Will’s Words to Live By
”After all, we’re in this together.” - Will, Manager of Borders (Costa Mesa, CA)
These words have stuck with me over the past 3 weeks since I visited Will’s store. Most retailers’ attitudes are “what’s in it for me?” Discussions focus on what the retailer gains - often at the expense (literally and figuratively) of the marketer.
However, Will has a refreshingly positive attitude of “what’s in it for us?” When I met Will, I realized that he (and his team) sells books. And, I mean sells books. He is creative in approaching people in his store, leveraging his booming voice (he really should be on the radio) to make announcements, and recommending books based on his knowledge and insight into his customers.
He knows that selling books should be a win-win proposition for both the marketer (in this case, my co-author and I) and the retailer. As we walked around the first floor of his store, he told me that he appreciated my coming to the store and meeting with him, saying “after all, we’re in this together.”
These are words to live by and reflect on when starting or strengthening any business relationship - whether it’s internal (sales vs. marketing, marketing vs. R&D) or semi-external (sales/marketing vs. the retailer, agency vs. the brand team). It reminds me of the old Vidal Sassoon tagline - “if you don’t look good, we don’t look good.”
