Anonymous Distributor


Trying times are no time to quit trying!


The weather at night has finally turned cool. It is really feeling like fall. Thank goodness we’re still receiving timely rain south of the Mason-Dixon Line, unlike our friends in other parts of the country. Service and repair business in the South, while not booming, remains steady. 


Many of our customers have enjoyed excellent repair, parts and accessories sales in 2009. So have we. But it is interesting to see some service centers suffering even in an excellent service year. I wonder why? I have my opinions, but what I really get upset about is when we can tell that our customers are suffering, and they don’t ask anyone for advice and support. Who should they be talking to? The first person they should turn to in difficult times should be a trusted business friend like their accountant, attorney or banker. Next, they should be talking to their suppliers. And when they do talk to their suppliers, they should have a plan in hand that they intend to follow — a plan that shows they’ve been thinking about solutions and a successful future.


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I have to admit when I read the announcement that the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) was teaming up with Weekly Reader, lots of silly thoughts ran through my mind. For example, I know that we’ll soon see equipment owner’s manuals so entertaining and easy to read that they will be hard to get away from our children. “Gee, Dad, thanks for letting me read our lawnmower owner’s manual. It was great!” No more jokes about owner’s manuals only being read when something doesn’t work. We’ll be ordering owner’s manuals from Amazon and taking them to the beach to read during our vacations! Okay, that last one is a little far-fetched!


What’s the real reason OPEI is teaming up with Weekly Reader? They want to teach kids about the value of yards and green space, so they developed a new dog character called “TurfMutt, the Yard Dog, a once homeless canine turned caped crusader who is ‘Out to save the Planet — One Yard at a Time.’” They also developed a classroom board game that teaches students about photosynthesis in everyday terms. And I know lots of other good ideas will follow. It’s never too early to teach our children about the value of green space and green lawns. What a great partnership!



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Husqvarna recently appointed Michael Jones as new president to head up one of its five business units: Sales and Service in North and Latin America, beginning Oct. 1, 2009. Jones comes to Husqvarna from GE, where he was general manager, cooking products, within the appliances division. The other four operating business units are Supply Chain, Products & Marketing, Sales and Service in Europe and Asia/Pacific, and Construction Products.


As Husqvarna shuts down its consumer product headquarters and offices in Augusta, Ga., and consolidates it into its Charlotte, N.C., offices and distribution center, look for lots of other personnel changes to occur, including some names and people that you’ll recognize.



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Harvey Mackay recently talked about how many businesses retreat to their comfort zones when challenged. But he goes on to mention that a comfort zone is a very dangerous place to be.


Mackay said, “In the bullfighting arena, expert matadors have long gained an edge by pinpointing a bull’s comfort zone. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has studied this phenomenon. ‘In bullfighting, there is a term called querencia. The querencia is the spot in the ring to which the bull returns,’ she explains. ‘Each bull has a different querencia, but as the bullfight continues, and the animal becomes more threatened, it returns more and more often to his spot. As he returns to his querencia, he becomes more predictable.’”


What are the consequences of predictability? “In the end,” Fiorina says, “the matador is able to kill the bull because instead of trying something new, the bull returns to what is familiar. His comfort zone.”


“Bad habits,” a pundit once noted, “are like a comfortable bed — easy to get into, but hard to get out of.” Sticking with what’s comfortable might be one of the deadliest habits of all.



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Contact the Anonymous Distributor at anonymous.distributor@gmail.com or read his blog at www.anonymousdistributor.blogspot.com.

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