A higher purpose: visionary companies promote core values

Concrete Producer, The, Jan, 2004 by Tony McManus

There are more ways to measure success in our industry than simply designing the best concrete mix or following key accounting indicators. For example, material cost as a percentage of the net selling price is a notable number. If you are in the 50% or less range, you are doing much better than the rest of the industry.

That's important. But in today's highly unpredictable and highly competitive marketplace, what else can you do to gain an advantage over your competitors? Have you thought about "core values" while preparing your mix designs for approval or working on your financial statements?

In their book, Built To Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, Stanford University professors James Collins and Jerry Porras wrote about visionary companies as the premier institutions within their industries. The visionary companies came from all facets of business, but the one common thread they all have was they each promoted a set of core values.

Concrete visionaries

Let's look at a few scenarios from our industry which promote core values. This dearly differentiates them from their competitors, and helps these organizations build long-term foundations for success.

Van Smith Concrete, a producer in Charleston, S.C., has four main core values: the customer is number one, value, service, and cooperation.

It's 7:30 a.m. and Jeff Coulter, a salesman at Van Smith, was already out on the road making sales calls. He received a call on his cell phone from Mark, an irate customer. Mark explained he had just called dispatch for concrete at 8:30 a.m. and was told he could not get it until 10:00 a.m. He was highly agitated and wanted to see if Jeff could help him get the concrete any earlier.

After calming Mark down, Jeff said he would call dispatch to see if he could help move things along. Jeff already knew the answer though, because he stopped by the office earlier in the morning to get a printout of the day's orders to plan his calls. They were booked solid and Jeff realized that Mark was guilty of poor planning.

After some thought, Jeff called Mark. When he answered, the first words out of Jeff's mouth were, "Have you had breakfast yet?"

"What do you mean have I had breakfast yet?" Mark answered. "Heck no, because I've been too busy trying to get ready to pour at 8:30."

Jeff said to him, "What do you want on your pizza?"

"What do you mean what do I want on my pizza?" Mark replied.

"I can't do anything about getting you concrete before 10, but I can get you pizza at 8:30," Jeff said.

After some silence, Mark started laughing and ordered two pizzas with all four major food groups: sausage, ham, pepperoni, and ground beef. He and his crew enjoyed the pizza with Jeff at 8:30 in the morning.

How many of you honestly like pizza for breakfast? I don't, but Jeff knew his business and his customer. He knew what it would take to keep Mark happy. This customer was saved by superior customer service, a core value.

Persistence pays

Dave was greener-than-grass and right out of college and sales training. He sold for a Southern cement manufacturer. Bob, a cantankerous concrete plant owner, was in his sales territory. Before Dave arrived on the scene, there had been a dispute between Dave's and Bob's companies, so Bob wanted nothing to do with Dave right from the get-go. (Both of their names have been changed.)

Dave started on his first swing through his new territory and stopped at Bob's office. He gave his card to the receptionist, who took it back to Bob to tell him the young man wished to see him. Bob looked at it and laughed. "Tell him I won't see him and not to bother coming back to this office ever again," he said.

Dave was persistent and he returned like clockwork over several months and always received the same message. One day when Dave showed up again, Bob was in an especially terrible mood. The moment Bob was presented with the young man's card and request to be seen, he blew up. He grabbed the card from the secretary and headed for the reception area to get rid of Dave once and for all.

Bob went into the lobby, stood toe-to-toe with Dave, ripped his business card into tiny pieces, threw it in the air, and told him in no uncertain terms, "get out and never come back."

Dave was very observant, as well as being persistent. He felt Bob's anger and saw his red face, so he quickly went out the door. But before Bob could even leave the lobby, the door reopened and Dave stuck his head back in and said, "Bob, I know today is out of the question, but are you busy for lunch tomorrow?"

Bob stood there awestruck but then started laughing. At that moment, a long-term relationship was born that was beneficial to both companies. Bob and Dave became the best of friends.

Vince Lombardi once said, "It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up again." Dave was a great example. What made the difference? Persistence, another core value.

Treating employees right

I spent my career at Kuert Concrete Inc. in South Bend, Ind. One of our core values there was productivity through and with people.