Winston Weber, Chairman and CEO of Winston Weber & Associates, accomplished so much at such an early age while working in senior management positions with major consumer products companies that he decided to move beyond corporate life after 23 years of working for a single corporation to a position where he could contribute to the growth of many companies and also drive change throughout the consumer products industry. This led to his decision to start Winston Weber & Associates, Inc. in 1985. Win’s vision was to create a small “boutique” consulting business with a global perspective that would serve grocery retailers and consumer packaged goods corporations with leadership thinking and practical, implementable solutions. Win sought to use a controlled expansion approach, focusing on delivering greater value and customer return on investment than major consulting companies staffed mostly by young consultants, many of whom had no business experience. This has been attained and maintained during the course of our 36 years together.
According to Win, senior consultants at WWA must have at least 30 years of experience in the consumer products sector in general management, retail management, sales management, brand management, or supply chain management before joining the firm. He expects them to provide a unique combination of talents, knowledge, and a “real world” business perspective to each client assignment, and they are particularly well-suited to dealing with organizations attempting to utilize market leading positions as well as turnaround scenarios.
He says, “Importantly, whatever the situation, we have an in-depth appreciation of the need to focus on running the business while changing the business. This ensures the achievement of near-term performance targets while changing the business. More value and client return on investment means an uncompromising emphasis on quality and trust, a “say it as we see it” approach, and the ability to consistently exceed client expectations. These qualities and our dedication to providing leading edge thinking with implementable solutions have helped us to achieve our goal. This is our reputation today. “
With clients in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, South America, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, Win says the WWA team has exceeded his global goals. His Delta Airlines mileage alone is 3.5 million miles, indicating that he is actively involved in every client endeavor.
Defining Vision, Focus and Determination
Win spent 23 years working for consumer products companies after graduating from Syracuse University in 1962, followed by 36 years in consulting. He worked with Colgate Palmolive and later General Foods for 10 years, swiftly rising through the ranks from retail salesman to sales supervisor, district manager, and regional manager. These were fantastic business experiences that taught Win a lot, but he was hungry for more. He says, “I felt too limited by the corporate culture in driving change designed to improve the work environment and performance.”
After that, Win went to work at Beechnut Baby Food as Vice President of Sales. He rapidly discovered that baby food salespeople not only sold, but also replenished all grocery shelves. He considers it a high-priced duty. In a tiny market, he experimented with no shelf stocking. Immediately after that came the competition. As a result, he made the choice to go national. He mentions, “We eliminated 1500 sales/shelf stocking positions and considerable expense. I was then invited by Sunshine Biscuits to be their Vice President of Sales. At that time, they were losing money.” He further adds, “My responsibility was to fix the problem. I designed the strategy and plan to move Sunshine from direct store to warehouse delivery. This immediately moved the company from a several million-dollar loss to a several million-dollar profit. This move also helped us gain market share.”
Win was thereafter requested to join the Drackett Company (Windex) as Vice President, and was later promoted to President of Sales. Win implemented a variety of organizational improvements at Drackett, including the first promotion of women and black Americans to managerial positions.
This was significantly ahead of the time when most corporations took comparable actions, considering it was more than 40 years ago. While Win would have stayed longer at Drackett if he hadn’t been approached by Atari with a job offer he couldn’t refuse, he was approached by Atari with a job offer he couldn’t refuse. Win was named Senior Vice President Sales in order to bring consumer products retail channel experience to the Sales Organization and to make fundamental changes to the organization and business procedures. “My final corporate experience was as President of the Schering Plough Sales Corporation, where similar changes were made,” says Win.
Winston Weber & Associates, Inc.
WWA has outperformed its industry leadership goals. The firm introduced the concept of retailer-supplier partnership, now known as collaboration, to the grocery market in the late 1980s. This is an idea that is still gaining traction in the market today. It was the first company in the United States to propose the concept of category management in 1990. Supermarket companies, drugstore chains, and mass merchandisers use category management now all over the world. For both retailers and consumer goods producers, category management has been a substantial driver of sales and profit growth.
Beyond category management, WWA is now offering Customer-Centric Retailing, an all-encompassing and revolutionary business approach that focuses all operations inside a store on surpassing shopper expectations to increase sales. This involves moving away from engrained corporate rules and procedures and toward a top-down, cross-functional focus on the shopper, shopper solutions, and shopping experience upgrades. With expanding food lifestyles, digital connectedness, social media, online shopping, delivery options, and increasing generational complexities, the grocery industry is undergoing the most dynamic change in decades. This new business model provides the support necessary in today’s shopper-centric environment to deliver sustainable incremental gain. It is predicted to be a vital contributor to industry growth for years to come by providing consumer satisfaction. We must go beyond category management to this new business model, according to 100% of retailers and CPG producers polled.
Shopper Solutions Change Enablement Training is also being introduced by WWA. Continuous evolution, not a one-time change, is required in today’s hyper-evolving environment. According to the corporation, non-routine cognitive skills, abstract reasoning, systems thinking, and the ability to experiment are among the generally essential talents that allow the firm’s teams to continually adapt and thrive. This entails combining the underlying abilities given by category management with the current digital revolution’s transition to shopper-centric strategies and procedures. This approach prepares a company’s team for success with trading partners by focusing on the:
HOW: the infrastructure, people behaviors, and retailer/manufacturer strategic collaboration. This is a first in the industry.
