Business Strategies – Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Management

May 15, 2026

Some are leaders, and others are followers. We have heard this all our lives. If it is true. Which are you? That should depend on the situation you are in. At times, even the best leader should step back and allow others to take the reins.

Managers are leaders. The best allows others to lead when they show talents and abilities. I have often trained employees who eventually became department supervisors or managers. My management experience began with my first job while still in high school.

Does that seem unusual to you? I’ve gotten to know many leads, supervisors, and managers over the years who have started in the ranks and worked their way up in companies. You know that old saying, “The cream always rises to the top.”

The most important upper managers that you know of have most likely started at lower levels. What is the President of the United States? He is the chief executive. That means he is the top manager. He has lower management that works for him. Each Cabinet member also manages their staff as well.

Think about the people that you have voted for during the last few decades. Most of the candidates were governors, senators, and congressmen who began at lower levels of state government or even as assistants to others who worked in these offices.

The problems any business has can also crop up in government. Managers who try to bully their way through, around, or over employees seem to exist everywhere. I’ve noticed commercials on local TV for an attorney who is asking women to call her if their bosses are acting inappropriately

These are the worst cases of bad management, but there are a lot of poor managers out there in the business world. I would rather take some time to tell you what I learned from some of my best managers. Mr. Costello owned Dog N Suds on North Glenstone in the 1970s, and he taught me to treat everyone the way I wanted to be treated. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Tom hired me as a salesman and promoted me to a store manager in three months. He then recommended me to be the assistant livestock manager at the wholesale company owned by the man who owned the pet stores. He and the livestock manager, John, then recommended me for my first purchasing position.

Gary hired me as a buyer and made me his purchasing supervisor with the intention of my taking his position when he moved from purchasing to another spot in the company. I learned from some of the best, and I have trained some of the best. Accept help and pass it on.

Finding a place

April 28, 2026

In 2009, I was laid off from the position I held at a manufacturing company. I found another position a few months later, but was fired for incompetence within seven months. They claimed that I wanted to be fired and opposed my unemployment. I fought back with the unemployment office and won when I informed them that for the first six months, I was told I was doing my job very well.

Shortly after that, I was instructed to run a complete inventory for the first time in over two years. I was salaried and worked over 120 hours in the next two weeks. I asked for two days off next week and was given it reluctantly. The next week, I was given a written warning about something I did not know was not the proper procedure.

The following week, I was walked out of the plant. The plant manager who fired me failed to ask for my key. The next morning, I returned about two hours after my shift would have started and returned the key. I learned that my desk and position were taken over by a former employee.

My Unemployment was approved, and I returned to looking for another job. One of the companies that I applied to was coming to Springfield, and they were looking for a representative to promote their business. They worked with nursing homes and other companies that helped families find services for senior citizens.

I was excited about the opportunity after I had spoken to HR two or three times. They liked my sales experience, purchasing background, and ministry experience. She downplayed the salesman concept until I was interviewed by the sales manager, who would be my direct supervisor.

After that conversation, I declined to go forward and began thinking about the fact that for most companies, closing the deal is more important than people. I did not want to be one of those employees. I finally found another purchasing job. That is the company I retired from six years ago.

I found my place, and I hope that each of you can find yours. Keep looking for where you belong, whether you are looking for a job, a church, a mate, or a home. Life is one long search for enjoyment and meaning.

I have taken jobs where I was asked to do things that I would rather not. That one time, I felt that it was better to remain without a job than to accept one that I felt certain that I would fail at. There might have been companies that I would not want to recommend to families. I hope you can say no when you want to.

Ministry is not a side hustle

April 20, 2026

In the spring of 1974, I was asked to be the preacher for youth week at Immanuel Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri. If you have never heard of youth week, it is what churches do to give their young people a taste of ministry. Our youth minister made the plans and chose the members to perform tasks that adults did every week.

Clyde, our pastor, met with me and walked me through what I needed to do. I would preach both Sunday morning and evening, and I went with him to the hospital and on other visits that he made each week. I had never given any thought to being anything but a journalist until that March.

I had speech in high school and started feeling ready to pass out when I gave my first speech in class. That was only five minutes of introducing myself to the other students. After three years of class and the last two competing around the area at other schools, I had never made the quarter finals in any of the events.

