Low maintenance, high energy

ffow Do you cET srAR BTLLTNG rT ll'among your region's "50 Best Women in Business"? Or gain company status as "one of the fastest-growing in the region"? Or be hailed as "one of the most influential Filipina women in the U.S."?

Chances are slim that anyone but Isabelita "Lita" Abele could win these recognitions, just a few among many, by running-that's right-a lumber company. Serving as president and c.e.o. of U.S. Lumber, an outfit today doing $6 million in business from Woodbury Heights, N.J., was far below the radar when she left the Philippines for New York in 1981 in search of a better life.

The American Dream took a while to kick in, however. During her first job, as a housekeeper, she was caught in a never-ending round of cooking, cleaning, babysitting, shoveling snow, what-have-you, for $150 a month before she made an escape to life as a Woolworth's clerk by day/nursing home attendant by night. With that leg up, she went back to school (she'd been a teacher in her homeland) to master accounting, bookkeeping and computer skills.

But-get ready for the Hollywood ending-her biggest asset was her smile. While weekending with friends in Boston, a fellow diner at the Hyatt was smitten by it. Menill Abele began phoning twice daily, delivered a dozen roses every week, and soon dialed her parents back in the Philippines to ask for her hand in marriage.

Dad said yes, and so did Lita. In 1984 she wed and moved to New Jersey, determined to learn the lumber business her husband Merrill had launched there 10 years earlier. She started in as a telephone receptionist, hiding her tears when the occasional boor would ridicule her accent. But Lita soon learned how to figure lumber so she could operate as a trader, to complement the family business ("I would buy; he would sell").

When Merrill eased into semiretirement in 1993, they merged the two operations. Lita became president and c.e.o. of U.S. Lumber, with 5l%o ownership, thus a minority- and woman-owned company, which meant that contractor customers could bid on the big jobs that required such compliance.

Hang on before you grumble about "window dressing." She's heard that one, too (more tears). Five minutes on the phone with this dynamo and not a speck of doubt remains that she's no figurehead. "Ask me! I can talk about products! About accounts receivable. Accounts payable. Clients. Everything!" she demands, and then produces.

Singlehandedly, Lita keeps rhe books, writes the sales letters, makes the cold calls, trains the staff, and clearly never sleeps. She visits jobsites, attends professional meetings (where she trolls the room for nametags of prospective customers).

She manages the company's niche specialty, selling plywood products to concrete contractors to use as buildins lorms for concrete used in bridges-. highways, sports stadiums, and the list goes on. Clients include Atlantic City casinos, the Philadelphia Eagles stadium and Phillies ballpark, Boeing, DuPont, Merck, and the new Freedom Tower in New York. You need moulding, hardware, trusses, stakes? HDO panels? How about FSC-certified materials for your LEED projects? Insulation, sheetrock, trusses, windows and doors? Cedar specialties? You name it, and if you're anywhere near the tri-state area, U.S. Lumber will deliver.

Unless you're a residential developer. The company used to serve them, too, until Lita got stiffed once too often. "They used me as a bank and didn't pay their bills, whereas in commercial business, the money is revolving. I'll call their office once a week, and if there's been a delay, don't just tell me, 'It's in the mail.' I tell them, 'Just be honest with me and I'll gladly work with you.' Then when the check arrives, I call back with a thank you." She makes the rounds of jobsites on a near-daily basis, growing business by refenals from one sub to the next.

Yes, there's fierce competition, she acknowledges, but she counters it with a service cocktail of fast, 24-hour order turnarounds; a warehouse that can accommodate the commodities she buys by the carload (and then passes on favorable prices to her customers), encompassing a vast variety of building needs; and the ultimate in courtesy. Lots of pleases and thank-

\'ous lornr thc lrasis ol hcr lcr-1 llcrsotlal scrvicc lclr. as shr-'s thc l'irst ttt tcstil'v. it all boils dor.rt.t to frlplloft.