In addition to the aforementioned leadership initiatives, it includes a new, updated collaborative business planning approach intended to greatly improve the ROI for resources employed, as well as a new and improved multicultural strategy.
When Win considers what WWA has accomplished over the past 36 years, he sees the company as the only consulting firm that truly understands retailers, consumer product manufacturers, and the relationship between the two, as well as the only organization that provides cutting-edge thinking and practical solutions. As the industry adjusts to the post-COVID new normal, WWA is well positioned to maintain its position as a powerful consulting business.
An Integrated Work Culture
WWA’s most important steps are to first gain an understanding of the potential client, secure a meeting at the senior executive level at the Senior Vice President level or above to present WWA capabilities, gain a thorough understanding of their needs, and explain in detail our first step, our Situational Assessment model. Within the framework of the potential project, and applying 87 evaluation benchmarks, we assess the organization, identify strengths and weaknesses versus the benchmarks, and propose an improvement plan going forward. The improvement plan may include several projects lasting a year or more. The key to this process is that it ensures accuracy and highlights the importance of running the business while changing the business.
Win fosters a culture of feedback both internally among the company’s consultants and with clients. The company has a very open and collaborative environment internally, with all members of its consulting team encouraged to express their ideas, opinions, and experiences. As the team says internally, it takes multiple minds to achieve its desired level of 100%+10% perfection on each assignment. The same holds true in WWA’s relationships with clients. “The sharing of their knowledge, experiences, and insights with us is very important as we define the current needs and capabilities of a client on our way to determining the desired future state,” says Win.
A Young Heart
Twenty years ago, Win was told that he needed a heart transplant, which he had to wait three years to receive. During the wait period, his doctor only allowed him to travel three days a month. This meant no onsite involvement with clients or consulting team members, among many other limitations. Then, on April 20, 2005, he received a call at 1:23 in the morning saying a heart was available. Win drove his wife to the hospital and received his new 21-year old heart. He says, “I was released from the hospital in eleven days and was now on my way to a very healthy future. Today, my heart is only 38. “
Recognition for Being Exemplary
The most important acknowledgement for Win is that corporate executives want to hear what he has to say. With clients, proposal and closing meetings always include the Chief Operating Officers and senior executives from across functions. Win is invited to speak at industry conventions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and South America, and many articles about his and the company’s achievements have been published. In fact, WWA was just selected as the Impact Company of the Year by a global newspaper.
Below are few testimonials from clients:
- “Winston Weber and Associates has been on retainer for fourteen years while most consulting firms survive our environment for one or two years. This is because they deliver well beyond expectations and we trust them. They actually wrote our policy on how to work with consultants”
- “We would not be where we are today without WWA”.
- “There is not one consulting firm that comes close to their understanding of this industry from both a retailer and supplier perspective.”
Leading Confidently
As CEO of WWA, Win’s responsibilities include keeping his finger on the pulse of the industry, clearly defining WWA’s role and responsibilities in the industry, serving as the company’s primary marketer, assisting in the acquisition of new clients, guiding the preparation of client initiatives, and selling clients on our solutions. “It is extremely important for me to have a tight grasp on major industry issues and trends,” says Win.
Win has spent a lot of time this year determining the post Covid19 new norm for both retailers and CPG companies. This has led to an adjustment in several of his and the company’s capabilities, with new leading initiatives planned as well as a major upgrading of the website.
Win leads with a very “positive” mindset. Whether it is business or personal, he does not know how to think negative. He opines, “If a negative situation is occurring, my mind immediately focuses on possible solutions.”
Extending Reach
Looking ahead, Win’s goal will be to continue to provide leadership thinking with practical, implementable solutions. When considering the current hyper-evolving marketplace, he feels the team is ideally positioned to continue to be a key resource for both retailers and consumer product companies. He feels that WWA is very prepared to deal with the post Covid 19 “New Norm” in key areas that will need to be addressed by both retailers and consumer products companies. He says, “Our geographic focus will be the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and South America.”
Win’s personal business goals are to stay mentally young and continue to be a key resource to both retailers and consumer products companies for years to come. Win is now only in his 60th year in the industry, and during this time there have been many new and challenging experiences. He opines, “When considering the current hyper-evolving marketplace, I feel we are ideally positioned to be a key resource to both retailers and consumer products companies by continuing to offer leading edge thinking and practical, implementable solutions. I am excited to continue to be actively involved in helping companies maintain and grow their competitive position in the marketplace.”
Age is ‘Just’ a Number
Win believes that his daily evaluation of his work is the secret to his success. Each day, he sets precise goals for himself. He evaluates what he accomplished and where he failed at the end of each day. Win then analyses what he may have done better and applies his new knowledge the next day. This is a procedure that someone must follow in order to achieve excellence.
Win’s advice to ambitious business minds is to never allow their minds become older than 45. This encourages you to focus on innovation and the future, and how you may contribute to your company, family, and life for many years to come. This will allow you to remain cognitively engaged and youthful for many years to come. It is also important to be a very good listener and have excellent interpersonal skills. In other words, apply good leadership skills in all aspects of your life.
