I dealt mostly with the back end of the supply chain, and as ‘the customer’ I was often treated well by account managers trying to build good relationships. It was a steep learning curve and I quickly realised how important it was to keep on top of our suppliers in order to get faster and better results. I am very glad I visited as frequently as possible to save time and to address issues before assumptions were made. With the front end of the supply chain – the distributors and the retailers – we discovered the dangers of accepting what was said at face value. As a business mantra, it is always best to under-promise and over-deliver and we learned the hard way!