Logical Decision-Making under Difficult Conditions - Essay Example

I realized that despite our well-developed sales channels with smaller chain stores, our company did not cultivate business relationships with department stores, nor did we have any plans to incorporate them into the company’s business model.  I quickly recognized that opening up these sales channels would gain product exposure and substantial revenue growth for the company and thus made appointments with department store buyers to present our product lines.
However, our President of Sales discouraged me from pursuing department stores and told me to focus on our current sales channels because it was too late in the season to change our designs and our production level was close to maximum capacity.  Not one to be easily discouraged, I approached our Chief Operation Officer and Chief Financial Officer and presented my idea of special productions: uniquely designed and specially allotted productions for the department stores. They liked the idea and assigned me to head the project.

I contacted the department stores’ senior buyer groups and marketing teams and worked with the production department to establish new production channels. I also worked with our design department to create exciting designs for our buyers. The special production was further streamlined when I aggregated the department store’s marketing department with our own to create campaigns to strategically promote our products.

Furthermore, the exposure we received resulted in trial orders from major retail chains.  We experienced 30% growth in sales revenue and had our most profitable year despite a dismal 2008 retail market.  As a result of our massive success, the company recognized my efforts and promoted me to West Coast sales representative for the flagship brand.

I believe this experience showcases my leadership capacity. It made me realize that one does not need a leadership position to possess the qualities of a leader and that a leader always needs to expect the unexpected.