Build Trust, Lead Through Acquisition, And Keep Customers First: Kristy Labrecque

Episode Transcript
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Stefanie Couch (00:00):
There's managers here that are driving the
business, that are doing thingsevery single day.
They're running the place.
And it's exciting to see that.

Kristy Labrecque (00:07):
They made it easy.
They got just the right people.
The one thing that's alwaysbeen instilled with all of us is
the customer service aspect ofit.

And I think those customers, especially
contractors that come back everysingle week, it's important
that they feel like you'rereducing friction in their
business and making their lifeeasier.

We have very young people that have just come
into the business and they justtry to embrace everything,
learn everything that you can.
Everybody's there to help you,so just take everything you can
in and you know embrace it.

Welcome to the Grit Blueprint Podcast, the
playbook for buildingunmistakable brands that grow,
lead, and last in the builtworld.
I'm Stephanie Couch, thefounder of Grit Blueprint.
And I'm a lifelong buildingindustry insider.
I was raised here, built mycareer here, and now my team and

(00:58):
I help others win here.
The truth is, you can be thebest option in your space and
still lose to someone else whosimply shows up better and more
consistent.
Each week on the GritBlueprint, I'm going to show you
how to stand out, earn trust,and turn your brand into a
competitive advantage thatlasts.

(01:20):
If you're ready to be seen,known, chosen, and become
unmistakable, you're in theright place.
Let's get started.
Thank you for joining me on theGrit Blueprint Podcast.
I'm your host, Stephanie Couch,and I am here live from the
great state of Texas today.
And I am interviewing my friendChristy.
You are actually from one ofthe nation's best stores, and we

(01:43):
are here at the Nation's BestWomen's Retreat in Glenrose,
Texas, at the Rough Creek Ranch.
So welcome to the show,Christy.

Thank you.
My name is Christy LeBrec.
I'm from Berlin, New Hampshire.
We were store number 20acquired at Nation's Best, Karen
Building and Rentals Center.

Amazing.
Well, tell me a little bitabout you.
You actually have been at Karenfor 37 years.
You have done every job at thestore, I think, and you have
been there since high school.
Your dad actually encouragedyou to apply for this job.
So tell me a little bit aboutyou and your story and how you
got started.

So my grandfather and Morris Karen,
who was the owner of the familybusiness, were friends.
And my dad actually workedthere briefly.
Um he was more of a grocery,more from the grocery industry,
but he was there for about sixmonths or so.
And again, like knowing thefamily for a long time, he found
out they were looking for apart-time girl and encouraged me

(02:37):
to go and interview, which Idid.
Back then when there were nocell phones, it was definitely a
landline.
So by the time I got back home,that phone was ringing and I
got the job.
What was the first senior inhigh school?
Cashier.
Okay.
I did do some work in theafternoons in the office because
I would come in after school.
So I'd work 2:30 to 5 Mondaythrough Thursday.
Back then the store was openuntil 8 o'clock at night on

(02:59):
Friday.
So then that I would workdownstairs at the front desk and
then all day on Saturdays.

Tell me a little bit about the store back then.
What was the was itcontractor-based?
Was it mostly walk-in?
Like what type of business wasit?

Definitely mostly contractor-based.
Okay.
And back then it was booming.
It was so busy.
And I think that's what Iliked.
It was like hectic and it wasbusy.
It was fun.
You know, the family was greatto work for, and the contractors
were fun.
And I was nervous because Ididn't know anything back then,
but it was it was good.

How did you find working with contractors when
you didn't know anything?
How was that?
Because I remember when I wasyoung, that was one of the
things I was most worried about.
Is someone was going to ask mesomething and I had no idea what
the answer was.

Right.
Um, so a lot of support.
Definitely had a great saywe've always had great sales
support, always helping andstuff.
So there's always somebodythere to answer that question.

Did they ever send you looking in aisle 12 for
a board stretcher?

That's always been a little bit of a joke, the
board stretcher, but no, Inever had to go look for it.

They caught me first time on that, though.
I'm not gonna lie.
They uh they did send me toaisle 12 for the board
stretcher, and I was bound anddetermined to find it.
Oh no, I did not, but I Ilooked with the most valiant
effort that one could have, butnever found that board
stretcher.

