December 23, 2024 • 32 mins
We explore the importance of relationships and a people-first culture in the food service industry with Jeff Griffiths, President of eSource Miller & our host, Nancy Ridlen. From employee empowerment to customer connections, this episode is packed with insights on creating a thriving business environment.
• Discussing the journey and experiences in the food service industry
• Importance of relationships and culture in business
• Empowering teams by understanding individual strengths
• Cultivating a service-oriented organization
• Navigating mergers while maintaining company culture
• Emphasizing transparency and open communication
• Finding inspiration and motivation in leadership
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Confessions Beyond the Food.
I'm your host, Nancy Redland.
Let's dig in and get inspired.
Hey guys, welcome back toConfessions Beyond the Food.
My name is Nancy and I'm withW3 Sales.
I have today in the studio agood friend of mine.
(00:22):
We have known each other over20 years.
Yes, ma'am.
Yep 20 years.
So this is Jeff Griffiths yes,the legend.
President of East Horse Miller.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, thanks, hey, thank you for having me.
It's awesome to be here.
It's fun to be on ConfessionsBeyond the Food too.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yeah, just wait, you're going to have to confess
something at the end of the show.
I'll confess, I'm sure you will.
He has lots to confess.
So one thing that you may notknow about Jeff and I is like
he's my annoying big brother andso we.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
A big brother.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, a big brother.
He's not annoying all the time,but sometimes and he is older.
I have brother, yeah, a bigbrother.
He's not annoying all the time,but sometimes, and he is older
lately, yeah, he's, he's, he'sway older.
So just so you guys know.
But we met when I first startedan industry in 2002, 2003, and
(01:20):
I was in distribution and youwere the federal.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I think it was federal and beverage air are the
two things we ever talked about, but federal for sure I think,
you were selling display casesand my expertise probably made
that thing go amazing for youyeah, it's really exciting fun
fact.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I don't know if you remember this, but chef doug
brown was opening up a um hisbeyond the box catering and
remember the federal like thefirst day, like we had to.
You know something was trippingor something just kind of first
day problem sometimes and Ilike showed up with my hair
(01:56):
dryer.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Oh, I do, which is interesting, cause he's a bald
guy, right.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, two bald guys, you and a hairdryer.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, so it's convicting, it is very
convicting.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So it worked out great.
I think you fixed the problem.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I don't think I did, but I mean I think it fixed
itself.
So but cause it's greatequipment, so anyways, but yeah,
so you've been in the industry,You've always been on the
factory side, right.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
No, I was actually a dealer for a while.
I was hired into the industryin 1993 and I worked at ISI
Commercial Refrigeration.
So we leased ice machines andwe're a Beverage Air and
Scotsman ice machine distributor.
So awesome experience for me.
I worked there in 93 to 98before I moved over to the rep
(02:44):
side.
I worked for John Dunn at theDunn Group at the time.
I had met John Dunn in 93trying to sell him a copier
machine.
He didn't buy it for me, whichwas most people I talked to
about copier machines.
I sold 11.
My parents bought one but Johnhad introduced me to ISI and
(03:08):
kind of in a cool full circlemoment, bob Gilbert, my first
boss, works at eSource Millernow and we represent Beverage
Air and we're the Scotsmandistributor.
So over the last year all threeof those things kind of have
come back together and it's justbeen a phenomenal thing for me.
It just feels like family kindof a reunion every day.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Yeah, it is.
This industry is very fullcircle, you know, oh for sure,
and the friendships you make areforever.
And I know that I've had thatwith you, jeff, you know, over
the years and just coming to youand just in different seasons
of my life, and whether it be,you know, a situation with a
(03:50):
customer or owning my own repgroup, but you've owned your rep
group for how long?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
So started at Miller Associates in February of 05 and
we bought it November of 06.
And we bought it November of 06.
So since then one iteration ofit we purchased eSource in
January of 21 to create eSourceMiller.
We're super creative with namesand it's been great.
(04:17):
I think I've told the storybefore it was going to be Miller
eSource.
But somebody way into theprocess of making logos said you
know that almost spells mess,so it's like ESM.
It is.
But yeah, so since November of06 really is when we've had
started Miller Associates.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah.
So I don't know if you arelistening outside the industry,
these brands are huge, huge, andso Jeff is one of the most
humble people I've ever met andhe's just a great leader.
And but you would never know,because you, you are one of
those guys that I'll call you.
(04:56):
I think I called you a coupleof weeks ago and you're like,
something went down for a bigcustomer of yours and you were
in your truck heading down tohelp them out with a replacement
.
I mean, that's just the kind ofguy and leader you are and I've
always admired that part of you.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
It's nice, nice of you to say that.
And with a replacement were thekey words, I think, because if
it was me going there to fix it,it would have never Really, I
don't even own a hairdryer, forinstance.
How could I fix a piece ofequipment?
Okay, no but I'm not supertechnical right.
So when it comes to fixing apiece of equipment, my method
would be similar to a computer.
You know, turn it off, turn itback on.
(05:34):
If that doesn't work, unplug it, wait 18 seconds, plug it in,
turn it back on.
But no, we just have a.
The industry, to your point, isphenomenal.
It's service-oriented people.
It's just a group of kind ofplay hard, have fun, work hard
people, and I've always justloved that about it.
(05:55):
I think the restaurant industryis the greatest way to learn
business.
You have full-on manufacturingwhere every step and every
process really matters in theback.
Generally it's completelyhaywire in the back and then
completely sales, customerexperience, customer service in
the front, and so it's alwayskind of blown my mind that young
(06:17):
people don't take that firstjob experience and we don't do a
good job of showing them thatthis could be a career.
That food service is just thisphenomenal place to work, and
especially maybe in Texas andOklahoma.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Especially in Texas and Oklahoma.
And if you didn't, if you'renot watching.
He is bald, so that's why hetalks about he doesn't have a
hairdryer.
So if you're just listening onone of our platforms but just
kidding, I didn't know you were.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I.
I didn't know you were weren'ttechnical, I thought you were.
So you fake, you faked it.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah, maybe.
Maybe I just try to payattention to some super
technical people that havealways been around me.
I require, like, high executingpeople around me.
I have a lot of ideas and a lotof thoughts, but I'm not always
the best at fixing thingsspecifically, so I've had a lot
(07:14):
of really technical peoplearound me over the years.
So I'm okay and I can speak thelanguage, but I'm not going to
service something and have it goright for a long time.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, and I think one thing that is cool that you do
at eSource Miller is justrecognizing everybody's
differences and gifts and youguys test all your employees.
