TGIM!

TEAM,

THIS WILL KIND OF BLOW YOUR SOCKS OFF

1.

The majority, over 50%, I say it again with emphasis, THE MAJORITY of our TEAM has less than 3 years experience with Drexel.

2.

After being around our company my whole life, I am 100% confident in this statement:  ANY FULL TIME JOB HERE has a learning curve of 3 years to be ADEQUATE NOT AN EXPERT, 1095 days.  Most if not all of this experience comes from ON THE JOB TRAINING (not a youtube video or some closed door workshop).  The training comes from the DAILY EXPERIENCES, AND A SELF LEARNING MINDSET!  SELF LEARNING, NOT FORCED…

THIS LEADS TO A BUNCH OF OBVIOUS CONCLUSIONS:

Don’t assume the person that is helping you KNOWS ALL THE STEPS TO GET THERE.

If you have something to share with a teammate SHARE IT!  There are no magical elves that are gonna show up and train that person for you.

1095 days are A LONG TIME.  BE PATIENT WITH YOURSELF AND OTHERS.

The “smart people” here were not BORN smart.  They were given a chance, educated by other wiser people… that is how THEY GOT SMART.  So, simply… make each other stronger.

Don’t wish and wait for some magical training elf with his “now I know everything Unicorn” to show up.  That’s not how this works…

Do you need more help?  Do you need to ask more questions?  Do you need to double check each others work? Yes.  Yes.  Yes.

LEAN

On each other

Vendors

Suppliers

Yourself.  Stand up on your desk and scream, SOMEONE HELP ME.

Or teammates please sense if someone just took in 12 orders in the last 20 minutes.  Or got 8 plans to draw.  Or 12 estimates to do.  Or 50 phone calls in 5 minutes.  Or 17 add ons to an all ready crammed load.

“Hey buddy, you seem a little overwhelmed, can I help you?”

THERE IS NO MAGIC GUIDE TO OUR PROCESSES, I CANT’ TELL YOU EVERY STEP IN SPRUCE IN 100 TRAINING HOURS, I CAN’T SHOW YOU HOW A DOOR GETS HUNG (ACTUALLY YOU CAN JUST YOUTUBE THAT) I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW TO PULL A LOAD IN LESS TIME… YOU MUST LEARN ON THE JOB… WITH DEDICATED EFFORT FOR …

1095 DAYS!

The veterans here like myself are ALL READY TO HELP YOU, just ask, we might not sense it… but please ASK.  Veterans let’s do better by being available.  Our time with that will be very fruitful!

You will never be TOTALLY TRAINED.  THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE. THIS IS ON THE JOB TRAINING BABY.  I’M STILL LEARNING TOO!

ROCK ON.

OCTOBER IS HISTORICALLY OUR BUSIEST MONTH?  YOU READY TO DO THE AMAZING!!!!

And lastly… DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.  If you are too busy to do it right the first time… and ask questions and slow down… HOW WILL YOU HAVE TIME TO FIX IT???

— – Joel Fleischman.  Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply.  (drexelteam).   You can follow him on twitter:  @JoelmFleischman.   Our mission is to be a supplier of others happiness.  I hope this little post did just that.

TGIM!- tuesday.

Team,

Simple.  Think.

Pushups.

A walk before work.

Making your bed first thing in the morning.

Smiling more.

Saying hi when you see someone.

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Yet Simple does not mean Easy.

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Answering the phones with a smile.

Double checking acknowledgements.

Doing an accurate takeoff.

Putting out jobsite signs.

Reading back an order to a customer.

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Simple.  Not Easy.

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Focusing, concentrating on the SIMPLE tasks over time will give you the most success.  It’s not EASY.  But it is SIMPLE.

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Still feel like reading?

“If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.  If it is giving, give generously.  If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.  And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.”  – Romans 12:8

Team, if you are detailed oriented and your teammate isn’t, offer help.  If you suck putting together an email, ask a teammate.  Lean on your GOD GIVEN STRENGTHS and DELEGATE and work with others on your weaknesses.  That forms a tightly woven rope of strengths making us an unstoppable force!

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DO NOT SPEAK BAD ABOUT A TEAMMATE.  WHAT GOOD DOES THAT DO?  EVEN IF IT IS IN JEST AS A JOKE, WHAT GOOD COMES FROM THAT?  NONE!  SPEAK HIGHLY OF YOUR TEAM.  STICK UP FOR THAT, TRAIN THEM…

EASY ON PEOPLE!  TOUGH AS NAIL ON STANDARDS AND PROCEDURES!

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Lastly, I do encourage you to get outside and enjoy the outdoors… in anyway you can.  What a wonderful way to connect.  I promise you it will be worth your time.  And when you are there.  No phones.  No frantic pace.  Slow down… so you can see things.  Here’s something I can share.  New snapping turtles.  Right along the Eisenbahn trail, as we were biking with our kids.  We didn’t have time, but TOOK TIME to stop and check em out.  Great experience.  It doesn’t have to be a fancy or planned… just do it.

