fittings 05

15 Ideas@work 16 LearnIng by LookIng In the rearvIew mIrror 18 a good workpLace Ta

ke me

home

The Big Banghas a new leader

30 min. update

Are you

a publication

No. 5Autumn 2012

motivated?

8

12

Business =Personal

4

Win

Berlinfor two

a weekend in

In ThIs Issue we report on the Employ-ee Engagement Survey (EES) conducted earlier this year. I must admit that when I saw the re-sults my own personal motivation took a dive. One of the questions re-lated to Fittings: I read Fittings often - agree or disagree? 7.5 out of 10 colleagues from ÖAG and Wasco agreed, but in Tobler and CFM this number was only 6 out of 10. This means that 4 out of 10 people do NOT read the magazine often. Truth be told, I had a hard time not taking this personally. Imagine, you are selling products but six out of ten customers say they are not interest-ed. Or you deliver what you think is a great ser-vice and your customers tell you that they don’t really want it. Like every-body else, I want what I do to add value and for it to be relevant to my col-leagues in CE. And what can be more relevant than building bridges be-tween our businesses,

sharing good ideas and experiences, reporting on how we’re doing and how our business priori-ties are developing? Or so I thought. We were simply not performing well enough, I conclud-ed. After a frustrating night of head spinning worries, I had a revela-tion. The majority of all CE’s do read the maga-zine - often. Considering the fact that Fittings has existed for less than two years, that we send out only three issues a year, the results are a good starting point. There’s al-ways room for improve-ment and development. The figures and facts in the EES are a snapshot of the general percep-tion right now. And if we only improve a little on all aspects, we will take a giant step forward and create an even better workplace.

Happy reading

Inside

Fittings issue 5 · Distributed September 2012 · Fittings is the employee magazine for Wolseley CE staff in Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Luxembourg. Publication by Wolseley CE. Circulation: 2,300. Available languages: English, German, Dutch, Italian and French. Editorial responsibility: Wolseley CE/Charlotte Gullach Büttrich. Journalistic production and project management: Radical Communications/Patrick May. Design and layout: Appetizer.dk/Simon Johnsen. Photography: Martijn vd Griendt, Günter Wohlschlager, Peter Lous, Claudio Bruni and Jacqueline Made. Print: CoolGray. Editorial committee: DT Group/Charlotte Gullach Büttrich, [email protected]; Wasco/Sacha Büchele, [email protected]; Julia Rees, [email protected]; Tobler/Jacqueline Made, [email protected]; CFM and Wolseley CE/Tobias Roser, [email protected]

What motivates me ...

Charlotte Gullach BüttrichChief Editor for Fittings

[email protected]

Tobler +41 44 735 50 00CFM +352 4995-1Wasco +31 88 099 5000

OÄG +43 50406 0DT Group +45 39559700Wolseley +44 118 929 8700

USEFUL NUMBERS

You can write to Charlotte at [email protected] Feel free to share your ideas and comments – both positive and critical.

Ce Big Bang strategy has a new leaderCE has a new MD: Patrick Headon

Ideas@work The 3rd man

Learning by looking in the rearview mirror

What is the secret of a good workplace?

Ideas@work We deliver while you sleep

Learning menuTraining and courses offered

Fittings Quiz

Business = Personal... in the Dutch mountains

12

1516

18

2122

24

4

8Are you motivated?We want to know how en-gaged you are

“A great place to start

is to notice when a col-league does a good job. BUT ... don’t stop here. Let them know! Tell them you are im-pressed by the way they handled that par-ticular situation. If you’re not used to pay-ing compliments, it might feel awkward at first. But I promise, you will get used to it. No need to overdo it ei-ther. Tell and move on. No big deal. Keep on practising. At some point it will feel per-fectly natural.”

“Do some-thing nice for

your colleagues. Like bringing them a cup of coffee when you are getting some. Bring cake for no reason whatsoever. Ask your colleague how his or her weekend was. How their holiday was. Ask them how they are do-ing. It means a lot that you take an active in-terest. It will improve the atmosphere at work. Don’t forget the grumpy colleague in the corner. He might be the person in great-est need of attention.”

“Provide world-class

service. A better ser-vice than your custom-er actually expects. It makes you feel great. Dare to come with a smart reply. Dare to give your customers an experience. Give your customers extra advice even though they did not ask for it. There’s a lot of workplace happi-ness to gain here. It’s a matter of repeatedly doing this until it be-comes a natural part of your job. It will make your job so much more fun. Instantly.”

Happy people! Let’s face it – they are twice as much fun as their unhappy counterparts. Happy people are more creative. Some people even claim that happy people are more productive.

Advertorial

are a blessing for business!

Self-proclaimed Chief Hap-piness Officer Alexander Kjerulf* is one of those people. “Rock-solid prior-

itisation, tracking time, structured calendars and realistic to-do lists all support productivity. But the number one booster, which is an underestimated factor, is happi-ness at work. That rocks!”

“Happy people have more and better relationships at work,” Al-

exander explains. “They work bet-ter together with colleagues, cus-tomers are more satisfied and as a result, they sell more.” It is im-possible to be constantly happy but that does not mean that you cannot influence your level of hap-piness. You can be your very own Chief Happiness Officer. “It is all about acknowledging that you can actively take responsibility for hap-piness in your workplace.”

Happypeople

*Alexander Kjerulf is the author of the bestseller ‘Happy Hour is 9 to 5’. 3Fittings 5 · 2012

Business

... in the Dutch mountains

Twello is a quiet, distinctive town with less than 14,000 residents, located in the east of The Nether-lands. Founded in the 13th century, the name Twello means double forest. In other words: welcome to the countryside.