I took a test, so for fun.
He was like I just want to seewhat you would be, and so tell
us a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, okay.
So I used to be the owner ofthat thought I was supposed to
be in everybody's jobs, right.
So if I was going to expectsomebody to be great at
accounting, I should know theaccounting or processing an
order or taking a service call,any of those things.
And so we run our business onEOS and one of the first
(08:05):
principles they teach you isthat everybody should live in
their excellence, that we're allkind of wired to be great at
something and the best teams arekind of an eclectic group of
parts that work perfectlytogether.
So first off, when we'retalking about kind of the
uniques at eSource Miller, thevery first one is our culture.
(08:26):
My favorite definition thatwe've ever made describing our
people is that we're a workingbody of independently talented
people striving to achieve acommon goal.
That really allowed me to stoptrying to be everything to
everybody in our company andjust live in the excellence that
(08:46):
I have and be excellent at that.
And that's the best thing forour company is for me to spend
my time and efforts there.
On the testing, we use anassessment called a Colby and it
really measures four subjects.
The first one is fact finding,and I'm a pretty low fact finder
, I kind of trust my judgment.
(09:07):
I'm a four out of 10.
Follow through I feel like Ishould be a 10 out of 10, but
I'm a three out of 10.
Quick start I'm an eight, andthat you know.
If there's a big problem, Ialmost can't get off the phone
to get to that fast enough.
I have a really high quickstart and then implementing,
which is kind of being able tofix things with your hands on
(09:28):
the floor.
So I will tell you, we have awide ranging set of skills on
those assessments.
At eSource Miller we have a lotof high fact finding, high
follow through, low quick startpeople, and to them I seem a
little crazy, but I'm reallygood at where we're headed 10
years from now, but I'm not asgreat at 10 minutes from now and
(09:49):
so they're always, you know,operationally more proficient
probably, and that's, that's abig thing.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, so because I mean it's changed over 20 years,
like in the beginning, you know, you were wearing multiple hats
and it's hard to go fromwearing all the hats and then
thinking you have to knoweverything to really empowering
your team to make decisions anduse all their giftedness.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
And you've seen that sometimes we miss.
So, yeah, there is aninteresting kind of hard balance
of okay, I need to delegatethis to somebody that's way
better at it than me.
But but literally think aboutwhat I just said a second ago.
I often say, hey, take this andrun with it.
(10:38):
And I might be talking to aperson who is a nine fact
finding eight follow throughperson who is a nine fact
finding eight follow through,and I'm giving a four level set
of facts and a three followthrough type.
So sometimes we miss on thingsand those assessments are really
intended to help us see eachother's differences and for them
(11:03):
to know hey, I just need togive them a couple things and
get them moving in a direction.
And for me to know sometimes Ineed a pause, go deeper, make
sure that the vision is reallyperfectly clear so that they can
follow through to the levelthat they want.
What happens oftentimes?
If I'm not, if I'm notproviding enough facts and they
don't feel like they can followthrough, then they don't want to
(11:26):
be a part of that project.
Does it?
Does that make sense?
Yes so lesson that gets learnedevery now and then.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah, I get learned, I get taught that lesson all the
time.
I just assume like everybodycan read my mind.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Sure yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
It's really frustrating when people can't
like, don't have ESP.
How do they not know?
I don't know.
So another thing that you'vedone really well, like you
mentioned it a little bit, butit's your culture, and so can
you tell us a little bit aboutyour culture?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, yeah.
So we have very clearly definedpurpose statement.
It's three words connect, care,change.
I will even say that we areconstantly kind of reevaluating
this stuff.
We do it four times a year,three times at quarterly
meetings and once at a two-dayannual planning meeting.
And I've been really lost inthought over the last few weeks.
(12:16):
Should we change that to care,connect change and the idea
being that if we care first,then people would want to be
connected.
If we connect and we're notoffering care up front, we may
never get to that point.
So trying to connect throughcare, reaching out to a customer
(12:36):
with hey, I know you sellequipment to this chain.
Here's a small risk companythat I know and a disposables
company that I know that mightbe able to care for you better
than anyone else, right?
So if we're offeringconnections of other people
through our care, that might bethe best way to earn trust, get
closer to customers and then beable to change their lives for
(12:57):
the better.
So we start everything right nowwith Connect, care Change.
But because we're evaluatingthat all the time, I could see
us making that change becauseit'll kind of more detail out
functionally how we want to bewhen engaging a new customer.
And then we have core valuesthat we make every decision in
our business through.
So we filter every decisionthrough the core value of always
(13:19):
put people above things andalways put tomorrow before today
and that kind of takes away therisk of any gray area
situations, so that if we'realways putting people above time
or money or the emotions of themoment and we're not trying to
win right now but we're tryingto win a long term relationship,
(13:40):
we almost always make just aperfect decision.
So, we have five total corevalues.
We really live every singledecision made through people
above things.
Tomorrow, for today.
And then maybe the third onethat's really important to us on
a daily basis is always putimprovement above proving
yourself to us on a daily basisis always put improvement above
(14:03):
proving yourself.
So, rather than trying to talkabout how great we are, how big
our sales are or all of thethings that we can, we can offer
, it's much, much more powerfuljust to keep getting better and
let people notice that forthemselves, and I think I think
it just draws us closer to ourcustomers.
But sales people love, andsales companies love, to beat
their own chess, and I thinkit's just way more powerful for
(14:24):
people to figure out on theirown why they would want to do
business with us.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yeah, you can definitely fill your culture
when you walk through the doors.
Thank you, I mean, obviously Iknow you, but just all the
people that work for him is justhow can I help you?
Very service oriented.
So you've acquired a couple ofcompanies over the years.
(14:49):
So how is it?
Was it difficult getting peopleto adopt the culture that you
established?
And how did you do that?
Just hammer them.
That's not very caring.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I think that that is a great question and it takes
time and it requires patience,but one thing that absolutely
happens is well, I mean twothings that are must.
Number one I have to beaccountable for our culture,
meaning that if I'm not livingin it, somebody else has to be
able to call me out on that.
And I have bad days, I havehigh-intensity days, I have
(15:24):
moments where I'm not reallyliving out a connect, care,
change attitude or puttingpeople above things.
And every single person whogets on board at a resource
miller has this conversationwith me.
I go over our core values, ourcore focus, our three uniques,
all those things that we'vedefined, and I absolutely make
the point that if you do not seeme living in these, you have to
(15:44):
call me out.
It's your job.
