Paul N. Long

The re:member group is always looking for people with initiative, people who can independently hit the “Go” button. Yes, we demand “Accuracy! Accuracy! Accuracy!“, but we’re also open to people trying new things, and we insist on Moving Things Forward.

Moving Things Forward consists of keeping clients, vendors and your boss up to speed on projects you’re working on. It means keeping promises you make, including deadlines, follow-up, and scheduled meetings. It means delivering assignments on time. It means sharing the progress of your work, even if there are mistakes.

If you’re not doing these things on a regular basis, you’re procrastinating. And if you’re procrastinating, then you’ve got a self-esteem problem.

When the people one reports to (including bosses, board directors, clients and vendors) have to constantly follow-up for progress reports, it shows an incredible lack of respect on the part of the person failing to follow-up. And it’s symptomatic of low self esteem.

Are you late for meetings, or fail to show up at all? Do you wait until the last minute that something is due, then rush to get it done, and as a result produce shoddy work? Do you make promises you can’t, or don’t keep? Are you scatter-brained, and have difficulty staying on task? If you said yes to consistently doing any of these things, you are a procrastinator. And I would guess you have self-esteem issues.

It’s not incurable. You can change your behavior, and build your confidence. If you have trouble making meetings, keep a calendar. Keep it up-to-date, postponing or canceling meetings so everyone is informed. If you are working toward a deadline, start early and get feedback often. If you have issues with keeping promises, know that it’s OK to say “no”. And if you are scatter-brained, develop a list system to help you stay on task.

Procrastination will never Move Things Forward. Only the initiative to hit that “Go” button and be responsible to add value to your company and your clients will assist in making your company great.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of “Accuracy! Accuracy! Accuracy!”, that is, attention to detail in one’s work. Spelling errors, inaccurate data and incorrect facts shows a lack of integrity that, in my mind, is unacceptable.

However, fear of mistakes is no excuse for doing nothing. Waiting to get something perfect before sharing it with your boss, a new or potential client, or the world, will get you nowhere.

Randy McPherson is what I like to call the quintessential “idea hamster.” He’ll run on his wheel nonstop, churning out one business or product idea after another. I consider it my job to sift through those ideas and capitalize on the ones that are feasible given our business model. For me to do nothing with any of his ideas would be doing Randy, and the re:member group, a disservice.

In the summer of 2003, we had a temporary client, a card printer, and a nickel discount. But we had something else, too. We had an Opportunity. And we weren’t going to spend our time making our company look perfect while our opportunity slipped away. We hit the “Go” button.

Randy would often rattle me so much with his ideas, and his uncanny ability to sell his ideas as products before the re:member group even knew if we could build what he was selling. It used to be unnerving to watch him make promises to our clients, then walk out the door, turn to me and say, “well, we’ve got some work to do, don’t we?”

Looking back, I see that Randy knew it was exactly what we had to do. We had to hit the “Go” button, cast our nets, and see what came back. Randy also knew that I was the guy to execute what needed to be done. He knew that I would be following up with him, our clients and our vendor partners to deliver on our promises.

Randy “Go” button is always pressed, and while I temper his initiative, it’s not for a lack of initiative on my part. In early 2004, we were in the process of delivering on our promises to Walser to build a points-based loyalty program. He wire-frames for the database had been built, but no coding had taken place. Randy started setting up meetings with non-profits and inviting me along. Our first meeting with Cook Communications, a publisher of faith-based materials and books, Randy promised them that we would build a “shop-to-donate” program, where constituents would shop online through well-know retailers, and a portion of their spend would be donated to the organization. They loved the idea. I was dumbfounded.

Leaving the meeting, Randy said, “well, we’ve got some work to do, don’t we?”

One temporary client, a card printer, and a discount.

That’s what Randy McPherson and I had in the summer of 2003 when we set out to make our little company go. Walser Automotive Group had agreed to retain our services until December 31, 2003, all the while searching different options for a loyalty program provider.

