Ep. 11. Turnover or Margin?

I have spoken already in previous episodes about the difficulty, in our business, of building knowledge through experience. Because of volatility, what worked yesterday is no longer useful today.

I often use the example of rain. Sometimes it rains and it causes us a quality problem or a loss of crop, and other times it rains, exactly the same, and absolutely nothing happens.

That’s why this business feels so essentially tactical. And in that sense, there seem to be plenty of examples of successful and innovative people in the industry who got there without any conscious or thoughtful strategic reflection.

There are people who connect and align with the fundamentals of their business naturally, or simply by imitating the practices of others who have succeeded in the sector before them.

In any case, paying attention to these fundamental truths of the business and managing accordingly — whether tactically or strategically — requires, in our world, a very particular connection with the day-to-day sales development.

And yes, this episode is about salespeople. A function that is somewhat looked down upon as a mere salesforce, but in the fresh produce world is strategically essential to keep the company profitable.

And the reason this is so, is quite far removed from the view we tend to have about how salespeople should be managed. Yes, I mean the typical: “Hey, I don’t want any excuses… you got sell at a higher price.”

That we have to accept that, in the fresh produce business, we have to manage our volatile products in our uncertain markets. Therefore, business management will be closely tied to the difficulty of the trading management… And that we are constantly facing the paradox of Turnover Vs. Margin.

And a warning before we start: I’m going to have to use a few concepts from accounting, business management and marketing that I hope doesn’t give you a headache …Let’s see how it goes!

Welcome to a new episode of Freshconomics Podcast!