That's funny.
That is funny.
Oh gosh.

They were they were jerks, but you know, it's
okay.
I was very young when thathappened, and uh, and it's funny
to think about that.
I also remember in high schoolwhen I was a softball player,
they had me go look for huntingsnipes, which is an imaginary
bird that doesn't exist too.
So I guess maybe I was a littlegullible.
It was really my need to win, Ithink.
I love it.

(04:41):
Well, you've done every job,and you've been in HR, you've
been in all the sales roles,you've worked a lot.
What is your favorite jobyou've ever had over your
career?

So I still kind of work in all of them in
one way or another to this day.
I think one of the things wecan be mostly proud of is when
we opened that rental centerback in 2017.
It was like from the ground up,it was something brand new.
It was in a different building.
We, you know, I went to theDo-It Best show, we purchased
equipment.
You know, Mike included me likeright from the ground floor

(05:13):
with that.
My husband came with us to helpchauffeur equipment because he
knew stuff.
So that was pretty rewardingbecause that was like a whole
new avenue to the business.

How's that doing now?
I mean, it's been a long time.
Oh, good while.
Okay, I love that.
Yeah.
And when you were doing thatwith do it best and go into the
the whole thing, like, what wasthe thought of like, what if
this doesn't work?

I mean, was that scary?
It was.
I mean, and I remember Miketalking about that a lot.
So we have a commercial rentalcenter that was down the road
from us.
So they were trying to get awayfrom that homeowner and
definitely go more commercial.
So they were very um supportiveof us, kind of told us
different things we should bedoing.
Yeah.
From there, we became a steelauthorized dealer.

(05:58):
That happened, I think, um,within a year of when we opened
it.
And then we have a huge servicedepartment.
So we have a um retail, I meana rental manager, and we have a
rental um repair center.
So, and we that technician doesso much.
Wow.

Yeah, there's so much in the industry like that
that you don't think aboutSaturday projects people need
stuff for, and just little toolsthat you don't want to have to
go purchase, but you can comeand check out.
Do you rent heavy equipmenttoo?

We rent like Skid Seers, um, man lifts, you
know, about up to that, um, amini excavator.

Do they just let anyone come in and get those?
Like, could I just go in andrent an excavator?

If you have a license, oh shoot, you have to
have a license.

That's disappointing.

Yeah, I know.

Because you know, I could just see myself
like on a Saturday just having afun time in a field somewhere
with a mini excavator that I'mnot I'm not really required to
have a license.

I would try that out.
Yeah, no, I mean, you're gonnasign a damage waiver, you sign
the contract, and it's gonnacome back.
We're gonna be able to rent itagain.
So darn.

Maybe not may not be the best thing to rent.
Yeah, I don't know.
Put me on your blacklist.
Well, you worked for thisamazing family, the Karen
family, and you were talking alittle bit about some of your
your memories with them, and Iknow you really were very close,
almost like family to them.
Tell me a little bit about whatit's like to work for them and
then now transition into beingpurchased by Nation's Best.

They were amazing.
Like Morris, uh, some peoplewould be a little like
intimidated by him, but we justalways hit it off.
And I worked closely with himwhen he was in the store.
You know, he was the one Ireported the AR to, and we
counted inventory together, wedid all the pricing together,
and then you know, Mike workedon the weekends, so you know, we
were always working with him,and then I worked directly under

(07:50):
um their sister Monique, whopassed away suddenly in um 2015.
Um, so that was at that point,even though I was very involved
in the business, I definitely,you know, stepped up and took a
leadership role, you know, tosupport the family, support the
employees.
It was a very sad time.

But yeah, it's tough.
Family business is hard.
And then when someone like thatgets out of the business or
passes away, it's very it's abig change because it's like a
shift in the whole ecosystem.

It was a huge change.

Well, I'm sure they were very grateful for you
for you know stepping up.
You then were there through theacquisition with Nation's Best.
And that was what year wasthat?

That was well, we started the process in late
2020 and we were acquired in Januh July of 2021.

And obviously the world was in complete
calamity at that time withCOVID.
So it's such a huge undertakingto take on anyway, and then you
add that on to the amount ofstress that COVID brought into
our industry.
Plus, it was the busiest timewe've ever had.

