Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/70749
34 • JULY 2012 • WORLD FENCE NEWS FASTENER CAPS for the fence industry ALL TYPES Snap-Caps, Tap Caps, Kappets, Hex-Caps, Hinge Caps All colors and sizes available in small or large quantities Easy to order through PRO-DEC.COM Check us out! IGD NEW E/Z SLIDE BOTTOM TRACK™ Mission statement continued from page 32 2" Heavy Duty Aluminum Track "It's like the gate is floating on air." – Orlando, Florida INTERNATIONAL GATE DEVICES, INC. slidegate.net 1-800-557-4283 (GATE) Fax 610-534-9682 For convenient access to World Fence News OnLine, visit www.worldfencenews.com business consulting and sales training in the fence industry, the owner chal- lenged me on my methodology and in- structed me to add a caveat to my training and instructions. He cautioned me that at his company there must be a fair and rea- sonable limit to the profitability, and indeed, profit quest of the sales staff, a demand I had never heard before. But after he explained the conflict with the company's mission statement, I not only understood it, but agreed. Before I explain further, let me share with you the mission statement of USA Fence in Florida. "For more than four decades, family owned and operated USA Fence Co. has proudly served the Florida community with the highest quality fencing products and services avail- able, at a fair and reasonable price. We pledge to continue to serve our community and the United States of America with pride in our workman- ship offering only premium quality ma- terials while maintaining an optimum level of customer satisfaction to every customer, large and small. We shall al- ways honor our commitment to our customers whom have come to trust the name USA Fence. We further promise to enhance employee morale through involvement and recognition and to always conduct ourselves and our business in an hon- est and ethical manner. " The owner correctly pointed out that at any given time they may have a dozen or 15 salespeople on staff and he did not want even one of them to take advantage of a trusting customer and overcharge anyone for higher profits for the company and a greater commission for the salesperson them- ...mission statements are [also] dynamic. They can change with the times and passions of the owner. Just try not to change too often; it can be confusing to the employees and the general public. selves. A certain percentage of our customers trust us so completely, he explained to me, that many of them, as many as half at one time, would not even get a competitive bid, they would simply agree to whatever price the salesperson gave them. Really, some people don't have a clue what a fence would cost, be it $500 or $5,000 or $50,000. They don't have any idea. Therefore they would be very vulnerable to an unscrupulous salesperson seeking to pad his or her commission base, especially if their commission is based on a percentage of the profitability of the sale, as I al- ways recommend. And many times with this sliding scale the commissions rise dramati- cally after higher profits to the com- pany are realized. But there is the rub. There is a firm policy in place di- rectly relating to the mission statement which all the employees of the com- pany are pledged to follow that forbids employees of the company of taking advantage of the trust and confidence the company has built over the last 40 years within the community. While this policy restricts the amount of profit that can be derived