Mediocrity will always try to drag excellence down to its level. Don’t trade your pursuit of excellence for their lack of desire.
Tip of the week:
3 things customers want
(works for both long term customers working with changes in process, people, or products and new customers)
1. Make it simple-clear for me
Most people don’t care or know about “our lingo.” They don’t know what a ranch stop is or nylon carpett or soft-closed dove tailed drawers or clad exterior. They don’t know when your vendor comes in. And they don’t care. Make it simple for them.
2.Coach me through the process
I am scared to death of spending this money. I am stressed out about the time it is taking. I have no clue how this is going to work. How long will it take to get the drawings back? What is the next step after that?
When you arrive at my house for delivery do I have to help? Do I have to be home? When will you arrive?
Why can’t I get credit on a special order return instantly? I don’t understand why their is a re-stock on some items but not others.
I am a new contractor to you. I have never seen your billing. I only know what I am used to.
Coach all customer through the process. It sets the correct expectations, easing fears, eases stress and makes raving fans!
3.Give me confidence I’m making the right decision.
These lines will help you ease a customer’s fear:
“Hey, you know if something goes wrong, you can always call me.”
“We have been doing this a long time. You can trust us.”
“I will be reaching out to you right after it’s installed to check on progress.”
Ask questions.
Are you comfortable if I deliver it there?
Does everything look ok to you?
What else can I help to ease this transition?
– Joel Fleischman. Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. He has provided solutions for builders and their clients since 1996 and a whole bunch of other stuff that you probably don’t care about.
This week’s focuses on core value 10: #ACCOUNTABILITY
ACCOUNTABILITY: Know your responsibilities. Live up to your commitments. HOLD OTHERS ACCOUNTABLE.
The last three words are perhaps one of the hardest things for team members. It is not only your job to live up to your commitments it IS your job TO HOLD OTHERS ACCOUNTABLE. That’s what truly great companies do. They don’t wait for “management”, “corporate” to step in. They don’t settle for the “that’s just the way this works” mentality. Maybe even more condemning is: “that’s not my job to fix it”. Yes it it, it’s your job to be great, to fix it, and make others great around you!
Yes, If you see something wrong IT IS YOUR JOB TO FIX IT. If you don’t feel comfortable fixing it, approach your coach or store leader, if that doesn’t work, talk to me.
Trust me, your coach, store leader and especially me, won’t magically find and fix all of our problems. That’s up to YOU. Each of us. Accountable.
– Joel Fleischman. Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. He has provided solutions for builders and their clients since 1996 and a whole bunch of other stuff that you probably don’t care about.
Fearless– don’t worry about the outcome. Just go for it.
– Joel Fleischman. Joel is the president & Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. He has provided solutions for builders and their clients since 1996 and a whole bunch of other stuff that you probably don’t care about.
I know I have to get better. I am nowhere near the person I want and need to be. Getting better takes effort and patience. It’s nothing to stress about, but it is something to focus on. BETTER TODAY THAN I WAS YESTERDAY.
If we look back on our lives and didn’t improve daily and forgot to have a bunch of fun along the way, really what was the point?
You can be better at anything. Your family. Your career. Your emotional bandwidth. Or get better at simply as starting to floss daily (I am not there yet!) Just focus on doing something better each day by a little bit. Not so much to chew on that you puke. Just get better and focus on it.
We are all rockstars here at Drexel. How am I so sure of that? Caitlin and Toria go over 100 applicants per actual team member that we bring aboard (and even then only about 75% work out the first year). So you are one of over 100 people that fit our culture and our core values. And even beyond this, many of you were referred and recruited because of your own “rockstar” qualities. You are all rockstars!
And not many of us dreamed of working at a building supply company. Some of us seem like we have always wanted to do this… people like Bronco, Wojo, Dave V., Al M., Dewey… but I am guessing this was not our dream job when we were 10.
But now that we are here… the reason we are here… is to get better. And having fun along the journey.
People don’t want to work here to be stagnant, they truly want to move mountains (of lumber usually.)
Now, if all of us top level people, (yes that’s you, we are all top level) decide to all get better each day, say 1% better at something each day, imagine how good we will be in 6 days, 6 months or 6 years from now!
Our mission is to get better. It’s really that simple. We all have things to improve on. Be it a better attitude right when we walk in the door, being more organized, being more efficient, or making less mistakes… we all can improve.
It doesn’t matter your position or your career, we are all in this together.
It really eases the mind when you think, I will get better today. The past failures are just learning lessons.
It will never get easier. There is no finish line. The journey is life. It’s about getting better.
So this week start making habits of getting better. It’s not where you came from, it’s where you are going that matters.
You all inspire me to be better. Thank you Drexel Team.
– Joel Fleischman. Joel is the president & Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. He has provided solutions for builders and their clients since 1996 and a whole bunch of other stuff that you probably don’t care about.