The busy capital city Amsterdam is more than 100 km away. Twello is not the most obvious choice in which to establish a business selling heating and plumbing products across the entire country. But this is where a simple plumber by the name of Geert van den Belt chose to establish his wholesale company in 1970. And the name of that company is Wasco.

Personal=Herold van

den Belt

4 Fittings 5 · 2012

BusinessI

t might not be ob-vious,” says Her-old van den Belt, Wasco CEO and son

of the company’s found-er. “But from a logistics perspective, with two main highways connect-ing the entire country in our backyard, it’s defi-nitely not a bad choice.” The fact that the Van den Belts live here might have helped as well.

Let’s start this story with a short visit to the nearby city of Apeldoorn and one of Wasco’s 26 branches and hear what senior branch manager for the Northern Region Paul Mölder has to say: “We exist for our custom-ers. Wasco is one of the four big players in a small market. Construction has stagnated because of the recession and the market has declined. So competi-tion is fierce.”

Being slightly mad helps!Paul is a veteran. “When I started 26 years ago, we were thirteen, maybe fourteen people. During my job interview, Geert explained to me that it would help if I was a bit mad. Betty van den Belt, Geert’s wife, was doing sales, just like me. When

she was around not a sin-gle phone was allowed to ring more than three times. She’d say: ‘C’mon Paul, pick up. There’s a customer waiting on the other side’. Now 26 years later, I still cannot han-dle a phone ringing more than three times without

it being picked up,” Paul laughs.

Phones ringing are a luxury these days. “The current business environ-ment requires us to be pro-active, more aggres-sive,” Paul says. “In spite of the tough market, we still have a lot of loy-al customers. The num-ber of projects though, has decreased. As a re-sult, so has their business

with us. Every order is a battle. Our competitors try their best to get their hands on our custom-ers offering sharp prices.

“

You either love or hate

working here

1970 2000 2002 2007Wasco

established by Geert van

den Belt

Wasco Energy Centre

(WEC) is established

Wasco acquires Saris BV

+ Wolseley acquires

Wasco

Wasco acquires

Kopex BV

Spotlight

More on next page

Herold van

den Belt

5Fittings 5 · 2012

Thanks to the excellent customer relations, our customers double check with us before they order. This allows us to match the price or increase the service and thus keep the business.”

“At the same time, we have intensified the bat-tle for new customers.We have a succesful ap-proach with small and

medium-sized installers and plumbers. It is our job to know their busi-ness and anticipate their needs. When they order a sink, they most likely also need other stuff like mounting bolts and a fau-cet.”

The impossible is possiblePaul is 100% certain: “We offer the best ser-vice in the market. The people working in the branches, have been installers or plumbers themselves. They’re experts. And they are committed to serving our customers. Every-one is. Therefore, at Wasco, the impossi-

ble is possible. On a Saturday morn-ing a customer calls the branch. He needs a boiler immediately. Panic. We don’t have the boiler on stock. Of course in the warehouse in Twello but they’re closed. We call Herold. Ten minutes lat-er he shows up with the

key. Twenty minutes lat-er the customer leaves the branch with the boiler in his car. It’s not just a good story. It’s typical of the culture in our organi-sation. Short lines, en-gagement and a little bit

of craziness - that is Was-co in a nutshell.”

Next stop, Het On-derdeel. This add on to Wasco, initiated in 1991, is the markets’ pre-ferred supplier of heat-ing, plumbing, gas and oil fuel spare parts. Here we meet Roy Boeve, prod-uct manager. “Het On-derdeel was looking for a new colleague for their 11,000 m2 warehouse,” says Roy. “My dreamjob? Not really. I needed a job. I applied and when I got the job I promised my-self to move on as soon something better turned up. That was 18 years ago.”

There aren’t any. The highest point in The netherlands is 323 metres.

Twenty percent of the country lies below sea level. ‘In the Dutch Mountains’

is the title of an 80s hit song by a band called The Nits. The song even made

the Austrian charts in 1988. The song is a small window into the Dutch

culture – a proud and hard-working nation, not afraid to make fun of

themselves.

Customer relations is key.

My dad paved the way -

he was great at relations

Dutchmountains?

So what about those

Continued Roy Boeve


Family feelingRoys’ story is not unique: 26% of Wasco employ-ees have worked here for 10 years or longer. “You either totally love it here and stay forever. Or you hate it and leave. Hav-ing been here for so long, I’ve developed a nose for picking who stays. It’s a hectic environment and our way of working where the customer is king, re-quires flexibility. On top of that, you need to be-lieve in the company. We have literally everything installers need, from boil-ers to clothing. Wheth-er it’s in stock or not, re-gardless of the brand, whatever our custom-ers need, we get it. This gives us a huge advan-tage on our competitors.”

Roy has seen Was-co develop from a small company sending twen-ty packages a day to the fantastic company it is today. “We’re more than

360 people and it’s im-possible to know eve-ryone. But the sense of family hasn’t changed. We’re here for each other and our customers. If a colleague has a problem, we all have a problem. When the warehouse is lagging behind on fulfill-ing orders, then everyone stays to help and make sure the customers get their orders in time. It has always been like this and it’s great to see that after all these years, in spite of the fact that the organisation has become so big, the spirit is still here.”

“We’re proud to work for Wasco,” says Roy, “Around Christmas we sometimes get cards from customers with €50 included to buy a cou-ple of beers for the guys in the warehouse. We stand for something and our customers appreciate that. When Wasco be-

came a part of Wolseley, it didn’t stop being a fam-ily business. The lines of communication are short. The door to Herold’s of-fice is always open. We don’t have that many rules here. You have to be able to read between the lines. That makes Wasco an exciting and dynamic place to work. We’re do-ing well too, despite the market situation. We’re at the good end of the scale. That contributes to my motivation as well.”

