Timing is everything. Just ask Donna
Salyers, president of Donna Salyers’
Fabulous-Furs.
The faux fur company was set to make
a splash when it sent out about a million
catalogs to potential customers. The
only problem was, those catalogs
arrived at their destination between
Sept. 11 and Sept. 13, 2001, and the
response was less than stellar.
“That was a huge hit to recover
from, a mailing of a million,”
Salyers says. “You spent the
money on the postage, you spent
the money to build your inventory, and now you have zero pay-back.”
It took time, but after laying off
people, selling items at half price
and talking to banks, Fabulous-Furs rebounded and in 2005, generated about $10 million in revenue.
Salyers also credits a Wall
Street Journal article about her
company with aiding the company’s healing.
“It seems like something
always comes along to save you
just as your last fingernail is
breaking,” she says.
Smart Business spoke with
Salyers about how to handle
bad decisions, take risks and
deal with change.
Q: What is your process when
taking risks?
Looking into past numbers
and reading into those. Was it
product? Was it the way we did the catalog? Was it our mailing? Looking at as
many measurable items as possible.
Getting lots of opinions.
We all talk about it. Everyone knows
the numbers around here. Get lots of
feedback from the people that talk to
our customers on the phone. I’m out in
the public a lot and talk to a lot of people. We all talk to a lot people around
here. We take all that back and make
decisions based on good information.
We don’t do focus groups as much as we
get feedback from the people here who
talk to customers all day. I get e-mails all
day long saying, ‘A customer said he or
she wants this.’ I put it on my list, and if
(I) see that item pop up a couple of times,
I say, ‘Oh, I think there is something
there.’
Q: How do you rebound from failure?
You hope the cut wasn’t too deep, you
stop the bleeding and you turn it around.
Don’t do it again next year.
You might have to live with a decision
for a season, but you will learn from
that. Often, something really good
comes out of a mistake. You analyze
those problems. We spend a lot of time
reviewing what we did.
A company will send us this, but we
ordered that, or they send us an inferior
product. We will call every customer, even
if it’s 200, and say, ‘We’re so sorry this happened. Take a 20 percent discount off
something else. We want to make it right,
and this is not how we want to do business. We are as disappointed as you are.
Let us turn it into something good.’
People respect that because everyone
knows something will go wrong because
that is the way of the world. But, if you
correct those missteps, they respect that.
Q: How do you roll with the changes?
We don’t roll with them; we make them
happen. We go after change, reinvent ourselves and are always setting higher goals. I
don’t think a business can live if it’s not. You
will quickly go downhill.
Even staying even is going
downhill. I believe in being very
aggressive and doing everything
better. Every year, we have our
best year ever and, even after I’m
gone, I hope that continues. I don’t
do dumb things like take these
ridiculous risks. I would never
want venture capital. I like safe,
predictable growth.
Watch your numbers and understand
them. How did you get here from
there, and how can you make more of
the good things happen and avoid the
pitfalls? Being willing to work and to
watch things and react to them.
And we are easy to work with. If
you need it, I will sew it myself if we
have to.
It’s always looking for opportunities and being willing to be able to
change.
Q: How do you avoid those pitfalls?
Many pitfalls will be outside your
control, like the hurricanes last season.
Those impacted our business. Think of
how many parts of the country weren’t
even getting mail, and the rest of us were
so horrified with watching it all, you felt
guilty about indulging and shopping.
You will probably have some inventory
issues because you were prepared for
business that didn’t happen. You react.
You do whatever you have to and get
your inventory to where it should be.
Maybe don’t mail so heavy during hurricane season. There are a lot of uncertainties out there like gas prices. You try to be
the absolute best, exciting and interesting.
HOW TO REACH: Donna Salyers’ Fabulous-Furs, (800) 848-4650
or www.fabulousfurs.com