People that can handle the most stress are often seen as great leaders, great sales people and seem to dominate life.
Why can some people handle so much, and more and more everyday and others crumble when the fire heats up?
How much you can handle often defines you in life. Are you calm in the storm? Can you “Keep Calm and Carry on”?
5 tips to work on expanding your emotional bandwidth:
1. Research has shown you can’t be thankful and stressed. So think of things to be thankful for when you are stressed. As an “old timer” told me recently, “Joel I didn’t sleep well last night, but I did wake up!”
2. Pray. Go to Church. Take a walk in the woods. Work on your spiritual well being, whatever that means to you. Remaining calm in adversity is a sign of great spiritual strength. No matter what’s going on in your life right now you will be able to “Hold your peace.”
3. Be with family and friends. A tree with strong roots can tolerate almost any storm, the ones with shallow roots perish quickly.
4. Fail Forward. Failing is part of growing and change. Embrace the fall. Just learn from it and get up quicker.
5. Love. Care. Serve. If we choose to help others, our own problems seem to go away.
– Joel Fleischman. Joel is the president & Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. He has provided solutions for builders and their clients since 1996 and a whole bunch of other stuff that you probably don’t care about.
We are up 20% in company sales for the year. New construction in Wisconsin is at 0% growth.
The 20% growth arrives to us because we have helped a customer, a person, a business, take the leap of faith from a competitor to us. Nothing wrong with the place they came from…we just do it the Drexel way, a place where we truly believe that customer is better served.
That means some of our competition is down in sales. The food they are used to eating is gone.
So some of our weakest competition is spreading lies, rumors, low prices, shameful tactics, even asking some of our family to join them to get our business. They are circling us like hungry hyenas. They don’t know what else to do.
As we have always done, we will continue to fight them.
DREXEL DOES NOT LIVE IN FEAR.
We will fight the Drexel way:
Using our humble and hungry energized soul and all the love and passion for:
Our core values.
Our Drexel family.
Our daily GRIND.
****
WE, ALL OF US.. will Thank our customers every single chance we get and ask them how better we can help them next time.
TEAM PLEASE GO AND…
Serve. Love. Care. … for our customers, our community, and each other this week and beyond.
– Joel Fleischman. Joel is the president & Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. He has provided solutions for builders and their clients since 1996 and a whole bunch of other stuff that you probably don’t care about.
Are you busy? Really busy? Stressed? Really Stressed?
It’s good right, I mean, you got this?. You want to be busy, both at home and at work. It’s how life should be!
Deep down you know… NOT REALLY… THIS ISN’T THE REAL ME…
Do you feel like you don’t have time to better yourself and read this…
IT MIGHT BE TOO LATE FOR YOU…
FOR 3 MINUTES PLEASE READ THIS… BEFORE IT REALLY IS TOO LATE…
How Stress Impacts Your Ability to Learn
The human brain looks for stress. It’s a safety mechanism. You might even say that safety is our number one concern. From an evolutionary standpoint, that makes a lot of sense.
But in the modern world, the tendency of the brain to be constantly on the lookout for danger is not so helpful. That’s because, whenever the brain identifies something it perceives as dangerous– tough customers, high self expectations, critical work situations, busyness… it creates stress.
Stress hormones are produced in a portion of the brain that is frequently called the lizard, or reptilian brain.
Unfortunately, when the reptilian brain is activated, the forebrain or neocortex is shut down.
When you are in “stressed mode” you become an animal. I’ve been there. It’s not pretty.
When you are stressed your brain goes into reptile mode.
Ok, what does reptile mode mean?
Think of an alligator. They don’t have relationships. They survive.
Some of the traits associated with the reptile brain are: aggression, dominance, rigidity, aloofness, greed.
Think of an alligator defending it’s territory. Now think of a stressed out co-worker, friend or family. See the resemblance?
Traits of the neocortex: Logic, creative thinking, communication skills, controls emotions.
You can survive without the neocortex working well but you are an ANIMAL to those around you.
If we make time to invest in our relationships and spent quality time with our family, friends and colleagues we would dramatically improve the quality of our lives and careers. We slow down. We are less stressed and busy.
We feed what Jon Gordon calls the positive dog.
Yet, too often busyness and stress cause us to focus on what is urgent instead of what matters most.
We focus on our to-do list instead of people and our own survival instead of building thriving relationships.
Busyness and stress are the enemies of great marriages, teamwork, relationships, and customer service. Busyness and stress keep us from caring about the people and things we are supposed to care about. It feeds the reptile.
In many ways it’s not our fault. Science tells us that when we feel busy and stressed we activate the reptilian part of our brain. If you know anything about reptiles they will never love you. Reptiles want to eat you. They are all about survival. And so are we when we feel busy and stressed. Creating meaningful relationships is the last thing on our mind when we are stressed. Instead our reptilian brain is thinking about how to just make it through the day and it will eat anyone for lunch that gets in its way.
