Sales arm of manufacturers who don t have their own distribution. Lives in Howard County, MD. Business is in Columbia (in between DC and Baltimore)

Transcription

1 2/18/14 Norm Long - Sales President of Havtech (2/3 owner) Sell equipment to commercial buildings. Sales arm of manufacturers who don t have their own distribution. Lives in Howard County, MD. Business is in Columbia (in between DC and Baltimore) Married for 28 years. 3 daughters. Hugh organized for Norm to come (through Clark). Chill beams Born in New Brunswick, Canada. Very cold. At age 5, his family moved to Long Island (1964). Played baseball, pick up hockey (wanted to play in a league but his dad didn t want to wake up at 3 am) Played trumpet and in a band. Went to Manhattan college. Wanted to be a pilot. Manhattan College had ROTC. Hard time to be a pilot as Vietnam just ended (there was a surplus). He got a pilot scholarship so he was guaranteed to get a spot in pilot school. His vision decreased. Went from 20/20 to 20/40. Don t get discouraged if things aren t going your way. Assigned to Andrews Air Force base. Was a mechanical engineer. Went to Maryland MBA. The first year of the Maryland MBA program. Finished his MBA and got out of Air Force. Met a salesman from the train company. Norm wanted to sell industrial stuff for big companies. Met w/ Lou Boland who was the president Boland Train.

2 Went to a training program. Technical training. Was there for four years. Started taking away salesman compensation. A month in they took away the incentive for franchising. He left. Pooled his resources with a co-worker. Bought gas stations and some real estate. Complete disaster. He left in Huge recession in Norm did his due diligence. They had $2million in real estate back in LBO s = leveraged real estate. Wrapping up bonds and buying highly leveraged companies. After four years of doing that, he went to work for Havtech. One guy wanted to sell. 7 total when he joined. $4million in sales when he joined. His deal, he would buy out one of the partner in five years. No name lines. No pricing power. No name brand recognition. Outpaced their competition. Hard work selling stuff that no one wants to buy joined Havtech got a major break. Carrier is one big company people people Hard work. You always need to hang in there. Successful things in life: If you re married, make sure you get a great partner o Your partner needs to buy in

3 o Norm makes sure that the wife understands Hang out or be friends with great people o Don t hang with people who are negative o Don t let people bring you down o Unlimited opportunity in this country o Never ends Norm has come across a lot of people with great talent o Very few people are willing to pay the price o If you re not dedicated then don t even waste your time o Be prepared to pay the price Make sure you can focus on what you re doing o You need to be able to perserver o If you want to achieve something and you give up, then you re never going to get there o He talked about Charles Smith (developer of Crystal City) His wife convinced him to try one more time after five failures. Things never go as planned o Just focus on things that you can control Things are never as good as they sound and they are never as bad as they seem o People survive o If someone is telling you about an investment idea it s never as good as it sounds Always try to improve Be the best in whatever you do Once there, still strive someone will come and eat your lunch Uncompromising ethics and morals. o Cheaters can be successful short term o People need to trust you Kevin Kistler talked about price of his service $200/hr Then if people don t want to pay that, then find out what they want. Let them know it s a discounted price and ask them for referrals down the road. When Norm first joined Havtech they had a small office in Columbia. They then moved to Laurel. They were there for ten years. They went to Beltsville. Then they went to Colubmia. They bought the building in Columbia. Columbia is a better area than Beltsville. Less crime, etc.

4 Norm lived in Olney for twenty years. He lived on a busy corner. His daughters didn t want to move. He made a deal with his daughters, he could move anywhere after they graduated from high school. There is no perfect place to live. Tradeoffs everywhere. He eventually decided to work close to the office. Balancing the trade off of a young family and working long hours. Norm didn t do a great job of that. He had a great wife. He always made it a point to have fun with his kids. He explained that things were a trade off. It s important to make up your own mind on what s important for you. There is no right answer. You can t undo anything after the time is passed. Everything you do in life you learn a lot. Failure is good because you learn. Sales (according to Norm) It s not about you. It s not about your quota. It s not about being a smooth talker. It s not about being pushy. It s about: serving the customer. Solving a customer s problem. It s about asking questions. Find out their pain. Get the details. Find out their concerns/frustrations. Find out what they need. Don t necessarily talk about right away. Find out what they want first. Don t let your ego get in your way. If your customer could get whatever they want, what would it be? You can tailor your solution to their needs. Empathize with them. Feel their pain. If you were them, what would you want. Take care of people and the money will come.