The differenceBack at Headquarters in Twello, CEO Herold van den Belt is studying the results from the Em-ployee Engagement Sur-vey. “We have a great team. It fills me with pride when people say they are proud to work here. That motivates me. We are the number one in spare parts, number three in heating and in sanitary we’re in the top five. There is still a lot of growth potential. For ex-

ample in sanitary.”“Customer rela-

tions are key,” says Her-old. “My father paved the way. He was great at customer relations. I think the fact that Wasco started as a family busi-ness and in a sense still is, plays a significant role, also for customers and suppliers. We have a lot of customers who have been with us since the very start. Our initiative with junior salespeople is an important step to cre-ate new customer rela-tions and gain market-share. Considering the Dutch market with a few big players fighting for a piece of a smaller cake, suppliers are becom-ing increasingly powerful and dictating prices. Our strength is that we know our customers very well and because we have a dedicated group of peo-ple, prepared to go the extra mile both for Was-co, and for our custom-ers. It makes all the dif-ference.”

Headquarters: Twello

Branches: 26

Showrooms: 4

Employees: 368

SKU’s: 25.000

Revenue: 220 million

(2010/2011)

Thefacts

Spotlight

Paul Mölder

7Fittings 5 · 2012

Are

motivated?

CE’s

employee

engagement

survey 2012

you


Development

Employee Engagement Surveys (EEC) try to measure to what degree employees are engaged (involved) in the company because engaged employees are more likely to produce outstanding work and they contribute to customer loyalty, which in turn has a positive effect on the company’s bottom line.

We want to know how engaged you are. An impressive 1,600 colleagues (80%) partici-pated in CE’s first ever EEC. Read what you and your colleagues answered!

Engagement, mo-tivation, loyal-ty, satisfaction. It all adds up to

this: are you happy to work here and will you do your best? “By survey-ing the level of engage-ment we’re taking the temperature of the work-place,” says Tobias Roser, CE’s HR Director and re-sponsible for the survey. “The results indicate what the employees feel about the company and the or-ganisation. On a strategic level, it helps us priori-tise those elements that need to be improved in order for employees to be happy about their work

place. On an operational level, it helps line man-agers to understand what they need to improve in order to increase their teams’ satisfaction, mo-tivation and loyalty. Ulti-mately, the results show top management which teams are performing well and where things are going wrong.”

Good gradesThe survey among oth-er things produces a so called Employee Satisfac-tion Index (ESI) - a grade

motivated?

WoLseLey hAs Been conducting Employee Engage-ment Surveys for some years now, with good results. This is the first time the survey is con-ducted in CE. The plan is to re-peat this every. “The results of the survey are being discussed on all levels in the organisa-

tion,” Tobias says. “Initia-

tives for improvement are being developed. For example, Tobler decided upon three initiatives; including improving the infor-mation flow in relation to objec-tives, direction and large pro-jects, employee development and collaboration between the various departments. The oth-er business units have devel-

oped similar initiatives. During bi-monthly statement meetings, we follow up on the progress of these initiatives. What is impor-tant is that there’s a systematic focus on the quality of our em-ployees’ work place.” In the next issue of Fittings, we will take a closer look at improvement ini-tiatives.

Nowwhat?

More on next page

ESIscores

by business units

100

60

79.1

People are satisfied with their working place

77.876.9

70.2

9Fittings 5 · 2012

of some kind - express-ing how satisfied staff is working here. The index is based upon the sum of all answers, taking importance into consid-eration. This means that factors that are consid-ered more important for our satisfaction,are weighted heavier in the calculation of the in-dex. The overall rating in CE varies from 70 to almost 80 out of a to-tal rating of 100. “You can safely conclude that this means that peo-ple in CE in general are satisfied with their workplace,” says Jens Damgaard from An-alysegruppen, an exter-nal company hired to conduct the survey. “It’s the teams that score

50 or less, you need to worry about. CE has only a small percentage that scored low.”

“The ESI corre-sponds with the tem-perature of the work-place,” says Tobias. “It shows how we’re doing as an organisation. But we have to be careful. An ESI can easily be misused. For example, you cannot use it to compare different busi-ness units because im-portant parameters like differences in culture and organisational ma-turity aren’t taken into consideration. What is interesting is the re-sults that shape the ESI. These are concrete and tangible, so we can act upon them. Which in the end, leads to a better ESI obviously.”

70% of people do not like to have a direct confrontation and they will either lie or dodge the question. This means they don’t give the chef a fair chance to improve and adapt to your taste. It’s the same with this survey. By not sharing exactly what you think or feel, you are

simply contributing to the sta-tus quo.

You might want to say some-thing that might upset your col-leagues or your boss if they knew it came from you. That’s why an EES is 100% anony-mous. Firstly, your answers are received and stored on an ex-ternal server (propriety of An-alysegruppen). Nobody in CE has direct access to this serv-er. Another important decision made to ensure your anonymity,

is that managers with a team of four or less employees, do not receive a specific team report. There’s no way anyone can be singled out.

For the survey to work prop-erly, it is important you are hon-est about your working situa-tion. It is the only way forward if we want to improve and devel-op as an organisation.

Can I be honestwith you?

Imagine your favourite restaurant gets a new chef but you are not very happy with the food. Your favourite waiter asks you whether you liked the food. Will you tell the truth?

To sTArT WITh, the work we do must make sense. We must know what’s being asked of us and be confident that we have the competencies and the resources needed to do the job. Secondly, the work we do must have a point. We must be able to see how the small tasks we do contribute to the company. Finally, the work that we do must benefit a greater good; we must be able to see how our efforts help others.

Is your joB meAnInGFuL? According to the survey: YES. There’s room for improvement (there always is). For example, training and time to complete the job (competencies and resources) but in general we’re very satisfied with our work-ing situation.

