BusyBeeNews - August 2021

august 2021

answer -Little Giant

Q: We all know that Armacell is our top buy/sell manufacturer, but who is #2 as of July 31?

How do you tell the difference between an alligator and a crocodile?

You will see one later and the other in a while.

Why do you never see elephants hiding in trees?

They’re really good at it.

Why do melons have weddings?

Because they cantaloupe.

CURRENT JOB OPENINGS: Inside Sales – Pump Team - Carrollton Factory Service Team – Central Texas Warehouse Associates – Carrollton Account Manager – Corpus Christi, Victoria, and The Valley Inside Sales Associate – Various – Carrollton Human Resources Generalist - Carrollton HVAC Account Manager – Austin, San Antonio, and New Braunfels FWG/FCG Account Manager - Houston

Did YOU Know???

We have all heard the claims that it should be impossible for a bumblebee to fly, yet we have seen them fly. How is this possible?

These fat furry insects don’t flap their wings up and down the way you might imagine.

Instead, they flap their wings back and forth.

To put it simply, bees fly more like a helicopter than a plane.

Wellness Tip Submitted by: ali banaszek

Everyone look at your battery power supply!

In case of a power outage, your PC and monitors should be plugged in on the Battery Back-Up side.

WHAT THE HIVE CAN TEACH BUSINESSES ABOUT

LEADERSHIP, EFFICIENCY,

& GROWTH LESSON #16 OUTCOMPETEBY OUTFINESSING RIVALS THE WISDOM OF BEES by: Michael O’Malley, Ph.D. Honeybees are the Wal-Mart of the insect kingdom: nifty, ever-present competitors. They are generalist invaders, feeding on more than one hundred species of plants, in a given geographic area, laying claim to the vast riches of their territory.

Honeybees consistently outperform one of their chief rivals, the bumblebee, through greater agility in the collection of nectar.

A few of the more important lessons, for competitive advantage, to bear in mind, are these:

Set clear goals and direction Define assignments and accountability Practice active discovery Encourage learning Build effective teamwork Leave some room for enterprise Empower others Be fair Be open-minded Be objective and data-driven MORE POLLEN The collective speed and effectiveness of honeybees depends on their constant intake and use of information.

Successful adaptation not only requires taking effective actions, but modifying or eliminating ineffective ones.

Honeybees’ constant intake, and use of information, make them fast and formidable competitors. They use data quickly and effectively in order to react to opportunities and shed themselves of wasted motions and obsolete functions.

Follow three steps: stop, reflect, focus!

click to check out hmc’s social media channels!

by: Pat Armstrong

Guess Who…It’s basically like “20 Questions” and you, the reader, have to guess who the subject is.

Here’s how the process worked. I listed all of the associates on an Excel spreadsheet and then had Excel assign each one a random five-digit number. I excluded myself obviously. Then I asked a volunteer to select a totally random five-digit number and the person whose number matched closest was chosen as the subject. I reached out “said person" and under “the cloak of secrecy” asked him or her 20 questions.

Can you guess who it is? Their identity will be revealed in next month’s Guess Who article. So here we go!

1. Who was the president the year you were born? Ronald Reagan 2. Are you married? Yes What was teams the firstor cardepartments you ever drove?

4 Door Chevy 3. 1.How many have you1977 worked in Impala for HMC? Seven 2. What was your favorite childhood cartoon? Bugs Bunny 4. 3.What was your first ‘real job’? Landscaping Are you an indoors person or an outdoors person? Indoors if its hot outside 5. 4.Favorite to eat?

Seafood Favoritefood dessert?

Bread pudding 6. 5.DoName you prefer a sports car or ita on pick-up?

Pick-Up a movie that if you saw the guide, you’ll stop and watch? Blues Brothers 7. 6.Favorite ‘adult beverage’?

Corona Who was the President the year you Light were born? Richard Nixon 7.

If you had to compete in an Olympic event, what would it be? Curling 8. What size shoe do you wear? Nine Mountains 9. 8.DidMountains you haveorabeach? favorite pet growing up? Yes, a dog 9.

If money were no object, would you‘outdoor’ hop on a Space X flight into orbit? No…too many other 10. Are you an ‘indoor’ person or an person?

Outdoor interesting places to see here on earth 11.10.

What’s a family nickname they have for you? Manchas What was the first club you were a member of? Chess Club 12.11.

Favorite growing up?

Bugs Bunny What’s cartoon your favorite hobby?

Skiing (snow) 13.12.

If you could figure, who would it be?

Martin Luther If you got ameet job at one a zoo,historical what animal would be volunteer to take care of?

Lions King 14.13.

Favorite of dessert?

