Yesterday I was asked a question that I am often asked and I thought it deserved a blog post.
The question I was asked is “Where is your call center?”
I always answer the same….. WE DO NOT HAVE A CALL CENTER!!!
We have product experts, and that function is handled in our head office.
The expertise in our sales department is a core competency. I would put our product experts up against anyone in the business in their deep knowledge of the respective products. They each have incredible knowledge on flooring, decking, and other products. Because of our unique supply chain, they each understand the manufacturing process and have direct contact with the factories.
They are trained to help customers find the best value and help them understand the myriad of choices.
There are two main reasons that we do not outsource this:
1) The level of knowledge required for the role is immense!!
2) Our customers are too important!!!!
When I think of outsourcing customer service, my own horrible experiences spring to life. I think about getting my call routed overseas, automated messages, waiting on hold, and then not having someone that can answer my questions. When given a choice, meaning that the company has competitors in the marketplace, I would rarely choose a company that runs their operation like this.
It seems to me…shortsighted. Potentially increasing profits short term, but risking the business long term.
Although we do not yet share the feedback of our product experts on the web, (We thought product quality was more important) it is something that is measured every day in our office. I am extremely proud of our people and their commitment to our customers.
To conclude this post, I have included some of the comments we received this week. Keep up the great work.
1) Great people to work with that really went the extra mile to make the project work. Worked hard to get product out on time-flawless performance under difficult circumstances. Superb group-THANKS!
2) I am very happy with my dealings and purchase from your company. Before I even purchased the flooring I called your customer service number and spoke to a gentleman (I believe his name was Alex) in your laminate department. He was very knowledgeable of the product and answered all my questions on the transition molding. After speaking with him I was even more confident in my decision to purchase our flooring from your company.
3) Your staff in the hardwood flooring department were amazing. I couldn’t believe that no matter which one I talked to over the course of the order process, they were all organized and knew exactly what was previously discussed. Excellent to see a company where communication is clearly a priority.
4) Sales representative was very helpful. I needed the travertine molding asap because i was scheduled for tile the following week and representative made sure it got out priority that same day i ordered. That was enough for me to go back to your site.
At the Gazelles growth conference last week, I had the opportunity to see Jim Collins speak. One of the things I liked most about his speech, is the depth of research that he has done to examine what makes companies truly great.
Jim has made a life study out of the differences between high performing companies and those who failed to excel. He comes to some interesting conclusions that are often left out of the popular media.
One of the things I found most interesting according to his research was that turbulence and tummult causes nothing. In other words, a crisis, or an outside event, had very little to do with a company’s long term success or failure.
I think that is worth thinking about in the world we live in today. In this current environment, it is very easy to blame outside events. The problem with doing that is: that according to the research, it is rarely the outside event.
What really matters is what the company does prior to, and during turbulent times that makes it truly great or not.
There is a power in that…..knowing that you….ultimately shape your own destiny.
I know for our own company, when faced with one of the worst housing crises in the last century, our team looked inside at what we they could do better. What needed to change? They were accountable and never blamed the market. They also didn’t blame each other…..they just looked at what they could control and brought forward healthy debate.
It’s a good thing they did.
They found some incredible opportunities to improve upon our business and prove the saying that “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste”.
I’m leaving today for Verne Harnish’s Annual growth conference. It’s always a great event but this year looks fantastic. The theme this year is how smart companies are taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime economic opportunity. It’s expected that more market share will change hands in the next twelve to eighteen months than did in the last several decades.
I’m also looking forward to meeting Jim Collins, who wrote Built to Last, and Good to Great.
Each day we receive feedback from customers rating their experience with BuildDirect on 3 different criteria. 1) Customer Service 2) Product quality 3) Delivery service. We treat this feedback as crucial to our business. Even though it hurts when the feedback is negative, it uncovers areas that we improve upon. We never hide from it. In fact we share the product quality reviews un-edited for everyone else to see.
The vast majority of the responses are not only positive…but extremely positive. Although it would be nice to take full credit for this, I actually think there is something bigger at play here.
I think that something bigger is the perception of risk!
