Adaptability is the New Currency of Work with Dallas Counts

Margins are under siege. Between tariffs, retail media costs, markdown pressure, and the explosion of e-commerce complexity, suppliers are juggling more P&L lines than ever—and the fallout doesn’t stop with finance. We sit down with Dallas Counts, COO at Vendormint and former Walmart/Sam’s Club leader, to explore how operational strain shows up in culture, talent decisions, and the day-to-day realities of AR, logistics, and sales teams. The conversation goes beyond buzzwords and into the mechanics of building resilient organizations when chargebacks climb and retailer policies keep changing.

Dallas breaks down why deduction recovery is only half the story and how the real win comes from fixing root causes—modernizing legacy systems, aligning with retailer tech shifts, and empowering tenured teams to embrace new tools. We dig into a practical, human approach to AI: where it truly helps, how to communicate its impact without triggering panic, and why hiring for adaptability now prevents painful corrections later. You’ll hear the hallmarks of healthy change management—plain language objectives, weekly reinforcement, scenario training, and anonymous feedback loops that invite candor and speed adoption.

We also zoom out to strategy. From channel choices and cost-to-serve visibility to sourcing shifts and org design, agility becomes the differentiator. Dallas shares how clear decision rights cut through blame loops, why transparent goals keep people moving in the same direction, and how to structure cross-functional teams so they can act fast when policies or tariffs move overnight. If you lead HR, operations, or revenue teams in retail or adjacent industries, this playbook helps you protect margins, reduce leakage, and keep your best people engaged through change.

Enjoy the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone navigating chargebacks or system rollouts. Your feedback helps us bring on more leaders like Dallas and keep the conversation sharp.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's most downloaded and shared podcasts designed for HR pros, talented, tech enthusiasts, and business leaders. For hundreds more episodes and what's new in the world of work, subscribe to the show, follow us on social media, and visit hrgazette.com.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Welcome to another episode of the HR Chat Show. Hello, listeners. This is your host today, Bill

The New Reality For Retail Suppliers

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Bannham. And in this episode, I'm delighted to welcome Dallas Accounts, Chief Operating Officer over at Vendormint. For those who don't yet know, Vendormint specializes in helping retail suppliers recover lost revenue by managing and resolving invoice deductions, streamlining compliance, and strengthening supporters supplier retailer relationships. Dallas has a strong background in retail operations after years at Walmart, Sam's Club and beyond. He's now leading operations, solution delivery, and client success at Vendomint. So in today's episode, we're going to cover everything from tariff impact and how that drives supplier and HR strategies to mindset and leadership in times of adversity, plus broader HR and people considerations in this constantly evolving retail transportation space. Dallas, how are you doing today? Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

I really appreciate you having me on and excited to dive into this uh very complex environment that we're in and some of these great questions that you have.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Well, I appreciate your time. So thank you. Um based on your work at Vendabint, Dallas, and your prior retail leadership, how would you characterize the current pressure on suppliers from tariffs, chargebacks, and operational complexities? And how does that translate into HR or people leadership consequences?

SPEAKER_00 1:53

First, to kind of hop into that, it's let's let's frame up a little bit about what you talked there, the actual pressure. So, you know, I I did work uh at Walmart for 15 years in Sam's Club, and you know, I was in the merchandising organization. And if you go back to when I started, which was almost 20 years ago at this point, to be a supplier, it wasn't as complicated uh from managing your trade and how you would um manage your PL. But today, it's very complicated. I used to ask for the lowest possible cost, but now the lowest possible cost is not the only thing you have to invest in. So as a supplier to retailers now, you have retail media that you didn't have 15 years ago. You still have your promotional and trade allowances, uh, you're being asked for more markdowns, you're having to buy data that you didn't historically have to buy, which there's a lot more data today because of the e-com boom. Uh, and so as you as you look over those last 15 to 20 years, the the pressures