Shot of(Go tequila lol Favoritetype college team? Ohio State Buckeyes!)

Favorite Pro team?

Chicago 15.14.

What will you NOT eat if it’sCubs on a pizza? Barbecue sauce 15.

In a zombie apocalypse, what would influence your ‘go to’on weapon be? Flamethrower 16. Who was the biggest professional you career?

Cristiano Ronaldo 16.

If you were the leader of the Free World, what would be the first thing you would fix? I would 17. Do you have kids? One do away with daylight savings time…easy and practical 18.17.

Favorite hobby or pastime? Family time Sky diving or bungie jumping? Sky diving 19.18.

What’s vacation you’ve beenBag? on?Brick, Visiting hometown in Mexico What the was best the first cell phone you had?

Flip?my Nokia brick 20.19.

Mountains or beach?

Mountains…

I don’t know how to swim To where was your first airplane flight?

Panama 20. What is your industry specialty? HVAC

Last month’s subject…. (drum roll please)! Jim Fouts

Manager’s Update

Michelle Roche

DIRECTOR OF INSIDE SALES/PROJECT SALES Wow, what a year 2021 has been so far!

Funny how everyone thought it would just HAVE to be better than 2020!

We’ve had the Cyber Attack, the Great Freeze, SAP integration, multiple price increases, and a supply shortage. We have been asked in Inside Sales, “why can’t we get answers or products to customers?”

“What’s the delay?” I have seen my teams earn the Purple Heart many times over. All sounds pretty bleak, doesn’t it? Well, to me it’s not. It’s a matter of perspective.

While in New Mexico last week, we drove through a storm, and arrived at the hotel right about sunset. To the left of me were the mountains with dark clouds, lightning, and rain. But when I looked to the right, I saw a bright, beautiful, and colorful sunset. What a stark contrast!

Talk about perspective. We can look at the dark side – the stormy side of our situations – or we can look at the bright side – the side of hope and light. Well, as Director of Inside Sales, my goal is for us all to choose to look to the brighter side.

As we move forward from the last six months, we have restructured our supervisors to allow them to have less teams, so that they can spend more time with each team. I am continuing to enable them to break away from being tied to a home team and instead strive to know and work on each one of their teams. I recently sat down and visited with

every one of my Inside Sales associates to find out what I could do to help them, see what they needed, and find out where they want to go with HMC. I have taken that information, shared it with their supervisors, and with Lori Zimmer’s additional responsibility as Associate Development Manager, we can work to help them meet and exceed their goals.

Our goal, as we finish 2021, and enter in to 2022, is to continue to grow the department, not only in size, but in strength, talent, and overall cohesiveness. We have learned a lot from our recent trials, and instead of dwelling on them, we are choosing to take what we have learned and prepare ourselves for whatever is next to come.

Cyber Attack –

We learned we can pull together and keep phones going, get emails answered, and communicate with our customers. Not to mention, some of us have become pretty computer savvy because of it.

Freeze –

We learned that we can all pull together to help each other out and help each other up.

We had some long days, but we all pitched in to help. We know we can rely on each other.

SAP B1 –

We were all nervous, reluctant (and scared) going into SAP, but we are all seeing the benefits of this new ERP. Plus, we now know that there are many similarities between the teams.

People are no longer hesitant about taking orders from other teams and helping. The amount of cross training and helping across team lines has been unbelievable.

These may be difficult times with supply shortages, and multiple price increases, but that doesn’t mean we can’t move forward.

Some initiatives you will see (some going on now) are:

Cross Training Between Teams –

5/7 (Chris White), 4/6, 9/13 (Darby), 8/12, and SAP training in Quotations.

Mentorship Program –

This is being revised and reimplemented. There will be opportunities for growth and training, not only with outside sales, but also internally.

Team Building –

We will be having events focusing on team building.

New Email Format –

We are looking into a new email format that will greatly assist the teams with handling the large number of emails received each day much more efficiently.

I know many are thinking we can’t do those things – there’s Covid, and restrictions, and no time, blah blah blah. To you, I say look to your right. Pick the brighter perspective. Because that is what we are doing in Inside Sales. And we are going to bring this positivity and growth to you, to each other, and to our customers…each and every day.

by adam merritt

“Did you really just fix the faucet with a thumb drive?!” and other fun with Bradley WashBar… Bradley is a leading manufacturer of all-in-one handwashing technology. One of the newest additions to their lineup is the WashBar which houses the soap dispenser, water, and hand dryer in a single fixture. While there is only one component above the sink, below the sink, and behind the cover is a combination of pumps, mixing valves, blowers, and electronics that can be intimidating if you’ve never seen it before.

