Not-So-Secret Business Secrets

Adapted from a business talk by Marc Shupan

Here are 10 lessons I have learned over the past 35 years.
1. Remember the real estate adage, location---location---location! For the distribution industry it is the customer---customer---customer! I remember putting an ad together about 30 years ago at a company meeting, something to the effect that we did not want to have the biggest building or the most trucks, or most employees, etc. What we wanted were the most satisfied customers. Focus on creating value for your customers. Know your customers and understand their needs. You be the one to call them and tell them when they are going to run out of a product. Even in this day of modern technology, people still like to deal with people. We always answer the phone, even though we have voice mail. Do not talk about great customer service if your customer needs a college degree in astrophysics to get a hold of a human being in your organization. Find solutions that take risk out of their businesses. If you can help them increase their opportunities, the sales will follow. There is nothing wrong with helping them find solutions on items you don't provide. Create credibility for the items you do sell. How can you add value for your customers? Is it in inventory reduction? Can you engineer an improvement that is cost saving? Is your reliability and response time an asset for them so they can concentrate energy in other areas where they have challenges? Also, beware of the problem customer. If you have a potential customer and you know there are going to be problems, spare yourself the experience. It's like the definition of a pessimist, "A man walking down the aisle to get married and wondering how much it's going to cost him in alimony!" Life is too short!

2. Employees. Companies talk about this as their greatest asset, but we try to live it. I met Jim Stine, the CEO and founder of Cressona Aluminum a number of years ago. At that time, Schupan & Sons, Inc. was supplying remelt sows from our melting facility and we were fortunate to win back-to- back "supplier of the year" awards. I have the two awards in my office. I figure they cost us about $750,000 a piece--about what we lost during that time period when aluminum went from $1.00/lb down to $.43/lb. Jim passed away a few years ago, but he had a tremendous positive influence on most everyone who met him. He used to say "If you take care of your people, take care of your customers, give the quality, delivery and service, everything else will fall into place and you will succeed. Remember, "Only do what you can do--don't promise anything you cannot deliver."

3. Don't bet the farm. Do not be afraid to try new opportunities, but I feel we as a company have obligations to our suppliers, customers, employees, and their families. I want to think of Chapter 11 as the one I am going to read after 10 in a good book.

4. It's better to be excellent at a few things than average at many. Do what you do best or find something you can do better than the competition. If you saw aluminum better than anyone, use it to your advantage. "Stick to your knitting." We may lose some business because we do not supply other metals, but I believe we retain more business by specializing in aluminum.

5. Service. As long as we have customers that need next day service and look to someone that can help them to understand what they need--we will have a business.

6. Get paid for what you do. The book, Free, Perfect, & NOW by Robert Rodin, reflects what your customers want. I have not had the courage to read the entire book yet, but it is probably on target. If your salesman comes in and wants to celebrate your 21-year relationship with a customer who has had a five percent a year giveback program, you have a problem. If we cannot get paid for what we do, we are happy to offer our competition a great opportunity to work with that customer--using his energy and resources instead of ours. Sometimes your best deal is one you do not make.

7. Continuity. Going back to employees, our customers do not want to form new relationships every three months. Schupan & Sons, Inc. is ISO 9002 certified in all our facilities because it involves our employees and I believe it helps us to be a better customer and supplier. The new ISO-9001: 2000 standards focus much more on customer satisfaction and will again, raise the service bar.

8. Pay your bills. Don't ask for 30-day terms when your policy is not to pay for 45 days. The people that pay their bills consistently get the best attention, service and price. If there is going to be a short-term problem, do not hide it but address it before it gets out of hand. This will go a long way toward building credibility and getting help if needed.

9. Rich Holtz. I have an employee story I wish to share. Rich Holtz started as a salesman for Schupan and later led our beverage container recycling division, which I believe today is the largest independent in the U.S. Rich had diabetes since childhood and while at Schupan, his health continued to deteriorate until he passed away at 56. He was a very dynamic individual who never complained and was truly loved by his employees. We hired a driver for him his last three years at Schupan because his sight was failing, but this did not impair his ability to do a great job. During that time, he was forced into the hospital to amputate one leg below the knee. I went to visit him in the hospital, dreading the feeling of not knowing what to say. After a few minutes with Rich, I realized he was trying to talk me into buying a new forklift for one of his facilities. Today, we sponsor a successful golf outing in his name for the American Diabetes Association. He is gone, but will not be forgotten. His advice to me was, "the man with the best army wins." I have been fortunate to build our company because we have competent people who care. We grow because it is important for our people to have opportunities. "My goal has never been to be the richest man in the graveyard." I probably owe my longevity as CEO to not having an outside board. There are great advantages to being independent and not a public company. I can take a long-term view when it comes to the employees and profits. I believe there are more ways to measure the success of a company than return on assets.

10. Be significant. A few years ago at a National Association of Aluminum Distributors meeting, I had the opportunity to have dinner with Ronee Hagen, president of Alcoa N.A. Ext. Division. She said something that I have never forgotten, "There is a difference in being successful and significant."Success for many is measured solely by economic stature. There are many people in this category. Significant is what you do that may be more permanent or beneficial to someone beside yourself. We all have opportunities to be significant. I also have to quote my mother, Charlette Schupan, when she said, "It is easier to give someone the shirt off your back if you happen to have another." Success allows those opportunities. I would like to close by sharing some thoughts from a motivational speaker my wife and I heard some time back. Rick Berg is his name. I asked him at the end of his talk what were the most important values he wished to teach his two children. He paused and said, compassion for others, tenacity when dealing with life's challenges, and integrity. I have been thinking about this lately, hoping that my children will have learned these values. In these tough economic times, can we have compassion in how we do business? Compassion is not weakness. It is a strength-- maybe more fairness could grow out of this. Tenacity is necessary to redouble our efforts to not only survive, but to prosper. There are still great opportunities out there. And integrity--if possible, I avoid companies that don't have it. Companies that value integrity in how they deal with employees, customers and suppliers will be the winners of the future.

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