The good news, however, is that we have another part of the brain called the neocortex. We activate it when we love, care, pray, and practice gratitude. In any moment we can override the reptile with the positive dog.
We can choose to love people instead of ignoring them.
We can choose to slow down instead of rushing.
And we can choose to be thankful instead of stressed.
In fact, the research shows we can’t be stressed and thankful at the same time. So anytime we are feeling busy and stressed we can pause, take some deep breaths, focus on gratitude, pray, and change how we approach the day and the people in our life.
I know how and why busyness and stress can sabotage my joy and relationships. I know the antidote to busyness and stress is a positive thought away. I know that in each moment of my busy life I can override the reptile and focus on my relationships. And I know that when I make relationships my top priority everything in my life is better.
Thank you for reading this post. Grateful you took the time. Kill that reptile in your brain. Feed the positive dog.
– Joel Fleischman. Joel is the president & Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. He has provided solutions for builders and their clients since 1996 and a whole bunch of other stuff that you probably don’t care about.
*** Excerpts directly from Jon Gordon’s Blog. Thank you Jon.
Our chemical composition: Who is Drexel Building Supply
Okay so we doubled our sales from 2003-2009 and doubled again from 2009-2013. However, as our customer, you aren’t looking for a bigger supplier; you’re looking for a better one… no you are looking for THE BEST ONE.
You are looking for one you can trust and treats you like a friend; makes you feel important and special, because you are. You are looking for one that will deliver value by delivering you the right information and products, to the right place, at the right price, at the right time. And one that works with you to increase your sales, reduce your cost and improve your productivity. One that saves you:
TIME, STRESS, AND MONEY.
Because without YOU their isn’t US, we can never stay stagnant we can never quit getting better. We work to improve you and your clients EXPERIENCE with us every time.
Our goal is to be the BEST supplier and subcontractor on your job. Not among our competition, but the BEST you have ever worked with regardless of industry.
That’s a lofty vision; but that is what every team member understands when they begin the journey with us. No problems, only solutions.
We were founded in 1985 by Albert Fleischman as a TEAM based on the work ethic, pride, and truthfulness of the Wisconsin immigrant German farmers. Those farmers that surround our small town of Campbellsport, WI and where Albert has deep roots. Another aspect of what we do is to HAVE FUN which follows the tradition of these hard working German immigrants as well. We serve builders and their clients, industrial customers, agricultural communities, interior designers, commercial contractors and weekend warriors.
Our servant leadership style currently serves 6 locations with over 220 team members. Drexel makes deliveries daily to all parts of Wisconsin at an ON TIME AND IF FULL RATIO OF 92.2% COMPLETE AS OF THIS WRITING– primarily South Eastern, Central, and East Central Wisconsin. It our customers request we can deliver ANYWHERE… and have delivered to over 25 states and growing.
We are here to help you achieve your goals, be it for one small deck to a 100 million dollar a year new construction company.
– Joel Fleischman. Joel is the president & Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam.com). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. He has provided solutions for builders and their clients since 1996 and a whole bunch of other stuff that you probably don’t care about.
Today Joe Rogan (thank you John Klein for passing on) is not the funny guy but the inspiring guy:
You WILL BE the person 5 years from now, on what you focus on today.
Junk in, Junk out. How are you living your life TODAY. Not yesterday, not tomorrow. TODAY.
If you are focused on fishing, you will be a better fisherman. If you worked out today, you are now healthier. If you gave your spouse an extra hug you are focusing more on your family. Where is your time spent NOW…THAT’S THE FUTURE YOU ARE BUILDING.
Not many people will get this… maybe you will… and be your own Hero in your own Movie.
– Joel Fleischman. Joel is the president & Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam.com). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. He has provided solutions for builders and their clients since 1996 and a whole bunch of other stuff that you probably don’t care about.
Someone at Drexel just asked me a question (since we asked all of them at the annual personal development plan meeting).
So, everyone else in the company answered these questions and I am curious what your answers are. What motivates you and how do you like to be rewarded?
Here was my response:
Customers so happy they wouldn’t consider a new source. They WON’T LET their friends and family shop anywhere else because of the value we brought to them. That absolutely INSPIRES ME. RAVING FANS.
Team members that believe and live the above, and are driven, happy and focused to make it happen.
Anything with our 10 core values I truly see live on is incredible.
Positive sale numbers with margins we need to make this all possible.
And above all…
If we do the above we can/will help the community, giving back gives me goosebumps, its why we exist…it’s my true calling.
– Joel Fleischman. Joel is the president & Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam.com). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. He has provided solutions for builders and their clients since 1996 and a whole bunch of other stuff that you probably don’t care about.
Joel Fleischman's Blog 
