DAKOTA SUPPLY GROUP Brings Knowledge Home

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Recognizing that many of their customers are interested in learning how to better manage their business, DSG established the Better Business Boot Camp. Intensive three-day sessions are held three times yearly at different locations in the DSG market area. DSG designs the sessions for those customers that it believes have the potential to become stronger business partners with them. At these boot camps, which an outside firm runs, DSG customers review everything from finance and marketing to payroll and human resources. “They all say it's the best three days they've ever spent,” Rosendahl says. He acknowledges that DSG has to push some customers into the course, but “we push because we know that once they go, they're going to be ecstatic that they went.”

Employee training remains an important component of DSG's business, Tracy says. “We keep training in the forefront,” he says, with a full-time director of training to develop and implement programs throughout the organization. Because DSG has such a deep bench throughout its branches, employees will often spend time at other branches to learn from their peers. As Kumm notes, “Our society is moving toward one that is knowledge based. Our customers will be paying us for our knowledge.”

Customers also appreciate the service they get from DSG employees — those intangibles that you can't learn in a classroom. Kumm says this customer service is part of the culture that employees learn to embrace when they join DSG. Knowing how valuable their employees are to the company, DSG management worked hard not to lay off employees during the economic downturn. “We know it's not the best economy, but we also know that we can't find these kinds of people that easily, so we're not going to let them go. By not having the layoffs, we'll have these talented people here when the economy comes back.”

Rosendahl is quick to point out that branch managers have the ability to run their branches as they see fit — “to do what they think is right,” he says. “We encourage them to do quarterly state of the branch meetings.” Empowering the branches is part of DSG's belief that customers want to work with the people who know them best — and what works in St. Paul might not work in Pierre, SD. “We still believe that distribution and wholesale supply is a local thing,” says Kumm. DSG centralizes and consolidates services that customers will never see — such things as purchasing and accounts payable, for example.

DSG became an ESOP company in 1996 — about five years after the current management took over the company — and the leaders say this is an important element in DSG's success. “That helps the motivation of our employees; they take things to heart and all of that helps to better serve the customer,” Kumm says. DSG's financials are open to all of its employee-owners. To help keep employees motivated and engaged, an ESOP committee — with no management input — works closely with the management and the board of directors on a variety of issues.

Miller says Shelter Supply has been very involved with HARDI, and plans to continue that relationship now that they are part of DSG. “HARDI is focused on distributor excellence for its members,” Miller says. He cites HARDI's benchmarking, networking and best practices as among the most valuable tools that continue to help the business.