Is Growth a Good Thing?venessapostergaard.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/6/2/... · through business’ growing pains. There are some common signs (some of which you may recognize) that indicate

Volume 2, Issue 6

Inside this issue:

Local Market Update 2

Industry Term 2

Working on the Edge 3

Workplace Wellness 4

Uniform Labor Practices 4

February, 2011

BirthdaysBirthdays

Bob Paal - January 3rd

Mike Rulf - January 18th

Jessie Damm - February 8th

Sandy Harris - February 20th

Curtis Zimmerman - February 28th

BIG Employee AnniversariesBIG Employee Anniversaries

7 Years

Anne Perron, John Bultman & David

Johnson

5 Years

Scott Foley & Curtis Zimmerman

2700 Blue Water Road, Suite 400

Eagan, MN 55121

Toll-Free: 1.800.693.3439

Main: 651.389.3900

Fax: 651.389.3901

www.iecis.com

Is Growth a Good Thing?

Monthly Sales:

David Moeller - CEO

Company growing pains are as natural a part of business life as the personal growing pains we experience during our lives. In their simplest form, “growing pains” are signs that an organization is growing and needs to make a transition and continue to develop the internal systems and structure it needs because it has reached a certain stage of growth.

5. The need to develop more good managers increases. 6. People feel that "I have to do it myself if I want to get it done correctly." 7. People begin to feel that meetings are a waste of time because they are so busy “doing.” 8. When plans are made, there may be very little follow-up because it’s “busier”, so things start to fall through the cracks, so to speak. 9. Some people may feel insecure about their role in the company, or it may be shifting. 10. The company continues to grow in sales but not in profit. Identifying and removing company growing pains is im-portant - - and we all play a role in making this happen. When we unite our talent and strengths, it’s amazing what we can do! We know our business and why we have been successful. Together, we are navigating through these short term growing pains and, in the process, we are strengthening and improving our business. Looking forward, you can help in three simple ways: 1) Do your job with the same dedication you always have and focus on achieving results; 2) Let your manager know if you have available time and talent to “step-up” and do more; and 3) Reach out to your fellow employees and share your passion and excitement about being a part of a company fortunate enough to be experiencing “growing pains.” As one of our sales reps once put it: “Share some of the inside oxygen” and help others see the vision of what we are working to become!

Our business has enjoyed good growth since its begin-ning in 2004 and, over the years, together, we have shared all the “highs and lows” that go with building a company. As I look forward, I anticipate that changes will continue to evolve. In these changing times, it will be easy to wonder, “Is growth such a good thing?” I assure you, experiencing “growing pains” is a good thing. In fact, it’s a good sign that we are “in transition” again and working hard to go to the next level of growth. It’s important to know that every organization goes through growing pains. Companies are growing and evolving entities made up of people who are also grow-ing and evolving. Whether a business is going from small to medium, medium to large, or entering new markets, companies discover they can rely on the strengths and talents of the people in the organization to navigate through business’ growing pains. There are some common signs (some of which you may recognize) that indicate a business may be experiencing growing pains. As organizations- - like ours - - take on more people and more work, they often exhibit these “top 10” common signs which indicate “growing pains” are occurring: 1. People may feel that "there are not enough hours in the day". 2. People may spend more time "putting out fires." 3. People are so busy they are less aware of what other people are doing. 4. People may seek greater understanding about where the company is headed.

Monthly Sales: January Sales = $2,617,612 January Budget = $1,802,000

Local Market Update

The Inside Scoop Page 2

Lisa Bien-Sinz, SVP of Sales Operations & Business Development

Welcome, Melissa Cacucciolo!

L to R: Fillipo, Melissa & Calleigh Cacucciolo

This past December 2011 via email, a recap of the year’s learning of the Local Market Pilot was shared with all em-ployees. In the email, you may recall, it was mentioned that, once a local market achieved a certain level of reve-nue, it would be supported with a Sales Associate to help drive increased growth, manage the business, and assure a satisfying, local customer experience. To that end, I am pleased to announce the newest member of the Local Mar-ket Sales team, Melissa Cacucciolo, Sales Associate for the Chicago Local Market. Melissa will be working in partnership with Rich Santarelli and is already quite familiar with Rich’s customer base. It’s been said that “good people attract good people”, and Rich and Melissa have worked together previously. Here’s the scoop! Melissa brings a strong background to her role and has worked in a similar capacity for several flooring companies in the Chicago market including Flooring Resources and OEC (Office Equipment Corporation) where she was part of the Flooring Division. Melissa is well-versed in Callidus estimat-ing software and AutoCAD and will soon complete her Bachelor’s degree in Interior Design. Melissa and her hus-band Filippo, enjoy sharing time with their 8 month-old daughter, Calleigh. On behalf of the entire Inside Edge team, welcome Melissa!