People are motivated by different things. But whether we prefer working directly with customers or behind the scenes in a ware-

house, we all want our work to be meaningful. But what makes a job meaningful?

Continued I want my job to be

meaningful


Development

ESIscore

Only a small percentage of

employees indicate they

are dissatisfied by giving a

score of 50 or below.

What can be better What is good– needs fixing – leave alone

The results of the Employee Engagement Survey reveal a number of areas that can be improved. There are differences between how staff in the different business units prioritise, but they agree upon most areas.

Employee development (prioritised by all units) Growth opportunities within the organisation (all units)

The sharing of knowledge and experience (prioritised by all units except ÖAG)

Knowledge about Business Unit objectives and strategy (Tobler and ÖAG)

Collaboration between departments (prioritised by CFM)

Relation with Wolseley (CFM) Time to complete my work (ÖAG) Job training (Tobler) Ownership and joint responsibility (Wasco)

Our own commitment towards our job and our workplace (prioritised by all units)

Job tasks encourage us to do our best (all units agree)

We feel we add value to our customers (prioritised by all units except CFM)

We have clear objectives enabling us to do our work well (prioritised by all units except CFM)

Our job tasks challenge us professionally (prioritised by ÖAG and CFM)

We feel well informed about our companies’ objectives and strategies (prioritised by Wasco only)

We have a clear idea of the companies’ values (prioritised by Tobler only)

Job training (prioritised by ÖAG only) Good relations with our managers (prioritised by CFM only)

Areas that can be improved:

(random order)Areas that we are positive about: (random order)

SatisfiedNot satisfied

by employees

11Fittings 5 · 2012

CE has a new MD: Patrick Hea-don. But who is he? What are his plans? What can we expect from him? And why is Ole Mikael Jensen leav-ing ‘already’? In an exclusive interview both executives talk openly about their plans for the future of CE.

He’s rather tall and slim too and maybe a little pale con-

sidering the season. “The latter must be a herit-age from my Irish par-ents,” says Patrick Hea-don, the newly appointed MD for CE. “I was born and raised in England but have lived in Switzerland for the past 14 years. I have three kids, growing up in this funny mix of Irish, English and Swiss. I like the dynamics of dif-ferent countries and cul-tures. In my job here, there’s plenty of that, as I’ll be working across cul-tures and geographical barriers.”

Patrick took over from Ole Mikael Jensen in August when Ole Mikael succeeded Steen Weirsøe as CEO for DT Group, following Steen’s retire-ment. CE will, as before, report to the DT Group so Ole Mikael will follow de-velopments in CE closely. “The timing couldn’t have been better,” says Ole Mikael about the succes-sion. “Patrick is the man with the experience and competencies to take the Big Bang strategy to the next level.”

Flexibility & efficiency Patrick’s experience in-cluding positions at eBay

might give us a clue as to what his focus is go-ing to be. “In part ,yes. But I also have experi-ence from retail and con-sumer goods, which I be-lieve are also relevant for CE. The internet will con-tinue to impact our busi-ness. It is an efficient way of doing business

has a new leader

BigBang

strategy

CE’s

Meet Patrick Headon


Ask Patrick

To succeed we need to nail the basics:

the right assortment, deliver on time,

send a correct invoice and collect

the cash

and what’s more, peo-ple like it. Moreover, on-line businesses provide us with excellent customer insight because we can track their behavior. In CE we’re already Wolseley Europe’s best practice for on-line B2B sales. But we can take it a lot fur-ther.”

There are three main objectives the new MD has to achieve: 1) beat the budget, 2) improve customer satisfaction and 3) improve employee en-gagement. “The budget is not going to be an easy one,” Patrick says. “We’re operating in an uncer-tain environment. Many economies in Europe are struggling. We have to be prudent about increas-ing our costs. The key-words here are efficiency

and flexibility. Using the resources we have in an even smarter way, build-ing flexibility into con-tracts with our suppliers and flexing rewards more in line with performance. But we must keep devel-oping and experiment-ing. I’m a big fan of trying things on a small scale, with small investments - testing what works, and implementing fully where the idea proves itself.”

Prioritise what adds valueIt hasn’t exactly been a slow start for Patrick. When visiting the busi-ness units, his first ob-jective was to make sure that each unit had the right leader. “People are key to success. We are lucky to have strong, ex-perienced leaders in To-bler and Wasco. In CFM we appointed a new MD: Cedric Faivre. It became clear that we needed to make a change in ÖAG as well. In order to make faster improvements in profitability and speed up decision-making, I decid-ed to take on the role of MD in ÖAG on an inter-im basis - until we have identified the right person to run this business per-manently.”

This means that at the moment Patrick has a double role. How will he

balance this? “In ÖAG the management team has taken on more responsi-bility and two members in particular will drive op-erational decision-mak-ing. I am very grateful to their support. And as far as CE is concerned, I will prioritise to the bone. I think it is a healthy exer-cise because it forces us to focus on business criti-cal issues and what really adds value to the busi-nesses”.

Impressed“I have had a fair chance to get familiar with the business units,” Patrick says. “I am impressed by the people. They are en-gaged in what they are doing. Extremely friendly too. We have some great businesses with strong market positions. The re-lationships we have with customers are amazing. Some of them go back 25 years or longer. The trick is not to get too set-tled and to keep on ques-tioning how we work to-gether. At times we can be too service minded and offer low profitabil-ity customers levels of service we cannot justi-

More on next page


fy. It’s almost as though we’re afraid of charging customers for the great work we do. If the cus-tomer perceives our ser-vices to be valuable, he/she is willing to pay for it. All in all, I have a re-al good feeling about the business. I feel privi-leged to enter a company where people issues are high on the agenda and where a lot of useful ap-proaches, like employee engagement surveys and evaluation tools, are al-ready in place. This really surprised me in a positive way. The people agenda is critical to our success. All these tools make my job easier.”

