It seems like it was 247 years ago when I worked as a national account sales rep in the wholesale lumber business. One of the biggest accounts I worked with was Home Depot. Working with them in the early days, I learned a very valuable lesson I would not soon forget. When talking through marketing and selling strategies, the owner of HD would often say, “If you want to s*** like a bear…you’ve got to eat like a bear.” A rather crude statement, but think about it. What he’s really saying is, in order to be successful, he needs to invest in his business, and not be afraid to take a chance.

He would usually pick out a “loss leader” or a commodity such as 4-foot by 8-foot sheets of wafer board, framing studs or sheet rock. Then he would over-order several truckloads for each store, and then stack it high on one of the end caps in the store. He wanted the perception that someone screwed up and ordered too much stock, and now they’ve got to sell it cheap to get rid of it.

Which brings to mind the age-old question in business, do you wait and hope you get the business before you stock the store, or hire the talent? Or do you stock the store and hire the talent, before you get the business? I know what Mr. Home Depot would do; he’d stock the store and hire the talent, before he would open for business.

But first he’d do his research to clearly understand his market, then he’d invest the time to understand what problems his customers had. If the customer’s problem was that they needed material, he’d stock his stores with that material. If the customer’s problem could be solved with support staff, he’d hire that staff: PM, estimator, sales person, etc. Whatever position he needed to fill to solve the customer’s problem, he would do it…before the customer asked for the material or service.

Do you know what problems your customer has? Do you have the material/resources to solve your customer’s problem?

Remember in business…

… Are you prepared to EAT like a Bear?