Pressure, P&L Impact, And HR Consequences

SPEAKER_00 2:44

just keep mounting. And obviously, in this last year, one of the biggest ones that we've had in a while is the addition of tariffs, adding additional margin pressures onto those suppliers. And so today, when you're managing your PL, instead of only needing to look at a couple lines, you're looking at a ton of lines. And so that makes it really complicated. Um, I would also say the uh addition of e-commerce in a big way has changed channel strategy quite a bit. And so when you're when you're looking between a brick and mortar, a brick and mortar Omni, where they're doing online and in store or just a digital footprint, being able to blend those lines of how you go to market is significantly more complicated. And those have added more cost to the retailers, which the retailers then ask for more price concessions from the suppliers so that they can pay for their costs as well. So it's really gotten complicated and uh and uh very difficult to manage for these suppliers to work with this, and it has caused a ton of pressure. And that pressure ends up hitting the PL. And when the PL gets hit, uh obviously your leadership gets more involved in what's happening, your finance team's more involved, so that puts pressure on your operations team, and ultimately your HR team is going to be involved because if all these costs keep going up and you can't figure out how to operate in that environment, there's only one lever that's easy to pull to quickly reduce costs, and that typically comes to wages, which is really complicated, right? And that's that's a lever that no one really wants to pull if they don't have to. Um, and so I think during these times, you know, leadership is just really important and how you manage from an HR perspective uh can really help accelerate your company and win in the environment, or it might have the opposite impact where it could actually you know hurt your culture and you might have more churn. Um, because how you react to this pressure and how you uh lead through that with your teams, it will show up, right? Because under pressure, you can either turn into a diamond or you can fall apart. And ideally, we want everybody to kind of turn into that diamond and figure out a way through that. So uh, you know, I think for me, some of the principles that are just really important uh as leading through that from an HR versus leadership or and a leadership perspective is uh a high degree of transparency. What do you need to accomplish for the company to be successful? And if you've been really transparent with that and you can align your goals so that everybody is marching towards that transparency uh and to that to that goal, it can turn you more into that diamond. I think also uh sharing to a degree the outcome that you need to achieve as a company for success helps with the burnout and churn and blame loops. Because there is this, you know, when you get pressure, sometimes people get defensive and it's uh

Culture Barriers Behind Revenue Leakage

SPEAKER_00 5:24

you start getting finger pointing. And instead of doing that, like how do you foster that culture of learning and working together to solve the problem versus he said, she said it's their fault, not my fault, because everybody's worried about if the company's under pressure, maybe my job's on the line. And so really focusing in on that transparency, very clear goals, and how you get there, I think is really, really important for the HR and leadership team. So those tariffs adding that extra bit of pressure this last year has really been putting suppliers through that test where they're, you know, they need to either turn into a diamond or maybe they're seeing some of the cracks forming in their foundation. Um, I don't know if that answers fully what you were asking, but uh I think that's kind of my lens and how I think through this.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

It certainly does. And I think actually it answers the next question I was going to ask you, so I'm gonna skip to the following one. But before I do that, um maybe it's because I've been living under a rock or something, but I've never heard that that saying before. Uh, under pressure, you either turn into a diamond or into dust. But I really like it. I think that's cool. So I'm gonna use it.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

I like some good analogies. I feel like it, you know, it helps with the communication to the teams.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

So in companies where revenue is being lost via uh invoice deductions or supply chain inefficiencies, Dallas. What what what are the what are the most common talent culture related root causes rather than purely technical or or process causes?

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Yeah, this is a this is actually a really I really like this question. We haven't been asked this. I'm surprised. Um, I think this is a really good question. Uh so when you're looking at losses and deductions, etc., these teams, right, their accounting teams, their AR teams, these are not new teams. This is not a new division that just got stood up. These are teams that have been around since the beginning. They have practices that have been around since the beginning. And so you tend to have very tenured associates in these roles, um, and you tend to have a high level of scrutiny on these because they're finance, right? Like no mistakes allowed, etc. And so uh one of the things that you know that I see as a bit sometimes of a barrier that we need to work through with our clients is it's okay to change in this space. Um many people that are in here are a little bit resistant to change, uh, just because it it is, right? This is a very sensitive area of your business and you're doing your invoicing and your receiving, et cetera, of all of your funds. And so there's a bit of a reluctancy. Um, and so the ones that I think are seeing some of the best success are the ones that are willing to embrace and have the conversations of how do you continue to improve this process. Many of these companies are on old systems and maybe migrating to a new system. So when you throw in deduction management and maybe working with a new company, it starts to get a little bit scary. Also, there's this aspect of your relationship with your retailer and how does this potentially change that? And so you see a little bit of reluctancy to want to lean in there. So if you're fostering a culture that empowers these teams to be able to uh to work through this change and they're not opposed to it out of the gate and they're willing to have some conversations, we're seeing people start to realize there is opportunity to um one, receive money back, but even more than that, like one of the things that we we really like to do with our companies is not just just get the revenue back for them, which is a big part we do, but it's fixing problems. Um, and the rate of technology change that has happened uh in the industry in the last 15 years, again, these tend to be older tenured teams that are doing these practices is significant. Um, and so that is often a hurdle uh is the retailer's technology has changed. How do you make sure that that team is also keeping up with that technological advancement and making sure that they're not providing friction to that process? And so um from a talent and culture standpoint, that's kind of what I see within this space. Um, some of the newer suppliers I feel like breeze into this because they don't have that history. But the ones that have been around for a while that have that baked-in process, they're the ones where you start to see a little bit of this struggle.