Local Market Focused On Healthcare Segment In the past three years, the healthcare segment, like many business segments, felt the impact of economic pressures and spending slowed. Now, however, there seems to be an emerging investment in cosmetic renovations that can no longer be neglected or delayed in order to remain competi-tive. While our business has historically enjoyed a strong national footprint in the retail segment, we continue to advance the goal of expanding into new market segments. At the local market level, we are making good progress creating new cus-tomer relationships and generating sales in the Healthcare segment--specifically, in Senior Care/Assisted Living and in select hospital campus environments. In the Chicago market, for example, one of the first such pro-jects has been installing approximately 20,000 sq ft. on three floors of a hospital system called Provena (which has 15 dif-ferent locations as a part of its system, in addition to the main hospital). This opportunity came to us because of a relation-ship Rich Santarelli has with a GC. Gradually, the word is spreading about Inside Edge, and Rich and Melissa are al-ready meeting with two additional health care systems to engage projects with them. In healthcare, flooring installation often occurs in an “occupied space”; meaning, the residents may be present or in the vicinity of the installation. Therefore, every detail of how the installation is executed becomes more critical. The reality is often the flooring needs to be installed within tight timelines so that the “residents” experience as little disrup-tion as possible. “It’s extremely important that the installa-tion goes smoothly and that we do not deviate from the pro-ject schedule. It requires proactively anticipating anything that could happen,” says Rich. “It also requires a great deal of flexibility because sometimes things you can’t control can shift the whole installation plan. “Melissa and I are optimistic about the opportunities for busi-ness in this healthcare segment for 2011. We are already getting information from two hospital systems we’re meeting with, and they are anticipating a lot of renovation this year. We are working to leverage our good relationships with GCs and other market contacts to assure we are ‘at the table and in the game’ so we can grow our business this year within this segment. And, we are not limiting ourselves to hospital envi-ronments. When we say ‘healthcare segment’, we fully plan to pursue projects at health clubs, clinics, and various types of healthcare centers. The Chicago market is blossoming with specialty centers--for example: Dialysis, Heart Scan, and Sleep Centers. It’s going to be a great year, and we’re looking for-ward to doing everything we can to grow our presence and drive sales in this market,” says Rich.

The Inside Scoop Page 3

Working Remotely: Outside the Edge

David Knaub, Local Market Sales - New Jersey/NY

The flexibility to work remotely has become a competitive advantage in modern business for obvious reasons – we live in a global society where the best of what we offer can be delivered through technol-ogy, not just personal interaction. Apparently, much of the business world has yet to understand this advantage; research shows that as many as 63% of businesses do not have a mobile strategy! After reading this statistic, I realized that we are fortunate to be a part of a forward thinking, IT-oriented company already leveraging technology to develop business. The fact that we embrace technology is a com-petitive advantage for the IE enterprise and to those of us who also work remotely!

Today, with the use of technology, customer interaction in the pur-suit of sales development is far more enabled. The popular notion in IT is to “move data to people, not people to data.” In business, this requires embracing the strategy of utilizing mobile technology to easily deploy our message, flooring plans, sales materials, and other business critical documents to customers. As the tools to mo-bilize technologies develop, Inside Edge continues to define itself as a leader in our industry.

So, what is life like as a remote employee of Inside Edge? Here are several attributes of a “mobile work-style” in the commercial flooring world.

No Boundaries. The mobile experience takes the creation of a tremendous product or service offering and positions it in every nook and cranny of the world. The technology we have created allows our value proposition to be as real in Maine or Oregon or Texas as it is in Eagan. Coffee shops, restaurants, or home offices are today’s board rooms where business gets conducted – and decisions are made. This overall mobility offers our customer as much as 20% more face time.

Spontaneity. All of us need to respond to the unexpected – it’s part of what we do. In the remote experience, responding to unex-pected customer requests physically takes us to our customer’s places of business, job sites, SP meetings, or supplier strategy ses-sions. Each instance has a requirement to receive and distribute pertinent data in a timely fashion. We have a real advantage by virtue of the tools we have at our disposal to make this happen.