Fast-forward almost eight years. I spent this past weekend in a booth at the NADA convention, building my business. One of my most enjoyable conversations was with Andrew Walser. We’ve grown to be pretty good friends. Our relationship is built upon a mutual trust: he trusts that the re:member group will serve Walser’s better interests, and I trust that our relationship will continue to foster for years to come. Along with that trust comes the benefit of laughter, confidence and mutual respect.

We had a lot to prove in the summer of 2003, however. One aspect in which we had to prove ourselves was the ability to build partnerships that bring value to our loyalty program offerings. A nickel off a gallon of gas at SuperAmerica stores, while compelling, wasn’t going to cut the mustard for long.

Instead of focusing on getting new clients (although Randy and I spent a fair amount of time doing this), I worked on developing partner discounts for Walser. After all, Walser was the “bird in the hand”, and I wanted to keep it that way past December 31. Developing strategic partnerships would help us to build the infrastructure we needed to be successful.

Who are your strategic partners? I consider our clients, vendors, points-awarding merchants and discount merchants all to be partners, and all are equally important in hoisting our jib for smooth sailing.

In December of 2003, when we signed a long-term client agreement with the Walser Automotive Group, the Perfect Storm was finally subsiding. We had built several discount partnerships to add value to their program, and we were also on the verge of building solid relationships with clients and vendors. Although it hadn’t been easy, we had capitalized on our opportunity.

On May 7, 2003, I started as president of WAM advertising and marketing, and on May 14 of the same year, I was informed that in 45 days I would most like be out of a job.

Walser’s umbrella company for their affiliates would be closed, and Randy McPherson was in the process of selling his shares back to Walser for the companies that contained hard assets (property, buildings, etc.). What Randy was left with was a mortgage company and a fledgling marketing company with one client (for the moment anyway).

My options as I understood them were few: form a startup with Randy or look for a job. It was my understanding that Walser was not interested in retaining me as an employee to head up their marketing department (of which they did not have one at the time).

I was also informed by Walser that, assuming this fledgling marketing company decided to stay in business (which was Randy’s intention), they would retain our services until December 31, 2003.

That was both good and bad. Good that, if I started a business with Randy, I was just offered a few extra months of “security”. Bad that, it was most likely just prolonging the inevitable.

Randy and I met for lunch to discuss our options. He was unwavering. He wanted to make this marketing company fly, and he needed a business partner to be the pilot.

Randy is a serial entrepreneur. One of his favorite sayings is, “great opportunities often come disguised as a major pain in the butt.”

At lunch on this day in May, 2003. Randy’s words were an understatement. And before I made the decision to partner with this man that I had known only a handful of months, I had to know one thing.

“So let me get this straight,” I started. “You traded all your equity for a card printer, a 5 cent discount (referring to the SuperAmerica gas partnership) and client for six months?”

Randy paused, got a twinkle in his eye and smiled. “Yeah,” he finally said.

I sat back in my chair and huffed. I looked out the window. Then I looked back at Randy.

“Let’s do this,” I said.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that job title doesn’t mean much.

I started as president of WAM Advertising and Marketing on May 7, 2003. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the Walser Automotive Group had been working toward building affiliate companies under the Walser umbrella. This was the trend in the automotive dealer world at the time, and Walser’s way of turning what might be considered costs into revenue generators.

By the way, it’s a smart move to look at your costs and figure out a way to turn them into revenue generators. The airlines offer prime examples. Where they used to give movies away for free, they now charge. You want a meal on a plane? You pay for it now. And if you want to change clothes after arriving to your destination, you’re paying to check a bag.

I would contend that any cost can be turned into revenue, but that’s for a different post. Randy McPherson was heading up Walser’s Affiliate Company division because he had extensive entrepreneurial experience. He reported to Paul Walser and the board of Drew Companies, which was technically the parent company of all the affiliate companies.

I was one of at least a half-dozen “presidents” who reported to Randy. As quickly as a write, this is as quickly as it happened.

On May 13, 2003, I got back from lunch and people were scrambling. I walked by Randy and he hastily asked me to come into his office.

