customer service Itts all about

j'\ onoox Jnuas CoNsrRUCrroN is a pretty big player in \fthe Twin Cities Building Bowl, wittr i"u"nu"r, "u"n in feeble '09, of $4.2 million, divided between residential and commercial building projects.

Coming across this info nugget in the local paper caused me to pick up the phone to pick the brain (or, more to our purpose, the accounts payable ledger) of the company's c.e.o. to discover what lumberyard this mega-builder did business with, and-teaching moment-why?

If this were a multiple-choice quiz, possible answers would include Twin Cities' heavy hitters like legendary

Lampert's and Scherer Bros., each with many locations and ad budgets to match.

Wrong. "Fullerton, in Watertown," Mn., the man tells me. Watertown! Not even in the metro. It's a tiny burg (pop. 45900) half-an-hour west, in the middle of nowhere (well, cornfields, but they don't require a lot of lumber). So, what's the deal? "My P.M.s [project managers] tell me that's where they like to do business," says the boss.

In fact, P.M. Joe McPherson was so happy to spread the word that he, too, called back. "Fullerton's price is always right," Joe began. But, more important, "The product's good and the delivery's really good, too. If ever there's a problem, they take care of it; they're really good with follow-through."

Wow. Okay, next step is to ring up Paul Silver, Fullerton's general manager out there in the cornfield, to find out how he gets them to drink the Kool-Aid. Best answer he can come up with is one you've heard before: service. Make that very personal, neighborly service: "nothing different," he insists-"just more of it."

Price? Of course that's a factor these days, and more on that later. Selection? Actually, Silver is bucking the trend and cutting back there as part of his increased focus on the pro. "We're getting away from the traditional hardwarestore aspect-no more paint, plumbing, electrical-to become more in line with the pros' mindset," he explains.

So it all boils down to his staff of 15, which include six outside sales reps he credits as "longtime industry veterans," who sound more like the Red Cross than simply guys behind a steering wheel. Yes, they'll do free take-offs. Yes, they visit jobsites. And yes, they'll deliver a single stick when you say you need it yesterday ("They all have pickups with lumber racks on top," allows their boss.) And they follow through with boom trucks that deliver to the rooftop. They make good without a murmur if possibly a board is warped (though lumber and shingles are stored in covered facilities on the 10-acre yard). They'll escort customers, and their customers, through Fullerton's showroom of windows, doors and millwork, filling special orders, too. And they invite the pros to vendor-sponsored lunches all summer, along with golf outings and dinner get-togethers.

Did we mention free delivery-to, say, Duluth (think 350 miles)? Or Iowa-or even Green Bay, Wi.? (That time, they hired a freight company to transport the basic package, then followed up with several smaller deliveries.) "We follow our builders," Silver explains. "Wherever they go, we go, too." And, as of this month, that's to the Twin Cities' prestigious Hazeltine National Golf Club, where Silver's Fullerton just snagged the order for new clubhouse materials.

But, as the saying goes, "Ifa tree falls and nobody hears it...," which translates to "Great service is great, but only if you get the word out."

Silver's got a one-word solution: "Networking. Word of mouth from one pro to another. Talking to subs, who get us in touch with their general contractor. That's how we got the Gordon James account," he says. "One of our contractors was talking to another contractor, who did their framing. So a meeting was arranged; we had lunch, and started bidding on their projects. They'd heard that we do what we say we'll do, so we were at the table, and there was this chemistry," Silver sums it up. "They've treated us really well ever since-more and more bids," he adds.

That chemistry starts at the top. "I relate to our customers directly; they become personal friends," says Silver, who's worked in many a lumberyard over the years, most recently, before being recruited to Watertown nearly three years ago, with UBC. There, "It started out well, but evolved to strictly by the numbers. Here," he underscores, "It's family-the direction I wanted to continue to go: very satisfying."

The corporate organization, which has operated for over 100 years in the Midwest, offers the big-volume advantage of securing favorable prices for bulk purchasing, "but differently than with the big boxes, attests Silver, "where it's 'We'll pay you what we think....' With Fullerton, each manager runs his own store, each with a different market. And the company philosophy, even in these stressful times, is not to hunker down, but move ahead, look forward."

It also helps that the 10 Fullerton stores in Minnesota can congregate to place orders at a savings-say, a full truckload, which they then drive to and divvy up. And, even in these lean times, "We've kept up our personnel level so that service doesn't suffer," although some are working fewer hours.

And yes, pricing has become the elephant in the showroom-pros seeking numbers to back up the service. "These days, we're getting four, five, six contractors bidding on the same job, and they're under pressure from the homeowner," Silver is aware.

One of his solutions involved re-examining the lines he carries-instead, of "better-best," more emphasis on the "better." "I'm focusing more mid-range products, especially lumber. But," he adds, "I have a very hard time finding it. Wholesalers are cutting back, making it really tough to find the in-between grades so we can offer quality at a very competitive price. I've added a wider assortment of millwork and another line of shingles, too. And I'm watching inventory a lot more closely."

Abetted by that kind of fine-tuning, the jobs keep rolling in-homes, today, in the 2,000 to 2,600 sq. ft. range-"a little more modest; rooftops simplified to take the cost down. And, thanks to the stimulus packager, people are remodeling kitchens and basements and addine energy-efficient windows and doors as tax deductions."

Plus, the happy project managers at Gordon James don't show any signs of stepping on the brakes. So, make that full steam ahead!

Carla Waldemar cwaldemar@ comcast.net