SELLING WITH KAHLE

Dealing with a diffi cult customer

AdifficuLt customer—someone who is angry or upset—can be one of the most challenging and rewarding encounters for most companies. If your people handle the situation well, you will often gain a long-term customer. Mishandle it, and you’ll watch the situation dissolve into lost business and upset people.

What guidelines can you provide your employees to help them cope with angry or difficult customers? Here are two: 1. RESPECT. It can be diffi cult to respect a person who may be yelling, swearing or behaving like a 2-yearold. I’m not suggesting you respect the behavior, only that you respect the person. Keep in mind that 99 times out of 100 you are not the object of the customer’s anger. You are like a small tree in the path of a swirling tornado. But unlike the small tree, you have the power to withstand the wind.

What is the source of your power? Unlike the customer, you are not angry, you are in control, and your only problem at the moment is helping him with his problem. If you step out of this positioning, and start reacting to the customer in an emotional way, you’ll lose control, you’ll lose your power, and the situation will be likely to escalate into a lose-lose for everyone. So, begin with a mindset that says, “No matter what, I will respect the customer.” 2. LISTEN. You don’t try and cut him off , you don’t urge him to calm down. Not just yet. You listen and you listen carefully. And as you listen, you begin to piece together his story.

If someone is angry or upset, it is because that person feels injured in some way. Your job is to let the customer vent and to listen attentively in order to understand the source of that frustration. When you do that, you send a powerful unspoken message. You let the customer know by your listening and attentiveness that you care about him and his situation.

Often, as the customer comes to realize that you really do care and that you are going to attempt to help him resolve the problem, the customer will calm down on his own, and begin to interact with you in a positive way.

While these aren’t the only ways to deal with a diffi cult customer, these two strategies of respecting and listening to the customer will go a long way toward enabling your employees to deal eff ectively with one of the most challenging situations they’ll face.

– Dave Kahle is a high-content consultant, instructor and author of 12 books, including the best-selling How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime and his latest, The Good Book on Business. He has presented in 47 states and 11 countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of salespeople and transform hundreds of sales organizations. Reach him at dave@ davekahle.com.

NEXT STEPS

What to do after you listen... 1. IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM.

2. AVOID BLAME.

3. RESOLVE THE PROBLEM.

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Forest City Trading Group has agreed to acquire the assets of Lake Oswego, Or.-based Affiliated Resources, Inc., a manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution company specializing in the design, production and sale of proprietary branded wood, steel and plastic products.

The company services original equipment manufacturing, agriculture, and industrial end-user businesses. Mike Wilkins, company founder, will remain with the company as president.

“This acquisition allows us to continue to diversify our portfolio into value-added industrial branded products and offer more services and growth into their multiple business segments,” said Craig Johnston, CEO of FCTG, which is comprised of 13 separate forest products companies.

“Our alignment with FCTG will allow our employees to continue to grow our business and provide them with the scale to service our ever-expanding customer base,” noted Wilkins. “Their high priority on talent acquisition and development, combined with the emphasis that both companies place on customer and suppler relationships fits our business model as we continue to innovate for our growing portfolio of industrial products.”

The deal was expected to close on Aug. 31.

Spokane Chain Celebrates 75th with News of New Location

Amid celebrations of its 75th anniversary, The General Store, Spokane, Wa., announced plans to open its third Ace Hardware location—a 12,500-sq. ft. branch in Liberty Lake, Wa.

Expected to open early next year, the store will feature a mix of hardware and home improvement products geared to the local residents, including lawn and garden and gear for fishing and marine activities.

NEWS Briefs

Crown Ace Hardware, Huntington Beach, Ca., has purchased Dixon Hardware & Lumber Co., Dixon, Ca.,

from Tony and Stacy Tryba, owners since 2005.

Baller Hardware has been opened in Highland Park, Ca., by Craig Cowie, replacing Do it Best Hardware, which closed in January after 45 years. Former Do it Best owner Jim Rossi remains the landlord for the property.

Red Bluff Ace Hardware, Red Bluff, Ca., held a grand opening ribbon cutting for the new store July 30, led by manager Scott Moore.

Ace Hardware opened a new 18,000-sq. ft. branch in Elk Grove, Ca.

Builders FirstSource, Dallas, Tx., has authorized repurchase of up to $1 billion of its common stock.

Eagle Forest Products, Eagle, Id., opened a new distribution facility in Montgomery, Tx., handling both industrial and commodity lumber, and fencing products.