“Effective June thirtieth Drew Companies is closing,” Randy said. “I’m selling my shares in Walser’s collision company back to Paul Walser in exchange for the mortgage company and WAM Advertising and Marketing. The insurance and real estate companies are being dissolved. I want your commitment to come with me and lead the Marketing company.”

Just like that, I was essentially out of a job, or at least what I considered a secure one. “We have to go, they’re announcing it right now,” Randy finished and walked out of his office. I followed him, but first made a stop in my office and closed the door to call my wife Staci. I explained as best I could what happened.

“OK,” she said calmly. “I’ll be praying.”

“I feel so broke up, I want to go home.”
–Brian Wilson

The only way that WAM Advertising and Marketing made money in May of 2003 was by sending Car Club Memberships to customers who had purchased a new or pre-owned vehicle from one of 10 Walser Dealerships. the Membership Benefits consisted of a gas discount, a AAA discount for new AAA Members only, and Enterprise Car Rental discounts for weekends.

There were several problems with the way our revenue was generated, and how our costs were affected First, not all dealerships were participating. Second, of the dealerships that were participating, not all the customer data was being sent. Third, WAM’s processes (or lack of them) cost a lot of money. As a result, we were losing money. This company running was going to be an exhausting endeavor, and I didn’t know if I had it in me. I just wanted to go home. Instead, I addressed the issues head-on.

Not all Walser Dealerships were participating in the Walser Car Club. Walser dealerships used to operate with autonomy, and dealerships could choose whether or not to participate in different marketing programs. It was my job to get out and make a case to every general manager of each store as to the benefits of allocating a portion of their new car gross toward the program. My first goal was to visit every dealership and Walser entity armed with the benefits.

This went smoother than I thought. I was able to meet all the decision makers in the organization. I also gathered some great feedback that ultimately helped me to improve on the program, which included ideas for partnerships. Within the week, I had commitments from all dealerships that they would give the Walser Car Club a shot, based on my promises of how I planned to improve upon the program.

Next, I was aware that, even though participation was now 100%, not all car buyers were being sent to us. This was a data issue. I set out to establish policies on how we would uniformly receive the data from each dealership. I worked with Brad Peterson and Keith Lucas to establish an automated process, and I implemented a “no exceptions” policy–if we received the data, and sent a Membership, the dealership had to pay.

These were two huge successes, that afforded us much more revenue. But we still had issues with our cost-prohibitive processes. So I enlisted Gi-Gi, a mortgage broker at Dearey Mortgage (who happened to know Access) to expand upon our Access database, create a dedupe process (to maintain integrity and assist in enforcing my “we sent it, you bought it” policy with the dealerships), and develop a customer interface so Ruxy wasn’t working directly in the data.

It wasn’t pretty, but it was a database, and formed the framework for what is today our biggest asset, re:member group’s BEDROCK loyalty marketing platform. This was a major undertaking which took months, while in the meantime we retained developers to build what is today BEDROCK.

We also looked at all of our processes and the costs associated with them, and made major changes. For example, we eliminated the need for Ruxy to “print twice” when processing a Membership. With a little research, I was able to reconfigure the computers and printers, so that with the click of a mouse, all collateral was printed at once.

I made my first capital purchase on eBay. I bought a paper folder. That thing was horrible and caused major static shock, but it along with the improved merge process reduced the amount of time to process a membership by 50%. That meant I could use Ruxy for other things, which greatly decreased my personnel costs and exponentially increased company productivity.

I bought a postal permit, that allowed me to send mail at 26 cents instead of 42. The cost savings don’t need explaining here.

There are several principles that were established in the early days of re:member group. First, we found ways to increase our revenues from our existing customers. We didn’t do it by raising prices, but instead by improving processes and showing value. Second, we improved our internal processes by looking at every task and contemplating how we could streamline it. Third, we cut internal costs through simple measures.

This was the classic “Dasburg Handshake”, or “Dasburg Salute”, established by John Dasburg, the former CEO of Northwest Airlines in the 1990′s. The basic premise is Raise Revenues, Lower Costs.

