wholesalers | The Barefoot Spirit

Change the Future by How You Spend Your Money in the Present

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 02:00:04 +0000

How would you like to improve the world in the New Year? How would you like to really make a difference? We’ve often said, we vote with our money. Every time we make a purchase, we are “voting” for more of that product or service, where it comes from, and how it got here. We are voting for the labor practices, environmental practices, and political views of the producers of those goods and services. Our money goes into their hands to continue practices that we may have some serious issues with.

Recently we read with horror about shrimp-shelling factories in Thailand that enslave refugees and force them to work inhumane hours in virtual incarceration. The shrimp is then dumped on a very fungible market where those slave-peeled shrimp are almost impossible to track when added to other supplies of shrimp from other factories that respect human rights. Because the shrimp is used as a generic supply by brokers who sell to wholesalers who then sell to the big box stores, American consumers don’t know if their appetizers or their cat’s food has slave-peeled shrimp in it. We don’t even know which products to boycott! But it has to make us all think about buying any shrimp that cannot certify humane labor practices. At least we are asking now. And we hope that you will too. It’s the only way to change the world. We all must become more aware about the products we are buying.

Instead of acting like there’s nothing we can do about commercial practices that hurt the environment, or harm people or our health, we can take action in the New Year with our “voting” dollars. Here’s how:

Ask about origins and practices. If you don’t get an answer, go to your local farmers markets and ask them. They will answer you. We make it a point of buying most of our food from local growers we know and trust. We feel good about supporting their practices and not contributing to a fungible food supply that doesn’t know the origin and practices of their suppliers.
Reduce your dependence on petroleum. Think twice about using your gas-powered car. Look for alternative means of transportation, use technology, a bicycle, carpool or look into an electric car. Even as the world knows that we are pushing carbon emissions beyond the tipping point, drilling for oil continues as if there will never be an alternative. Terrorism runs on oil.
Don’t just buy the cheapest thing. The purchase price might be cheap but the medical bills and environmental damage is unaffordable. Do you really want to save a few bucks today by “voting” for something that results in long term-costs that will come back to you in the form of increased taxes? Who paid for the Katrina superstorm or the drought-ravaged fires in the west? We all did!

So, if you really want to change the world in the New Year, consider the power you have as a consumer. This is, after all, the world’s largest consumer economy. The world’s producers vie for a position in the American retail market. They want our money! But we may not want to give them our “vote” to prosper in the short run if we have to pay for the results of their practices in the long run. Ask more questions about where your money goes. Support merchants and producers who stand behind their products and practices. Send a New Year’s message and make your “vote” count! Here is to a prosperous – and healthy – future!

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.

Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.

They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.

Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

The post Change the Future by How You Spend Your Money in the Present appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

You Can’t Teach Entrepreneurship Without Sales Training

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 18:30:12 +0000

At the recent International Conference on Small Business (ICSB) World Conference on Entrepreneurship in Dublin Ireland, the Asian delegates gave Michael the nickname “King of Sales.” Now we have to laugh whenever we receive an email with the salutation, “Dear King of Sales.” It’s not a title he feels he earned, but recognizes that it was given in fun and refers to his insistence that successful entrepreneurship must begin with sales.

We certainly emphasized this truism at each of our four talks during the ICSB Conference. Speaking at more than twenty five schools of entrepreneurship in the past year has given us a unique snapshot of the state of the art of entrepreneurship education. We were surprised to see how few schools teach a course in sales as an essential class or requirement.

In business, it’s not enough to sell your ultimate customer. You must also sell your own people, your vendors, your lenders, your wholesalers, and your retailers. Each sale is essential to keep your goods and services moving, reduce your need for capital, reduce turnover, and gain access to the market.

We often say the best salesperson is the assistant buyer. You can’t be an assistant buyer unless you understand the buyers’ needs. You have to demonstrate your dependability and that of your products and services for some time to achieve “assistant buyer” status.

So why should this be such a novel idea to so many in the academic community? We think it is because of how entrepreneurship education evolved. It’s a relatively new major and degree, so it’s still in a state of flux with each school trying a little something different. Generally, entrepreneurship is seen as an add-on to the business school.

The business school does a fine job of creating entry-level managers for large corporations. In fact many of those large corporations help fund these schools. But what is the attitude of those corporations with regard to salespeople and does it rub off on the schools with the support they receive?

In most large corporations, sales is just one of many departments and has a relatively low status. The salespeople are outside and the C-Suite is inside. Sales is below marketing in most company structures. Add to this our historical and cultural prejudice against salespeople. Movies such as “The Music Man” or “Used Cars” reinforce our conditioning as a society to be skeptical of salespeople.

When entrepreneurship is seen as the stepchild of the business school, the importance of sales can easily be overlooked in favor of form and function. Interestingly, most schools have degrees in marketing, and some teach that marketing is the sole revenue-producing system. As we understand it, marketing supports sales by producing materials and programs that can be used by the sales force to increase sales and profits. And, when marketing takes advice from sales, the knowledge gained from talking directly to wholesalers, retailers, and customers is translated into effective marketing plans.

The subject and teaching of sales in entrepreneurial courses must be a requirement for anyone who plans on starting his or her own business. Putting salespeople on the bottom has no place in a start-up. We laud the increasing number of schools of entrepreneurship who are taking sales seriously, teaching real-world techniques and strategies, thus giving their grads a better chance of being in business three years later. Every grad should be the “King of Sales!”

Who We Are

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

The post You Can’t Teach Entrepreneurship Without Sales Training appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.