Patrick. “To succeed, the first thing we need to do is to nail the basics. Mak-ing sure we have the right assortment offer-ing good value, deliver products on time, invoice correctly and collect the cash. Get that right, and then we earn the right to advance to the next tier, where the key objective is adding value to custom-

which products do we of-fer, how do we sell them (e.g. via internet) and to which customers - to stay ahead of our competitors. We need to continuous-ly challenge our business model.”

“We are well on our way,” says Ole Mikael, who likes to describe his own role to be the one of a change agent. “We bumped into a few un-pleasant surprises – prof-itability below our expec-tations (Austria), selling the business in Italy - but the overall picture is a positive one. We are far more synchronised to-day than three years ago. We share best practices, good ideas and experi-ences, we conduct cus-tomer and employee sur-veys, we have a shared strategy for sourcing and shared sales initia-tives like Sweet Sixteen. We have accomplished a lot. We all can be proud. We have got a fantas-tic business and a lot of

the things we’re doing in CE today, I can copy and paste into DT Group.”

no thanks to gossip“The strategy and the framework we have to deliver within is fixed,” says Patrick. “I love work-ing in a team to achieve targets and objectives. We have a great group of very engaged employ-ees and if we all pull our weight, we can make it happen. What I truly dis-like is people not saying what they really think. My door is always open and there’s nothing you cannot tell me – as long as the intention is to help improve our businesses. So please be open – di-verse views will get us to a better result. We can debate, we can even ar-gue - but once we have made a decision we need to all align behind that decision and make it hap-pen.”

Continued

Three tier rocket“In essence we have a simple business. We have got customers in need of products and servic-es. We have got suppli-ers pushing products. We are in the middle - bal-ancing demand and avail-ability while adding ser-vice and insights”, says

ers. Excellent examples here are the Innight ser-vice Wasco (see Fittings page XX) offers to their customers (see Fittings page XX) and the techni-cal expertise available to customers at Tobler’s re-gional centers. The third and final tier, is about re-defining our business e.g.

We have a great group of

very engaged employees

and if we all pull our weight,

we can make it happen


Ideas@work

Ideas@work

Fittings’ non-exclusive whiteboard where we share ideas

from all of the divisions - including the Nordic divisions.

The quality of the idea is not dependent on whether your

office is the boardroom or the cabin of a truck. The idea

doesn’t have to be rocket science either. On the contrary,

we love practical, applicable ideas that can easily be

copied by others.

The3rd man

ÖAG turns suppliers into partners

Our success is built on a three-sided plat-form: customers, staff and suppliers. We have a tendency to put a lot of energy into gaining the loyalty of staff and cus-tomers, while suppliers often are taken for granted. In 2011, ÖAG introduced a programme called ‘Partner of the Month’ - focusing on the third man: the supplier.

We’re crea-tures of habit. We will hap-

pily recommend suppli-ers not necessarily be-cause they have the best solution but because we know them,” says Markus Wögerbauer, Marketing Director at ÖAG. “The ‘Partner of the Month’ should break this habit. The idea is to exclusive-ly focus on one supplier for an entire month: cre-ate a product brochure

for staff, posters and fly-ers to increase visibil-ity in all branches, write articles in our employ-ee publications (circula-tion: 900) and customer publications (circulation: 15,000), create exposure on our website and de-velop relevant sales cam-paigns together.”

Product training for staffThe product brochure is an informative publica-tion (eight pages) provid-

ing an introduction to the company, the range of prod-ucts and solutions with ins and outs and pictures as

well as con-tact details of the main contact per-sons. “The brochures are popu-lar, also among col-leagues with no direct cus-tomer

contact,” says Markus. “People want to know what we’re selling. We have four main product categories, so we also have four monthly part-ners - and four brochures. For each category we have developed a binder. This way staff can save the brochures and use the bind for reference pur-poses.”

Andreas Zottler, Sales and Marketing Director of Vogel & Noot, a lead-ing supplier of radiators, underfloor heating and chimneys and part of the Rettig ICC group, had no

“

ÖAG’s internal figures show that we bought sub-stantially more (approx. 20%) from Vogel & Noot after they participated in the programme. This is a clear indication that staff promoted Vogel & Noots’ solutions after seeing the brochure, flyers and newsletter.

It works

doubts that the programme would deliver value to their business. “It makes sense to use resources to edu-cate staff. There have been a lot of changes in staff in ÖAG lately. At the same time, we have introduced new products and solutions and not every sales per-son within ÖAG necessar-ily knows this.Therefore the timing could not be bet-ter for us. The fact that it is exclusive, is an appealing factor as well. Often in ini-tiatives like this you drown in all the adds from other suppliers.”

Long-term investmentParticipation in the pro-gram is not free. There’s three different levels sup-pliers can choose from. “We have a small market-ing budget for initiatives like these”, Andreas Zottler explains. “We decided to be partner of the month twice in 2012. We haven’t made a traditional business case where we look at the in-vestment versus the extra sales the initiative gener-ates. However, we’re con-fident that it is a good in-vestment. Not for the short term maybe, but for the mid-term.”


“I WAs hIred by Geert

van den Belt,” says Ton.