Take a look at what you do. Are there ways you can add value and make more money with existing customers? Are there was to improve internal processes? Lastly, can you find ways to reduce the real costs of the products you sell? Suffice it to say, I ask myself these questions every month. Do you? How does your mainsail set? Can you make it better?

“Went to see the captain, strangest I could find. Laid my proposition down.”
-Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter

On May 7, 2003, I started as the president of WAM Advertising & Marketing. My first order of business was to hold a staff meeting to outline my goals and expectations. My staff consisted of three women, who I shared with Deary Mortgage (another affiliated company).

“Whatever you do,” I started, “I want you to ask yourself, ‘is what I’m doing making the company money, or costing the company money.’”

Blank stares.

“If you feel that what you are doing is making the company money,” I continued, “continue to do it. If it’s costing the company money, just consider it, but if it makes sense, I trust you. If you have questions, you can always ask me.”

More blank stares. I was going to have to take a different tack.

I needed to get a better sense of how the company made money. At the time, there was really just one revenue source: Car Club Memberships to Walser customers who had purchased a new or preowned vehicle.

I talked with Ruxy, a young Romanian woman who was hired to process the Memberships. I asked her by what method she receives the data files to process the Memberships.

“Data files?” She asked in her thick Romanian accent (but with impeccable English). “What data files do you speak of?”

“The customer data,” I explained. “You know, the customers who purchased vehicles. Their names, their addresses. You know, the customer data.”

“Data? What is ‘data’?” This was clearly a more difficult conversation than I expected.

“The customer data. The lists of customers who purchased a vehicle. How do the lists get into the database?”

“Oh, the lists! These lists?” She presented me with handwritten, faxed sheets of paper with names and addresses. “What is a ‘data-base’?”

I was floored. “Where do you type the names and addresses from these ‘lists’ in order to generate the card and the welcome letter?”

“I type them into here,” she showed me an Access database with raw data. Name, address, phone number. No interface or form, Ruxy was typing the information directly into the list. There was no way to dedupe the data.”

“OK,” I said. “So once the information is entered here, you can generate the card and letter…”

“No,” she interrupted. “Just the letter. Then I print all the letters, and take them over there.” She led me to a room down the hall, where there was a card printer connected to another computer. “I enter the information from each letter here and press print,” indicating each card had to be printed individually. One by one. “Then I put them in an envelop and stamp them, and take them to the postal bin downstairs.”

“How much do you pay for postage?”

“Forty-two cents.”

Clearly I had my work cut out for me. This wasn’t Ruxy’s fault. This wasn’t anyone’s fault. This was a start-up.

Worst job I ever had: “Brush Czar.” I had just graduated from Drake University, and decided to take one extra class in Des Moines during the summer of ’92. To have some extra spending money, I went to the local temp service and applied. They sent me to the county dump. Literally.

My job as “Brush Czar” consisted of directing traffic (one truck every 45 minutes) where to dump their branches, leaves and twigs. After waving them to stop, a typical conversation went like this:

“Hello.”
“Hey.”
“Watcha got in the back?”
“Brush.”
“No plastic or other trash? Just brush?”
“Yup.”
“Ok. Dump it over there”

I sat in a lawn chair. In a dirt field. And directed traffic. I was the “Brush Czar.” And I hated it.

I didn’t understand the purpose of the job. In fact, I noticed about 200 yards away, there was another Czar directing traffic for trash, recyclables, and other rubbish. I thought to myself, why do they need two Czars?

I suggested a redirection of traffic, that would require one Czar for all types of trash. And with that, I process improved myself right out of a job. Thankfully.

Process improvement is essential in building an efficiently-run business. As an employee, if you can successfully improve the processes you are in charge of, you become very valuable to your employer.

Most employees just follow the processes that were laid out for them. They just do what they’re told. Some employees don’t even do that. They cut corners (in the spirit of streamlining? I think not. More in the spirit of laziness) or don’t listen to instructions on the processes developed, and really mess things up.

Then there are the select few that can take a thirty-thousand-view look at something, and see a better way to do it. They suggest improvements, and moreover are able to assist in implementing those improvements. This is like finding free money to an employer.