So that's the first thing, andI have to be just as accountable
to those as they do.
If I wasn't, it would.
It would just be words on apage, people would roll their
eyes and we would never be ableto pull it off.
So that's probably the biggestthing.
The second thing is we have tobe.
(16:05):
Oh, I totally lost my train ofthought on that.
Can you edit me out?
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You promise, I promise.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I'll be nice and I'll edit.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
This could be an outtake.
Oh, what was I going to say?
That was so amazing.
I don't know.
Let's go back and I'll answerit again.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Okay, so over time you have you basically acquired
companies and I know is this thethought, so just start word
there.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I got it All right, so can I just start at the
second thing.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
The second part of that is this Whenever a door
opens to employ your core values, you have to walk through that
door.
And I can tell you, when wemerged Miller and eSource
together, oftentimes in the verybeginning, our salespeople
would come and say hey, I've gotthis problem and I saved you
(17:03):
$400.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Today I'd say okay, how did you save us?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
$400?
And they'd be like well, thefactory said, no, Basically
there was a service issue, theyweren't going to pay.
The customer thought thefactory should pay.
We're in the middle.
I said it's not our fault, youhave to pay.
And we'd look at it and say,okay, to put the person above
the things in this case it'smoney.
(17:27):
What would that look like?
And then what would thelong-term relationship look like
if we were to invest this $400in that customer and every
single time an opportunity camelike that, I made sure to just
say, okay, let's go back to ourcore values.
What does it look like to putthe people above the things?
(17:48):
And what does it look like toput tomorrow before today?
And the net result is that in 10years we want this person to
think I should buy everythingfrom them.
They take care of me, they'rein the trench with me, they
never leave me all those kindsof things.
So to invest the money todaywould be a huge win for us
long-term.
We should do that.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
So you guys spent a lot of time, I mean developing
these systems, correct, I mean,and also the EOS, which.
So how long did that take?
And I mean, if somebody is, youknow, a new business owner and
stuff like that, what?
And it could be inside the foodservice industry or outside
(18:30):
what.
What should they do?
What's your recommendation?
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So EOS is a system.
There's a book called Traction.
It was written by Gina Wickmanand it brings a lot of
principles that we probablyalready know in business
together into one kind of system.
A lot of companies that areseeking EOS, seeking a new way
to run their business, are therebecause they're hitting a
ceiling.
They just kind of can't breakthrough that next level of
(18:56):
growth.
Their people feel tapped, theyfeel overly extended, they're
kind of banging their headagainst that ceiling busy all
the time but kind of can't getthrough and hit a full speed
stride.
So we were like that at MillerAssociates in 2017.
I started asking people aroundthat I knew kind of how do you
do it?
(19:17):
I made a few trips to see howpeople operated and we had a
customer and I had a friend thatowned a rep group like ours in
another area.
Both that ran on the US and bothkind of said here's the thing
that changed in our lives.
It took all of the aerobics ofcoming into the office and
having people waiting on you andhey, I need you here, hey, can
(19:37):
you go there, can you go there?
And it just brought structureto every bit of that.
And I'm a naturallyunstructured kind of by feel
manager and that was reallydifficult on our people because
they didn't know exactly wherewe were going to head.
I might have an idea.
I was sold on today and tomorrowrealized no, that's not going
to work because of this Threedays later they might come and
(19:59):
say, hey, here's the work I didon that idea and I'd be like, oh
man, you know we didn't have astructure for me to say.
Hey, actually I decided thatwas a bad idea and I'm so sorry,
I made you work on this forhalf your week.
So EOS really brought structure.
It brings a meeting pulse.
It brings your values or helpsyou define your values and what
you stand for.
(20:19):
But all of that increasescommunication.
It gives you a North Star kindof where you're headed in 10
years, what your three-year planshould be and what your
one-year plan should be.
So you're always kind ofworking on a next set of goals
that leads to a third of whereyou're headed.
So the one-year plan should getyou a third of where you're
(20:41):
headed.
So the one year plan should getyou a third of the way to your
three year picture, which shouldget you a third roughly of the
way to your 10 year target.
So all of that kind of makes iteasy for people to see.
All right, if we achieve thatgoal, we're going to have this
many people.
I'm here now.
There's opportunity for me togrow.
I love the energy of this.
(21:02):
I know that I have a voice.
I know that I have an impact onwhere we head, and I know that
I'm valued, and so it really hasmade for incredible momentum
for our companies.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
So I'm curious, like how you've got a lot of
responsibilities and I'm justcurious like how do you keep
going every day Like what's yourinspiration, what's your inspo,
my inspo?
What does your inspo board looklike?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, I have one of those.
It's interesting.
I think I had somebody ask merecently can you just share some
business wisdom with a coupleof younger guys?
And it might've been afacetious question, but I
answered it anyway.
But the problem is I went rightback to our core values, and I
(21:50):
think that's just how I live mylife is.
I just love people, and that'ssomething a lot of people would
say and it sounds a littlecheesy maybe, but I am really
inspired by that.
I think in any industry, theproduct is really just the key
to opening the door, and if youopen enough doors, you're going
(22:11):
to meet some of the mostfascinating, interesting, loving
, caring people.
And my way of looking at thatis like this is where God has
placed me.
I'm so thankful for that.
I just am around, like I saidearlier, some of the most fun,
loving, hardworking, caring,service-oriented people in the
whole world, and that justtotally drives me.
(22:34):
So I've never in this industry,hated Sunday afternoons because
I was dreading Monday morning.
I've never had any of that.
I just this industry alwaysprovides you a reason to look
forward to the next day and thenext opportunity.
So I just love the people.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
That's awesome.
I know it really makes this job, which is really hard and it's
not, I mean, the industry is.
It's really fun, but we'vetalked about it on other
podcasts but it's a, it's a hard, it's a grind, and so you can
have, I mean, 10 lows before youget one high, you know.
(23:18):
But if you have the people andyou surround yourself with
people, good people that havethe same vision as you, it's so
inspiring and people that aredifferent than you and you're
able to be like hey, my way isnot always the right way and
that's the hardest for me,that's always the hardest is
like OK, I need to step back andunderstand.
(23:40):
You know the way other peoplewould get to it.
Maybe it's not the way I wouldgo, but it may be more
interesting and we find morethings out of it.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I'll tell you one thing I think about the rep
business that's tough is thateverybody's a customer right.
So, our customers are buying theproducts that we represent and
the factories we represent arebuying our product, and our
product is all people right,it's effort, it's communication,
it is community, it'srelationships, it's strategy,
(24:11):
planning, vision, execution, allof those things.
