31. Find ways to say Yes!

In this episode, Andrea and Griffin talk customer service and making sure we are doing everything we can to provide the best experience for our customers.

Also, new start time procedures, a trip to Kansas, and Muscatine doing work!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Welcome to Loaded, the Hahn Ready Mix podcast with Andrea Meyer, Griffin Hahn, and producer Lex. Hey everyone.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

How's it going today?

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Great. This is uh a late recording for us, but it's Monday morning, which would be my favorite time to record if we could.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

It is interesting that so we were supposed to record last Tuesday. We had a potential guest on and that or potential guest coming in, and that didn't end up working out. And then you promised me what I was gone Wednesday through Friday that you were going to We would do it even better without you was my plan. Episode ever without me. And then I got a meeting request for uh uh recording first thing Monday morning.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Yes. So we were you were gone and we were actually busy. Like Lex was running around doing a lot of work, I was doing a lot of work, and we planned on Friday afternoon and could not make it happen.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

So I suppose that's a good uh that's a good reason.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Uh it is a good it is a good reason, but next time you're gone, look out. We're gonna really have something special. So what's new? Tell us about your your week. Where were you? What did you do?

SPEAKER_01 1:20

I was in Kansas. So I think we've mentioned on this group before, um, I'm in a peer group with six other Radio Mix companies from around the country, similar size, multi-generational family ready mixed companies. And uh we get together two or three times a year and just kind of compare how things are going, you know, best ideas we've had, challenges we're facing, and and just kind of support each other and get input. And and also at a lot of the meetings were hosted at one of the organizations, one of the members of that peer group. And so we were in Kansas visiting one there, and it was just a really special experience to get to see how someone else does the same thing we do. So just little things that you can pick up on and um that maybe we can we can utilize. You know, not everything will kind of translate or or be usable for us, but there's lots of little things we could do better that I saw. And uh, so I have a list of like seven pages long of handwritten notes of ideas and thoughts and things we should consider. Um, and so those are those are really valuable and it's really fun. It's a great group of people, uh, but I think we we can learn from from them and and get better. And so uh that's what I love about it.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Great. So now everyone knows what I'll be spending the rest of my day doing is listening to Griffin's seven pages.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Well, I gotta I gotta type it up first for tomorrow. I don't even like subjecting myself to my own handwriting. So I'll yeah, it might be tomorrow before we cut that. I'll look forward to that. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

All right. Well, while you were gone, I think you know we had an issue with our fuel. Um, we actually ran out of fuel in Davenport, which is a disaster on many levels. Um, but the the part that I wanted to mention here on the podcast for our drivers is if you ever see an issue with the fuel. So the last two people in the night that we ran out are, you know, relatively newer employees. So they didn't know if that we were out of fuel, they just knew there was a problem with the fuel pump.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

And dispatch was already gone. So they didn't know and there wasn't any communication. So when we came in in the morning, even though everyone should have had fuel the night before, uh, there were people who tried to fuel in the morning and we didn't have any. So just a reminder of why it is so important to get fuel at the end of the day and also to report any issues. I think the easiest thing to do is probably text Sheldon, get a hold of any manager, or let dispatch know, and that way we can start addressing it um after hours so that we're set up for the morning.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Yeah. I'll add to that. We were just talking about on our way in here, you know, Woodhole oil is our fuel vendor. And um, there was obviously this issue last week, and I was pretty impressed by the way that they have investigated and and come up with solutions. So hopefully this never happens again.

SPEAKER_02 4:11

Yep, we're a great partnership there, and we appreciate what they're doing for us.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Another partnership that's bringing some changes this week, we've talked about before, but it's really happening now. Uh, Digital Fleet is changing the way that they are sending your start time starting October 1st, I believe, is when the switch flips. So we are going to get some uh posters up information out today and start really talking to people about how to prepare for that. But my understanding is that instead of getting your actual start time in a text message, you will get a link in a text message. And you have to click the link and put in your employee number, your four-digit employee number, and then it will display your start time. So fun. Should be should be interesting, but I think we can do it.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Yeah, that's um it's always great when we get less convenience from an update.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

No comment. It's gonna get better, I think. All right, what do you want to talk about today?