5 Don t act like a saleman. Act like a professional consultant. Try to find solutions to people s problems. The sale does not end when you get an order. That s when it starts. Deliver exceptional products. Provide it on time. On budget. Make good on what you told the customer. Customer follow up is very important. Make sure that his points are fair. Example - Sold chiller to Prince George s county. There was a problem with a compressor. The County was pissed. No manufacturer wants to give a new machine. Norm had to spend 35K out of his pocket. He lost money, but it worked out. They came back as customers. If there are problems, take care of it. Don t take time to do it. Do it today. Move fast. Lots of books on selling stuff. Dale Carneige How to Win Friends and Influence People. Read it. A lot of Norm s business is repeat sales. Start slowly. Product quality is paramount. Sometimes you can ask for a little bit. Norm won t change unless there is a compelling reason to go. Focus on something unique that you can differentiate yourself with. Entrepreneurship There will always be opportunities. You have a lifetime. You have plenty of time. Don t do things just to do them. Opportunities will always be there. Don t be afraid to wait. You want to feel good about it.

6 Must be able to sacrifice. Your business will own you. All the glory comes to you, but also all the headaches. Be mentally prepared for the challenge. It will be exhausting. Don t go into business for the glamour. Things will never go as planned. Remain flexible Dotcom boom. Carrier wanted to buy Havtech. Everything is going along great. 11 th hour. Dotcom bust. Carrier walks out. Best thing that ever happened. Very few people make money in finance. You don t hear about the thousands of who fail. If you start your own business plan on requiring more money than you think. Construction you need a lot of money to grow. Norm is a bank to his contractors. It s called working capital. If you re going to do it know it well or no one else is doing. Be prepared to be patient with any business. Three to five years is not uncommon before you make money. Norm tries to be fair. If people screw him, then he won t do business with him. It s important to make sure that your business maintains even if you get it profitable. You really need to understand finance. It s your money. You need to find ways to take care of it. Set your goals. Norm s goals Diversifying into different industries

7 Keep growing He wants 50% of market share. Very hard. He tries to minimize risk Leadership Led by example. In private and in public. People will respect you or not. Be present. If not, make sure you have great managers. People perform better if you are there. Treat everyone fairly. Establish rules with employees. Don t deviate. In Norm s business it takes people two years to get off a draw. Ask employees if they have good feedback. Never violate anyone s confidence. Always be careful what you say. Treat people with respect. Management sets the tone with the company. Gas stations Saved good money. PE ratios. He needed a good return on his money. Paid $285 K, and it was making $260 K each year. Bought two more. Complete disaster. You don t actually own the property you lease it from Exxonn. Big oil companies are ruthless. 20 year lease on the property. Got lied to on the age of the tanks. Steel tanks that are 24 years old. He tried to renovate the station. Landlord wouldn t allow him. Norm stopped paying because. People were suing everyone. No control.

8 Exxon realizes Norm is making money. They start charging for credit card transactions. They charged Norm on credit card sales, but didn t let them pass along the cost. They tied the rent to the gas sales. Pool margin whatever you make on gas. Gross margin $35 K month. The kicker.exxon went to zone pricing. They figured out that certain stations get a premium. So they increased their gas margin. Norm couldn t sue Exxon. Investing Buy low. Try to minimize risk. Ben Grahmn s book. Gold mining companies are devastated over the last six months. Establish a credit line. Try to get as much as you can all the time. Move the money into another account. Put it back. Always get the maximum you can. Their training program Hours Do you still sell Establishing credit. Getting a credit line.