Cross-Industry Lessons And The Role Of AI

SPEAKER_02 9:26

I wonder for HR pros outside of retail supply chain, so for example, services or manufacturing, what what lessons from your supplier retailer context translate most strongly into their worlds, into their sectors?

SPEAKER_00 9:40

The winning companies tend to really embrace that transparency, clear decision rights, and a level of discipline. Um, and then similar to my last question, uh it's embracing the new technology and leaning into it and uh not being afraid that, you know, mistakes can happen there, but you can fix them, right? Like sometimes feel like you can't fix these mistakes, but they are they are fixable. So moving with speed into that technology um embracement, you know, one that I think is huge, that actually kind of surprised I haven't said yet. AI coming into the fold, it changes a lot. And I also think, you know, I didn't mention this in the first question, but that also changes the perception of people's fears for their job. And so I think that also is a little bit of the resiliency, kind of going back to that last question a bit, is you know, I want to control my job. I've been here for 30 years. If I can keep AI away, it won't impact me. But it's more about how you embrace it to make you more valuable. Um, and so I think uh what stands out in some of the companies you know that we're seeing really be successful here are the ones that are embracing that uh AI technology change. They're they have the clear goals of being very disciplined and clear decision rights uh as well, I think is a big one.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Okay, I can't believe we got through about 10 minutes of this conversation without mentioning AI. So thank you there for bringing it in. Uh it seems like we can't we can't record an episode of this show these days without Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

You know, I'm surprised we lasted that long as well.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

So when when implementing complex systems, um ASNs, deduction dashboards, compliance platforms, etc.

Change Management That Actually Works

SPEAKER_02 11:20

How how do you approach change management and team readiness, especially with cross-functional teams, logistics, finance, AR, sales, and so on?

SPEAKER_00 11:29

The big piece here, and you you kind of hit on it, is uh change management uh is critical. What does change management mean? Um I think starting with who your audience is, internal, external, getting plain language, easy to understand uh objectives on what you're trying to accomplish from the outset is critical. If if I'm working with an uh you know accounts receivable clerk, if she can't you know understand what we're trying to accomplish um and she may not be operating at the high level, then we're not gonna get the uh the buy-in and the engagement that you need in order to be successful with that change. So I think it really just starts with that what problem we're solving and being very clear. And again, like I like to use um, you know, this maybe sound silly, but I like to use my kids as my test subjects. If I can run something past my kids and they can understand what I'm trying to accomplish, then I feel like I've probably got a really good uh communication that will be uh received by the team. Everybody in the team, no matter what level you are, will understand the problem and what we're trying to solve and how we're trying to do it. And so, you know, I think again, kind of going back to that transparency and communication, just making sure it's really easy and clear for everybody to understand. Um, from a culture perspective, that transparency I believe helps drive adoption. But from your onset on your hiring practices, did you hire people that are you know adaptable? That adaptability characteristic is probably gonna be the number one characteristic you almost need for almost any new associate as you again kind of go back to AI. The world that we're moving into is gonna be so vastly different than where we have been for the last, you know, 10 years, even right. I mean, you could say 20, 30, 40, 50, but it's so different pre-COVID, COVID. Now, you know, AI is kind of the new you know generation of uh of change, and that's gonna continue. It's gonna be in everything, every job role, every job function, whether it's working behind the scenes or on the front. And again, I know we we we waited 10 minutes, but now we're getting really deep into that. So that from a change management perspective, that very clear um product launch mindset, what we're trying to accomplish, who's gonna be impacted, how they're gonna be impacted, how we're gonna do this, the scenario training, the weekly reinforcement. So that consistency, that discipline, don't let off of that is gonna be really, really consistent. So um I think the other big thing within this is what's the feedback loop? Give the team the ability to um give feedback without fear, right? Sometimes people don't feel like they get that ability to provide their feedback. You've got to give them a way to provide feedback um where it's like, you know, no question, no thought as a bad thought or a bad question. And no one's gonna be upset that you ask this question. Like everything needs to be able to be well received so that you can come back with really good answers as part of that communication and being that transparency. So I think that also provides validation for the team that's gonna be impacted through that change management, which is really, really important because if you feel validated, you get buy-in. Um, so it really that that whole package around change management step by step and how you walk through that is so critical. Uh, a lot of people are scared right now that how AI is gonna impact their job. Got to be transparent about this, in my opinion, up front. Um, don't you know keep it behind the scenes, and then three months later you impact somebody, like then your morale across the rest of the organization is gonna take a hit because they're like, well, they said it wasn't gonna impact anybody, now it's gonna impact them, and then now all of a sudden we've got those people fearing for their work, uh, for their job, and their productivity falls. So, like being very clear with what the intention is. I also think from an HR perspective, I know it's not quite part of this question, but just another general principle is we