And so, as people, we all havebad days and we all have good
days, and we all have familyissues and friends issues, and
then we have times in our lifewhen everything's amazing and
yet, at the same time, we'rebeing counted on to to basically
, uh, carry the flag of ourfactories right, and so that's
(24:34):
that's been one that we'vereally had to craft and work
hard on.
At e-source miller, we have afactory relationship guide and
it's interesting.
I I tell every customer thisguide and it's interesting, I
tell every customer this but itsays always remember, you're
hired to represent the factory,and that's a hard thing to say
to a customer who sees you astheir only conduit to that
factory.
(24:54):
And our job is to make surethat those two parties are
always in this people abovethings.
Tomorrow, before today, wherethe factory is always valuing
the customer and wanting thatlong-term partnership, and so we
do our best to be reallycredible and to make sure that
we're helping with situationsalways, but that we're not.
(25:19):
The sky is falling.
We're going to lose every orderif we don't fix this one
problem.
If it comes to that then againwe're going to circle right
around to those same two corevalues people above things.
Well, we probably need toinvest the money and tomorrow,
before today, we need to be sotight with that customer and
that factory that long-term.
From now, the three of us arehaving dinners and enjoying
(25:41):
looking back on all of oursuccesses together.
Looking back on all of oursuccesses together.
So that document starts withalways remember, you're hired to
represent the factory.
We are the product that they'rerelying on to train this entire
market on their products.
Our product is the vision thatthey can achieve here and it's
(26:02):
the hands and feet on the streetand all of those things.
And then it talks aboutpraising factories publicly,
working on problems privately,how to handle communication when
we've got to cover a reallydifficult situation, and all
those things, and really theentire method is to try to bring
customers and factories intothis.
(26:23):
We're all in the trenchtogether.
We all are working towards afuture together and let's not
let this one moment in time bethe thing that leaves a bad
taste in either party's mouth.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
And the accountability of that.
Having it all spelled out likeI'm sitting here really jelly
right now because I'm, it wouldbe awesome to have on your inspo
board.
Yes, I need to put that on myinspo board now.
I know, so, um, but yeah, that'sum, I think it's really good
accountability.
I know that I mean just mebeing a much younger, um,
(27:00):
business owner and um, justkidding, but but but you know,
being a newer to this like justhaving just watching your
company and you giving me adviceon how to handle certain
situations and the core valuesand you know your operating
systems and has just been veryinsightful to me.
(27:24):
It's really shocking to me that, like, when we say to our
factories, you're our number oneand they're like really, and
I'm like duh, like you're theone that like pays us.
You know, you're our bosses andI've always said I've never had
more bosses in my entire life.
(27:45):
But you know, we're a team, youknow, and I think that I mean
it sounds like you guys operatethe same way, but we're we're
cheerleaders for our factoriesand we're here to help and win
together and with our customersand yeah, so keep you said
something there that was reallyimportant, sorry.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Just you said I've never had more bosses in my life
and I think that's one thing,that that uh is it makes the job
um um difficult.
Is is just that at everyfactory there's probably a
national accounts person.
There's a regional uh salesmanager or a national accounts
(28:25):
person.
There's a regional salesmanager or sales VP or director.
There's a national VP of salesor a senior VP of sales, and so
at every factory, you're goingto have three or four people
that you report to, and theirsuccess is reliant on our
information, and so havingreadily available comprehensive
(28:47):
information is an absolute must,and that's one way that we can
set ourselves apart and if wehave that.
I heard this from a friend ofmine a few years ago.
He said the more transparent weare, the better we look, and I
was like, oh man, that's thepoint that I want to get to is
just where.
I know that I'm going to dropsome walls, but we're so good
(29:09):
that we can be completelytransparent about where we mess
up or where we've missed or whowe haven't attacked yet that we
should have years ago, right?
So we do that.
We stratify everything in ourbusiness and we basically have
core and opportunistic customersand core and opportunistic
factories, and basically theidea is that we're dying to be
(29:31):
at the core of our customers tothe point where if they lost us,
it would hurt as much as if welost them and I don't think most
people think of the repcustomer relationship that way
and then an opportunisticcustomer is one that should be a
core customer.
that we've missed on.
It's not about them, it's aboutthe fact that we haven't taken
(29:52):
the steps yet for them to thinkman, I just want to do
everything I can with them, Iwant to be family with them.
So that's really how we attackthe market is really assessing
where we're not doing well andthose are opportunities for
growth, and then where we aredoing well.
That's just like thisincredible foundation.
So we spend all of our timekeeping the core customers core
(30:16):
and then taking opportunisticcustomers and trying to move
them to that, and we found thebest way to measure that is not
in sales dollars because werepresent multiple lines.
We could do $2.5 million withone factory and then do $2.8
million overall and we'remissing with a huge customer.
That could really just be thisgame changer for us.
(30:39):
So we look at our line list andwe try to think, ok, if there
are 12 or 14 products somewherein that range into our line list
, then we're probably at theircore that they're probably
seeking at this point to dobusiness with us because of
their experience and theirrelationship.
And then we look at all thoseopportunistic customers and
think, okay, where are our?
(31:00):
growth targets.
How can we achieve that andwhat steps will it take to how
do we get started?
It's been a real clarifyingassessment for us.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Well, I really appreciate you kind of opening
up your brain, because I thinkit's just fascinating how you
run your company and and howsuccessful eSource Miller has
been over the years.
And just to see you from youknow back in the day, um nine
toe guy, I was guessing why Ihad 10 toes when you met me.
(31:32):
I know.
No, that is not your confession.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
No, it's one of reveal like one of the most uh,
I don't, I don't even know howto say it One of the most unique
things about me.
I'm an amputee.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
He has nine toes and there's not, I don't think, one
person that I've ever beenaround that you haven't said it
to.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
I want to be open.
I'm confessing.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
I know, but that is supposed to be a little bit more
secretive.
But now you've all heard it.
That's your last confession.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Okay, I'll go with one more Okay.
I love all the candy in thisjar.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Okay, so not everybody can see, so what's in
that jar?
Speaker 2 (32:14):
I'm not really sure, but the pumpkins and candy corn
are my two favorites.
They're the old staples that Iknow.
I haven't figured out what therest are yet, but I like them
all.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
I know they're really good.
They're like crack.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
I've never had crack.
Well, I haven't either, so butI can look at the camera and say
I've never had crack Me either,so anyways, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Well, I'm glad you like candy corn.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Thank you, it means a lot.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
All right, well, thank you joining us today.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Thanks for having me.
