I started work at Mission the first week of November last year, and having just passed the six month mark recently, I thought it was time for a review.

As I wrote a while back on this blog, as well as in an email to our customers: change does not happen overnight. You don’t just walk into a new company, start throwing your weight around, and demand that everything be done the way you want it. Especially when that company has been incredibly successful since the year you were born and you’ve done nothing to prove yourself within those walls.

You have to start small. You make a few suggestions, then you test the strategy for a few weeks to see what happens. You document everything, record important data, and ultimately present your findings to the board (or in this case the owner) in order to make your case. After six months of managing sales, customer service, departmental buying, and all marketing channels, yesterday I was able to make a clear case for what’s working and what isn’t.

More importantly, I was able to show data that proves making certain changes would not only be more popular with our customers, but also more beneficial to our business model.

Granted, I had my own preconceived notions.

Do I think price gouging is a good idea? No.

Do I think bundling is the best way to deal with allocated items? No.

Can I prove that there’s a better way to handle all of this crazy demand for limited whiskies that will make customers feel like they’re being taken care of, rather than taken advantage of?

Yes. Gimme six months and I’ll prove it to you.

We just passed the six month mark.

:)

-David Driscoll