Randall Lumber & Hardware, Taos, N.M., recently

celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Sierra Pacific to Acquire Seneca Sierra Pacific Industries, Anderson, Ca., has agreed to acquire Seneca, Eugene, Or., and affiliates, combining two complementary, family-owned forest products businesses with strong historical roots on the West Coast. Founded in 1953, Seneca operates a 175,000-acre sustainably-managed tree farm, sawmills, and a biomass plant in Oregon. SPI, a leading lumber producer that manages over 2.1 million acres of timberland in California and Washington, as well as manufactures millwork, windows, and renewable energy. The combination of two highly complementary businesses with deep expertise in forest products will result in increased efficiency and significant benefits to employees and customers. “Aaron Jones and Red Emmerson are both icons of the wood products industry. They were also friends and had a deep mutual respect for each other as industry leaders,” said Seneca CEO Todd Payne. “This proposed transfer makes so much sense given the companies provide complementary products, and have shared family values and company culture.” Both SPI and Seneca have a strong focus on sustainable tree management, also managing their timberland for thriving wildlife, healthy watersheds and soils, and world-class recreation. As Payne explained, “At Seneca, we grow more than we harvest annually. We have 92% more timber on our land today than we had 25 years ago. SPI also grows more than they harvest. Under their forest management plan they expect to have more large trees on their timberlands 100 years from now than they have today.” The companies also share a company culture that recognizes employees as their most valuable asset, values the support of the communities they operate in and serve, and long, frigid winter climate, coupled with a short summer season, produces hardwoods with very tight growth rings. This creates lumber with outstanding color and fine texture, which is ideal for applications ranging from furniture, cabinetry and doors to flooring, paneling and more. This region supplies nine primary, widely used species, including: ash, basswood, cherry, hickory, hard maple, red oak, soft maple, white oak and walnut. Appalachian Region: Superior Quality Spanning several states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia, the Appalachian region produces a wide range of hardwoods species—all with one thing in common: superior quality. Thanks to the region’s climate conditions—warm summers that assist with tree growth, and cooler spring HARD MAPLE is popular throughout the Glacial Region. cally reject such an offer. As a result, the buyers face ‘adverse selection’—the only sellers who will accept $750 are those unloading lemons. “Smart buyers foresee this problem. Knowing they could be buying a lemon, they offer only $500. Sellers of the lemons end up with the same price they would have received were there no ambiguity. But the peaches all stay in the garage. “Information asymmetry” kills the market for good cars.” Structural wood panel buyers rely upon qualified inspection and testing agencies like the APA to routinely test and certify the quality of the products they buy. This creates an incentive for individual panel producers to “push” the standard. A passage from Ackerloff’s famous paper: “There are many markets in which buyers use some market statistic to judge the quality of prospective purchases. In this case there is an incentive for sellers to market poor quality merchandise, since the returns for good quality accrue mainly to the entire group whose statistic is affected rather than to the individual seller. As a result there tends to be a reduction in the average quality of goods and also the size of the market.” When the industry is young, industry production technologies vary little and raw materials are relatively homogeneous (e.g., OSB), this isn’t a major problem. But it is a serious problem when the inspection and testing agencies find it difficult or impossible to keep up with a very rapidly changing industry. An example would be today’s overlaid Douglas fir plywood industry. There are rapid changes underway on both the demand side (e.g., much higher alkalinity concrete mixes are now essentially “pulping” conform panels) and on the supply side (e.g., much reduced supplies of small-knot, dense, Douglas fir veneers). The “market for lemons” is likely having a major effect on the size of this market today.

Overcoming the Market for Lemons

How can individual panel producers overcome this “lemons market” problem, their industry’s “race to the bottom,” and depressed industry sales levels? They can offer company-specific product performance guarantees.

Another approach is to more aggressively brand products. In either case, the mill’s products need to be clearly differentiated from their competitors’; as we discovered earlier, industry-wide, third-party quality certification is important but not sufficient. Like car buyers, panel buyers won’t chance paying peach prices when they may actually be buying a “dressed up” lemon.

For some structural panel producers, product differentiation requires a major change in company culture. For instance, it is very difficult to produce innovative, differentiated products for the end use market if the company doesn’t also adapt a different supplier-buyer mindset. Supplierpartners are often critical to the structural wood panel producer’s differentiation.

As industry competition comes to focus more and more upon only one of the “4P’s of marketing”—price— “lemons” tend to proliferate and industry sales volume tends to decline.

gives back by being dedicated to education and administerand fall seasons with cold winters, which allow that growth ing scholarship programs. to be gradual—hardwoods from the Appalachian region “Seneca is known for its commitment to its people and feature tight growth rings, strong fibers, and consistent communities, sustainable forest management, innovation in colors and grain textures. This leads to strength, durability manufacturing and quality wood products,” said SPI presiand beauty in the lumber, in addition to excellent width and dent George Emmerson. “As a family-owned forest products long length characteristics. company with similar values, SPI appreciates the opportuniPrimary species include ash, cherry, hard maple, red ty to continue the legacy started by Aaron Jones and carried oak, soft maple, white oak, basswood, beech, birch, walnut, on by the Jones sisters. Seneca’s culture and operations are poplar and hickory, which are great for high-end furniture, a natural complement to Sierra Pacific. We look forward to millwork, cabinetry, doors, flooring and paneling, and more. bringing together our shared expertise which will result in inNo matter the region they come from, there are many creased efficiency and benefits to employees and customers.” North American hardwoods species to choose from. The transaction is expected to finalized by the end of the The decision as to which one to use comes down to the third quarter. application and overall quality and look of the project. Ganahl Breaks Ground at Long Last Ganahl Lumber Co., Anaheim, Ca., expected to begin – Don Barton is vice president of sales and marketing for Northwest Hardwoods, Tacoma, Wa. (northwesthardwoods.com). construction in August on a new hardware store and lumberyard in San Juan Capistrano, Ca. The facility will replace its nearby Capistrano Beach location.

Escrow on the 17-acre Lower Rosan Ranch property, which Ganahl Lumber purchased from the city for $5 million, closed in late spring, following more than four years of planning, negotiations and applications. Ganahl portion will use about nine acres of the site for its new store and yard.

General manager Alex Uniack said the journey has been “a challenging and complex process to get to this point, and we are excited to move the project into the construction phase.”–Roy Nott is president of Surfactor Americas LLC, Aberdeen, Wa., a German-owned producer of overlays, glue films, and press Home Depot, among others, had spent nearly 15 years atcleaning films for the global wood panel industry, with manufactempting to purchase the property before the city zeroed in turing operations in Finland, Germany and Malaysia. Reach him on Ganahl in 2017. CHERRY is among the major hardwoods of the Appalachian Region.at roy.nott@surfactor.com.

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