Because the WashBar is available with different components, and because those components themselves can be updated and change over time, Bradley engineers made sure to include an easy-to-update USB function on the main control board. What this means for the end user is that if the faucet isn’t operating the way they would expect, the easiest trouble shooting step is to clean the sensors. Still nothing? Unplug it and plug it back in. And if that doesn’t work, it might be time for an update to the latest software.

With everyone returning to schools, restaurants, and office buildings – three huge market segments for sensor faucets - FST has answered some panicked calls from end users and installing contractors. The fixes, though, have been quite simple. For a restaurant that kept losing parts when their employees changed the soap, we created QR code stickers that take end users directly to online video instructions. For an office building that was frustrated by blinking red lights, we made sure all the controllers were up to date with the latest programming, then showed them how to clean and reset the sensors. For a school whose end users were a little rough on the equipment, we showed them how to confirm the plugs were attached solidly and make sure the cords were hidden out of harm’s way.

The innovative dual-use design provides a reliable, compact and convenient faucet and eyewash solution for use in any work or laboratory environment.

Bradley Corp. has introduced its new space-saving Halo Swing-Activated Faucet and Eyewash. The innovative dual-use design provides a reliable, compact and convenient faucet and eyewash solution for use in any work or laboratory environment. The Halo Swing-Activated Faucet and Eyewash combines a gooseneck faucet for regular use, such as handwashing, with a built-in emergency eyewash featuring Halo technology that is proven to deliver the most effective eye washdown coverage available. Two swing-activated models are available, including S19-500 Series with the eyewash positioned on the right side of the fixture and S19-505 Series with the eyewash on the left side.

Tales from the

ROAD

by Pat Armstrong

Friends, it’s not easy being on the road during these trying times. “Wear a mask,” “Don’t wear a mask,” “Show proof of vaccination,” “We don’t care about the vaccination” … it’s exhausting!

Most of our customers just want things to get back to normal. Their corporate offices may care, and enforce policies that mandate their respective positions, but the end goal is to get back to September of 2019 when business was good, people were out shopping, the flu was still the stat we watched, and no one had heard of Covid.

Fortunately, as a tenured salesperson (as so many of my colleagues are) we can adapt to whatever our customers’ need.

Customer – “I need a water heater painted purple.”

Me – “Shannon, can we get A.O. Smith to paint a heater purple?”

Shannon – “Nope.”

Me – “Ok thanks. Hey Hal, can your guys paint a heater purple?”

Hal - “Sure. What shade and how many?”

This is a funny example, but the gist is the same. It really doesn’t matter what the request is from our customer… mask, no mask, purple heater, grey heater, shoes, no shoes (yes, I have been on jobs where I’ve been asked to remove my shoes) … doesn’t matter, our job is to do the very best we can to accommodate any request as best we can. That’s why our supervisors (who know this) constantly guide us to be more, to be better, to do what we do better than anyone else.

If you are employed by DG, and the focus is on accuracy for a certain region or customer, it may be because the last guys that pulled that order made a mistake, and we have “one more shot” to keep this customer’s business.

If you are in inside sales, and an issue pops up that is the aftermath of a past mistake, HANDLE IT RIGHT NOW, ALL THE WAY THROUGH, AND GET IT DONE. I hate credits… I mean I hate credits. To me it’s like doing my expenses or paying bills. I just hated to do it, but since I know I hate it, I preferred to get it done immediately, so I don’t have to mess with it anymore. Then, when I see that number pop up on the screen, I know it must be new business because I’ve already taken care of the issue. That’s a good feeling!

The number one way to lose a customer is to not fix a mistake. Making a mistake is acceptable, after all, we’re human. Stuff happens. But not fixing it in a timely manner is really the unacceptable part. That’s what loses customers. Now I know that many of us are at the mercy of our manufacturers, but even then, we should be a thorn in the side of whoever our regional is so that they get tired of the phone calls as well and get our customer taken care of.

Remember folks, it’s not personal…it’s business. It’s life in the trenches sometimes and the easiest way out is to start carving steps and climb as you go.

Keep in mind that if work is easy, and a breeze with no stress, you’re probably unemployed…

HAHA! Hang in therePat

CHECK IT OUT!

Craig Stickles

“I don’t know who this dude’s boss is, but please let him know what a great first interaction I had with him.

Craig really did a great job with a trench drain order I had for a JCMS job I’m working on.

We didn’t even know you sold Hubbell Polycast trench. We were trying to cross it to Watts wen we found out.

We know now and will do more business in the future. Very impressive service!”

DON HALL - FERGUSON : CENTRAL TEXASsubmitted by Austin Cunningham

submitted by lori poindexter

motivational quote

LORI’S

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