If I may, let me tell you about a day in my life at Gerber...
Today I spent the morning wrapping up a bid for a contract that I spent the last two days preparing and drove an hour away for a 2 hour delivery process. After that torturous affair, I realized that I was only about 10 miles from the world headquarters of Gerber and that I've needed some parts for my router for a long time now, perfect! I drove over to Gerber, walked into the lobby and found that you had to call on a phone to get someone to open the door. I called and was told that I would have to drive a few more miles away to another building because there were no parts available in that building. OK, I got in the car, drove over and walked into the lobby where a smiling receptionist, Tara, was sitting. "Oh, you're the one who called! Well, we do repairs here but we don't really have parts. You'll just have to call customer service if you need parts." Wait, didn't I just drive miles to get here as I was told...am I not a Gerber customer don't I get something for my effort? I had at least hoped to find Tony Teveris in the office today so I could say hello but apparently he was not available either. After a little more pleasant conversation, I realized that this really was a manufacturing facility that had no provisions for walk in customers and I sadly turned and headed out the door. I was just about to get in my car and leave when Tara came running across the parking lot, "Wait, I have someone who you can talk to!" she said. Well, I thought...maybe there is hope, maybe she saw the dejected look on my face as I walked out, maybe she just thought I was going to go to my car and cry! I went back in and met John, who was actually a representative from another division of Gerber. He was extremely pleasant and offered to take me on a brief tour of the entire facility. Wow, what a change of heart! Let me tell you a little that I learned today, Gerber actually consists of 3 divisions, Gerber Scientific (Sign product division), Gerber Coburn (Optical product division) and Gerber Technology (Large industrial equipment division for lack of a better definition). I've heard of Gerber Coburn but never really made the association with the multiple divisions. Let me tell you I was impressed. They are truly a first class world leader in their respective fields and the sign product division is perhaps the smallest division. This is actually a good thing though I think because this is a diversified company that is here for the long, long term, even if they go through phases with their sign products. They are a leading manufacturer of leather cutting machines in the garment industry, they are now venturing into the laser cutting industry, if you wear glasses they were probably made on Gerber optical equipment....amazing! OK, so back to the tour...during our walk I explained to John how I really just stopped in to try to get some parts and he confirmed that they don't supply parts from this facility but let's see what we could do. We went over to a customer service manager who directed us to a specialist in the area, Skip. I was ill prepared and roughly described to Skip the obscure parts I was looking for and without a moments hesitation, he typed out a parts list of the things I needed and advised me that my parts were obsolete and I would need the new upgraded parts. "Wow!" I said, that would have taken me about 4 hours on the phone to figure out if I even could! Here was a man that really knew his stuff, that was worth everything to find that out. "Well, said John, "don't you want to get those parts?" "Sure, but I thought they weren't here?", I said. We took a walk over to a beaming customer service girl, Kate I believe, who couldn't be nicer, she was excited to have her first walk-in customer! In but a minute or two we had the order complete and parts would be delivered. John and I finished up our little tour and I left the building, a very satisfied customer after all. These individuals I met today have reinforced in my mind what I always thought, Gerber is a good company. Like I tell my kids all the time as they go out into the world, don't ever be intimidated by anyone or anything, especially big companies and faceless entities because behind that faceless exterior it's all about people. People just like you and me, good people and bad people, but all people. Life is all about personal interaction with people, find the good ones, treat them as you would like to be treated and you will achieve success. Make personal connections, not all technological, computer generated and impersonal contact but real face to face connections. Well today I've seen the Gerber Edges and Ions in the middle of production and I've seen that there are good people at Gerber and I have renewed faith in the strength of this company. Thank you!
Today I spent the morning wrapping up a bid for a contract that I spent the last two days preparing and drove an hour away for a 2 hour delivery process. After that torturous affair, I realized that I was only about 10 miles from the world headquarters of Gerber and that I've needed some parts for my router for a long time now, perfect! I drove over to Gerber, walked into the lobby and found that you had to call on a phone to get someone to open the door. I called and was told that I would have to drive a few more miles away to another building because there were no parts available in that building. OK, I got in the car, drove over and walked into the lobby where a smiling receptionist, Tara, was sitting. "Oh, you're the one who called! Well, we do repairs here but we don't really have parts. You'll just have to call customer service if you need parts." Wait, didn't I just drive miles to get here as I was told...am I not a Gerber customer don't I get something for my effort? I had at least hoped to find Tony Teveris in the office today so I could say hello but apparently he was not available either. After a little more pleasant conversation, I realized that this really was a manufacturing facility that had no provisions for walk in customers and I sadly turned and headed out the door. I was just about to get in my car and leave when Tara came running across the parking lot, "Wait, I have someone who you can talk to!" she said. Well, I thought...maybe there is hope, maybe she saw the dejected look on my face as I walked out, maybe she just thought I was going to go to my car and cry! I went back in and met John, who was actually a representative from another division of Gerber. He was extremely pleasant and offered to take me on a brief tour of the entire facility. Wow, what a change of heart! Let me tell you a little that I learned today, Gerber actually consists of 3 divisions, Gerber Scientific (Sign product division), Gerber Coburn (Optical product division) and Gerber Technology (Large industrial equipment division for lack of a better definition). I've heard of Gerber Coburn but never really made the association with the multiple divisions. Let me tell you I was impressed. They are truly a first class world leader in their respective fields and the sign product division is perhaps the smallest division. This is actually a good thing though I think because this is a diversified company that is here for the long, long term, even if they go through phases with their sign products. They are a leading manufacturer of leather cutting machines in the garment industry, they are now venturing into the laser cutting industry, if you wear glasses they were probably made on Gerber optical equipment....amazing! OK, so back to the tour...during our walk I explained to John how I really just stopped in to try to get some parts and he confirmed that they don't supply parts from this facility but let's see what we could do. We went over to a customer service manager who directed us to a specialist in the area, Skip. I was ill prepared and roughly described to Skip the obscure parts I was looking for and without a moments hesitation, he typed out a parts list of the things I needed and advised me that my parts were obsolete and I would need the new upgraded parts. "Wow!" I said, that would have taken me about 4 hours on the phone to figure out if I even could! Here was a man that really knew his stuff, that was worth everything to find that out. "Well, said John, "don't you want to get those parts?" "Sure, but I thought they weren't here?", I said. We took a walk over to a beaming customer service girl, Kate I believe, who couldn't be nicer, she was excited to have her first walk-in customer! In but a minute or two we had the order complete and parts would be delivered. John and I finished up our little tour and I left the building, a very satisfied customer after all. These individuals I met today have reinforced in my mind what I always thought, Gerber is a good company. Like I tell my kids all the time as they go out into the world, don't ever be intimidated by anyone or anything, especially big companies and faceless entities because behind that faceless exterior it's all about people. People just like you and me, good people and bad people, but all people. Life is all about personal interaction with people, find the good ones, treat them as you would like to be treated and you will achieve success. Make personal connections, not all technological, computer generated and impersonal contact but real face to face connections. Well today I've seen the Gerber Edges and Ions in the middle of production and I've seen that there are good people at Gerber and I have renewed faith in the strength of this company. Thank you!
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