Brand identity program raises the bar for consistently high service
July 23, 2007

New Millennium is a company on the rise. With five plants coming together as one, the company is positioned to become the second largest joist and deck supplier in the United States. But today's performance is no guarantee of future success. Research among fabricators has revealed that more consistently proactive service is needed company-wide to elevate the New Millennium brand to its highest potential.

Proactive not reactive
According to Bert Hollman, president of New Millennium, the goal of the brand identity program is simple and straightforward: When everyone takes the fabricator's point of view, New Millennium will move completely away from a "reactive" level of service to a consistently higher, "proactive" level of service.

"We're setting the standards high and doing that starts with respect for each other and our customers," Hollman asserted. "One of the ways we show respect for our employees is by giving them the authority to provide customers exceptional service. It's really about pride, working at capacity and being the best you can be."

Once the independent owner of a steel fabrication shop, Hollman remembers the issues he had as a fabricator buying from joist and deck suppliers. "When a problem comes up, we need to be proactive about solving that problem and not chalking out a defensive position. We want that customer to feel they were treated fairly and with respect."

Hollman added that the growth and continued success of New Millennium will depend on how well people inside the company respect each other, and how well each employee respects the point of view of the customer.

"If you're providing good service, you're not building up a debt of gratitude that's going to be paid off, "Hollman explained. "You're building up expectations. And the higher we can raise those expectations and maintain them, the better our service will be."

Flexible to the Finish
Flexible to the Finish describes how many customers think and feel about New Millennium. For this reason, the phrase is being been adopted company-wide as an internal slogan.

The theme will appear on various communications in the year ahead, explained Tim Epple, GM at New Mill's Florence, South Carolina plant.

"Changes to a project can often result in delays at other joist and deck companies. Our attitude is that changes to projects are opportunities to help the customer and still be able to meet their schedule. Our goal is to take what our customer views as a problem and turn that into being no problem at all."

While Flexible to the Finish is a theme that customers can relate to, a brochure has been created so that customers and prospective customers will know exactly what New Millennium stands for and believes in. This "brand promise" brochure sets down in writing the core promise of the company – agility– and why certain related promises make New Mill a better business partner to fabricators.

New Mill puts promise of agility in writing
As the brand promise brochure explains: Customers use different words to describe New Millennium's "agility". They say the company's production process is dynamic, and that the people at New Mill are driven by higher performance standards. Customers say that the New Mill way of doing business is more personal and people get things done as a team. They say people keep their promises and this makes them more reliable. And most important, all of these definitions of “agility” add up to trust.

New Millennium's AGILITY is supported by core strengths:

• Dynamic: The ability to meet the customer’s timetable.
• Personal: Every individual cares and it shows.
• Team: People work in teams and know how to win.
• Higher Standards: In everything they do – safety, quality, production and service.
• Reliability: People do what we say they will do.
• Trust: People earn it by doing right by the customer.

Customer service guide helps raise expectations
Feedback from customers and prospective customers has also aided in the development of a new customer service guide. The guide will help New Millennium more consistently meet the expectations of customers, by providing better clarity regarding everyone's role in the customer service process.

The new customer service guide is not intended as set of rules, because management at New Millennium believes that rules should never get in the way of providing great service. As noted by Rick Poinsatte, GM at Lake City, the people hired by New Millennium have the power to think and act to solve customer problems. "So the new guide is meant to provide the framework for supporting customers more proactively," Poinsatte explained. "It's not meant to inhibit people, but to help us more consistently support customers at the highest level, based on what customers have told us is important to them."

Tools for success
In addition to the brand promise brochure and the customer service guide, other tools are being forged to help build a stronger connection with customers. This includes a new logo design for various customer-related communications, a company video that further communicates the brand promise, an improved website that makes it easier for customers to do business with New Mill, and various customer-related events.