Extemporaneous Speaking was one of my favorite types of competition. We were given a topic fifteen minutes before our time to present, and we were judged on topicality, structure, preparation, and presentation. I thought that my experience would make it easy for me to deliver these sermons.

I was right about that because I had heard so many sermons and been in Sunday School my entire life. Preparation and presentation were easy. I enjoyed the time with our pastor and noticed how easy the speaking came to me. The problem was the way everyone looked at me.

I noticed that something was different. I did not understand it. I was a journalist, not a preacher; all I did was give two speeches at church. I started to feel something new as well. I had doubts about my chosen occupation. God could not want me to do this as a profession, could he?

A few weeks later, I received my acceptance letter from the University of Missouri in Columbia, School of Journalism. I should have been ecstatic, and I was not. I was contemplating that this might not be what I should do. If Jesus wanted me to be a full-time minister, would I do that? I finally accepted His call to ministry, and I assumed that would be as a pastor. I have never been a singer.

I told my parents that I did not think I should transfer to MU. We went to look at Southwest Baptist College and talked to them. I enrolled there as an English major and changed to a Religion major, which was what most ministerial students did. I spent two years studying the Bible and ministry.

After graduation, I could not get clear guidance about what seminary to attend, and I continued with a company I started as a part-time employee. We planned our wedding, and the company offered me the opportunity to join their management trainee program, and my career as a workplace minister began.

A side hustle is something that you do to make ends meet. If your avocation does not provide the funds to live on, then you find something else to make money. My side hustle has been many and varied over the years. My life’s work has been ministry, as yours should be. Try it, you’ll like it.

Saying no

April 14, 2026

There is a Casey’s commercial where an actor that is dressed as an employee says that they hate to say no. I worked in a convenience store years ago. It was not part of this chain. I was trained in what I could and could not do for a customer. I could not leave the store to pump the gas for them.

If I was there with other employees, I could do that. When I worked at another station, my job was to pump the gas. That was what we were trained to do. This ad tells us that they deliver pizza to you and that they will even bring you to them to get their pizza. Call your local Casey’s and ask for these services.

My guess is that they will not say no. They will laugh at you, hang up on you, or tell you to contact Grub Hub, Lift, or some other company for these services. Every business has their rules and guidelines regarding what they will do to accommodate their clients. Ask a stupid question and they should give you a polite answer.

I have worked in retail, wholesale, and manufacturing. Some of the companies I worked with also sold services. I have told customers no without using that word. “What if we . . .?” was a favorite answer for me. Suggesting an alternative to a request that I could not grant was the way I was trained.

Your employer should be educating you in how they want you to respond. I worked in several positions over the years. When I was a supervisor and manager, I often trained others to do the things that I did. I never wanted them to be stifled by someone telling them that they could not accomplish anything.

One of the first young men I hired at a pet store where I had just become the manager took over a different position I had held with that company. As I was leaving a restaurant with customers and my boss, I ran into him and the owner of that company, and he was introduced to me as the current purchasing agent.

My old boss had apparently forgotten that I was the one that had brought him to the company. When I hired him as a part time salesperson while he was a college student, I trained him and another employee that was there when I came, to know and be able to do anything that I could. Some management personnel do not teach any more than they need to. They are afraid others might be promoted over them. I’ve never felt that way.

I once told the President of a company during an interview that I would be getting ready to be promoted to my prospective boss’s position from the first day, if I was hired. I got the job and a few months later began working as the department supervisor and training to become the manager. Telling the truth is always the best advice, especially in advertising.

Watch the commercials

April 6, 2026

I know. Who wants to watch the ads on TV? You can learn a lot by viewing the advertisements during and between the shows. Did you know that everything you could ever need or want is sold in the media these days? Except for world peace. Advertising is the way the American public finances its broadcast companies.

Newspapers and magazines sold advertisements, and when radio began, they had to develop spots that were totally verbal in nature. I remember in the nineteen sixties listening to the disc jockeys read on air copy for the local ads. As high school speech students, we learned how to be radio announcers and competed in tournaments.