It was.

What was that like for you going through that
and then really champing andbeing right alongside during the
acquisition process?

So, like, you know, I feel like we went right
from COVID to that, and likeduring COVID, dealing with a lot
of um, you know, the PPP plansand all that other stuff.
It was like, it was crazy.
There was just paperwork,paperwork, paperwork.
And so then we kind of kickedright off into like due
diligence process for Nation'sbest.
And that was that was huge.
You know, I mean, that was alot of it was a huge

(09:28):
undertaking.
And then as it went, we weregoing through it, then there was
like a waiting period where wejust kind of sat and waited.
And then I was there when Mikegot the phone call and decided
that he was definitely sellingthe business.

So, what was that like for your team uh being
acquired and then you having tolead them through, you know,
how to change over from onefamily business for so long to
something new?

So a lot of it nobody knew.
I mean, even the I thinksometimes people would
definitely suspected somethingwas up.
I mean, I was kind of like didnothing in the store for I don't
know, I feel like three months.
I just was kind of locked inthe office.
Um, but for me personally, itwas um where do I fit in?
I mean, honestly, that was abig part of it.

(10:12):
Um the team, I think theyalways kind of just balled maybe
my lead because I knew what wasgoing on.
Yeah, you know, I'm not sure.
I've always been kind of liketheir confident or liaison
between the Karen's and youknow, the rest of the employees
for whatever reason, but I'vealways had their trust.

(10:33):
Yeah, so I think just tried tobe positive, even though I was
in a world of uncertaintymyself.
But um I definitely tried tostay positive for all of them.

What gives you the strength to stay in the
leadership role?
And really when you areuncertain or you're not, you
know, feeling the best aboutthings sometimes of what it
might mean for you, what givesyou the strength to do that for
other people where you're stillthe one that's saying
everything's gonna be okay andwe're gonna get through this?

I had conversations with some of the
people at Nation's Best, whichwere helpful.
Um, you know, Mike definitelykept, you know, he definitely
kept me in the loop.
He still was very encouraging.
Um, and he was very honest withme.
And so I think, you know, itwas always like it, it's gonna
be okay.
And you know, I was restassured that there were other

(11:21):
things that could be going on inthe company that if I needed
something, then just to raise myhand and they'd find a spot for
me.
But like in the first fewmonths, there wasn't a lot of
change because we were way up inNew Hampshire and we were still
doing business as usual.
Yeah.
In the store, I think um wewent live with Epicor in
October, and that brought some,even though we had been on
Epicor forever, we've never beenon anything else, that still we

(11:46):
were doing things Nation's Bestwasn't quite doing, so there
was a huge transition periodthere.
So, right up until December, Iwas pretty, I was pretty busy,
and then finally I was able totravel a little bit with Tina's
team starting in January.

Yeah, how has that been?
So you you've been traveling,going with Tina has a team doing
ERP integrations rightthroughout the company.
So tell me about that becauseit's a little new adventure for
you to be out and about doingother things outside, I'm sure
going all over, right?

It was.
I mean, so I had never been ona plane by myself, so that was
interesting.
My first time I was going to umNew Mexico.
It's like, okay, but it was itwas good.
Like I was nervous because Ididn't really know anybody.
I had met Tina and a couple ofothers a handful of times.
But we got there and we juststarted working.
It was a really um had a roughstart, this transition because

(12:36):
Epicor wasn't quite ready andwhatever.
So it was not an easyconversion, but we got through
it.
And it's like we stay inAirbnbs, we get up in the
morning, we have coffeetogether, you know, we go back,
we cook in, we so you'respending a lot of time together
and you're getting to know andand then you just build those
relationships again, right?
So now it's like you're livingtogether like a family type

(12:58):
thing.
There's so many people inNation's best that really when
we come to these functions, it'slike it's you know, we're we're
comfortable, right?
They made it easy, they gotjust the right people.

Yeah, this is a great group.
We're here with 50 plus womenand we're in this incredible
scenery, actually, like sopretty.
But I've had some greatconversations already in the
last 24 hours since we got here,and it just has a certain pulse
to it, this group, and you canfeel that everybody's very
passionate about it.
Also, very knowledgeable aboutthe industry.