Psychological Safety And Anonymous Feedback

SPEAKER_00 15:20

all know AI is gonna impact all of our companies. The diligence on who you're hiring, what their role is, and what's the longevity of that role. I think one of the things that I try to balance with is uh not overhiring and maybe living under a little bit more stress in the present to help alleviate the pain of potential layoffs or other wage impacts down the line. Um, you know, there's balance there. Uh, but really trying to walk that line of being thoughtful, uh, because you know, the none of no leader that I've ever met wants to impact a person, right? Like they don't want to do that. So really putting the stress on who are we hiring, what is their role, how has that evolved in the next three, six, twelve months with the new changes that are coming in in our industries.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Okay, very good. Uh, I've got an image in my mind now of you uh standing in front of your kids presenting on the latest and greatest of uh deduction dashboards. Um I don't think my five-year-old son would uh would would sit around and listen to to my musings. Um one thing that you mentioned there was the feedback piece. For someone to truly feel safe giving feedback, does that feedback need to be anonymous?

SPEAKER_00 16:39

You'll give them the election of how they can do it. If they want if they want to do it anonymous, give them the ability to do it anonymous. Absolutely. I think that's a a key opportunity. Um, and maybe if they don't, they don't. And you know, so I agree, like that anonymous aspect is is really important in that feedback loop because not everybody's gonna feel comfortable, you know, raising their hand and being seen by everybody, especially depending on how big or small your organization is. Like that definitely changes things. Um, but I think giving them the ability uh to submit anonymous feedback is is really important.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Okay, very good.

Building Agility Into Teams And Org Design

SPEAKER_02 17:10

We are flying through these questions today. Uh, next up, with with the continual change in retailer policies such as on-time uh deliverables and external factors like tariffs. How do you recommend that HR leaders build agility into their workforce and org design?