It starts with just looking at what you do every day. Are there ways you can improve what you do on a day-to-day basis? Are there things you can streamline (don’t confuse this with cutting corners)? Write down step-by-step instructions for the processes you control, so that if you’re hit by a truck, someone can pick up where you left off.

In taking time to write down the steps you take for specific processes, you will begin to notice where you can streamline. Once a process is on paper, this is the first step in automating the process. This is more free money for the employer.

I guarantee you will not automate yourself out of a job. You will show your employer the value you bring, and will rise through the ranks. And those processes you wrote down? Now they’re ready to be performed by someone else (and you didn’t have to get hit by a truck to pass these tasks on). Only those that insist on doing the same thing day in and day out will be left in the dust.

I’m happy I’m not still a “Brush Czar.” I realized while sitting in that dirt field that I have a gift. The gift of process improvement. But I don’t think it’s that unique of a gift–I think everyone can develop this skill, and should in order to demonstrate their value.

in my next few posts, I’m going to write a little about how the re:member group looks at process, and how we have improved it within our business and for our clients.

“In making a speech, one must study three points: first, the means of producing persuasion; second, the language; third, the proper arrangement of the various parts of speech. ”
Aristotle

I’m going to tell you how to write a speech. I’m going to tell you how to write an essay. I’m also going to tell you how to handle a customer service call. All thanks to Aristotle and Mr. Hertzig.

I’m going out on a limb here. And I’m going to paraphrase. And I’m probable butchering Aristotle’s original intentions by his quote above. But I do know that 2,300 years ago, Aristotle outlined elements of speech, or rhetoric, and gave us a road map. Since I couldn’t find his original quote to impress all y’all, suffice it to say this is how it’s summed up:

1. Tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em.
2. Tell ‘em.
3. Tell ‘em what you told ‘em.

Yep. A simple three-step process for writing or giving a speech.

But wait. My high-school AP European History teacher, Mr. Hertzig, told me that this was the process for writing an essay. He told me this is the way to remember the Topic Paragraph, Body, and Conclusion.

So who was right? Surely Aristotle, for as smart as my teacher was, he’s no match for the Greek superstar. But, well, yeah. I guess Mr. Hertzig could use this same speech-writing step-by-step for writing an essay too. In fact, I did quite well writing college essays after taking AP European History (Mr. Hertzig would say, “I’m not teaching you about European History in this class. I’m teaching you how to write”).

So let’s say they’re both right. That little quip works for writing speeches AND essays.

I’ll tell you this: it works with ALL communication. And I’ll even put my own twist on it for when you’re working with clients. Trust me, they’ll appreciate it:

1. Tell ‘em what you’re gonna do.
2. Do it.
3. Tell ‘em what you did.

It’s a simple formula, but will do wonders for your client relations, employer relations, and customer service. Try it!

“Talented guy, a handful to manage.”

I spent the better part of March and April in meetings with the Drew Companies board of directors, presenting my business plan while they poked holes in it. I met with Randy McPherson several times, as we improved on the plan and presentation. We met with Kirk Kleckner, Barbara Jerich, Andrew Walser and Paul Walser. What I thought was a slam dunk after my first interview proved to be a grueling process of negotiations, improvement, more negotiations, and being assessed under a microscope.

Randy likes to brag that this was the most difficult interview I ever participated in, and he’s right. What started as a conversation in late January between two friends over pizza had grown into a business plan and numerous presentations to seek the plan.

Barbara Jerich used to an attorney at Northwest Airlines, and apparently called into a friend to find out about Paul Long. What got back to Randy is, “he’s a talented guy, but a handful to manage.”

When Randy told me this, I just laughed. Randy did too. He told me that an entrepreneur isn’t necessarily the easiest person to manage, that they break rules and take risks that others wouldn’t take. Rather than asking for permission, they ask for forgiveness.

In fact, I think the message Randy got was that I was the guy to get this business off the ground. We convinced the board, and on May 7th, 2003, I officially became the president of WAM advertising and marketing.

It was smooth sailing from here–that is, right through the eye of the storm, which lasted about a week.