Bring on the balloons

By Carla Waldemar

lalAPE Cod Lumber Co. started out \-,in the '50s as a salvage yardpulling nails from boards. In those days, the Abington, Ma., outfit commanded the only road to Cape Cod. So, thanks to that real estate jackpot, the business prospered, and it didn't take long to become a full-service yard.

By the mid-'90s, driven by the robust building climate and attrition among the competition, the company had doubled revenue and multiplied staff like breeding rabbits. When Tom McManus came on board in 1996 as Grossman's, where he'd worked, went out of business, Cape Cod had 46 employees. It now boasts 164. Business had grown to $64 million in 2003 and a projected $75 million this year, and a second location in Mansfield had been launched.

So was an outside sales force, for the first time in the company's history, boosted by six of Tom's colleagues who also made the switch from Grossman's-"people," he says, "who brought a lot of business in their pockets."

But phenomenal business growth can create its own set of challenges. So CCL found itself needing to salvage something far more precious than used lumber: its employees.

"Adding outside sales was our biggest challenge," says Tom, who started out in sales and now serves as v.p. of operations. "It meant doing business a little differently as they became the core. It meant a whole new compensation plan. It created a major cultural change, and it wasn't all balloons and confetti."

"With that huge increase in business, it's efficiency you strive for," he explains. "But, on the people side, 1997 and'98 were a period of turmoil. We grew so quickly that we had a line out the human resources door filling out applications. Our standards dropped. We took on a lot of unfit people-new faces that weren't qualified. Yet. we were too busy getting trucks out to handle trainins and education."

Morale inevitably suffered. Second-generation owner Harvey Hurvitz got the message and called for a time out to take stock. "We did a big evaluation on the right way to structure the company," says Tom, "and a heavy weeding process of the people we shouldn't have hired. We then used the remaining employees as examples and hired people like them."

Soon after, opening the Mansfield store created another unforeseen cultural change. "The people there were used to seeing the owner and upper management on a daily basis, no longer possible. So we had to develop new people to take those roles. Lots of growing pains," Tom acknowledges. "But the biggest gain was our new people perspective.

"Four years ago, I went to a Vision Planning lecture. I thought, 'Here we go again, another run-of-the-mill motivational speaker.' But I sat through it, and what he said made common sense. So we signed up all the management team for the program, called 'Customer Service to Customer Excellence.' It lasts eight weeks and ends with a graduation at which each person gets up and shares thoughts about the impact the course has had on them. Since then. we've had all our employees go through the program.

"It's taken our standard of quality customer service to a culture of excellence," he explains. "It teaches the importance of common courtesy and an upbeat attitude, and how they color how CCL is viewed by prospective and current customers as well as current and potential employees."

The payoff: "It taught us to listen. In management, that's a lost skill," Tom offers. "Now, when you're talking to me, I listen to the undercurent, the message of what's really going on."

Business as usual became a thing of the past. Now, Tom declares, "If it isn't broke-break itl And, no news is not good news. Dig in and find the problems. The whole idea is, open conversation."

Hold off on the balloons and confetti for a while, though. The program brought another new set of challenges with it. "After evervbodY went through the sessions, it revved up expectations, so we had to think, 'Okay. How can we keep this up?' We decided to have annual Customer Excellence reunions to reinforce relations internally and with our customers.

"It does cost money, but it's well spent. It keeps our business perpetuating and creates top-of-mind awareness. Now, employees like coming to work. Well, they don't cry when they have to go home at night"-but, short of that, "it's like working in a bar room where everybody has fun, instead of technically well-trained curmudgeons who hate people.

"Employees learned that our competition is any establishment that's a service provider- the gas station. Dunkin' Donuts. If customers get excellent service [anywhere], it creates the expectation of excellent service. That was a big eye-opener here, and now everybody talks about it-like reporting about a service encounter elsewhere, 'That was not Customer Excellence!"'

Tom has reinvented his own attitude, too. "After 15 years in the business, I've learned that contractors aren't always the funnest people," he says, "so I practice 'psychological reciprocity.' If you initiate a smile, you can transfer your attitude [to them]."

The cultural changes show up on the bottom line. "Another improvement: We no longer call our people 'drivers;' they're'ambassadors.' We teach them to perpetuate our business so that our customers choose us because we're easier to do business with," Tom says. "For instance. a contractor had a question about his own house, next door to his project. The driver got out and measured things, then reported back to a salesperson, who got the business. He could have just dropped the load and run."

The current flows two ways. Tom continues, "When the contractor found out that the driver had a son who lost everything in the Florida storm, he sent him a $500 check. They have that kind of relationship." Training money well-spent.

The cost of some important training innovations is tallied in time rather than dollars. CCL now gives its phone sales staff an opportunity to get into the field on a regular basis by riding along in a delivery truck. Two benefits: "They get to know both the internal and the external customers."

"Often, too, a builder customer will invite a new salesperson to his jobsite for a day or two to watch a house go up. Now he's got a better understanding when he's on the other end of the phone.

"We lean heavily on our vendors to educate our employees, too. When we hire a new guy, a vendor will come in and walk him through. And the best part of it is," Tom declares, "it's free! It helps us grow, and if we continue to grow. from a vendor's perspective. he'll want to continue to have our account."

CCL offers programs for contractors supported by vendors, too-cookouts that double as product education opportunities. It also sponsors seminars led by a building inspector or OSHA personnel. "We locked arms with the Greater Boston Builders Association to see what's the hot button, and they said, 'safety,"'Tom notes.

CCL's customers include a healthy share of remodelers, "and they have to be educated, too. They love coming in, seeing the same faces, getting to know them," Tom reports.

To cater to those pros' needs, CCL recently (now's the time for the balloons and confetti) invested in some forklifts. "Our part of the country is famous for being the last to change anything," Tom laughs. "But when others got forklifts, we had to follow suit-but the others charge for that delivery service and we don't. Now we have seven in the field and two booms, and our customers absolutely Iove it. Yet (sound of balloons popping) it puts an added strain on the drivers." iil,Lrd rq. Jild bsrrdl'5[0,] r, r

CCL's new kitchen showroom, also born of customer demand, created initial stress as well. "The staff shied away because they thought it would take a whole different sales approach, dealing with retail customers along with pros, but it's not that different," he says. "And already it's grown from $2 million to $8 million, with great margin opportunities.

"The competition runs a great ship; they keep us on our toes, and we need that kind of challenge to stay on top. They are relatively less expensive, but we offer more. So we cold-call and say, 'Give us as try,' and once people do, it's a no-brainer."

In CCL's recent evaluation of where to spend its payroll dollars, the company considered adding more salespeople. "But we decided instead to put the money into good support people-yard men, drivers-because, be careful what you ask for. If you create expectations, you'd better be able to deliver," Tom advises.

The support crew is encouraged to attend vendors' PK training, too. And if people in the warehouse or yard show aptitude and attitude, they may have the chance to move into roles in sales, engineering and estimating.

The way Cape Cod looks at it, education is an investment in people, and it's money well spent.