Market Perishable Assets and Other Important Lessons Learned from the Streets of Boston

Beyond its character, open markets, Freedom Trail and the scent of fresh bolognese simmering, Boston’s Italian North End street merchants offered me some of my most profound experiences of rustic but pure competition.  Long before Faneuil Hall Marketplace’s sheik restaurants and shops, street vendors dominated Blackstone, Cross and Salem Streets’ sidewalks.  This microcosm of entrepreneurs peddled fresh produce, cold cuts, Italian specialties, meats, and fish.  The occasional food vendors' kiosks offered some of the very best sausages and pepper sandwiches, pizza, fried dough, Italian ice and pastries.   

The most established vendors, and perhaps the wealthiest had shops.  As inviting as they were, especially during winter shopping, it was the hustling push cart vendors, seemingly everywhere that attracted most shoppers.  The locals came for the bargains.  Some of the out-of-towners, many were students also came for the deals, but the folks from Beacon Hill and Back Bay came for the authenticity and culture, often bringing friends to witness and experience its theater. 

Friday afternoon through Saturday night were their money days.  In fact, most only set up shop those two days.   

None departed from their specialties.  Many built loyalties through differentiation and trust.  Although most butcher shops sold home made Italian sausages, Lucia, my mother only bought from one.  “I can’t be there to watch what they’re putting in that grinding machine".  She only trusted Gino.

Like caricatures accentuating dominant facial features, Italians like to use nicknames describing something about each person.  Some meanings were a lot more obscure than others, some obvious.  Johnny scissors cut hair and Joe shoes was a door to door salesman.  Tucked away in a basement store on Salem Street near the corner of Richmond, Joe Bananas sold bananas; only bananas.  No one knew where Joe lived, his nationality, whether or not he had a family, or his real name for that matter, but when you wanted bananas, you visited Joe. 

Joe would receive 200 pound bunches of bananas from Central America.  They were carefully transported in refrigerated cargo ships, protected, maintaining temperatures between 57 and 59 degrees for their 3 week journey to Boston.  Joe continued to store them on meat hooks in his controlled basement ripening room. 

By introducing ethylene gas in this room, he could cut ripening time but he was limited on what he could do to delay the ripening process.  Joe was well aware his customers would not buy bananas when they were deep green and hard, they didn't want to wait a week until they were edible.  They also wouldn't buy bananas when they had brown spots.  Joe knew he had a small window and had to sell his bananas at their peek ripeness, slight hints of green at their edges, firm and bright yellow.  If he didn’t, his bananas would rot.  Each rotten banana cost him as much as the perfect ones he sold.  Too many making it to his dumpster, there went his profits.

Joe also attracted customers by finding differentiation.  Most bananas imported are Cavendish.  They have a longer shelf life and are more durable in transport.  However, there are sweeter and better tasting varieties.  Joe also sold limited quantities of red and other bananas.  Fortunately, this old section of Boston did not have any large grocery store chains convenient to local shoppers and residents preferred the relationships they built with  trusted vendors like Joe.

Here are five profound lessons I learned from Joe:

Urgency, sell now, tomorrow maybe too late.

Ownership, in addition to selling, Joe was CEO, CMO, CFO, head of procurement, VP of sales, office manager; you get the picture!  He owned the entire process and had sole responsibility for selling.

Creativity, Joe knew when inventories were dangerously high and would stay open a little later than normal.  He discounted prices, and gave “trial” samples of red bananas with purchase. 

Execution, he knew when to hasten the ripening process.  He had to order his inventory three months out and took forecasting seriously.  His display tables were always detailed and clean.  Articles talking about the health benefits of bananas were everywhere and he was always available to discuss the changes in growing habits of bananas and new varieties.  He was the banana king and everyone knew it.  If he didn’t do everything needed to be done, it simply did not get done.     

Passionate.  Above all, he was passionate and nobody knew and cared about bananas like Joe.                 

What does this have to do with my business?   Maybe everything!  Hotel rooms not filled when the lights go out, rental cars sitting in lots after the last flight lands, or unfilled airline seats when the doors are closed for takeoff are all obvious examples of market perishable assets.  Although they don’t spoil, unsold, they are no less perishable. 

Whenever an opportunity is lost, that revenue is lost forever and consequential revenue losses may go on for a very long time. We choose television program providers, cable verses satellite.  Once one or the other is chosen, the loser not only lost the first month’s  revenue but a revenue stream measured in years. 

A computer comes off an assembly line packed with components.  You’re in the component business.  If those computers ship without your parts, isn’t that opportunity just as perishable as Joe’s bananas?  Future deals won’t replace it either.  It’s like the Giants’ surprise Super Bowl win against my beloved Patriots in 2008, stealing a perfect season.   Although an incredibly sweet victory for New York fans, does it really make up for all their losses since their 1991 victory over the Bills?  
If we think about every sales opportunity, whether a service or a tangible product in market perishable terms, perhaps we will approach them differently.  You can’t win every sale but we can improve winning averages.    

Time was Joe’s enemy.  Joe knew how many bananas he had to sell and when.  If his sales were behind, he had to drive more volumes.  If his sluggish sales proved to be a trend, he could adjust future supplies. 

Unlike Joe, our biggest enemy might be what we don't know.  It’s difficult exposing all traditional opportunities, but more challenged finding less obvious, different and creative channels, other ways to get to market.  You may have products traditionally not sold through retail and don’t understand how to package, price, and customize presentations to traditional brick and mortar, catalog or internet.  Help is readily available.   

Remember the five lessons learned from Joe?  As you walk through the different novelty and gift stores in and around Boston, you might find gourmet banana nut bread, packaged in cellophane like fine cologne with a distinctive red ribbon and a tag telling us it’s contents were hand crafted with only the best ingredients.  Did Joe Bananas find his way to incremental profits, salvaging those over ripped bananas? 

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