In a Fireside Chat at Vendavo’s Growth + Profitability Summit 2023 in Chicago, Morgan Short, Director of Content & Web Strategy at Vendavo, spoke with Reid Garrett, Vice President of Merchandising at TruckPro, about the process of pricing transformations, the risk of silos and how to avoid them, and why it’s important to make sure you have executive sponsorship and the right people in the room when undertaking company-wide changes.
Morgan Short: Hi, everyone. It’s Morgan Short, Director of Content and Web Strategy here at Vendavo, and I’m here with Reid Garrett, VP of Merchandising at TruckPro. We’re in Chicago at the Growth + Profitability Summit. Reid, thank you so much for sitting down with me for a Fireside Chat.
Reid Garrett: Thank you. Glad to be here.
Short: And Reid, you were on a panel this morning. You were on our “Tearing Down Silos” panel. Tell me about some advice that you would give to somebody in a similar role looking to really tear down those silos in an organization.
Garrett: Sure. I think probably the biggest thing that I realized after going through a pricing transformation was that not all silos were created with bad intentions. Sometimes it’s just a team doing what they think is best and the struggle is just alignment of priorities. So, if you’re looking to tear down a silo, I’d say that the key thing is having that executive sponsorship that really aligns each silo’s definition of success. Outside of that, make sure you’ve got the right people in the room. Those could include your biggest detractors, and you also want the guys that are going to be using the software at all levels. So, if you’re thinking about implementing new pricing, you want feedback from a range of talent. I’d also say that what was successful for us was eliminating some of the pricing pain points as a part of the implementation. That was a real key of success for us.
Short: Absolutely. Speaking of pain points, what’s a challenge that you have in your role today?
Garrett: I’d say that there’s several different things going on. The pace of change has really increased the adoption of technology in general, but also our customers are demanding to transact digitally in a way they haven’t in the past. That’s really changed the burden we place on ourselves to meet their expectations.
Short: I want to circle back really quick to the silos again, because I remember you said something in the panel that I absolutely loved, and I just would love for you to repeat it for our audience here. You said something about how silos are created. Do you remember exactly what you said?
Garrett: Uh, not quite.
Short: I will rephrase, and then you can add if you have any further comments. You said something about how silos are created when two people have a different definition of success, and I thought that was just perfect. Any further comments on what you mean there?
Garrett: Yeah, I kind of said it a little bit earlier, but not all silos were created with bad intentions. I I believe that, you know, the majority of the team is trying to do a good job and achieve the goals that they have set for them. The real challenge is just aligning each silo into a common definition of what success looks like.
Short: Wonderful. Reid, it’s always so great to chat with you, and thanks again for sitting down with me at GPS.
Garrett: Thanks for inviting me by the fire.
Short: Of course.