information by the buyer) and then walked away! I even once joined a licensee to pitch a Malaysian GMS store buyer for sell-in opportunities. She kept saying “I don’t know” throughout the meeting and we got nowhere. The worst experience was when I once called a licensee’s appointed rep to get some information and was told “oh my boss is not in, she is away on business and I don’t know the answer. Why don’t you call her yourself to find out”. Experiences like this can be frustrating, so it taught me to “treat others the way you yourself want to be treated"

Loss Leaders

Musings from Dennis #20: In my early days in licensing, mingling with our licensees when they setup our event pop up shops helped me learn so much about sales tactics. I was once astounded how our apparel licensee could sell their Donald Duck tees for just $4 when the usual retail price was $29.90. It’s a loss leader Dennis, she said. We only have 200 of these and this is like putting out “honey to attract the ants”. How true - that bargain bin was located right next to other regularly priced merchandise and the way the shoppers (mostly moms) attacked the bin! And as you know crowd attracts crowd. I stood there with her and marveled as we watched the shopping frenzy unfold right before us.

Small Beginnings

Musings from Dennis #19: My first job in my early 20’s as an apprentice at this Engineering Consultancy firm where I worked at the electrical dept - I was assigned mostly drafting work – using Faber Castell technical ink pens to draw electrical line drawings or plan drawings of building projects on transparency films on a huge A0 sized board. In between that I was called by the company secretary to go deliver documents by hand (when the regular delivery boy was out already) or photostat tender documents (machine had no sorting facility!). We were a small team no more than 20 people so I was really the youngest employee around. I know how to fan-fold photocopy paper (if not the paper will get stuck in the machine) even!. Once I was also asked to drive my boss’ client to the airport with his car (I struggled with this auto car as I was stick-shift trained, and wondered why it was moving! The client got nervous and took a cab instead!). The Bible reminds me not to despise the years of small beginnings and looking bad I was glad I experienced it all. It helps me emphatize with junior team members now as I recall my journey from all those years ago

80/20 Merchandise assortment rule

Musings from Dennis #18: 80/20. This 'rule' seems to be applicable in any situation and when it comes to merchandise assortment at retail, it is also true. I learnt this from our master toy licensee Hasbro for the first Disney/Pixar Monsters Inc movie way back. The complete range needs to be displayed at retail and one can expect that generally 20% of the range will generate 80% of the overall sales – but they need to be on display for the customers’ viewing . When it came to convincing our Indonesian retailer however, the toy buyer insisted that he only wanted to order and stock the top performing 20% SKUs because he projected that these will give him his volume of sales and ‘why bother about the other less performing lines’. When we returned to meet him a few months after the movie ended, while other markets reported good pickup from shelf, he told us the entire line flopped – sales was poor. I went to the point of sales at one of his key stores and almost could not find the toys. The display was not noticeable due to the very limited offering. Another similar situation happened with a Singapore department store who insisted that the open display Mickey mall event popup shop should only feature the top licensees (why bother to deal with so many people the buyer declared). The result? Poor sales. One look saw customers peering in as they passed by, noticing how restricted the selection was and not bothering to even enter to browse. We need that 80 even if it gives us our 20 because only then can the 20 deliver us our 80!

Which company pays your salary?

Musings from Dennis #17: So this awful experience happened to me when I was trying to settle matters with a vendor and was trying to get my division head to approve the plan but by doing so it caused some inconvenience to our company. Leaning back on his chair to one side, with a cigarette in his right hand puffing away, and feet up on the table towards me, he said slowly and wryly in his heavily accented Japanese voice: “Dennis-san, tell me, tell me.. which company pay your salary neh?” I was stunned, paused, felt the heat behind my neck and said “Yes Kxxx-san.. let me settle this immediately. No more problems neh. He smiled, tilted his head to one side, closed his eyes, took a puff and said “yes yes”. I fixed the issue and reminded myself that my first priority at work is to protect the interests of the company who hired me. A lesson learnt that I had never shared publicly until now. And something I am reminding my fellow workers all the time too!

Location Location Location

Musings from Dennis #16: It’s great to now see many retailers carving out the area at the front of their stores for promotions and sales events. I was once offered the very front of this Singapore store for a permanent Mickey counter, because it can ‘definitely sell better than this other quiet brand here’, the buyer told me. Not so I felt, and a simple stay-put observation for a while sees it all: Customers who enter the store don’t usually stop and make a purchasing decision right there and then. They wish to go further in, browse and then decide. So no surprise that area in front has the lowest sales returns for the store. For me the story ended well when we got this 600sqft area further inside – you walk in from the entrance and by the time you slow down your pace, and there we are!

That Yellow Dress

Musings from Dennis #15: The ladies wear buyer came up to see us at the A&P department and asked if she could get help to advertise for her in our regular Takashimaya Dept Store press ads a bright yellow sunflower patterned dress. She needed to clear 300 pieces of her stock. While she was flatly rejected by the ads team, everyone including me felt that the dress was just awful and “would not sell”. The following Monday I met her at the sales floor and was curious about her yellow dress. Sold she said, all gone over the weekend! I asked how? “Oh I put the dress on a mannequin, pinned it right and placed it in a key area in the Ladies floor”. That day I learned that my personal perceptions, world views etc does not mean that everyone else would agree on the same and we should not impose our sense of value and truth onto others. Just like how we approach eating the Durian!

It's OK to be #2

Musings from Dennis #14: I was mostly not the first choice in my employment experiences. In my first job as an electrical engineering apprentice, and later at Pico Art, they passed me up only to be noticed and then employed by another department who happened to look for someone to join their team. When I joined Sentosa the HR person told me matter of factly that I was not the first choice as that first choice failed his medical, so they got me instead. Then when I joined Disney my boss told me that he had opted for a buyer from Isetan who turned him down, so he then chose me. While I was first choice for Takashimaya and Viacom (now Paramount), I think it’s ok not to feel upset if you are not the first choice – you got the ability to prove that indeed you are the RIGHT one after all (then make sure you do!) A Dark Horse!