(13:32):
Like, I've talked to a lot ofwomen here about some real nerdy
door and window and lumber andhardware stuff, and that's
always so cool to me because youmeet a lot of people and you
never know what role they're in,but there's managers here that
are driving the business, thatare doing things every single
day, they're running the place.
And it's exciting to see that.

(13:53):
What do you think for a womanthat is going into the industry
or thinking about doingsomething in this industry, what
would you tell them about thebuilding industry in general?

Well, so we have like a very couple of very
young people that have just comeinto the business and then just
try to like embrace, try toembrace everything, learn
everything that you can.
Everybody's there to help you.
So just take everything you canin and you know, embrace it.
I'm not a huge salesperson.
I've been in the business for37 years, definitely more at an

(14:24):
administrative level, but Istill know, you know, I know the
basics.
Yeah.
Um, and I see, you know, wehave a very young girl, for
instance, that I can think ofright now that's been in there
and she's now selling windowsand doors.
That's awesome.
And she's only 27 years old,and it's like she wants to learn
everything.
Yeah.

You know, that hunger is you can see it in
certain people, and it does makeyou want to help them win
because when somebody wants towin and they ask for help, it's
almost impossible to tell themno if you have the resources to
help them.

Exactly.

And I I remember being that person and still am
in a lot of situations where Iwant to just gobble up whatever
knowledge I can get.
And I've seen that a lot thisweekend while we've been here.
It's been really fun.
Yeah.
You have some different partsof your business that maybe are
a little bit unknown to some.
You have a full kitchen andbath uh upstairs in your
showroom.

(15:17):
Tell me a little bit about thatbecause it's kind of a hidden
you guys crush it with thatbusiness.

Yeah, we do over a million dollars in sales
um every year.
And a lot of it iscontractor-based because they're
coming in, it's the samecontractors sending their
customers in.
But it's so strange when alocal person comes in and asks
for something, like, oh yeah,we'll take you up to the kitchen
and bath showroom.
They can help you up there inlike kitchen and bath.
And then you walk up there andit's amazing.

(15:42):
We have kitchen displays, wehave a huge flooring display, we
have some shower stalls ondisplay, everything.
It's it's just so nice, butjust some people just have no
idea.

How do you get all those displays upstairs?
You have like a loading area?

Yeah, yeah.
We have a loading area area onboth sides of the building.

Okay, very cool.
Yeah, well, I would love to seepictures of that.
That's uh that's amazing.
We talked a little bit duringour prep about a proud moment
for you when Mr.
Karen stopped you and told youhow proud of you he was.
And I know that you were anintegral part of the acquisition
and all of that.
Tell me a little bit about yourrelationship with him and what
that meant to you.

I don't know.
I mean, we were just alwaysjust hit it off and everything.
And he's been retired for quitea while, and he comes up every
summer, he's up there for a fewmonths.
And and Mike had actually, wehad just had dinner with him
like two weeks before that, andhe does all this wine corking
stuff as a hobby.
So I mean, he had given me acouple of items that night, but
he ended up making me an L andhe came up to see me because

(16:43):
he's leaving for Florida nextweek.
And he's like, I he came upinto the office, and I'm like,
Oh gosh, I said, look at mydesk.
I said, We're doing inventory.
And he's like, Oh, I'm so proudof you.
And then, you know, we had justhired some new employees, so
took him down and he introducinghimself to all the employees,
and we had done some differentchanges.

(17:03):
So, I mean, if you know, hehugged me and he says, I'm so
proud of you, and very emotionaltongue.

Well, it's incredible.
You've you've won awards withNation's Best, you won the
Lighthouse Award.
You have been very much someoneit seems that he should be
proud of in your career and verydedicated, and I can feel the
heart that you have for whatyou're doing and the passion of
that.
You're really leading the nextchapter.
What excites you the most aboutwhat you have next in your

(17:31):
career, but also what you'releading at Karen?

