My blog mission statement: “Offer Practical Tips to Small Business Entrepreneurs to Grow their Business Profitably and Fun Thought Provoking Anecdotes.”
Here is one of the anecdotes. I have collected these stories over the years, and I have no idea who created or sent it. If I did, I would surely attribute them to the author.
A Man Lived by the Side of the Road and Sold Hot Dogs.
He was hard of hearing, so he had no radio.
He had trouble with his eyes, so he read no newspapers.
But he sold good hot dogs.
He put up a sign on the highway, telling how good they were.
He stood by the side of the road and cried: “Buy a hot dog, Mister.’
And people bought.
He increased his meat and roll orders.
He bought a bigger stove to take care of his trade.
He got his son home from college to help him.
But then something happened. . .
His son said, ‘Father, haven’t you been listening to the radio? If money stays ‘tight,’ we are bound to have bad business. There may be a big depression coming on. You had better prepare for poor trade.”
Whereupon the father thought, “Well, my son has gone to college. He reads the papers, and he listens to the radio, and he ought to know.”
So the father cut down on his meat and roll orders.
Took down his advertising signs.
And no longer bothered to stand on the highway to sell hot dogs.
And his hot dog sales fell almost overnight.
“You’re right, son,” the father said to the boy.
“We are certainly headed for a depression.”
This story is very applicable in today’s retail economy. Most retailers of all sizes, fearing weak sales in this recession, plan for reduced sales and therefore buy less, particularly in the short holiday season. Therefore, like the hot dog man, their sales will decrease. . .a self fulfilling prophecy. The suppliers know this and most of them keep their inventories on hand low, fearing they will get stuck with them. The opportunity for smart suppliers is to reduce the manufacturing time dramatically so they can quickly supply the retailers with reorders while minimizing the risk.