This has been a blast.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
I can't wait to do it again.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Be nice on the editing where I messed up.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Maybe See y'all later .
For more inspiration, followour social media at W3Sales.
Please like, comment andsubscribe.
You know all the things wewould love to connect with you.
Welcome to Confessions Beyond the Food.
I'm your host, Nancy Redland.
Let's dig in and get inspired.
Hey guys, welcome back toConfessions Beyond the Food.
My name is Nancy and I'm withW3 Sales.
I have today in the studio agood friend of mine.
(00:22):
We have known each other over20 years.
Yes, ma'am.
Yep 20 years.
So this is Jeff Griffiths yes,the legend.
President of East Horse Miller.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, thanks, hey, thank you for having me.
It's awesome to be here.
It's fun to be on ConfessionsBeyond the Food too.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yeah, just wait, you're going to have to confess
something at the end of the show.
I'll confess, I'm sure you will.
He has lots to confess.
So one thing that you may notknow about Jeff and I is like
he's my annoying big brother andso we.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
A big brother.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, a big brother.
He's not annoying all the time,but sometimes and he is older.
I have brother, yeah, a bigbrother.
He's not annoying all the time,but sometimes, and he is older
lately, yeah, he's, he's, he'sway older.
So just so you guys know.
But we met when I first startedan industry in 2002, 2003, and
(01:20):
I was in distribution and youwere the federal.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I think it was federal and beverage air are the
two things we ever talked about, but federal for sure I think,
you were selling display casesand my expertise probably made
that thing go amazing for youyeah, it's really exciting fun
fact.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I don't know if you remember this, but chef doug
brown was opening up a um hisbeyond the box catering and
remember the federal like thefirst day, like we had to.
You know something was trippingor something just kind of first
day problem sometimes and Ilike showed up with my hair
(01:56):
dryer.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Oh, I do, which is interesting, cause he's a bald
guy, right.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, two bald guys, you and a hairdryer.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, so it's convicting, it is very
convicting.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So it worked out great.
I think you fixed the problem.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I don't think I did, but I mean I think it fixed
itself.
So but cause it's greatequipment, so anyways, but yeah,
so you've been in the industry,You've always been on the
factory side, right.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
No, I was actually a dealer for a while.
I was hired into the industryin 1993 and I worked at ISI
Commercial Refrigeration.
So we leased ice machines andwe're a Beverage Air and
Scotsman ice machine distributor.
So awesome experience for me.
I worked there in 93 to 98before I moved over to the rep
(02:44):
side.
I worked for John Dunn at theDunn Group at the time.
I had met John Dunn in 93trying to sell him a copier
machine.
He didn't buy it for me, whichwas most people I talked to
about copier machines.
I sold 11.
My parents bought one but Johnhad introduced me to ISI and
(03:08):
kind of in a cool full circlemoment, bob Gilbert, my first
boss, works at eSource Millernow and we represent Beverage
Air and we're the Scotsmandistributor.
So over the last year all threeof those things kind of have
come back together and it's justbeen a phenomenal thing for me.
It just feels like family kindof a reunion every day.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Yeah, it is.
This industry is very fullcircle, you know, oh for sure,
and the friendships you make areforever.
And I know that I've had thatwith you, jeff, you know, over
the years and just coming to youand just in different seasons
of my life, and whether it be,you know, a situation with a
(03:50):
customer or owning my own repgroup, but you've owned your rep
group for how long?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
So started at Miller Associates in February of 05 and
we bought it November of 06.
And we bought it November of 06.
So since then one iteration ofit we purchased eSource in
January of 21 to create eSourceMiller.
We're super creative with namesand it's been great.
(04:17):
I think I've told the storybefore it was going to be Miller
eSource.
But somebody way into theprocess of making logos said you
know that almost spells mess,so it's like ESM.
It is.
But yeah, so since November of06 really is when we've had
started Miller Associates.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah.
So I don't know if you arelistening outside the industry,
these brands are huge, huge, andso Jeff is one of the most
humble people I've ever met andhe's just a great leader.
And but you would never know,because you, you are one of
those guys that I'll call you.
(04:56):
I think I called you a coupleof weeks ago and you're like,
something went down for a bigcustomer of yours and you were
in your truck heading down tohelp them out with a replacement
.
I mean, that's just the kind ofguy and leader you are and I've
always admired that part of you.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
It's nice, nice of you to say that.
And with a replacement were thekey words, I think, because if
it was me going there to fix it,it would have never Really, I
don't even own a hairdryer, forinstance.
How could I fix a piece ofequipment?
Okay, no but I'm not supertechnical right.
So when it comes to fixing apiece of equipment, my method
would be similar to a computer.
You know, turn it off, turn itback on.
(05:34):
If that doesn't work, unplug it, wait 18 seconds, plug it in,
turn it back on.
But no, we just have a.
The industry, to your point, isphenomenal.
It's service-oriented people.
It's just a group of kind ofplay hard, have fun, work hard
people, and I've always justloved that about it.
(05:55):
I think the restaurant industryis the greatest way to learn
business.
You have full-on manufacturingwhere every step and every
process really matters in theback.
Generally it's completelyhaywire in the back and then
completely sales, customerexperience, customer service in
the front, and so it's alwayskind of blown my mind that young
(06:17):
people don't take that firstjob experience and we don't do a
good job of showing them thatthis could be a career.
That food service is just thisphenomenal place to work, and
especially maybe in Texas andOklahoma.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Especially in Texas and Oklahoma.
And if you didn't, if you'renot watching.
He is bald, so that's why hetalks about he doesn't have a
hairdryer.
So if you're just listening onone of our platforms but just
kidding, I didn't know you were.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I.
I didn't know you were weren'ttechnical, I thought you were.
So you fake, you faked it.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah, maybe.
Maybe I just try to payattention to some super
technical people that havealways been around me.
I require, like, high executingpeople around me.
I have a lot of ideas and a lotof thoughts, but I'm not always
the best at fixing thingsspecifically, so I've had a lot
(07:14):
of really technical peoplearound me over the years.
So I'm okay and I can speak thelanguage, but I'm not going to
service something and have it goright for a long time.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, and I think one thing that is cool that you do
at eSource Miller is justrecognizing everybody's
differences and gifts and youguys test all your employees.
I took a test, so for fun.
He was like I just want to seewhat you would be, and so tell
us a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, okay.
So I used to be the owner ofthat thought I was supposed to
be in everybody's jobs, right.