So I think you know the one thing that's
always been instilled with allof us is the customer service
aspect of it and justunderstanding what all that
means.
And Nation's Best is definitelygiving us a lot of tools to
keep that going.
So that was always one of, youknow, the Karen family's things
was customer service.
And I'm hoping that, you know,I've I tried to make a couple of

(17:57):
changes at the beginning of theyear because I visited so many
stores and saw how other placeswere set up and navigated.
So I kind of tried to make acouple of changes and well, it
didn't work.
Um, change is hard to getpeople to buy into, and I
definitely got maybe a littlepushback.
But so I said, okay, that'sfine.
So we'll just we'll go back anddo it this way, and you know,

(18:19):
and I'm hoping that this newchange brings us back to the
more customer service.
So I think it's very importantthat customer service is like
the top priority.

Yeah, I agree.
And I think those customers,especially contractors that come
back every single week or everyday, yeah, it's important that
they feel like you're reducingfriction in their business and
making their life easier.
How do you see in the future,you know, there's so many
options out there.
How does the independentbusiness continue to thrive?
Is it customer service?

(18:48):
What else is it that makes youwin in the long term?

I definitely think it's customer service
because you go to these big boxstores and you just don't get
the customer service.
A little off-the-topicconversation.
My husband and I were shoppingfor a computer one time and we
went into like a staples.
Yeah.
He would pick up one of thosecomputers that had an alarm on
it.
Now we had been in there forquite a while.
We nobody came over and askedus for customer service.

(19:13):
He actually picks up acomputer, sets off the alarm.
Person comes over, shuts offthe alarm, and walks away.
What?
Yeah.
So it's like when I think aboutthat, and so I think about
these chains.
That's unbelievable.
I know.
And we were out of town once.
We had to go into a uh HomeDepot to get the smallest item,
and you ask somebody where itwas, and they tell you, you get

(19:35):
there, it's not there.
And you gotta find somebodyelse and tell you.
So we are really good aboutpeople walk in the door, we
greet them, we ask them whatthey're working on, we walk them
to the product, we do all ofthat.
You know, we offer freedelivery.
Our kitchen design is freedesign.
We do plans for customers fromstart to finish.

(19:57):
So we we offer all thoseservices, and I think that.
That means a lot to peoplecoming in.

Yeah.
You're giving them more thanyou have to, and they realize
and recognize that.
Well, you told me that after 37years, you still love what you
do and you're getting up andstill loving it.
What advice would you have forsomeone who wants to build a
career that they love and maybethey're starting or maybe then
in the middle or towards theend?
But what is your advice topeople that want to love the

(20:24):
career they're in?

My husband always says that.
He goes, You're so happy thatyou love your job.
And I, you know, I think I'm ina unique situation, right?
So I mean, everybody's gonnawalk into a job and not really
sure, you know, what they'relooking for.
But this was like a welcomingfamily.
We had amazing employees, thecustomers.
It's just it's just rewarding.

(20:46):
I mean, you you go in, you justlike the people, you you see
the people and you strive tohelp the people.
I don't know.
I mean, I can't say thateverybody can love their job
like the way I learned to lovemy job, but I hope that people
can be happy as happy as I am.

That's amazing.
Well, you are an incrediblewoman, and I'm inspired by you.
I hope that you continue tothrive and do all the amazing
things that you're doing atNation's Best.
You deserve all the awards thatyou're getting, and I'm I'm
proud of you for continuing onsince they've been in, you know,
now it's from a family businessto Nation's Best, but I can't
wait to see what you do withthem.

(21:25):
And I hope you have a greatnight tonight at the hat bar.
We're having dueling pianos.
I know, we're gonna have to behonest.
I'm pretty excited about it.
Um, I don't know what I'm gonnarequest on the dueling pianos,
so I gotta think about that.
It's always hard to pick asong, you know.
It is hard.
You gotta pick which one youwant.
Well, thank you for joining meon the Grit Blueprint Podcast.
Thank you for having me.
And I will see you soon.

(21:46):
All right, thank you.
Thank you for listening to theGrit Blueprint Podcast.
If this episode helped youthink a little differently about
how to show up, share it withsomeone in your building world
who needs it.
If you're ready to turnvisibility into growth, then
head to gritblueprint.com tolearn more and book a call to
talk to us about your growthstrategy.

(22:08):
Until next time, stayunmistakable.

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Build Trust, Lead Through Acquisition, And Keep Customers First: Kristy Labrecque

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