Tireless. Kim Lorenz

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      Chapter 6

      It’s All About the Customer

      Over the following two years, our company continued to grow rapidly. Sales revenue was still increasing at 50% a year! We knew we could not sustain that kind of growth, yet we were trying to manage it as best we could. Keep in mind, we had no outside investors, no bonds to sell to raise capital to buy equipment, and no stock offerings to maintain adequate cash flows and expansion. All this growth had to be financed by John and me, using our available bank credit lines and debt, which added interest expense. Our valued suppliers also participated by allowing us attractive purchase terms on inventory.

      Why were we growing so fast? Why were we able to capture so much market share from large international competitors as well as long-established local competitors? What were we doing differently? Well, for starters, we were not selling our products at reduced prices as so many competitors were doing. We were following the plans that we laid out at the beginning of our business: focusing on what the customer really needed. We were passionate about the business of showing customers how we could save them money in their operations. That passion was a proven belief that all customers wanted to spend less money on tires, and we could show how changes in operations could accomplish the savings. By educating the customer on several aspects of their operations as they relate to tires, we could save the customer money on labor cost and related expenses in addition to having to buy fewer tires by making our recommended changes.

      Think about that last sentence. If you or your company can show a customer a better way to operate their business that saves them money, you become a trusted and favored supplier. Even if the customer might have to pay more for your service or product, if you can show them how to operate their business more cost-effectively, it would only be logical to choose you to supply the products they need.

      Implementing this sort of model requires knowledge and training that exceeds that of the competition—training in understanding the customer’s operations and needs. While John had the knowledge and technical expertise to build and successfully run the retread manufacturing plant, I had the expertise and knowledge of the trucking industry and how we could improve operations for our customers as it pertained to tire applications. It was a perfect example of a great partnership as laid out in the previous chapter, a division of responsibility and complementary skillsets.

      We had an employee base of individuals from outside the marketplace with little experience in tires. As I mentioned before, most sales and service people already working in the industry had some less than stellar habits and were not trained the way we desired. The salespeople we were looking for had to be professional, able to learn technical skills we would teach, and keep excellent records. We would train our truck service personnel in customer fleet operations so they understood what the customers needed.

      The ideal service person had to be able to work with the customer as if they were running this aspect of their business for them, almost as if they were an employee of the customer. That means they would always make decisions that made the most sense for the customer, not for our company. Decisions were to be based on the long-term benefits to the customer which, would, in turn, benefit our company.

      A humorous example of this strategy involved one of our largest customers. To take it a step further, it was the same customer we lost for a short time during the lawsuit debacle. The customer owned thousands of trailers spread all over the northwest and Alaska, as well as in Texas. They were heavy into the transportation of the oil industry’s goods and equipment, and used thousands of tires a year.

      In their main yard and maintenance facility, the tire service person was our employee. That meant that the customer understood the value of outsourcing, meaning they were not being tied to the expense and liability of additional employees. One of our tire suppliers had a special short-time discount on tires this company used, which meant it was a great time to stock up. I went to the maintenance director, who was not my employee, to share the opportunity. I let him know there was a special discount if they ordered 100 tires or more.

      His reply to me was, “Go ask Zane. If we need them, put them into stock.”

      That should have been an easy sale, as Zane was the service person that worked for our company. It is important to note that Zane, our employee, would also receive a commission on this sale.

      However, Zane told me, “We really don’t need these tires now, Kim. I am using a lot of tires from trailers they have in excess for a while, as they are not currently being used. When these trailers get back into service, then we will consider buying. Right now, they really do not need any additional inventory.”

      While I might have been disappointed, it was clear that our training was effective. Zane was acting as if he was an employee of the customer, and made the decision accordingly. This was exactly what made us more successful than the competition, and the customers could see this in action. I went back to the maintenance director and said, “I used to think I was a pretty good salesperson, but I can’t even sell to my own employee—I couldn’t get him to spend your money!”

      His response confirmed we were doing business the right way when he remarked; “Kim, that is precisely why we do business with you.”

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