Organizing - Networks

I previously worked for a music distribution company. I worked as a sales rep for the company during a time of transition and restructuring. We were, at one time, a self-contained organization that did everything from recording & mixing to warehousing & distribution. There was not a step in the process that we did not have our hand in. This ultimately contributed to our downfall because we were so concerned about providing every service necessary in the process that we did not excel or specialize in any of them. That is what lead to our restructuring.

After a purging of resources, both personnel and departments, we re-emerged as a strong and focused sales & marketing organization. This was one of our strongest departments and as such we were identified in the industry as having a good track record in this area. This meant though that we had to rely on others with various specialities to support us with the products and services we needed to be successful. In the post-sales needs we hired out our recording and mixing of music to some of the best studios in the industry. After the product was recorded we had partnerships with graphic artists and photographers to develop and create marketing materials and packaging to get the product noticed. Radio marketing and support was provided by a company that only handled radio promotions for our genre of music. Not having the resources available for warehousing we developed a partnership with a fulfillment company who handled all our warehousing, shipping, billing, returns and customer service. After the product was sold into our accounts the booking for artist touring and personality appearances was handled by outside agencies.

In the end we were what we set out to be, a great sales team with longstanding and strong relationships with our accounts. We did sales and we did it really well. We did not record the music, create the advertising, work with radio, warehouse, ship or bill the product. We had strategic relationships with other organizations that had made the same decision we had. They picked the area they felt they could excel in and did it the very best they could. All of us worked together to support each other because without any one piece of the puzzle all pieces could be affected.