For many years now, one of my classmates has been an anchor on our local NBC affiliate. In school, he was not a speech student. He was working at a local radio station. Our coach invited him to join us at tournaments and compete in radio speaking. He won first place in every competition he was able to enter.

It did not bother me. He was better than all the other competitors. One of my first jobs after college was as marketing director for a small company. We were a direct marketing firm and produced catalogs and flyers, and accepted orders by phone.

Some modern commercials fail to do the one thing I have thought essential. An ad is not successful unless it makes you remember the company’s name. When I see an advertisement repeatedly and cannot remember who ran the spot, I know it failed.

Funny scripts are great, but not all humor is funny to everyone. Some types of comedy just make me think that whoever produced it is stupid. Looking stupid to prospective customers is not a good idea. I always thought it was a good idea to put your best foot forward.

Local commercials about lawyers are a perfect example of what works and what does not. Some attorneys brag about the amount of money they can get for you. Others criticize their competitors and try to denigrate them. This is never a good idea to encourage people who know nothing about you and your business practices to see that you are willing to say things that are hurtful.

Some of my favorite ads just tell me what these businesses can do for me and let me know that they want to take care of anyone who wishes to do business with them. Offend no one and show everyone that you know how to get their business.

There is one commercial that I view regularly today about a perfect gift. It is for a shower head. I’m sorry, that would never be the present my wife would want. This guy must be buying this for his parents. It is a standard comedy schtick to buy your wife something you think she needs. This is against the idea that it is the thought that counts.

Which types of advertising encourage you to buy their products or services? Our economy is a free market, which is supposed to mean that we make our own decisions about what we buy from whom. Few techniques are illegal, but many that are not ethical. When a business fails to present enough information or lies about their products, I just decide not to do business with them.

PURCHASING

March 31, 2026

I have been purchasing for almost 40 years. My first job as a purchasing agent was in 1978 with General Petco in Springfield, MO. I was promoted from assistant livestock manager to purchasing agent on the recommendation of two men whom I had worked under in that company. When these two managers were asked who in the company might be able to handle purchasing, my name was given.

I was told that we would try it for six months. Purchasing and I were such a good fit that in 1979, I took another purchasing position with a company I worked at for twenty-five years. I began as a purchasing agent and was promoted to inside sales, office manager, outside sales, back to office manager, and then operations manager. There was no job that I had not done. I trained people in purchasing, warehouse, sales, and clerical positions. I helped write the procedures manual while I was there.

While my title and job description varied over the years, I maintained purchasing responsibilities for the twenty-five years I was there. When I left there, I went to a manufacturer as the maintenance and repair buyer. MRO and OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) buyers vary in the products and quantities they purchase.

I retired as the purchasing manager at a manufacturer. Most people with average intelligence can be trained to do what I did. I was there for years and had a good handle on the position. The training process was not well thought out and implemented when I started.

This company is not unusual. Experienced people are hired and expected to do their work with minimal training. Few and far between are the positions where training is a priority. If you get two days with the last person to do the job, you are lucky.

I’ve trained everyone from truck drivers to salesmen. I know how to show anyone how to do any of the jobs I have performed over the last fifty years. I always gave new employees a steno pad to make notes. No one has as good a memory as they think they do. I encourage newer employees to broaden their horizons and learn as much as they can.

When I was a high school student, my first position was as a fry cook, and I learned how to do everything there and was put in charge of closing the drive-in from time to time. My first job out of college was as a food service management trainee. Every time I took a new job, I did my best to learn where I could go next.

I study anything I can to train myself, whether it is reading books or articles, or stepping into other roles to learn what they do. I told the president of a company I was interviewing with that on my first day, I would start training to take my boss’s job. Believe it or not, that was the reason they gave me the job.

Who gets the money?

March 11, 2026

I’ve written before, warning you to check out organizations that you give money to. Let me add some further insights into these discussions. I have people come to my door asking for help for themselves or groups they are working with. This sounds perfectly legitimate, but how do you make sure?

Ask for the name they are representing. Use your smartphone to find this company. Are they not for profit? Some of these businesses are just businesses. They take your money and put it into their coffers. They may or may not donate some to charity.