SPEAKER_01 5:12

I also want to give a shout out to Muscatine. You know, they've really been kind of uh lifting the heavy weight for for the organization for the last month or so and and looks to continue to do so. Um it's it's busy down there, and that's that's been wonderful. But they've had to deal with a lot of like late cancellations and point breakdowns and and all that stuff, and have been very flexible and and really persevered through that. So just wanted to give a a shout out to everybody down there. They've been working hard and and we just really appreciate them. I think our topic for this week, we've gotten busy again a little bit in this year. Which is great. Which is great. Uh this year has been very slow, but last week was I believe our busiest week of the year so far. And I think it does a little bit look like maybe we'll have a sprint to the finish. Uh unfortunately, not a very long sprint, but a sprint to the finishing.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

Let's hope this record-breaking warm weather holds on for a couple more months.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

Right. Uh we've talked about before and has been a focus, especially when you're slow, customer service is everything, but it it needs to be everything even when we're busy as well. And so I don't want to lose sight of that. You know, I we had an issue last week where uh a customer was asking for something and and twice we told them we couldn't do what they were asking for. And I don't want to get into the particulars of that situation, but we can be better than that. And we can we have to keep in mind what our job is here, right? Is our job is to provide for our customers. And and sometimes, you know, our customers are all the time going to ask us for things that are inconvenient or difficult or very challenging. Challenging. And and it's our job to figure out what we can do, right? So um thinking about finding reasons or excuses to say yes or or working that problem rather than finding excuses to say no is so important. You know, when you talk about good customer service, it's it's not only the reliability and the attitude that we've talked about before, but it's also flexibility. So so changing our plans to make things work for a customer. Um, that's that's all part of it.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Yeah, and I think that applies at every single level, like you said, whether it's a a request for an order or a special, you know, mix or you know, something that's gonna make it harder for us to do what we need to do at that level. But it also gets down to the driver level. You know, we talk about when you come on a job site and they're asking you to do something crazy. We don't want to say, no, I'm not going to do that, even though that's what you're thinking in your head, like I'm absolutely not doing that. What you say is, what about if I do this, right? You propose something else. Can we make it work by doing it this way? And then it creates a conversation where we're all working towards the same goal. Um, I had conversations sort of uh directly with a driver, but then got the feedback through Sheldon, where we had had a conversation about customer service, and the driver came back a few weeks later and he was like, You're you're totally right. When you approach it to where I'm trying to help them get their job done, it makes everything work so much better. So I was happy to hear that.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

I like to also think about think about the why from the customer's standpoint. Why do they want the slump that they're requesting? Why do they want the truck to come in the way that it says on my ticket? Why do they want to start at X time? You know, there there's typically a reason behind it. You know, we had an issue last week where trucks were going the wrong way to a job site because they didn't look at the instructions on their ticket and it created a big gap because you couldn't get there from the other direction. So there was, they were on there for a reason, right? Um, so we had a gap in service and it was just totally avoidable. Um, so if we think about that, if we think about slump accuracy and getting to the, you know, the the job site, what what the customers want, because you know, time is money to them. And if we have to add water or, you know, that could interrupt their whole daily flow, right? So all those things I think we need to keep in mind on, you know, they've told us these, asked these requests, told us these parameters or instructions for a reason, um, and and we just need to do whatever we can to follow them. Obviously, there are limitations to the resources we have. And I mean, we can't uh just carte blanche just, you know, if if somebody calls us up at 6 a.m. on a day and says, I want a thousand yards starting right now, you know, obviously that's probably not something we have the ability to do with a full schedule already yet, you know. So but everything we can do to to accommodate customers' requests, we should try to do all the time. And you know, obviously if it's not safe, everybody understands there's there's limitations, but within within those boundaries, you know, we can work really hard to to fulfill what our customers want. And I think generally we do. I really do. I just think it's as we get a little bit busier, it's easier to fall into that trap uh of of oh that's gonna be hard, or or or you know, that's that's gonna push, push things too far, and and we just need to find a way to do it.

