The Other Side of the Desk
For the first 20 plus years of my career, I sat on the “buy side” of the desk. This was where I was able to take the skills I had honed over the years to create or simply approve items that I believed would sell. Some of the proposals were slightly risky due to a unique aspect, like the product name or packaging — or perhaps an ingredient or two. But for the most part these were potential mainstream items that I believed had legs.
Products came to my attention in several ways. Perhaps I already had seen it under its brand name at the competition or at a food show; or maybe I knew the manufacturer and worked with him to create something unique and different… but often these items were presented to me by someone not that different from me, especially the “now” me — the person who cold-called to tell me about some wonderful new item that my customers simply could not live without!
Who knew that I was going to either make or break this person’s day? I should have had a Harry Truman-esque, “Don’t call my boss, the buck stops here” sign on my desk because that is the power that a buyer wields.
These days, I’m sitting on the other side of the desk. I hock my wares to all sorts of retailers. I still am not 100% comfortable with the cold call and am having to train myself to realize that the word “No” doesn’t always mean no, but can be a simple dialogue starter (talk about creative ways of psyching myself up!). Other times, you have to simply take the abuse or aggression to make the sale, which is never easy. more…