— – Joel Fleischman.  Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply.  (drexelteam).   You can follow him on twitter:  @JoelmFleischman.   Our mission is to be a supplier of others happiness.  I hope this little post did just that.

TGIM!

Don’t miss the chance to do the right thing.  Look for those opportunities!

Here’s one from Chic-Fil-A this weekend:

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Here’s Drexel’s version…

I got this text Saturday afternoon…

I made a few texts to Steve Herriges, Ryan Walsh, Jake Junk, and Todd Flitters.  All looked to fix the problem, not point fingers.  That was the key!  How do we fix it?  Easy peasy lemon squeezy!  They didn’t need until Noon on Sunday…

So we just came in loaded and delivered.  Jake Junk spun circles, laps, around Steve and I.  I am such a loser…

Ok Chik-fil-a here is DREXEL’S moment on social media.  Last night at 1030pm John wrote this on his facebook wall…

*****

Save

TGIM!  (ON WEDS???)

 A GOOD CORNERMAN

Every boxer has a cornerman.

A cornerman is part pyschologist, part motivator, part parent, part medic.

I think we ALL need a good cornerman.   And we all should be one to one another.

Here is an example from last Friday.

I challenged Casey “Wubby” Simon, a flooring sales person, on Friday at 3pm to do 5 cold calls.  Or warm calls.  I said the day before a holiday is my favorite time to call.  Why?  If the person answers, they know they are not the only ones that are working pre-holiday weekend.  It usually goes a long way to them thinking, “wow, I’m impressed. Most of the guys that do business with me aren’t even ANSWERING THEIR PHONE, and this person has time TO ASK FOR MY BUSINESS!”  Good stuff.

THIS GETS BETTER.

Ben “Varsity” Lee is overhearing the conversation.  He works in millwork (not the same department, which I guess might even be a cooler fact of the story) and he gets right in Casey’s face and says “I’ll be your hype man, LET’S DO THIS!”  Reminded me of a small dog that is ready to play “fetch!”  Remember installing, pulling a load, paying the bills, or SELLING, is just a game, if you make it that way!  I could tell right away that this gave Wubby: 1. CONFIDENCE 2. ENERGY.  Both keys to doing a great job on any task!!

A good cornernman will pump you up, train you, be with you in tough times, and always tell you how great you are!

This week find yourself a cornerman, or even better, BE ONE!

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p.s. How did the story of Wubby and Varsity end?

Here’s the email- from Wubby if you are interested..names changed to protect the innocent..

Joel, Below are the 5 calls that I made with a few notes about how they went.  I left a few voicemails, but I wanted to talk to 3 so I called a couple extra.

XYZZ Homes – Left a voicemail.  Had called earlier this week with the same result.  Said who I was but didn’t give much information.  Just asked them to call me back to discuss some things.  I will follow up again next week.

ABCD  Remodels – Jeff and Gregg are the owners.  They were working on one of my neighbors homes for a remodel a few weeks ago so I went and talked with them.  They didn’t answer any of my calls until today.  Worked out great because they are doing a bathroom remodel right now in West Allis and they asked if I could be out there to measure TODAY!  I will be out there this afternoon.  They have a lot of customers looking for hardwood or tile and are normally sending people to big box stores.  They want to come in to the store in the next few weeks to meet with me.

BYK Construction and Remodeling – Spoke to Andrew the owner.  Had called before but never gotten through to him.  Gave him my 30 second elevator speech and he told me that he is content with his flooring options now (didn’t say who he goes through).  Stole a line out of Spuda’s book and told him that’s great that he’s content and his needs are being met, but my goal and our company’s is to go above and beyond having our partners be content.  We will go the extra mile to please you and the clients that you work with.  My goal Is to make your life easier whether it be saving you time, saving you money, or meeting clients on site or during late hours to accommodate.  Andrew made a joke about making his life easier and asked about babysitting his kids.  That broke the ice for us and had us laughing.  He said that I should call him again in a few weeks and he’ll be done with the project he’s on now and will come in to meet.

BDCC Door Builders – Left a voicemail for the owner Brian

Handydude Remodeling – Been speaking with the owner Austin for a few weeks.  He has said  that he wants to come in and meet but hasn’t had the time.  I said we just 20 minutes to sit down with you and discuss what we can do to make life easier for you.  If we need to come meet you on a jobsite we’d be more than happy to do that.  Take a twenty minute lunch break, I’ll bring you lunch and we can chat.  He asked me to give him a call in a month or so, right now he just can’t commit to meeting. 

All in all the calls went well.  Landed a measure and a face to face today and will lock down a time for them to come in and meet in the next couple weeks. 

— – Joel Fleischman.  Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply.  (drexelteam).   You can follow him on twitter:  @JoelmFleischman.   Our mission is to be a supplier of others happiness.  I hope this little post did just that.