SPEAKER_02 10:35

Yeah, I think this comes around to efficiency also. Like when we aren't as busy, it isn't a big deal to take extra minutes at the washout or dump site or spend more time washing your truck at the end of the day while we still want to be thorough in our washout um and and keep our trucks clean. The minutes that we're spending out of ready status is really impacting customer service. So keep that in mind. You know, while we had time to spare a few weeks ago, we do not have time to spare now. So we need to be really efficient in getting back and getting to the yard and being ready for the next load.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Also, customers really remember when we go the extra mile, right? Yeah. If everything goes smoothly, that's good. But that's not necessarily memorable. And we talk a lot about in this industry. We we don't hear from customers when things go well. You know, that's that's just normal. But we do hear when we go the extra mile, and they know that we went the extra mile, that we bent over backwards, that we did something unusual. Those are the moments where you know you you surprise and delight a customer. I think it's it's used in some books and customer service books and things like that. And and when you do that, you can create real loyalty from customers. So that's what we want to aim to do. It's and it's hard to do in this industry. It's hard to surprise and delight. Um, but that's what we need to be aiming for. And and when you do those things, it positions us as a partner, not just a supplier. Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

An opportunity to solidify the relationship.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Yeah. And we've talked about our whole sales strategy is I think most of our customers know they can go somewhere else and get it cheaper. But we position ourselves and we believe that we provide the best quality materials in our market and the best service. But we have to live that best service. And that's that underpins even when it's difficult. Yeah, yeah. And but that that just underpins our our whole business strategy. So we can't fall short on that. We have to be the best there is, and and and that's what makes it all work. And that's what's what makes people willing to work with us, even if we aren't the the most even if somebody else is a little bit cheaper.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

So this leak, this week we finally have a loaded question for you guys. It's from Mr. John Allen, who asks, What is your most proud moment of your career? Ooh, that's a good one. Do you want to go first?

SPEAKER_02 13:05

No, go ahead. Let me think. Let me think right.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Uh okay, so the easiest answer to that is watching our whole team overcome the challenges of the I-74 bridge was something very special. And I don't think every other team could do that. I think that we were um uh we were special that we got through that that kind of uh that challenge and that those trials and tribulations of that project. And so extremely proud of that, and then you know, getting to um go kind of celebrate that at different speaking engagements and things and talk about some of the stuff we overcame is is the easy answer. But I also will say I quite frequently will have non-industry people or whatever and uh come up and they'll want to talk about Han ready mix and they'll say, you know, I have a a neighbor who finishes concrete or um my my brother's cousin's cat, you know, poured with you guys or something. And they just said, you guys, it was the best experience and and everybody was helpful and it was the best concrete. Or whenever I hear things like that, that I'm just extremely proud of what we've all built together. And it's just little micro moments, you know, and they might be talking about a one-yard sidewalk pad, you know. But I just think it's it's really cool when you hear that kind of discourse on on just when we're doing things every day and and impressed people. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

I think my answer is kind of similar to that, maybe a maybe a cop-out answer, but um the best moments for me are when we are doing the right thing, even when it kind of sucks.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

You know, uh when we own a mistake and make it right, when we, you know, let an employee get out early to be there for their kids or something like that. Like those those things where it is easier to be hard and have a fast rule and hold everybody to a certain standard, but we, you know, hear the whole story and make the best decision we can and try to do right by people.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Yeah. Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

All right. Thanks for listening. Please remember to subscribe and share this episode with your friends, and we will talk to you again soon.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Thanks so much.