The smart guy from the “other” brand

#haidozo

#ONETeam #SNAPS #SageandNotableAdvisesfromPatrickSalazar

I spent 11 years in the automotive industry.

During a Strategic Planning Session, the Vice President leading the meeting asked me in a loud voice (on the mic) “Who are you?! My boss across the room said on his mic.. “He’s the guy we recently hired from the other brand”.

The VP laughed (on the mic) and said “HAHA let us ask the smart guy who came from the other (competing) brand for a suggestion to solve our problem during this Asian Economic Crisis. All the other executives laughed with the VP.

I looked at my boss across the room who smiled & gave me a positive nod.

So I said politely with a slight bow..“Yes, Mr VP-san, I have a suggestion.”

The VP and everyone laughed louder and thought I was joking. I said, “Sir, can I borrow the mic and can I use the whiteboard?”.

His face became serious, handed me his mic, gave me a slight polite bow back and said “hai-dozo”.

I drew 5 circles on the left side while mentioning the key departments — manufacturing, advertising, sales, parts, service.

I put a check mark on Mnfg saying “we need all their cost saving presented earlier”.

I crossed Advtsg.. “all the multi media ads proposed are targeting end-users who will never spend money on cars during this financial crisis. We have better use for the proposed Php10M tv ad of a popular actor shown cleaning his sedan with a water hose just wearing jeans”

I put a check mark on Sales then drew a big circle in the middle of the whiteboard; “Sales will ONLY target companies who needs & have the budget to buy cars — pharma, beverage, telco, logistics, transportation, etc. Also, “Let’s give P100K discount per car to corporate clients plus a cool corporate card for parts & labor discount.”

I checked Parts dept and drew the same big circle INTERSECTING with the Sales’ big circle. “When Sales sell more cars, Parts dept will sell more spare parts”.

I drew an inverted check mark on Service on the left then drew the same big circle INTERSECTING both Sales & Parts. “As the distributer we don’t earn from labor fees, only our Dealers will have revenue from Service. I recommend we (distributor) shoulder up to 50% labor cost for customers & also extend warranty. Our dealers and customers will love us”

I darkened the INTERSECTION of the three big circles and called it the Integrated Marketing Program.

I was a young manager aged 23 and didn’t know yet how to present politely. I told myself I’ll get fired.

A few weeks later, the Integrated Fleet Marketing Program was launched.

I stayed with this company for four years during the Asian Financial Crisis. I humbly got promoted three times (every year).

*About this photo

This is the view from my condo unit in Cebu City. Partnered with brewed coffee and ube cheese pandesal is perfect to relaxed my mind and think of strategies for the future.