This is important when neighborhood kids are earning money for their schools or churches. You’ve been asked to buy candy, cookies, popcorn, or other items from them. A one-dollar purchase may net them only ten percent or less. Ask how much their cut is. If you trust the kid, give the amount asked for and let them keep the product.

This is the best way to deal with the catalogs that are often used to finance school projects. Many of the items are five dollars or more. Donate the money, and the entire amount can go to the child’s school. Buy something, and they receive a much smaller amount. The businesses providing this service get most of the proceeds.

If you do not know the person, keep your money and politely tell them you have already donated to this group. If you do not recognize who they are supporting, tell them you donate to your church or another not-for-profit that you help. Don’t lie to them and don’t continue the conversation. Close the door and go on with your day.

Do you want to help certain groups but don’t know how? I live in Springfield, Missouri, which is home to Convoy of Hope and Wounded Warriors. We also have a Habitat for Humanity Renew Center. They are all nationally known groups that always need additional funds for all the things they do for others.

Is there a group that has helped someone in your family or that you know? These would be excellent places to donate your money. Do not send money to any online group that you do not know personally. If you receive an email or social media post, verify that the money will go to whom they say it will receive your donations. I prefer to donate privately rather than online.

As I have mentioned before, be aware of to whom and what you give your money. A man I used to work with attended a church that was from a denomination I did not know. I asked questions about the church and found that his fiancé’s father was the pastor, and he owned the church property.

In later years, I heard of many such congregations that found out that their worship centers were not actual not for profit organizations. Donations made to them were taxed, and if the owners or pastors kept the books straight, they were legal. Ask the question before you give, “Who gets the money?”

I’m in marketing, you want management

February 5, 2026

I began my career as a full-time minister of the gospel in the 1970’s. I have been studying and learning my trade for over five decades. When I think about what I knew then, I am amazed at how little it was. As I ponder my entry into the presence of God, at the time of my death, in another forty or fifty years, I consider how small my grasp of who God really is. At that time, I will join those same people who taught me about him sixty years ago.

When I started my journey through God’s word, I was in my teens. My life of service and ministry has taught me a great deal. Years ago, a friend asked me why God did certain things. The question was about why bad things happen to good people. I did not know the answer. I still do not understand everything about Jehovah. My answer to these inquiries is the same as on that day. “I’m in sales; you want management.”

The ones who are in the upper echelon of every Christian denomination should use the same response. Even the Pope is a representative of Jesus Christ and not the head of the church. We forget that. We try to defend Yahweh and His actions. That is not our job. Our job is to explain what we find in the Bible. I do need to explain to you why things happen the way they do in our world today.

Those are the things that I am still learning from the scriptures. He tells us who He is and why He must work the way He does. My job is to listen to what He says and share those thoughts with you. My ideas are not original. Many others can tell you exactly what I am saying. I may express it differently from others.

Your job is to take what I and other ministers or scholars tell you and check the Bible to be sure we know the Lord the way He reveals Himself in the Word. You do not want to believe in Him because of incorrect information. One of the first things I must tell you is some of the things that He will not do when you become a born-again believer.

As a salesman in the secular world, my job was to promote the products I sold. My employer was wrong if he or she wanted me to lie about the advantages of those items. To be able to tell them what it would do and what it would not do, I had to study the information that was provided about it. I read specification sheets, technical data sheets, and catalogs. I even looked at items being used by customers and, in some cases, used them myself to understand how they performed. I have done exactly that for over fifty years with God.

You will not become perfect. That means you will continue to sin. I know some teach that if you cannot stop sinning, you are not really a believer. Read the Bible. It tells us that if you say you are no longer sinning, you are deceived. Jesus died for our past, present, and future errors.

You will have trials, and others will not treat you perfectly. This is the way it works with fallen humanity. I’m sorry it must be this way, but it just is. Christ can help us get through the tough times if we will let Him.

Word of mouth

January 12, 2026

The best method of promoting your business is not advertising. It does not matter if you use digital media, broadcast media, or billboards; they are not the best option. Word of mouth has been proven to be the primary way customers find out about vendors.