SPEAKER_00 17:27

You know, you always have a set of skills or soft skills or um or competencies that you see within an individual. And I think, you know, historically we've had a set of those. I don't know that those necessarily change, but maybe emphasis on certain ones has uh risen more than it used to. Um that adaptability that we talked about earlier, I think is just is is critical uh in that we are going to be in a state of change permanently from here on out. We've been talking about change for you know decades, but it's just speeding up. It just keeps speeding up. Technology advancement keeps speeding up, the industry keeps speeding up. There's new ways that you're, you know, in our world that you're engaging with the customer, uh, whether you're the retailer or you're the supplier, whether that's through media, how you're appearing there, or it's the way someone's shopping. It continues, we have drone delivery. You know, I'm here in Bentonville, Arkansas, and some things that I order uh from Walmart, they get dropped into my yard via a drone. Like I never in my lifetime would I have thought, you know, in the last 20 years that that's something that we'd see. So this rate of change just continues to evolve. Um, you know, if you go out to the the east or west coast and you have the Waymo's and like you're riding in cars that nobody's there, you know. I've talked to my son about he may not even drive a car. Uh my daughter is currently driving, so that's a whole story in itself. But um, building that agility really comes, I think, starts from are you hiring the people that allow you to have the agility? And it's not something that every candidate's gonna have. There's varying abilities, adaptability and agility and being able to move. Um, some people want stability in a lot of those jobs where they just come in and punch the clock and get to work the same thing from you know nine to five. That's rapidly changing. There's not a lot because most of those roles are gonna be impacted by technology in a way. So that adaptability to learn new skills is gonna be important from the person that's uh hiring to the person that's applying. Um, I think to the audience that's listening that maybe is looking at how do they think about the workforce, they're entering it, um, whether they've been in it or they're new into it, the ability to pivot and make changes and understand your skill set, learn something new, lean into a new technology is gonna become even more pivotal than it's ever been. Um, you know, I when I was hired, I used to put things like I'm proficient in you know in Microsoft and PowerPoint and you know, maybe some specialty systems. The number one proficiency going forward is gonna be AI. Are you proficient in AI? Do you know how to use AI? Do you know how to lean into AI? That's gonna become one of the things that's gonna be critical. Um so uh I think then within that, you know, you hire those, that helps you start to build that culture uh of agility because you've got the right people that are able to move. Um, and then we go back into a little bit of that trust and transparency lens of where are you moving, how are you gonna get there, what are you gonna be leaning into, those clear priorities. Um so again, that technology aspect really impacts people. But I don't think tariffs are going away, right? So we've we've, you know, I think that's something that's probably here to stay. Um, you know, whether it's the president or Congress or whoever that is the ones enacting them, going forward, that's gonna be a political stance from here on out. Um, and our evolution with our surrounding countries, as uh, you know, the United States or you're another country, if you're you know living anywhere, like tariffs are gonna become a bigger conversation for everybody and really understand and really shape the global dynamic. And so I think that's gonna continue to be a big piece. And so that's gonna require flexibility. And that that stems all the way down to if we get out of the software conversation to manufacturing. So from an operations perspective, like where do I have my you know manufacturing facilities? Are they onshore, offshore? You know, is there if I'm a textile company, what are the different areas that you can have textiles? You know, there's areas that specialize, whether you're in the Middle East versus uh over in the you know the Asia, Asian countries. Um that ability to think more dynamically is going to be critical. And you might have to make some really tough decisions in order to stay competitive. So there's that agility and ability to move even within your general operations that historically, like you could have a manufacturer for 30 years and not have to worry about it. Now you're having to worry more about um how you're sourcing, where you're sourcing from. Uh, and then your retail partners, you know, they're moving faster. Uh, they're they're sourcing new suppliers faster, they're sourcing new capabilities faster. So there's this level of agility that you need to have, uh, even just on your operators and how they're looking and working within their environments. Um, so that again, kind of going back to that ability to uh to really adapt to new environments, I just think is gonna be, I can't stress enough. You know, I'm really ho honed in on that one. Obviously, there's so many uh core features of an individual that you should be looking at, but I think for the sake of this conversation, that adaptability is so important for your associate and your culture.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

And I would love to continue talking about um approaches why adaptability is great, mindsets of leaders. You said something to me earlier on which um I really respect, which was I would rather take on a bit more work than hire someone new and then let them down because AI is coming and they would take their jobs anyway. Um so fully respect

Closing And How To Connect

SPEAKER_02 22:40

that. Um so I had all these other things I wanted to chat to you about. However, we're pretty much out of time. Before we do wrap up today, though, how can folks connect with you? So is that LinkedIn, email, Instagram, whatever you want to share there? And of course, how can they learn more about Vendormint?

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Yeah, absolutely. Great questions. Um, so if you want to connect with me, feel free to hit me up on uh LinkedIn. There's not a lot of people with the name Dallas Counts out there, so you're not gonna be filtering through a bunch. Uh, so feel free to hit me up there. Also, my email is pretty simple. It's Dallas at Vendormint.com. Happy to you know uh source there as well. And then for Vendormint, you can reach out to me. You can go to our website. We've got a great AI that's also enabled there that can connect you with the right internal people if you're looking for some uh you know more specific, specific help. Um, or you can uh connect to anybody through our our vendorment LinkedIn. We've got a great list of associates that are on there as well that you can connect with. So a lot of different ways. Whatever your preferred method is, feel free and we will we will get with you and we will help you through your whatever challenges you may have.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Excellent. And as always, there will be links in the show notes and in the article on the HL Gazette listeners. So fear not if you didn't drop those down just now. Um, and yeah, it is a great name, Dallas. I feel like you you missed an opportunity to be a newscaster or something with a name like that. It's fantastic. Um that's never too late. Never too late. You're right, you're right. Um, but that just needs me for today to say thank you very much for joining me on the show.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

I appreciate it. Thanks for having me, Bill. It's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

And listeners, as always, until next time, happy working.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show. If you enjoyed this episode, why not subscribe and listen to some of the hundreds of episodes published by HR Gazette? And remember, for what's new in the world of work, subscribe to the show, follow us on social media, and visit hrgazette.com.