“Sometimes I was asked to

keep young Herold van den

Belt busy when his parents

were busy. We switched roles

though at some point,” Ton

jokes. “Most of my time at

Wasco I worked in the ware-

house. The past ten years in

sales. A huge change. Never

regretted it though. I’ve had

a fantastic time. Wasco has

always been good to its em-

ployees. This is not the first

time we have experienced a

crisis. However, I’ve never ex-

perienced one so extreme. In

times like these, it is more im-

portant than ever to stay posi-

tive. Negative thinking attracts

negative consequences. Put

your shoulder to the wheel and

keep existing customers. I re-

tired to my family and a little

farm. I have a couple of ani-

mals and they will keep me

occupied. But it’s hard for me

to let go of Wasco.”

negative thinking will lead

to negative consequences

Ton Roeterdink

sales Left Wasco 24 August after 26 years of service

“I WAs The third genera-tion from my family to work at CFM,” says Denise. “CFM was a natural choice. The compa-ny has a solid reputation. In Luxembourg CFM stands for quality and service. I started in the warehouse. A big ad-vantage because I became

familiar with the products I was selling. Eight years ago, I moved to the branch in Esch. Those were good times. I think it’s difficult for young people to get into CFM. The stand-ard is high and there’s a lot they have to relate to. Times are tough. But we still have

our good name and we should cherish it. Hang in there, bet-ter times will come again. I miss CFM. Fortunately it’s nearby and I visit the branch from time to time.”

Protect CFm’s reputation

Denise Peiffer

sales Left CFM in May after 21 years of service

the rear mirror

Learningby

looking in rearview mirrorthe


In ancient cultures the elderly were respected for their wisdom. now science proves these cultures right.

Older people tend to be less impulsive because they are less reliant on immedi-ate gratification. So in general, an older person will take more time to carefully consider their actions and perhaps even improve the quality of their decisions. We decided to visit four retirees and share their insights with you.

Resume

“I sTArTed as a service

technician and there have

been many changes,” Beat

says. “In the beginning, we

only had oil and gas installa-

tions, requiring mechanical

know-how. Today, you need

to know about programming.

When Sixmadun was taken

over by Tobler, the amount of

work increased. I advanced to

become Team Leader for the

service group - seven people

in 1980. At the end, we were

13. And the workload is still

increasing. Stay calm. When

a customer calls in panic be-

cause his installation broke

down, it doesn’t help to be de-

fensive. Stay calm. There’s a

solution. As a leader I learned

that I have to trust my people.

To focus on their strong points,

give them freedom so they can

do a good job. After three op-

erations, I decided it was time

to leave. There’s more to life

than work.”

Trust your people

to do their best

Teamleader Left Sixmadun in March

after 42 years of service Beat

Krähenbühl

“IT’s Been a long time but it doesn’t feel that long. ÖAG has been like a family,” says Helga. “I’ve spent more time here then at home. I started in the warehouse. Moved to sales. I’ve been here 30 years. In the beginning, people called in their orders. Then came the fax. Now email. This of course is the future and I certainly can see the benefits. Person-

ally though, I felt that the con-tacts I had with customers had a different character. I would be tempted to say somewhat less personal. Today you can find all products and informa-tion about them in our com-puter system. Getting familiar with what you are selling like this, is of course great. But if you ask me, it’s not the same as touching the products. You

get a different relation with the products. If it was up to me, I would simplify things. Focus on personal relationships even more than we already do. I have not planned for what I will do with my time now I am re-tired. I know I will focus on my grandchildren. And of course, occasionally visit colleagues here at ÖAG.”

Business is about relationships

Sales Left ÖAG in August after 40 years of service

Helga Ableitinger


Earlier this year, CE conducted an Employee

Engagement Survey - sending out more than

2,000 questionnaires including 55 questions to all

employees. A staggering 1,600 questionnaires were returned. As a result, we know for example what

teams within the different business units score high on engagement. But what is their secret?

If you ask me,” Chistine Scharrer from ÖAG says, “It’s all about team

spirit. We have to be able to rely on each other. It is aslo impor-tant to know where we are going. So the big picture needs to be clear to everyone. Last but not least, feed-back. How are we do-ing? Acknowledge-ment for what goes well. Direction and support for what needs changing. Of course, leadership in this re-spect is important too because leaders need to facilitate all this.”

excellent

“

Roman

Rothböck

What is the secret of a

Having someone to share football results with

goodworkplace?18 Fittings 5 · 2012

Development

resultsChristine Scharrer is proud on the results from ÖAG. “Last year we started an exten-

sive change pro-ject. The objec-tive of this project was to identify our strong points and focus on them. Normal-ly big change projects make staff feel un-certain and they are like-ly to be more

critical about the organisation.

Part of the explana-tion is that the entire change project had a bottom-up approach. This was not a bunch of leaders in a closed room coming up with changes, this was the entire population of ÖAG contributing to what really needed to be prioritised.”

For Christine Schar-rer there’s no doubt that this survey has value for the organisa-

tion. “It gives staff the possibility to - anony-mously - share their sentiments about their working environment. It can take some of the pressure off an organi-sation. The next step of course is to actively work on the issues the survey has identified for us. In my opinion, this is a shared respon-sibility. Everybody has ideas and can contrib-ute to a better working environment. A lot of issues staff address are concrete and therefore relatively easy to work with. We found out that a lot of apprentic-es don’t read the em-ployee newsletter. We also found out that the reason for this is that employees are not sure whether it is OK for them to read the em-ployee newsletter dur-ing working hours. This is what I mean with shared responsibility. If there’s something you don’t know, ask your manager.”

It’s your workplace too

– take responsibility

When nothing goes my wayRoman Rothböck works in the same department as Alfred Amon. He too praises the excellent working atmos-phere. But he also has a critical note. “The past months have been hard,” says Roman Rothböck. “There have been or-ganisational changes. Redundancies too. Saying goodbye to colleagues is never pleasant.”