And when we deliver what we promised or more, customers are blown away.
I think most people are taught to think “you get what you pay for” and as soon as they see a price/quality that is far better than their competitors, a natural scepticism sets in. If it is too good to be true, it normally is… so the saying goes.
The problem with this line of thinking is that the Internet has changed the rules. Supply chains are completely changing. Many of those changes result in a completely different cost structure and therefore pricing structure. The comparisons we used to use are no longer valid.
Look at the news for an example of what I mean. News is just as relevant today as it ever was. If this is true, why are most newspapers dying? The answer is that the medium has changed. Many didn’t realize that the value was not in the paper….it was in the news. Like any change, the easiest thing to do is pretend that the new channel is somehow inferior…that it lacks quality. In this case, it is true that many blogs and news sources are inferior in quality, but the best are very high in quality. People today consume news that is more specialized and important to them through specialized sites and blogs. I myself get brilliant financial information from sites like www.calculatedriskblog.com and Mish’s blog Thought leaders like this who understood this new medium and committed to quality are thriving today, just as the thought leaders did before them, when the medium was the paper.
This transformation is not just happening in news. It is happening in all industries…..some faster than others.
Do you remember the last time you looked in the yellow pages (Google) or bought a CD? ( iTunes)
In the Google example: Is it the right information that is important, or the pages that it is written on.
In the iTunes example: Is it the music that is important, or the store that you could buy it from.
The same business principles apply to using new technology as they did to the old way of doing business. Great businesses that drive more value to their customers….. win and businesses that do not….fail.
With respect to building products: Is it the product that is important, or the shelves that the product sits on?
I think that many of the people sending their feedback have found the answer.
Do you agree? Disagree? I would like your comments!
NEVER GIVE IN! Be willing to change tactics, but never give up on your core purpose. Be willing to kill failed business ideas, even shutter big operations you’ve been in for a long time, but never give up on the idea of building a great company. Be willing to evolve into an entirely different portfolio of activities, even to the point of zero overlap with what you do today, but never give up on the discipline to create your own future. Be willing to embrace loss, to endure pain, to temporarily lose freedoms, but never give up faith in the ability to prevail. Be willing to form alliances with former adversaries, to accept necessary compromise, but never — ever — give up on your core values.
“The path out of darkness begins with those exasperatingly persistent individuals who are constitutionally incapable of capitulation.” - Jim Collins
I love that paragraph. It’s from Jim Collins new book “how the mighty fail.”
Maybe the reason I like it so much is that because as a company, we have faced incredible adversity as we strive to build a great company. First the technology meltdown in 2000 and more recently the collapse of the building industry. (and maybe even a couple of mistakes of our own along the way)
Through it all, we have been “incapable of capitulation.” As a result, our team is ever more confident we are building an remarkable company that is transforming an industry. It sure gives meaning to getting up and knocking down the next wall.
I’m just back home from Turkey, where my wife and I just finished an amazing trip.
We started in Istanbul, the only city in the world that sits on two continents. (European and Asian) Because of its importance to trade routes, Istanbul has a long history, being the capital city of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. With this vast history, Istanbul, formally known as Byzantium and Constantinople is an incredible melting pot of heritage and culture. Istanbul has a feel that is electric. The streets are alive with people. It felt like it was always on. One thing to note though. plan for extra time to get places, transportation around the city is very difficult,
From my viewpoint, there also seems to be incredible business opportunities in Istanbul as supply chains are reinvented to bring more value to over 12 million people ready to buy.
We then flew to Cappadocia region in central Turkey. The region is famous for its volcanic deposits that allowed people to carve out houses, churches, and monasteries out of the rocks. The underground cities of the region are where early Christians hid before their religion was accepted. We met with the former Cultural minister of the region and had the most incredible tour.
Another highlight were the ruins of Ephesus. The ruins are in remarkably great shape even though its most famous temple and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the temple of Artemis has been reduced to foundations and sculptural fragments.
It’s hard not to walk down the streets of Ephesus and not think about how life must have been for its 400,000 inhabitants over 2000 years ago. It must have been a grand city. You can still see remains of an impressive sewer and water system. The remains of beautiful mosaics are still seen in the homes, and some of the residences even had infloor heating.