So if I was going to expectsomebody to be great at
accounting, I should know theaccounting or processing an
order or taking a service call,any of those things.
And so we run our business onEOS and one of the first
(08:05):
principles they teach you isthat everybody should live in
their excellence, that we're allkind of wired to be great at
something and the best teams arekind of an eclectic group of
parts that work perfectlytogether.
So first off, when we'retalking about kind of the
uniques at eSource Miller, thevery first one is our culture.
(08:26):
My favorite definition thatwe've ever made describing our
people is that we're a workingbody of independently talented
people striving to achieve acommon goal.
That really allowed me to stoptrying to be everything to
everybody in our company andjust live in the excellence that
(08:46):
I have and be excellent at that.
And that's the best thing forour company is for me to spend
my time and efforts there.
On the testing, we use anassessment called a Colby and it
really measures four subjects.
The first one is fact finding,and I'm a pretty low fact finder
, I kind of trust my judgment.
(09:07):
I'm a four out of 10.
Follow through I feel like Ishould be a 10 out of 10, but
I'm a three out of 10.
Quick start I'm an eight, andthat you know.
If there's a big problem, Ialmost can't get off the phone
to get to that fast enough.
I have a really high quickstart and then implementing,
which is kind of being able tofix things with your hands on
(09:28):
the floor.
So I will tell you, we have awide ranging set of skills on
those assessments.
At eSource Miller we have a lotof high fact finding, high
follow through, low quick startpeople, and to them I seem a
little crazy, but I'm reallygood at where we're headed 10
years from now, but I'm not asgreat at 10 minutes from now and
(09:49):
so they're always, you know,operationally more proficient
probably, and that's, that's abig thing.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, so because I mean it's changed over 20 years,
like in the beginning, you know, you were wearing multiple hats
and it's hard to go fromwearing all the hats and then
thinking you have to knoweverything to really empowering
your team to make decisions anduse all their giftedness.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
And you've seen that sometimes we miss.
So, yeah, there is aninteresting kind of hard balance
of okay, I need to delegatethis to somebody that's way
better at it than me.
But but literally think aboutwhat I just said a second ago.
I often say, hey, take this andrun with it.
(10:38):
And I might be talking to aperson who is a nine fact
finding eight follow throughperson who is a nine fact
finding eight follow through,and I'm giving a four level set
of facts and a three followthrough type.
So sometimes we miss on thingsand those assessments are really
intended to help us see eachother's differences and for them
(11:03):
to know hey, I just need togive them a couple things and
get them moving in a direction.
And for me to know sometimes Ineed a pause, go deeper, make
sure that the vision is reallyperfectly clear so that they can
follow through to the levelthat they want.
What happens oftentimes?
If I'm not, if I'm notproviding enough facts and they
don't feel like they can followthrough, then they don't want to
(11:26):
be a part of that project.
Does it?
Does that make sense?
Yes so lesson that gets learnedevery now and then.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah, I get learned, I get taught that lesson all the
time.
I just assume like everybodycan read my mind.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Sure yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
It's really frustrating when people can't
like, don't have ESP.
How do they not know?
I don't know.
So another thing that you'vedone really well, like you
mentioned it a little bit, butit's your culture, and so can
you tell us a little bit aboutyour culture?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, yeah.
So we have very clearly definedpurpose statement.
It's three words connect, care,change.
I will even say that we areconstantly kind of reevaluating
this stuff.
We do it four times a year,three times at quarterly
meetings and once at a two-dayannual planning meeting.
And I've been really lost inthought over the last few weeks.
(12:16):
Should we change that to care,connect change and the idea
being that if we care first,then people would want to be
connected.
If we connect and we're notoffering care up front, we may
never get to that point.
So trying to connect throughcare, reaching out to a customer
(12:36):
with hey, I know you sellequipment to this chain.
Here's a small risk companythat I know and a disposables
company that I know that mightbe able to care for you better
than anyone else, right?
So if we're offeringconnections of other people
through our care, that might bethe best way to earn trust, get
closer to customers and then beable to change their lives for
(12:57):
the better.
So we start everything right nowwith Connect, care Change.
But because we're evaluatingthat all the time, I could see
us making that change becauseit'll kind of more detail out
functionally how we want to bewhen engaging a new customer.
And then we have core valuesthat we make every decision in
our business through.
So we filter every decisionthrough the core value of always
(13:19):
put people above things andalways put tomorrow before today
and that kind of takes away therisk of any gray area
situations, so that if we'realways putting people above time
or money or the emotions of themoment and we're not trying to
win right now but we're tryingto win a long term relationship,
(13:40):
we almost always make just aperfect decision.
So, we have five total corevalues.
We really live every singledecision made through people
above things.
Tomorrow, for today.
And then maybe the third onethat's really important to us on
a daily basis is always putimprovement above proving
yourself to us on a daily basisis always put improvement above
(14:03):
proving yourself.
So, rather than trying to talkabout how great we are, how big
our sales are or all of thethings that we can, we can offer
, it's much, much more powerfuljust to keep getting better and
let people notice that forthemselves, and I think I think
it just draws us closer to ourcustomers.
But sales people love, andsales companies love, to beat
their own chess, and I thinkit's just way more powerful for
(14:24):
people to figure out on theirown why they would want to do
business with us.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yeah, you can definitely fill your culture
when you walk through the doors.
Thank you, I mean, obviously Iknow you, but just all the
people that work for him is justhow can I help you?
Very service oriented.
So you've acquired a couple ofcompanies over the years.
(14:49):
So how is it?
Was it difficult getting peopleto adopt the culture that you
established?
And how did you do that?
Just hammer them.
That's not very caring.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I think that that is a great question and it takes
time and it requires patience,but one thing that absolutely
happens is well, I mean twothings that are must.
Number one I have to beaccountable for our culture,
meaning that if I'm not livingin it, somebody else has to be
able to call me out on that.
And I have bad days, I havehigh-intensity days, I have
(15:24):
moments where I'm not reallyliving out a connect, care,
change attitude or puttingpeople above things.
And every single person whogets on board at a resource
miller has this conversationwith me.
I go over our core values, ourcore focus, our three uniques,
all those things that we'vedefined, and I absolutely make
the point that if you do not seeme living in these, you have to
(15:44):
call me out.
It's your job.
So that's the first thing, andI have to be just as accountable
to those as they do.
If I wasn't, it would.
It would just be words on apage, people would roll their
eyes and we would never be ableto pull it off.
So that's probably the biggestthing.
