PCA Magazine 2022 Show Issue

PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG VOLUME 2 2022 | PCA The Magazine 47 engaging with customers, 20 percent of my time with staff and 20 percent of my time with vendors/manufacturers/ reps. There is great purpose associated with each of these activities. I engage with customers to build loyalty, understand their interests, and provide an experience that meets their expectations. I engage withmy staff to build community, understand their needs, and train them to deliver a great customer experience. I engage withmy vendors, manufacturers and reps to share my needs, learn from their experiences, and develop business models that improve my bottom line. These vendor relationships are critical and deserve to have some light shed on them. I think it is important to note here that just like in our customer and staff relationships, there are healthy and toxic vendor relationships. I do not invest my time in toxicity. Here are three questions I use to evaluate the health of my vendor relationships: 1. Do they invest their time getting to knowmy business? Time is my most treasured resource. As such, I value that investment by my vendors. How often do they visit my shop? Do they followmy social media? Do they engage withmy social media and engage with my customer base? 2. Do they get it right? At the end of the day, I needmy vendors to supply me with goods to sell. I can’t tell you howmuch I appreciate a well-oiled vendor relationship. Are they organized? Do I get correct pricing? Are they on time for meetings and events? Do they get my order correct? 3. Are they invested inmy success? This is a tricky one. A vendor has goals andmetrics just like retailers do. What I desire to understand is broader motivations. Do they ask about trends inmy shop? Do they offer solutions for improving performance? Do they offer insights from other retailers who facedmy same challenges? Are they listening? The toughest part of using these questions as a baseline for evaluating vendor relationships is that I amREQUIRED to hold myself to the same standards. Do I spend time getting to knowmy vendor? Am I educated on their products? Do I engage on their social media posts? Am I listening? And so on. If I amnot willing to adhere to these standards, why would I ask a vendor to do the same? It is at the confluence of mutual investment that we find healthy influence in our retail businesses. I would offer three steps to identifying your influencers and how to use them to your benefit: 1. Set a goal (even if it is only 10 percent of your work week) that you are going to invest into vendor relationships. Track your hours spent (calls, meetings, emails, texts) and take notes of what is being accomplished. My 20 percent goal amounts to 8 hours a week that I invest in direct engagement withmy vendors. That time goes very fast. Discipline and focus ensure that my time is well spent. 2. Get to know your vendors’ products better. Read some reviews. Follow them on social media. Engage with their broader community. Our lounge is in Idaho, and very few “industry leaders” have EVER visited our state. We’ve had great success, however, in engaging with the premium cigar community through participation on social media and encouraging our customers to do the same. 3. Choose who will influence your success. Be disciplined in what vendors have access to your business. Invest in those who are invested in you! Weed out the vendors who contribute little to your success and be transparent about your expectations. We are all being influenced and influencing others. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. There is great value in the journey of understanding influence in your life. My experience has taught me that this is not as easy as it sounds, but it is critical to our collective well-being. We are all being influ- enced and influencing others. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. There is great value in the journey of understanding influence in your life. ” T H E T O B A C C O N I S T