The people of Turkey are wonderful, although I already knew this. This is my third trip to the country. www.BuildDirect.com has been purchasing both marble and travertine from Turkey for some time. Our Turkish travertine is some of the best quality and value around. As a result, we sell it all over the world.
Thanks to Murat, Ebru, Sukru, Hacer and everyone else who made this a spectacular trip.
We look forward to many years of continued success and friendship.
I was fortunate enough to get a tour of Zappos months ago. (Prior to the sale to Amazon) There has been a great deal of media discussion on the Zappos values and their focus on customer service that drove their business to grow very quickly to almost a billion dollars in revenue. Most of which I agree with. They do have a fantastic culture and amazing customer service.
This post is going to talk about something a little different. A small part of the tour that really struck a chord with me. The part of the tour I am talking about is just inside the front entrance: Their library.
I was blown away when the receptionist told me the story of how Tony Hsieh created a library of business books that he read so that others could “borrow” them to increase their own knowledge. I was even more astounded when she said: “Pick a couple that you like and take them with you.”
What a simple but powerful idea!
I strongly believe in the power of learning. In fact, 20 years ago, one of my own personal development goals was to read at least 26 books per year…..a goal that I have achieved for over 20 years. I believe that this drive to learn is a key part of my own success, and because of that, it is one of our values at www.BuildDirect.com. We state the value as: A Passion To Get Better Every Day, and we measure ourselves by asking the following question: Are we better today, than we were yesterday?
In a company: Success is driven by the collective knowledge, execution and alignment of its employees. Providing then, a good way for employees to learn and advance is a great way of developing employees success and therefore, success at the company. I like to look at it like this: By creating success for others I am able to stand on the shoulders of great people.
We just created our own BuildDirect.com library for our staff. Started with some of the best business books I have read. My hope is that it is used extensively.
Thanks to Zappos for the great idea to help foster a culture of learning………and for the book “Peak - How Great Companies get their Mojo from Maslow” by Chip Conley.
I recently finished reading a fascinating book called “Inside the mind of a shopper” by Herb Sorensen. Sorensen is a leader in the field of following what a shopper actually does in a store, instead of relying on shopper comments. From that perspective, he makes a compelling case to change retail marketing strategies from a traditional “product-centric” perspective to a new “shopper-centric” focus.
One great example of his research is a supermarket that puts milk at the back of the store, knowing that: shoppers often come in to buy only milk. They do this in hopes that the shopper will find other things they need along the way. His theory is that retailers who do this waste shoppers time, and risk losing the sale altogether as shoppers find an alternative store that will serve their needs better. (a convenience store)
I must say that although the book was largely focused on a bricks and mortar shopping environment, it gave me some great insights on how e-commerce companies can remove obstacles to help their buyers. With regard to building supplies, as more shoppers move online to find value, those insights will help us serve them better.
I’ve included a quick You-Tube video of Herb Sorensen. My favourite part is at 5:00 where he says “shopping is an interuption of your life”
I spent the day yesterday with a number of my forum members from the Young President’s Organization. They continue to make such a profound impact on me and my business. I have been a member for about 6 years and I still can’t believe how much I learn and grow from this group of people. The idea of YPO is to exchange ideas, pursue learning, and share strategies to achieve personal growth and professional success.
The organization is then broken down into groups of 7-10 people called a forum where I feel the real learning happens. The forum is designed to create a safe place for members to open up and share deeper learning.
When I was originally asked to join, I have to admit that I didn’t think it was for me. Although I liked the thought of peer learning, I didn’t know how safe I would feel in baring my soul to some of the top business leaders around. I don’t know if it was that I thought I might not measure up or that my challenges were different, but I remember making excuses that it would be difficult to commit the time.
I’m sure glad I did. What I found is, that forum is like anything in life, the more you put into something the more you get out. The time I spend with this group is some of the best time I spend each month. There is rarely a time, where I don’t learn something that makes a positive difference to my company, myself, or my family.
