NOVEMBER 2014
SPOTLIGHT www.dakotasupplygroup.com
Tom's Current
What If We Could Get Rid Of Meetings? There is nothing like a boring, unproductive staff meeting to make a Friday feel like a Monday. Everybody hates them, right? Wrong. Everybody doesn’t necessarily hate staff meetings; they hate boring, unproductive staff meetings. Unfortunately, there is still no replacement for periodic meetings to get your team on the same page. Trust me, I’ve tried every alternative, and they all leave too much to chance. Take email, for example. Use a professional email service to deliver your messages to your staff once or twice and watch the tracking numbers on how many get opened. You will surely be saddened by the results. Oh, you can try to skip meetings altogether, but that plan comes with its own set of consequences. Get ready to hear “I didn’t hear about that” so much that your ears will ring. No, meetings seem like a necessary evil in today’s business. On the other hand, maybe it’s not meetings that are so bad; maybe you’re just doing a bad job of having meetings. There is an interesting article on Fast Company’s web site that gathers input from a group of the world’s most innovative business leaders about making meetings
mean something without boring everyone to sleep, and their comments include some really good advice. Keep it novel. In other words, mix up the scenery a little bit. Instead of the break room, have everyone stand up in the shop or take them down to the nearby park. Just don’t do the same thing every time. You might be surprised at how much easier it is to keep everyone’s attention if the meeting simply looks and feels different. Don’t squander youth. It can be tempting to discourage your younger team members from participating too much in meetings. However, your newest employees very often have their ears closest to the street. Try to utilize their energy rather than discouraging it, and you may find that it’s contagious. Say it in 5 words. This is a good way to get to the point of a meeting faster. If you’re looking for input from your team on an issue, limit each person’s initial response to 5 words only. This forces everyone to put some thought into their responses (and it’s kind of fun to see what people come up with). Get them laughing. The meeting’s leader doesn’t need to be a stand-up comedian, but lightening the mood often results in a more positive exchange of ideas, which is almost always more productive. Give these ideas a try, and maybe you’ll come up with some of your own ways to make meetings more productive. If so, I’d love to hear them. After all, the best meetings are the ones that get things done.
POP QUIZ 1. In addition to Bruce Willis, what actor was considered to play the role of John McClane in the movie Die Hard? 2. What team is the only nonprofit, community-owned team in the NFL?
Muskie Bay Resort in Ontario, Canada. Back Row: Jim Hanson, Tim Burckhard, Jeff Carlson, Oliver Crane, Chris Duchamp, Tom Roe, Matt Brennan; Middle Row: Jake Thinkner, Bruce Ludwig, Todd Hiller, Mike Ryan, Jason Robertson, Scott Hacker, Brad Morrow, Brad Vrem, Paul Thinkner; Front Row: Chad Devier, Rick Anderson, Tom Lorenz, Dean Laliberte, Rory Troff, John Shimota, Mark Muller, Tom Eveslage.
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4. What trophy is given each year to the NHL player with the most goals? ANSWERS: 1. Richard Gere 2. Green Bay Packers 3. 55 MPH 4. The Maurice Richard Trophy
DSG customers and employee owners on a fishing trip to
3. Over short distances, what is the top speed of a wild turkey in flight?
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DSG Strives For Perfection With Its 100% Order Accuracy Promise Our partners have voiced their opinions about the promises made by our Customer Service Guarantee. Here’s what people are saying about our 100% Order Accuracy promise:
CUSTOMER SERvice GUARaNTEE At DSG, we consider every one of our customers to be a partner. After all, your success is the key to our own. To prove that our focus is squarely on the productivity of our partners, we make three promises to you: 100% Order Accuracy; 2 Business Day Stock Credit; Top 200 Items Always In Stock. Together, they make up DSG’s Customer Service Guarantee.
From 2012 to 2013, DSG customers reported a nearly 6% increase in their satisfaction because of this promise. As a result, the level of trust between our partners and us has increased as well. Also, survey data suggests that because of DSG’s commitment to 100% order accuracy, our customers felt that their own operations ran more efficiently and effectively. Finally, DSG’s customer satisfaction index (CSI) on the topic of order accuracy levels is significantly higher than the national average. Want to learn more about all three promises included in the Customer Service Guarantee? Go online to dakotasupplygroup.com/CSG NOVEMBER 2014 | SPOTLIGHT
Introducing The New Venmar K Series Air Exchangers
Div i si ons of DS G
Great For Small Spaces, Big For Your Bottom Line Venmar air exchangers are a great way to introduce fresh, healthy air into your customers’ indoor atmospheres. The new K Series is the ideal choice for condominiums, apartments and other limited-space applications that require up to 95 CFM of continuous ventilation. With their compact size and 4-inch ports, they can be installed in small spaces such as a closet or mechanical room above a hot water tank.
