Berg Drywall’s President talk about the positive effects of MPO
President of Berg Drywall, Randy Schneewind, talked about the positive effects the MPO tool has had since the partnership began in July of 2010.
“As President of Berg, it is my responsibility to set the strategic initiatives for the company, and to provide an environment for my team to succeed both in our office, and on the job sites. While we are obviously focused on products and services, I believe that the most important thing to the success of our company is the people.”
HOW DO YOU USE THE MPO TOOL?
“With the people focus in mind, I knew I needed to make some changes in my sales group, not only in the staff, but more importantly, how we looked at the sales process within our organization. I chose to use the MPO solution for this initiative for several reasons. The MPO tool is available online, is quick to administer, and the results are available instantly. Unlike other tools that I have used in the past, the report is concise, well written, and very detailed. We laugh in the office whenever someone new takes the assessment, as they cannot believe how accurate it is! I appreciate that the full results are given in a 6 or 7 page narrative. So many assessments provide a 30 or 40 page report just to understand the results, we don’t have that kind of time!”
“Through the use of the MPO Tool, we surveyed all existing Estimators and Project Managers. We found that the rock star Project Managers (considered the outside sales hunters) were less likely to possess, or be interested in the detail skills required in estimating and project plans. Conversely, we found that Estimators (the detail workers that needed to write the scope of work plans, and list all parts lists needed for a job) typically did not possess the hunting skills required to find new projects, or to close projects in competitive situations. This was quite a revelation to us! In the construction industry, most companies have Project Managers/Estimators that are expected to be strong on both focuses. We learned through using MPO that this is not truly the case, and it allowed us to make some internal shifts in our thinking about how to go after jobs.”
“As a result, we have split the work groups into two categories. The Project Managers have larger quotas with the primary focus of closing business. We then paired Estimators with the Project Managers to take over the job once the actual bids needed to be written with a focus on details. They then work as a team to sell to the customer, close business, and implement. We are really excited about this change.”
“We also have used the MPO tool as a way to improve all relationships and productivity in the office. Our entire office staff completed the MPO assessment, and we used the results in a great teambuilding session. We spent several hours discussing each person’s results and comparing them to their job function within the organization. We then used the information to better understand each other, and to create awareness on how to work more efficiently as a group. Next we worked on creating a marketing tag line for us to show everyone inside and outside of our business, why our well rounded team makes such a big difference in the marketplace. The tag line is, “Berg is better. We are an inspired team ready to prove we can make a difference.” This tag line is now placed at the bottom of all of our emails, in marketing and advertising documents, and in all of our correspondence. We are very excited about our progress, and feel the MPO Tool had much to do with that.”
WHAT OTHER PROJECTS WILL YOU USE MPO FOR?
“As we focus on growing our business, we will focus on using the MPO tool for hiring and selection of sales candidates especially. Now that we are acutely aware of the strengths needed for Project Managers, it makes our job much easier as we can add this tool to our hiring process. We have created five ‘success factors’ using MPO, and will use these factors in selecting new employees. For example, with a Project Manager, success factors would include a higher sense of urgency, strong assertiveness, extraversion, creativity, and adaptability. The MPO Tool easily measures these traits so our interviews will be improved greatly with the addition of questions focused around these areas.”
WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THE MPO TOOL TO OTHERS?
“Our consultant, along with the MPO Tool, have helped focused our attention to those items that make the greatest impact on our sales, staff and interoffice culture. The information provided, and foresight has brought clarity and confidence to tough decisions pertaining to various areas of management. We would highly recommend this solution to those who have the confidence to accept change and take their business to the next level.”
ABOUT BERG DRYWALL
Berg Drywall is a commercial drywall and specialty contractor, with over 40 years of industry experience. Berg’s mission is to construct the highest quality products with customer driven relationships based upon trust, pride and efficiency. In addition, Berg maintains a strong commitment to safety construction standards, focusing on a positive influence in the industry and communities they serve.