Our tools are different – and advancing. The desktop tools we have available are great; however, much of the time, I am out of the home office and rely on the cell phone and laptop. Wireless technology allows for data and email to come over our cell phones – which act as our computer in many cases. When working remotely, “desktop power” available in a pocket, wireless device is an amazing thing!

There are several times during the day when I am away from the home office and need to get into the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system or need more powerful tools to open electronic drawings. In this situation, I will use my laptop (after scram-bling to an internet café). Getting into the CRM system means booting up a computer and finding a WiFi signal. The bottom line is that our technology gives us an advantage because we are able to communicate and receive what we need on a timely basis from most any place.

Blackouts. Remote employees can seem a little less accessible. Sometimes we go into meetings and we cannot be reached or our cell phones have dead zones, or the environment is just too loud to answer a cell phone call, or we are driving in a highly congested area and can’t even attempt to work with the phone. Either way, there are times when we may seem difficult to reach – but usu-ally, it’s for a relatively short period of time.

Our lifeline – Eagan. Thank goodness for our team. Coming out of those blackouts, there are a number of people to respond to – some who are measuring our ability to get the next job based upon our overall responsiveness. And that is where the lifeline comes in– the quality of data and the timeliness of getting it is vital. If we shared the same office, we’d be scurrying from work station to work station trying to get answers so that we can impressively get back to our customers. However, we are remote, so we depend on quick, quality responses – and we have been fortunate to be getting them!

The remote experience is fantastic. Personally, it is especially rewarding when we get done what needs to get done in our own corner of the world. In the end, we are all members of the Inside Edge team, and the team operates as well as it does based upon the great quality and commitment of everyone – no matter where they are.

What’s a “ULP” and Why Does It Matter? Labor Term of the Month

Dead man – A device used in carpet installation to provide a point of resistance for facilitating stretching procedures. Construction is a board with strips of tack strip attached to the bottom side.

Venessa Ostergaard – Customer Service Manager

Americans spend an average of 45 hours a week at work. This amounts to about 40% of our waking hours being spent at “the of-fice”. The majority of our day is spent at our workplace; therefore, it's important that we carry over the healthy choices we make (or should make) at home. As we are all aware, those handy reminders about being healthy are hardly as ubiquitous as the candy bowls, ‘beer:30‘, Jerry’s banana bread, and the stream of emails that keep everyone glued to their chairs. We’re constantly told we need to eat better, exercise more, and get more sleep. But, sometimes, there just aren’t enough hours in the day.

It’s time we stop trying to cram it all into our evenings and weekends and start taking time out for our health. If you’re going to spend at least five out of every seven days at the office, you need to make sure you’re looking after your mental and physical health! Keeping your work environment a healthy place can be difficult, but with a few tips and tricks, it can be easy to make a change for the bet-ter. Here are some easy to follow tips for employee wellness at work.

Get out of the office: Even if you have only a minute or two to spare, venture outside of those cubes and into some sunshine. Set aside 15 to 30 minutes of your lunch break to take a walk.

Brown-bag it: Taking your own lunch to work can help you cut calories and save money. It doesn't have to be fancy and can be as simple as a piece of fruit, a sandwich, and some vegetables. Even throwing a piece of your kids’ string cheese in your lunch is a good option!

Keep healthy snacks at your desk: The office can be full of dangerous, calorie-filled snack traps. Avoid snacking by keeping healthy options like almonds or cheese and crackers at your desk.

The Inside Scoop Page 4

Less coffee, more water: While drinking one to three cups of cof-fee a day may be desireable (minus all the cream and sugar), over-consumption can be harmful. If you tend to drink more than three cups of coffee a day, try alternating each cup with a glass of wa-ter. When it comes to health, sometimes the smallest steps can make a big impact. If you're working to improve your diet and fitness at home, remember to bring those healthy habits with you into the office everyday to ensure success.

To kick-off our workplace wellness initiative, we are going to start

the Biggest Loser on February 14th. Please send me an email to let

me know if you are interested, and I will add you to the email list.

The winner will be the employee who has the greatest percentage

of weight loss in three months time. We will weigh in every

Tuesday before lunch. The contest will end on May 3rd – just in

time for swimsuit season.

Getting a Start on a Healthy Workplace

Jerry Dovenmuehle - VP Labor Services

When it comes to industry jargon, the Flooring industry is just like any other. Perhaps in conver-sation with a co-worker or an installer you have heard reference to the term “specifications” or, perhaps, a “ULP” and wondered what it is. Each term is interchangeable; “specifications” is the language most commonly used “on the street” in the industry, but “ULP” (Uniform Labor Prac-tices) is unique to Inside Edge. We invented the term. I want to take this opportunity to clarify what a “ULP” is, why it matters, and what it means to our customers.