Offer Your Customers Venmar, And Get Ready For A Healthy Response Showing your customers how
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Advanced blower design for quiet operation
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never been easier. Ask your DSG
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ENERGY STAR® compliant
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Easy to balance with integrated dampers and pressure taps
information and sales tools –
important indoor air quality is has
including videos, brochures and more – to help you show your customers how critical an air exchanger is to the health of
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DESCRIPTION ITEM # K10 HRV Top Port 45-90 CFM.................156691 K10 HRV Side Port 45-90 CFM...............156692 K8 HRV Top Port 38-78 CFM ..................156689 K8 HRV Side Port 38-78 CFM ................156690 K7 HRV Top Port 35-71 CFM ..................156684 K7 ERV Top Port 35-70 CFM ..................156686 K7 ERV Side Port 35-70 CFM .................156688
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PRODUCT # VNV44500 VNV44502 VNV44152 VNV44153 VNV44150 VNV44162 VNV44163
Noritz Tankless Water Heaters: Endless Hot Water Means Endless Sales Opportunities For You! Noritz water heaters are an exciting option for installations and upgrades. These space-saving water heaters create hot water on demand and in just seconds, ready for any application. Plus, these units can save your customers up to 50 percent on their water heating bills. Best of all, Noritz water heaters will heat up not only water, but your profits as well.
Quick connections for fast installations. Tankless gas water heaters from Noritz are QuickConnect capable, which makes installation that much easier for you. Plus, on most models, a single cable can connect two identical models side by side.
Install customer loyalty with every system. Noritz tankless water heaters have a typical life span of up to 20 years, which can be twice as long as a tank-style unit. In addition, a tankless system provides clean, fresh water, avoiding the use of water that has been stored in a tank with accumulated rust and scale.
BLUE STRIPe Fiberglass Hot Sticks: A Lineman's Best Friend ®
NOVEMBER 2014 | SPOTLIGHT
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Easy Tip Lock Replacement feature allows sticks to stay on the job – Enables buttons to be replaced without
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resistance to failure due to water absorption or delamination.
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BLUE STRIPE Fiberglass Hot Sticks allow for safe contact with energized equipment because of their insulating ability. These hot sticks are safe, dependable, easily maintained and lineman-friendly.
The Job site
The Difference Between Good Employees And Great Employees It is not easy to manage people. It’s a lot of work, and contrary to the opinion of those being managed, it’s not often glamorous or enjoyable. As a result, it’s human nature to subconsciously make the job easier whenever we can. One way we do this is to incrementally lower the bar for what we consider a great employee. After all, it’s simpler to tell employees that they are doing a great job than to explain to them that they are doing a good job, followed by what they can do to raise the bar. So what differentiates “good” employees from “great” ones? It usually comes down to innovation and extra effort. Employees who simply do more of the same thing as other employees are good. They may even be very good. But they aren’t really great until they do something that the other employees aren’t doing. For example, if you have one tech who completes more installations per day than his peers, he should be considered a very good employee. On the other hand, a tech who not only does a good job at installations but also suggests a new method for making projects more efficient is a great employee. Why is it so important to identify the good ones and the great ones correctly? Because rewarding expected behavior makes it harder to recognize,
encourage and retain your exceptional employees. In practical terms, our distaste for treating average employees as anything more than average can be expensive and demotivating. Expensive because above-average employees (logically) assume that they will be compensated at an aboveaverage rate. Unfortunately, if you’ve identified all of the average team members as above average, this can create a compensation trend that is impossible to maintain. In the end, you may end up holding back salaries for everyone (in an attempt at fairness) or shorting your great employees (because they are at the top of your escalating pay structure). Demotivating because not only are your exceptional employees not being recognized for going above and beyond, but your average employees don’t see any benefit in doing it, either. When good employees believe that they are great, there is no need for them to try harder or look for new ways to contribute. Be honest with your team. Let them know when they are simply meeting expectations (and the rewards for doing so) or exceeding expectations (and the greater rewards for doing so). Make sure that everyone understands that exceptional work is the way to get exceptional rewards. By doing so, you’ll put everyone on the same path – one that encourages improvement rather than the status quo. Source: http://www.hrcapitalist.com/2014/09/youre-good-not-greatadjectives-to-use-when-determining-if-someone-is-a-star.html
NOVEMBER 2014 | SPOTLIGHT
When The Job Calls For Quick Installation, Go With ® GenSPEED Cables!
PRESORTED STD US POSTAGE
PAID Detroit Lakes, MN Permit No. 14
Divisions of DS G
GenSPEED from General Cable: A premium line of data communication cables that are easy to install and offer all the performance needed for tomorrow’s technology. They’re available in Category 6A, Category 6 and Category 5e.
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Installer-friendly design means that you won’t lose valuable time and money. GenSPEED cables feature unique productspecific packaging for easy identification and TRU-Mark® footage marking so you don’t waste time pulling cable that’s too short.
You Could Win Big With Lutron Sensors Every qualifying Lutron sensor you purchase from October 1, 2014, to January 31, 2015, gives you a chance to win one of these prizes: • Choice of a trip to the Super Bowl, Indy 500, Miami Beach or a fly fishing adventure in Colorado, plus $4,000 in Caseta Wireless products for your home (2 winners) • $2,000 in Caseta Wireless products (15 winners) • Maestro in-wall occupancy sensor (1000 winners)
You can submit by: 1. Visiting WinWithLutronSensors.com 2. Mailing in an official entry form (available through your local DSG and the contest web site) For all prizes, terms and conditions apply. See Official Rules for details. Duplicate entries prohibited. Each qualifying sensor purchased counts as a single entry to win. Multiple entries with qualifying sensor purchases may be submitted together by mail or online. No purchase necessary to enter or win. A purchase will not increase your chances of winning. For entry requirements, description of prizes, and contest terms and conditions, see the Official Rules. NOVEMBER 2014 | SPOTLIGHT