If you are using a marketing company that has not already informed you of this, I feel sorry for you. One of my first jobs out of college was as a marketing director for a small company. We were in a niche market, and I recommended that our owner, who was our salesman, protect his personal reputation. It was our biggest asset.

I had no formal training, so I did not have all the book knowledge. I read every book I could lay my hands on about the subject. We conducted a direct marketing campaign through catalogs mailed to potential customers. We even had a toll-free number to accept orders. No, there was no internet or digital marketing at that time.

Our mailing pieces included order forms and a postage-free envelope to send them back to us. My boss purchased stamps and sent them on the pre-addressed envelopes. When I gave him the cost savings figures for purchasing a postage meter and a number to print on the return pieces to pay postage that way.

When I mentioned that over sixty percent of the stamps he sent out were not used for our orders, he did not believe me until I showed him the accountant’s ledger. I reworked the upcoming catalogs and flyers with freshly written copy. I photographed all the items in-house and saved almost as much money as I received in pay.

When I became a pet store manager, I trained our sales staff to remember the old saying, “The customer is always right.” We needed to acknowledge it as correct and realize that we should make them think it is true, but help them see when they were not exactly perfectly buying the best for them.

There was the lady who purchased tiny fish and put them in with the small ones that ate them the first night. I increased the sales by getting my customers to recommend my store. Later, at another company, I was instrumental in treating our customers in a fashion that they recommended us to others.

Our advertising budget was allocated to regional trade magazines and free giveaways to customers. Many of our vendors offered free sample products to us, which were not purchased as much as they could have been. I even put inexpensive products on the counters to promote good maintenance practices.

I left sales and marketing and became a purchasing agent, supervisor, and manager. I continued promoting my word-of-mouth advertising program from the other side of the desk. I can’t tell you the number of times I told others the best companies to purchase from and why I felt that way.

Improve your business by treating your customers the best that you can. Paying employees better who take care of customers is more effective than the best commercial you ever used. Getting them in the door to have them treated poorly never works. I know, your ad department just laughed at me.

$19.99

November 22, 2025

The U.S. Mint is no longer producing pennies. It has been discussed for years. It costs over three cents to make them. I hate to have to say this, but I agree with this decision. It has been a long time coming.

I also heard that nickels are more expensive than their value. That makes me wonder if the U.S. Mint should discontinue production of small coinage. When I was a kid, we had penny candy. We went to Andy’s market across Nichols Street from York School and might spend a nickel or a dime at a time. I picked a penny off the sidewalk one day and bought a tootsie roll. They tossed it in a sink of water as I went out the door.

Walmart and other businesses have already said that they will round a total to the nearest nickel when you are paying cash. They say it may save you a few cents or cost you a couple. They are the ones who are making that decision.

Why are prices not all set to the nearest dime anyway? Why is there even a price on anything that is ninety-nine cents anymore? When I studied marketing, we were told that many see the first numbers of the price. The title of this article registers to me as twenty dollars. Some see it as Nineteen.

I’ve been counting change for sixty-five years or more. I have a jar full of coins. Many of them are pennies. I will continue to save them from my pocket each night. I don’t use cash as much as I once did. When the coins in that jar are worth more than their face value, I will sell them to a coin collector.

I do not see this as being a huge problem. Most transactions are digital. I’ll just be sure that I keep a few coins in my pocket so that I can make exact change when making a cash purchase.

For years, some sellers who specialize in cash have included tax in their price. No coinage is needed when you do it this way. We seem to want to make our population less intelligent and pass on more jobs to artificial intelligence devices. Eliminating the need to count change will make it easier to program these machines. Both human and digital. There was a time when knowing how to count was considered a compliment to your parents and teachers. Should the inability to do so be considered their fault?

If Walmart wants to charge me an extra two cents for my purchase, then I will simply leave that sale on the counter. It will cost more than that to put it away. We don’t go to their stores very much. I have the right in America to patronize whoever I wish.

When I was young, my parents discussed that they did not make mills anymore. This was a coin that was used for taxes and was worth a tenth of a penny. I still have a two-dollar bill that is a silver certificate from Hawaii when my Dad was on a ship in the Pacific during World War II. I wonder if I could sell it and pay off all my debts.

Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Walk With a Servant

Category: Business Strategies