People ought to be ableto rely on their suppliers

Tag : Cutting Tools
Where are you going to get a country asun-class-conscious as Canada, where the greatest piece of luck youever had was being born here?
There is a better R&D tax climate here than anywhere else in theworld. And you can get intelligent staff. Our competitors in theU.S. woodworking tool business have far higher rates of returnedproducts. It is usually because their employees are not as numerateor literate as ours.
They get more stuff back because it was sent out in error - in thewrong number, or it's the wrong thing, but it doesn't happen withus. In general, the Canadian education system is good. We all whineand complain about it at times, but it's good.
But aren't we poor innovators?
We are not risk-takers in general. My parents told me to get a goodeducation and a secure government job. That is a pretty Canadianapproach.
About half our total mail order business is done outside of Canada,with the major part in the U.S. American customers will analyzesomething and say, 'Well, that looks interesting, I think I'll buyone and try it out.'
The Canadian approach is: 'I'll find someone who owns that and seeif they like it.' Canadians are always sort of later adopters andso they are also later innovators.
It's just that we go through a highly unionized education systemand there is a lot of emphasis on security. In our view, peopledon't foul up, they're victims. Well, actually, people do foul up,and they should recognize it. There is a little differentpsychology between the two countries but, as far as being inbusiness, I'll take Canada over anything.
So we have a built-in cultural obstacle?
Which brings advantages and disadvantages. So deal with the matrixyou're given.
For your parents, why was it good to have their son become abureaucrat?
My parents went through the Depresssion on a marginal farm innorthern Saskatchewan. I grew up in a log house on a farm where,when my dad left it, it became community pasture. It was proven youcouldn't make a living off it. So there was good reason for them tobe security-conscious.
You were well into a public service career, but then decided'enough of this?'
Thirty years ago. I was 39, a man at the worst point in his life.Unexploded bombs.
My wife and I started selling a cast-iron barrel stove kit whereyou bolt parts on a 45-gallon drum, cut a hole in the front, andput a door on. That's what heated the school I went to as a kid. Iwanted one for the shed on my farm and I tried marketing this. Webroke even in this small business the first winter, and I resignedthe next summer from the government and went into it full-time.
What bothers you about the way business is conducted now?
What I find most amazing is watching Canadian and Americanbusinesses farm out their customer service. You might as well put agun to your head and pull the trigger. It's Russian roulette if youfarm it out.
Why?
Because the [outsource specialists] don't know your business andthey don't know the culture. When you've farmed out customerservice, you've lost the connection with the customer, and you willeventually die a horrible economic death.
So you will never outsource customer service?
Never. You will never find, I hope, a screened telephone call whenyou phone Lee Valley. Anybody who has called me in the past 30years was put through without asking what they were calling aboutor what their name was.
When you have a customer who gets directly though to a seniorofficer in a firm, it's like a dog that's caught a car. Thecustomer doesn't know what to do now that he or she has hope.
They'll say, 'But I didn't expect to get through to the president.'
'Well, you got through. What can I do for you?'
'Well, it wasn't really that big of a problem.'
'It must be a problem. What can we do?'
So you've won the battle just by not putting up screens andblockages between you and your customers.
But you're only a $100-million company and these are billion-dollarenterprises that feel they have to outsource.
Yeah, and they have a lot farther to fall. It will happen. This iswhere the competition comes in - they will just provide theservice. There are so many choices today, people ought to be ableto rely on their suppliers. But if you can never get in touch withthem, you can't rely on them.
What do you personally do well?
I think I hire well, and I only hire people I trust and who arehonest. You can get fired for two things in these companies - oneis lying and you get a second chance; second is theft and you don'tget a second chance. You cannot afford to have a thief around thecompany at any time.
I tend to hire people who have my background, which is blue-collar.My wife says I am terrible in discriminating against people from asilver-spoon background. Well, I don't understand them as well as Iunderstand people from a blue-collar background.
And I want people with belief systems so they know the differencebetween right and wrong automatically. They don't have to say,'Well, I have to think about that.' They should be able to respondimmediately.
What's your biggest weakness?
I talk too much. I'm overly optimistic. My wife will say, 'Now, youfell in love with that. You'll probably fall out of love eventuallyon this.' But I think things usually turn out the way you expect.That's why pessimists should not go into risky ventures.
What's wrong with talking too much?
Sometimes I don't listen well. I make a lot of snap decisions.That's why you don't want so-called yes-men around - someone who isbehind you when you are on the edge of a precipice. You want themin front of you saying 'Are you out of your cotton-picking mind?'You have to have people who tell the truth.