Looking back to my days as a flooring installer, I looked at “Uniform Labor Practices” (also re-ferred to as “ULP”) as having two primary definitions:

1. The use of “best practices” when installing a particular type of flooring material. 2. The actual installation instructions written specifically for a particular product.

The ULP - - combined with the manufacturer’s installation instructions - - typically ensured that the installation would be performed using the correct methods and materials. Following a manu-facturer’s installation instructions works well with “one-time projects” installed by the same crew. However, this approach is not so good when working with hundreds of companies’ flooring projects across the country. In this situation, a ULP can come in very handy.

Where do accepted installation practices come from? Typically, five primary sources exist; 1) Architects of owner- reps 2) Manufacturers 3) Industry organizations such as the Carpet & Rug Institute 4) The American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM), or 5) Government agencies such as OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration).

Continue reading on page 5…

The Inside Scoop Page 5

Continued from page 4…

If you take the time to browse through our company website, you will see this statement: “To standardize your multi-location flooring installations, Inside Edge creates a series of documents including Uniform Labor Practices (ULP) which guides the qualified installer on each of your projects”. Similarly, the Inside Edge Training Manual de-fines a ULP as: A document developed by Inside Edge to help ensure consistent installations in the field. ULPs discuss the project type in detail and allow IE to pass on the tips gained from each installation to all of our installers to improve consis-tency and productivity.

The key components to each of these statements are that a ULP acts as a “guide” to the installer and helps assure “consistent, standardized installation.”

It’s also good to be aware that there are essentially two types of ULP’s: one focused on providing information about the pro-ject itself and another about any related “special services.”

How does a ULP get used by an installer working on a project? Let’s assume we are installing patterned carpet & Luxury plank in one of our customer’s facilities. First, we will receive guid-ance from each of the manufacturer’s instructions to ensure the substrate is in an acceptable condition to install floor cover-ings. To verify “acceptable condition”, we will need to perform testing to assure we meet substrate condition requirements. Typically, the manufacturers will instruct an installer to test--that is, to identify what type of test will be used and to confirm the tolerances for each test type. However, manufacturers do not provide the actual testing instructions. To get the instruc-tions, the industry points us to “ASTM” (American Society of Testing and Moisture) standards. To make things more inter-esting, ASTM uses 2 separate documents for each testing type--one tells you how to prepare the testing site (F-710 Standard Practices for preparing Concrete Floors) and the other provides the testing method (calcium chloride, RH probe & alkalinity). Now, we additionally turn to each of the two manufacturers for their installation instructions. After the installers have read and understood the installation instructions, we need to communicate the unique aspects related to any job. I like to call these “nuances.” Examples of “nuances” are:

Starting times Fixture moving needs Loss prevention Tile direction

Lastly, we utilize a ULP to communicate instructions regarding specialty services like “floor prep” and fixture moving. (We can also customize a ULP to the needs of a specific customer’s project.) When we combine the “specialty services” and “project-type” of ULPs, we save the installer time because they do not have to go research ways to ensure installation consis-tency.

Where do we keep ULPs at Inside Edge so I can see one? You can view a “ULP” by simply going into our proprietary IEX system and clicking on “Toolbox.” Inside “Toolbox”, you will find a number of documents including a Uniform Labor Practice (ULP) for floor preparation. To obtain a copy of a “customer specific” ULP, please ask an Account Manager to see a sample. Having a ULP makes it much easier for Project Managers to communicate installation guidelines.

What are the benefits of a ULP for our customers? Our company’s use of a ULP differentiates us from the competition while also benefitting our customers. Internally, a ULP is a great way to share and capture “best practices” across our installer net-work. ULPs act as a powerful communication tool (sometimes in-clusive of “how to” photographs) and illustrate our disciplined ap-proach to flooring installation and our commitment to getting the installation right the first time - - and every time. While many flooring dealers and installers may use the manufacturer’s instruc-tions only, Inside Edge goes the extra mile. We will actually cus-tomize a ULP for a particular customer’s projects based on our un-derstanding of the “nuances” unique to that customer’s situation, facility, security measures, etc. Essentially, this means we are more “buttoned up” and more able to assure our customers greater peace of mind that every one of their flooring projects is more likely to be installed the same way - - consistently - - every time.