Bill Mechling likes to tell the story about the janitor who was on his hands and knees, scrubbing the floor in the vehicle assembly
building of NASA. Someone came into the facility and asked the man what he was doing, and he said, ‘I’m working to put a man
on the moon.’ That’s the kind of forward-thinking attitude that the president and CEO of Columbus-based CenBen USA, parent company of Central Benefits Mutual
Insurance Co., wants his 475 employees to have. Smart Business spoke with Mechling about how attitude and relationships play
a vital role in how he manages his $51 million, third-party administration business.
Find the right stuff. When we go through our
interview process, we’re looking for attitude and character more than anything
else. … What we have found is that if you
hire attitude first, you’re going to get a
group of people that are going to be more
focused on the needs of the customer and
are going to be better able to get along in
the corporate environment.
We can teach them what they need to
know, and it’s always a plus getting someone that already has some experience, but
it’s attitude first, and that’s what we’re looking for.
People are so smart today. They’re so
knowledgeable about the world, and they
can learn a lot of things. If you have a person with a solid attitude, the sky’s the limit.
Lead by example. Don’t ever ask someone in
your organization to do something that
you’re not willing to do yourself.
I’ve been here for 23 years; my car’s still
one of the first in the parking lot in the
morning and one of the last to leave at
night. I want my people to see it.
Go out in the field. I do not like to look over
people’s shoulders, although I do have a
penchant for wanting to be in front of the
customer as much as I can. I like to find out
whether we’re performing, not by looking
over my people’s shoulders but by asking
the customer how we’re doing.
I don’t like to sit behind a desk and think
I know what’s going on. I would much
rather have a personal conversation with
an individual and look them in the face
than send an e-mail or talk on the phone.
Same with a customer: I encourage my
people to get out in front of the customer
because that’s where you learn. You don’t
learn anything sitting behind a desk.
If you’re going to progress as an organization, you’d better be listening to your
customer. I can’t tell you how many times
I’ve come back from a customer full of
ideas — and not just for products or how to
service them better — but how to run my
own organization.
I always encourage my people that when
they’re sitting down with a customer or vendor, they have a tablet and pen with
them, jot down ideas, bring them back and
let’s talk about them because we don’t have
a corner on smarts. A lot of good companies out there are doing things well, and we
can learn from each and every one of them.
Be a vendor partner, not an adversary. A lot of
people that I’ve run across have always
tried to squeeze vendors until they squeak.
I want my vendors to make a little money,
and I want us to be a profitable piece of
business for them because I want them to
be a partner. If I come back and ask them
to do something unique for us, I want them
to be able to do it.
There are a lot of companies that have
gone by the wayside. I want my key vendors to be around. You’re not going to keep
a vendor around long if you’re squeezing
them so tight that they can’t afford to stay
in existence.
And you’re not going to give them any
opportunity to do any kind of research and
development and better themselves if
they’re operating on a shoestring.
Keep pace with change. As you’re going
through change, if you’re focusing on those
key aspects that are going to impact the
customer the greatest, you can manage and
you can keep those balls in the air. When
you start adding balls to it, you’re liable to
drop them all, so we maintain a very strict
focus.
This year we’re actually getting out of
some businesses that we have historically been in because they’re not the focus
that we want to pursue. We’re narrowing
our scope a little bit because we know
what our customers want out of us, and
we’re going to focus on just those things.
Build customer relationships. It’s more than
just simply having them buy your product
and pay you, and then you perform the
service. When you are doing something
that’s key to a customer, if you don’t do it
correctly, it can cost them money, and it
can cost bad will.
You have to stay on top of your customers and know their needs. I try to go
beyond that: I’ve been to some of my customers’ sons’ basketball games and played
in their high school fundraising golf outings. I do those kinds of things to stay in
front of them (so they) know that we want
to be part of them and that we want to have
a long-term relationship.
Have a simple mission and a clear plan. We try
purposely to make our mission statement very easy to remember. We stress
to our people that we want to be measured by our customers and not by what
we think.
Overcommunicate with your employees
what your mission is and what your goal is
so everybody’s pulling in the same direction, and everybody’s got that focus on the
customer.
That’s what business is all about. It’s not
about making money; it’s about servicing
the customer. If you do it well, then your
company will be profitable.
HOW TO REACH: Central Benefits Mutual Insurance Co.,
(614) 797-5200 or www.centralbenefits.com