As Closets by Design Inc.
grew into a company
that posted $75 million in 2007 revenue, president
Jerry Egner’s job became
more complicated.
Closets by Design’s financial and geographic growth
have gone hand in hand.
Since Egner took over in
1997, the maker of custom-built closets, pantries and
other in-home storage units
has expanded to 30 franchisees, all of which need to
stay focused on the over-arching mission of the company while serving the needs
of their markets.
And it’s been a tough balancing act for Egner.
“If I don’t like the way
things are going, I can’t just
call a meeting and have
everybody gather in the conference room,” he says.
Smart Business spoke with
Egner about how to communicate to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
Q. How did you develop a
communication strategy?
It was challenging at the
beginning. I’m used to managing a group of people who
report directly to me, and
our franchisees are very successful, business-minded
entrepreneurs.
The first thing I had to do
was establish a culture of
respect with the franchisees.
That was through listening. I
had to make sure they understood that I was willing to listen to what they had to say.
Second of all, I needed to
have empathy. It was extremely important that they believed
I understood a day in the life
of a franchisee. From that
point on, it became much
easier to communicate my
messages to them and not
come across as if I’m on the
outside looking in.
Q. How do you get others in
the company to communicate
with you?
It’s extremely important for
me to maintain that strong
awareness that I am accessible, that I am open to ideas
and I listen to everyone, that
I welcome and encourage ideas. That’s
reflected in the fact
that they’re focused on
best interests of the
organization. They’re
not just doing their job.
Good ideas come
from people who are
out in the trenches.
That is another of the
messages that are sent
to the system, that we
work together to grow
this system. We have
formulas for growth
we communicate that
are very focused and
disciplined.
But when it comes to
creativity and ways to
improve who we are as
a system and a brand, it’s
important that the franchisees are heard. We don’t
implement all of these ideas,
but it’s all valuable.