And that's Itcr lorttt. Shc tlocsrt't rrrirlcl plar"ing thc lirrcigncl or lcrnrttc cartls nttu attd thert. lf she rttns into a tilr'nrel G.[. u,l.ttl's sltetit tirttc ill the Philippines. thcv rcnliniscc- aboLtt thc lirtlcl. thc cttlltlrc. If chccks are sltlu ill cotlling. shc shous ltl.r in thcir olficc. latlghins. "l'tll skinnyl I lravc t() eat!" If hct'itccetrt or.tcc cattsc-c1 hcr stt'css. totlal- it's rulso bccn turnecl ittto a sellittg totll to gairt rccogtlititln: lhc "Oh. Litll I rcntctnbct vott I" llctor ltt \\ork. Shc's thc ultir)lrtc r)et\\orkcr'. artd clclivcrs inslllllt tltl()tcs. .'l carl cltl il ASAP; I clll the sLrltltlicr. add in our ntark-up. and give an instiLnl artsrvcr." sl.tc bttttsts.

Br-r1 bousling is zilch withoLrt back-up. "We btrilcl ottr lotrls at 5 1t.rrt. ancl sctrtl thetn otrt lrt (r:-10 thc tlcxt llltrlrlillll. But i1'sorucot.tc rtecds a bttr ol nails so<ltler. \\'c.lunlp in thc car u'ith it. Wc t-ttitlcrstantl \our tleacllincs antl uill hclp vou gct thc .iob donc. lto lttilttcf what." shc plcd-re s. "Yott't-c bul in-u lllorc thall Ilfoducts' )lotl 're bLr.v-ing a tclllllllialc' Youl goal becotrcs itltr -!oal: r'our clclrdlinc is oLrr dcacllinc." shc ploclailtrs. AItd so tlocs the stlrfl uorking with Iicr. lur-cclv firnrilv. Hcr clauqhter r,ltlt'ks ltt acctlunting atld hel son-in-lari. thc vltrcl ntallilgcr. also fills itl as a clriver substitutc. Shc trainccl tltcrn thc salllc \\'a\/ shc lellrnecl thc opcrlttiotl: "ste1l b1'ste1l. l'r'ollr tlic grtluncl u1l"'shc savs: '-With plcnty ol plclscs rtncl thltnk-vclr-ts."

RcsLrlt: plcntl o1' pal' backs honoling lte I. succcss. Sl.tc's sclvcd ort Ncri Jcrscl's Asiart-Atllcrican Comtlissttltl. as co-liruntler o1' the statc's,\siltlt-AIl-tclican ('hanrbcr ol Conrnrcrcc. ancl rcccivccl nuttle t'ous hullralritariall arr arcls lbr gir ing n'ltt.tl otltcrs rt lcu tt1l.

(lreclit U.S. Lr-trrtbe r's sLlccc\s to "long hotlrs attcl hitrcl work and cxtra scrvice." u'hich. lct's lacc it. btrilcls not onll' a strong. solid custttttier base btrt a ovcrltlacl tl1'stress. Lrta's lirr-rnd a sccret rcnteclv. howclcr: "l go dou'n to tllc bascnrcnt. do karaoke ancl dancc. thcn takc a deep br.cath and say.'God hclp nicl"'

Well. Hc helps thosc llho hclp tlletnselvcs. as the saying gocs. As testimonv. listcn to some of thc nlanl crltt.ttttctlclatit'rns earned 1l'om cr.tstorttcts: "Over 30 1'car-s ago. Nladisotl Concrctc lirrmcd ir rclationship rvith [].S. Lunrbcr. Many thinss havc changed ovcr the 1cars. br-rt (lllc collstant has bcen the filct that [thcvl corrtinuc to be oLtr solc- p|oYitlcf ol' all our lumbcr neecls.''

Anothcr coltcrcte contrllctor attcsts. "Our bnsincss is ultra-cornltetitivc. U.S. l-utllber's cxccptional pricinu ancl scrvicc have kcpt us cornpelitivc Iw'ithin itl. Thc)'constrlnlly help Lls nrect and erccecl ottr clictlts' schetlules." Evctl nrclre preciorls to her cars. "Prcsiclcltt Litl Abclc's presence on the .iobsitc rcflccts Ll .S. LLrnrbcr's cotntnitttlent to thcir custor.ne rs.

As thc petile boss cxPlains it. "Our philosolthf is sirnplc: thc custonrer cotncs first." That's the publishecl pnrnrise. Privatell'. she aclds. "You've got to work at solllcthing you cn.ioy or it's no1 \\()rtlt iln\ ill|()Uil[ rll lltrlttcl." Not a problern r'"'ith this c.c.o.