The second thing is we have tobe.
(16:05):
Oh, I totally lost my train ofthought on that.
Can you edit me out?
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You promise, I promise.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I'll be nice and I'll edit.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
This could be an outtake.
Oh, what was I going to say?
That was so amazing.
I don't know.
Let's go back and I'll answerit again.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Okay, so over time you have you basically acquired
companies and I know is this thethought, so just start word
there.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I got it All right, so can I just start at the
second thing.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
The second part of that is this Whenever a door
opens to employ your core values, you have to walk through that
door.
And I can tell you, when wemerged Miller and eSource
together, oftentimes in the verybeginning, our salespeople
would come and say hey, I've gotthis problem and I saved you
(17:03):
$400.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Today I'd say okay, how did you save us?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
$400?
And they'd be like well, thefactory said, no, Basically
there was a service issue, theyweren't going to pay.
The customer thought thefactory should pay.
We're in the middle.
I said it's not our fault, youhave to pay.
And we'd look at it and say,okay, to put the person above
the things in this case it'smoney.
(17:27):
What would that look like?
And then what would thelong-term relationship look like
if we were to invest this $400in that customer and every
single time an opportunity camelike that, I made sure to just
say, okay, let's go back to ourcore values.
What does it look like to putthe people above the things?
(17:48):
And what does it look like toput tomorrow before today?
And the net result is that in 10years we want this person to
think I should buy everythingfrom them.
They take care of me, they'rein the trench with me, they
never leave me all those kindsof things.
So to invest the money todaywould be a huge win for us
long-term.
We should do that.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
So you guys spent a lot of time, I mean developing
these systems, correct, I mean,and also the EOS, which.
So how long did that take?
And I mean, if somebody is, youknow, a new business owner and
stuff like that, what?
And it could be inside the foodservice industry or outside
(18:30):
what.
What should they do?
What's your recommendation?
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So EOS is a system.
There's a book called Traction.
It was written by Gina Wickmanand it brings a lot of
principles that we probablyalready know in business
together into one kind of system.
A lot of companies that areseeking EOS, seeking a new way
to run their business, are therebecause they're hitting a
ceiling.
They just kind of can't breakthrough that next level of
(18:56):
growth.
Their people feel tapped, theyfeel overly extended, they're
kind of banging their headagainst that ceiling busy all
the time but kind of can't getthrough and hit a full speed
stride.
So we were like that at MillerAssociates in 2017.
I started asking people aroundthat I knew kind of how do you
do it?
(19:17):
I made a few trips to see howpeople operated and we had a
customer and I had a friend thatowned a rep group like ours in
another area.
Both that ran on the US and bothkind of said here's the thing
that changed in our lives.
It took all of the aerobics ofcoming into the office and
having people waiting on you andhey, I need you here, hey, can
(19:37):
you go there, can you go there?
And it just brought structureto every bit of that.
And I'm a naturallyunstructured kind of by feel
manager and that was reallydifficult on our people because
they didn't know exactly wherewe were going to head.
I might have an idea.
I was sold on today and tomorrowrealized no, that's not going
to work because of this Threedays later they might come and
(19:59):
say, hey, here's the work I didon that idea and I'd be like, oh
man, you know we didn't have astructure for me to say.
Hey, actually I decided thatwas a bad idea and I'm so sorry,
I made you work on this forhalf your week.
So EOS really brought structure.
It brings a meeting pulse.
It brings your values or helpsyou define your values and what
you stand for.
(20:19):
But all of that increasescommunication.
It gives you a North Star kindof where you're headed in 10
years, what your three-year planshould be and what your
one-year plan should be.
So you're always kind ofworking on a next set of goals
that leads to a third of whereyou're headed.
So the one-year plan should getyou a third of where you're
(20:41):
headed.
So the one year plan should getyou a third of the way to your
three year picture, which shouldget you a third roughly of the
way to your 10 year target.
So all of that kind of makes iteasy for people to see.
All right, if we achieve thatgoal, we're going to have this
many people.
I'm here now.
There's opportunity for me togrow.
I love the energy of this.
(21:02):
I know that I have a voice.
I know that I have an impact onwhere we head, and I know that
I'm valued, and so it really hasmade for incredible momentum
for our companies.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
So I'm curious, like how you've got a lot of
responsibilities and I'm justcurious like how do you keep
going every day Like what's yourinspiration, what's your inspo,
my inspo?
What does your inspo board looklike?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, I have one of those.
It's interesting.
I think I had somebody ask merecently can you just share some
business wisdom with a coupleof younger guys?
And it might've been afacetious question, but I
answered it anyway.
But the problem is I went rightback to our core values, and I
(21:50):
think that's just how I live mylife is.
I just love people, and that'ssomething a lot of people would
say and it sounds a littlecheesy maybe, but I am really
inspired by that.
I think in any industry, theproduct is really just the key
to opening the door, and if youopen enough doors, you're going
(22:11):
to meet some of the mostfascinating, interesting, loving
, caring people.
And my way of looking at thatis like this is where God has
placed me.
I'm so thankful for that.
I just am around, like I saidearlier, some of the most fun,
loving, hardworking, caring,service-oriented people in the
whole world, and that justtotally drives me.
(22:34):
So I've never in this industry,hated Sunday afternoons because
I was dreading Monday morning.
I've never had any of that.
I just this industry alwaysprovides you a reason to look
forward to the next day and thenext opportunity.
So I just love the people.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
That's awesome.
I know it really makes this job, which is really hard and it's
not, I mean, the industry is.
It's really fun, but we'vetalked about it on other
podcasts but it's a, it's a hard, it's a grind, and so you can
have, I mean, 10 lows before youget one high, you know.
(23:18):
But if you have the people andyou surround yourself with
people, good people that havethe same vision as you, it's so
inspiring and people that aredifferent than you and you're
able to be like hey, my way isnot always the right way and
that's the hardest for me,that's always the hardest is
like OK, I need to step back andunderstand.
(23:40):
You know the way other peoplewould get to it.
Maybe it's not the way I wouldgo, but it may be more
interesting and we find morethings out of it.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I'll tell you one thing I think about the rep
business that's tough is thateverybody's a customer right.
So, our customers are buying theproducts that we represent and
the factories we represent arebuying our product, and our
product is all people right,it's effort, it's communication,
it is community, it'srelationships, it's strategy,
(24:11):
planning, vision, execution, allof those things.