Roman Roth-böck has worked for ÖAG since

2009. But all in all he has 12 years of expe-rience in sales. “I love the contact with cus-tomers. Good rela-tions with customers and colleagues is what motivates me. There’s a very positive atmos-phere in our depart-ment. Informal I would say. We help each oth-er. Sometimes you run into a day where noth-ing seems to go your way. On those days it is extremely impor-tant that you have the support from your col-leagues.”

“What demotivates

me is if the phone doesn’t ring. Then time passes slowly. Too slowly. Do I think there’s enough devel-opment opportunities within ÖAG? I would be happy if there were more I guess. But it has to be relevant. I would be unhappy if I was sent to a sales course to learn how to talk to customers. Of course I am never too old or too good to learn something new. But I know how to talk to my customers. So that would be a waste of time.”

Christine

Scharrer

More on next page


Through thick and thin“Today, I’m actually looking forward to going home,” says Alfred Amon teas-ingly. “It’s 30 degrees in the office and even opening the windows doesn’t help.” Alfred Amon has 40 years of experience in the industry. The past 12 years he’s been working in sales for ÖAG. “I love working here. We’re a fantastic team. When things are tough, someone tells a joke and then the ten-sion is gone again.”

And things certainly can get tough. Custom-

ers can be demand-ing. “Ha ha. Yes, in-deed,” says Alfred Amon. “Everything is urgent and patience is not something they have the most of. Peo-ple can call us until six in the evening and we deliver their or-ders the next day. To be able to do this, we need three colleagues to stay here until six in the evening - every day. If we didn’t do it, we wouldn’t be num-

ber one in Austria.”“We’ve been work-

ing together for quite some years and we know each other well. I wouldn’t call it best friends but it’s close. It is important that the atmosphere is good. We support each oth-er through thick and thin. At the end of the weekend, we look for-ward to Monday morn-ing and being togeth-er and talking about football. We all sup-port different clubs, so it can get loud. What can be improved? I honestly wouldn’t know.”

Continued

They still had my toolboxMoney is not everything. It is one of those sayings you can find really mad-dening. However, Massimo Lepore, service technician at Sixmadun, Tobler, has found some truth in this saying. “I thought the grass was greener on the other side, but it wasn’t. Not for me at least.”

One of my colleagues left to work for a com-

petitor. One day he called me and con-vinced me to follow his example. The work was the same but the salary was higher. Having a family with two kids, salary is not unimportant," Mas-simo explains. “So I gave in and left Six-madun. After ten years. Big mistake. The work was more or less the same, the salary was higher but the conditions and the atmosphere, I wasn’t prepared for.

“After half a year I called my old boss at Sixmadun and told him I made a terri-

ble mistake. I asked if I could have my old job back,” Massimo explains. “To my sur-prise, he said ‘yes of course’. My surprise was even bigger when he returned my old car and my toolbox to me. I was gone for half a year and he still saved it. This told me how valued I was. There’s no price tag for that. Also the way of work-ing here. I just love it. We all have our own area with custom-ers that we serve but there’s a lot of free-dom in the job. We have to do our job but nobody tells us how to do our job. You are very independent. You get the freedom to do as you see fit. That motivates me.”

“


Ideas@work

Ideas@work

Fittings’ non-exclusive whiteboard where we share ideas

from all of the divisions - including the Nordic divisions.

The quality of the idea is not dependent on whether your

office is the boardroom or the cabin of a truck. The idea

doesn’t have to be rocket science either. On the

contrary, we love practical, applicable ideas that

can easily be copied by others.

Wedeliver

Night delivery increases productivity of customers by 10%

while you sleepEvery night a small army of TNT vans and lorries deliver supplies directly into the vans and cars of Wasco’s plumb-ing and heating customers. So when they leave their homes in the morning, they don’t have to waste valuable time picking up supplies. Instead, they can directly drive to their customer and gen-erate invoicable hours.

They easily save an hour or an hour and a half - which with their

hourly rates means €45 - €65 extra income,” says Nico Kerk, Wasco’s logis-tics manager. Customers can order their supplies on-line. Orders regis-tered until 17:00 hours

areprocessed the same evening and delivered be-tween 23:00 and 07:00 hours in to the custom-ers’ vans. Return orders will be picked up at the same time.

The bar is high“It’s an ambitious ser-vice, but we have a mo-

tivated team,” says Nico. “We knew that our com-petitors would copy the service as soon as they found out about it, but by putting the bar high enough, it is difficult for them to get anywhere near our level of service.”

Feenstra in Drachten employs 70 installers. Mient Kingma who is re-sponsible for logistics and purchasing, is a huge fan of Wasco’s service. “The service works perfectly. All our vans are equipped with standard supplies. Our installers let us know what we need to replen-ish and/or if they need specific products that are not part of the stand-ard equipment. We send the order elec-tronically to Wasco and the same night TNT delivers the supplies directly into the vans of our installers.”

no clue how they do it“What they do is so im-pressive. Especially in

the winter, when the roads are slippery,” says Mient Kingma. “They hardly every miss a van and if they do, it is of-ten because the van is not parked at the agreed location. What can be improved? I honestly wouldn’t know. I don’t know how they do it. Everything I order is al-ways confirmed and it’s all done electronically. Al-so the invoices. I wouldn’t know what to do if we had to go back to the old situation.”

“Thanks to the In-night service we save so

much money, you wouldn’t be-

lieve it. In the area where we operate,

distances be-tween custom-

ers can be quite long. Our installers are expensive. We want them to drive and work for custom-ers and not drive around looking for supplies. Dis-advantages? NONE!”

“


Take a peek into the machinery of your organi-sation and get a better under-standing of why and how things happen. Fittings has a backstage pass, and we’re happy to share the backstage pass with you.

Backstage

PAss

When people are your most important asset (they are responsible for customer service) you better make sure you hire the right people AND you develop the people you have. We identified the amazing range of training and courses available.