And so, as people, we all havebad days and we all have good
days, and we all have familyissues and friends issues, and
then we have times in our lifewhen everything's amazing and
yet, at the same time, we'rebeing counted on to to basically
, uh, carry the flag of ourfactories right, and so that's
(24:34):
that's been one that we'vereally had to craft and work
hard on.
At e-source miller, we have afactory relationship guide and
it's interesting.
I I tell every customer thisguide and it's interesting, I
tell every customer this but itsays always remember, you're
hired to represent the factory,and that's a hard thing to say
to a customer who sees you astheir only conduit to that
factory.
(24:54):
And our job is to make surethat those two parties are
always in this people abovethings.
Tomorrow, before today, wherethe factory is always valuing
the customer and wanting thatlong-term partnership, and so we
do our best to be reallycredible and to make sure that
we're helping with situationsalways, but that we're not.
(25:19):
The sky is falling.
We're going to lose every orderif we don't fix this one
problem.
If it comes to that then againwe're going to circle right
around to those same two corevalues people above things.
Well, we probably need toinvest the money and tomorrow,
before today, we need to be sotight with that customer and
that factory that long-term.
From now, the three of us arehaving dinners and enjoying
(25:41):
looking back on all of oursuccesses together.
Looking back on all of oursuccesses together.
So that document starts withalways remember, you're hired to
represent the factory.
We are the product that they'rerelying on to train this entire
market on their products.
Our product is the vision thatthey can achieve here and it's
(26:02):
the hands and feet on the streetand all of those things.
And then it talks aboutpraising factories publicly,
working on problems privately,how to handle communication when
we've got to cover a reallydifficult situation, and all
those things, and really theentire method is to try to bring
customers and factories intothis.
(26:23):
We're all in the trenchtogether.
We all are working towards afuture together and let's not
let this one moment in time bethe thing that leaves a bad
taste in either party's mouth.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
And the accountability of that.
Having it all spelled out likeI'm sitting here really jelly
right now because I'm, it wouldbe awesome to have on your inspo
board.
Yes, I need to put that on myinspo board now.
I know, so, um, but yeah, that'sum, I think it's really good
accountability.
I know that I mean just mebeing a much younger, um,
(27:00):
business owner and um, justkidding, but but but you know,
being a newer to this like justhaving just watching your
company and you giving me adviceon how to handle certain
situations and the core valuesand you know your operating
systems and has just been veryinsightful to me.
(27:24):
It's really shocking to me that, like, when we say to our
factories, you're our number oneand they're like really, and
I'm like duh, like you're theone that like pays us.
You know, you're our bosses andI've always said I've never had
more bosses in my entire life.
(27:45):
But you know, we're a team, youknow, and I think that I mean
it sounds like you guys operatethe same way, but we're we're
cheerleaders for our factoriesand we're here to help and win
together and with our customersand yeah, so keep you said
something there that was reallyimportant, sorry.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Just you said I've never had more bosses in my life
and I think that's one thing,that that uh is it makes the job
um um difficult.
Is is just that at everyfactory there's probably a
national accounts person.
There's a regional uh salesmanager or a national accounts
(28:25):
person.
There's a regional salesmanager or sales VP or director.
There's a national VP of salesor a senior VP of sales, and so
at every factory, you're goingto have three or four people
that you report to, and theirsuccess is reliant on our
information, and so havingreadily available comprehensive
(28:47):
information is an absolute must,and that's one way that we can
set ourselves apart and if wehave that.
I heard this from a friend ofmine a few years ago.
He said the more transparent weare, the better we look, and I
was like, oh man, that's thepoint that I want to get to is
just where.
I know that I'm going to dropsome walls, but we're so good
(29:09):
that we can be completelytransparent about where we mess
up or where we've missed or whowe haven't attacked yet that we
should have years ago, right?
So we do that.
We stratify everything in ourbusiness and we basically have
core and opportunistic customersand core and opportunistic
factories, and basically theidea is that we're dying to be
(29:31):
at the core of our customers tothe point where if they lost us,
it would hurt as much as if welost them and I don't think most
people think of the repcustomer relationship that way
and then an opportunisticcustomer is one that should be a
core customer.
that we've missed on.
It's not about them, it's aboutthe fact that we haven't taken
(29:52):
the steps yet for them to thinkman, I just want to do
everything I can with them, Iwant to be family with them.
So that's really how we attackthe market is really assessing
where we're not doing well andthose are opportunities for
growth, and then where we aredoing well.
That's just like thisincredible foundation.
So we spend all of our timekeeping the core customers core
(30:16):
and then taking opportunisticcustomers and trying to move
them to that, and we found thebest way to measure that is not
in sales dollars because werepresent multiple lines.
We could do $2.5 million withone factory and then do $2.8
million overall and we'remissing with a huge customer.
That could really just be thisgame changer for us.
(30:39):
So we look at our line list andwe try to think, ok, if there
are 12 or 14 products somewherein that range into our line list
, then we're probably at theircore that they're probably
seeking at this point to dobusiness with us because of
their experience and theirrelationship.
And then we look at all thoseopportunistic customers and
think, okay, where are our?
(31:00):
growth targets.
How can we achieve that andwhat steps will it take to how
do we get started?
It's been a real clarifyingassessment for us.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Well, I really appreciate you kind of opening
up your brain, because I thinkit's just fascinating how you
run your company and and howsuccessful eSource Miller has
been over the years.
And just to see you from youknow back in the day, um nine
toe guy, I was guessing why Ihad 10 toes when you met me.
(31:32):
I know.
No, that is not your confession.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
No, it's one of reveal like one of the most uh,
I don't, I don't even know howto say it One of the most unique
things about me.
I'm an amputee.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
He has nine toes and there's not, I don't think, one
person that I've ever beenaround that you haven't said it
to.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
I want to be open.
I'm confessing.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
I know, but that is supposed to be a little bit more
secretive.
But now you've all heard it.
That's your last confession.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Okay, I'll go with one more Okay.
I love all the candy in thisjar.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Okay, so not everybody can see, so what's in
that jar?
Speaker 2 (32:14):
I'm not really sure, but the pumpkins and candy corn
are my two favorites.
They're the old staples that Iknow.
I haven't figured out what therest are yet, but I like them
all.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
I know they're really good.
They're like crack.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
I've never had crack.
Well, I haven't either, so butI can look at the camera and say
I've never had crack Me either,so anyways, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Well, I'm glad you like candy corn.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Thank you, it means a lot.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
All right, well, thank you joining us today.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Thanks for having me.
This has been a blast.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
I can't wait to do it again.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Be nice on the editing where I messed up.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Maybe See y'all later .
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