Tobler dayWelcome day for new employees. (1/2 day)

Product training Product Management or-ganises a variety of info meetings and courses re-lated to products. Target audience: sales staff, Six-madun service technicians.

Technical service Training Internal training focusing on the technical aspects of products. Target audi-ence: Sixmadun sales and service.

health & safetyTraining in basic H&S principles. Tar-get audience: all staff. (1/2 day) (New)

sales trainingTarget audience: sales staff, engineering consult-ants.

Improve communication and sales skills. (2 days /1 complementary day)

how to deal success-fully with clientsThe workshop addresses marché employees who aim to improve their com-petence in direct sales and customer contact over the phone. (2 x 1/2 day / 1 complementary day)

Communicating effectively with clientsThis workshop is designed for service technicians. The objective is to gain more confidence in dai-ly contact with clients. (2 days)

Leadership for ProfessionalsManagers of service groups Sixmadun learn how to motivate staff and how to delegate work ef-fectively.

Interview skills TrainingWorkshop where partici-pants gain experience in conducting a structured job interview and evaluat-

ing candidates effectively. Target audience: staff con-ducting recruitment inter-views. Duration: 1/2 day.

management by objectives - mboCourse focusing on MbO. Target audience: manag-ers. Duration: 1 day.

management- trainingPractice related work-shop with the objective to change personal impact. Target audience: manag-ers from all levels. Dura-tion: 6 days

There’s no excuse for not developing yourself

Learningmenu

NEW NEW


Backstage

Introductionary workshopHealth & Safety: Ergo-nomics, Work-Life-Balance (with our company doctor), fire prevention – brought to you by our internal fire brigade, safety issues con-cerning your specific work-ing place

sAP TrainingInformation about how to use SAP in an efficient way. Target audience: new employees. Duration: one week

Apprentices training cycle • Salestraining• Communicationtraining• Socialskillstraining• Anti-stresstraining&

coping strategies• Facilityvisits• Producttraining

Internal ms excel and ms outlook TrainingStarting fiscal year 2012/2013, on demand

detox-programme for smokers..for employees who seek a healthier life style

First aid courses

Comfort roadshowDuring the "Comfort Road-show" our employees of the Category Management Private Label present new products of our private label to the branches all over Austria.

Leadership developmentTwo-day workshop in small groups for everyone who has recently gained managerial responsibil-ity or will do so in the near future.

Various external individual courseson demand - such as lan-guage courses, etc.

Internal information eventsOptimising communication and processeson demand - to better un-derstand needs of specif-ic departments, e.g. con-trolling

Welcome day for new employees:(duration: 1 day)

Wasco is passie (passion)Developing the entrepre-neurial spirit of branch managers, duration: 5 days

Product trainingProduct Management, partly in conjunction with

suppliers, organises vari-ous information events and courses in products. Target audience: sales em-ployees and branch man-agers. With an e-learning tool, knowledge will be ex-amined.

sales expertise (in development)Sales training for sales representatives (3 days) and jnr. sales representa-

tives (2 days) covering: making an appointment (Sweet Sixteen) (1 day), developing effective com-munication skills, how to deal successfully with cli-ents and their potential re-sistance, how to recognise buying signals, the 7 steps sales model (1 day) and follow upExpected availability by the end of 2012

Leadership trainingIn development

health and safetyForklift certificate, on the job training and bedrijf-shulpverlening ??

specific and dedicated personalised training/education On demand.

CE uses an advanced tool called TAPS (Talent

Assessment for Promotion and Selection) to

identify potential at an early stage. The tools is

rather new and will initially be used to screen new

job candidates. The tool is also useful for existing

employees and at the moment colleagues in Hu-

man Resources are looking into how this tool can be used in the most efficient way. In essence, it is a 30 minute consultation helping staff to identify career opportunities within the company and doing so supports individual development and organisa-tional advancement. We will soon write more on TAPS in Fittings.

Identifyingpotential


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How well are you informed about what is going on in CE?

Answer thequestions below and ...

Name:

Address:

Postcode and City:

Country:

Phone:

E-mail:

Employed at:

1:2:3:4:5:

Send this coupon to:

DT GroupAtt.: Charlotte Gullach BüttrichGladsaxe Møllevej 5DK-2860 Søborg Denmark

1 What does ees stand for?

a European Energy Standard

b Employee Engagement Survey

c Eastern European Safety-board

2 Where does Wasco’s Paul mölder work?

a Graz

b Apeldoorn

c Twello

3 What did massimo Lepore get back?

a His toolbox

b His car

c His job

4 What are Patrick headon’s main objectives?

a Beat budget, improve customer satisfaction and improve em-ployee engagement

b Find an MD for ÖAG, lower costs and develop new markets

c Improve employee engagement, lower costs and consolidate sourcing activities

5 What is ÖAG’s initiative called to improve relations with suppliers?

a Supplier of the month

b Operation joint sales

c Partner of the month

The winner of the Gaggia Titanium is Mario Dolejschek, from Kontinentale in Austria. Congratulations!

send your answers before 8 october 2012 Use the coupon below or send your answers by e-mail to: [email protected]

The winner will be announced in the next issue of Fittings.

The winner is...

a b c

for two

Win a weekend in

BerlinWe offer you the chance to enjoy a getaway to a truly unique city.

The prize includes the flight and hotel based on full pension.

Whether you like history, culture or nightlife, Berlin is the per-

fect destination. Although the German capital is a sprawling metropolis, the extensive net-

work of transport makes it easy to get around in. Berlin offers you

the chance to immerse yourself in a different world. From modern

skyscrapers to large zoos, Berlin is truly a world-class destination.

fittings 05

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