Doing All The Right Things

CITY’s Director of Service Ken Schnor makes it point to stay in close contact with CITY’s customers, to be able to provide proactive service rather than reactive.

“We are always trying to turn the table and get in front of stuff,” Ken said. “Stopping in rather than writing and e-mail is important. We want personal touches and we want to build a relationship.”

Ken enjoys personal interactions with customers. He enjoys being able to travel with his District Managers and make visits to large and small accounts all across Iowa. Cal Burr has been with CITY since 2019 and is the District Manager for Eastern Iowa. As a DM, Cal makes sure that before he leaves the plant, everything is inspected, and all customer concerns are resolved. Equally important as his work in the plant is being present with the customer.

“Being there in person is so important, you are a different person than over the phone or e-mail,” Cal said. “Getting to know the account and knowing what they produce and asking questions gives us a better understanding of how we can serve them.”

For Cal, learning about the account and knowing it inside out is important to truly understand their needs. He enjoys being able to tour a facility and make plans for the right uniforms, mats, or any other products needed in a specific environment.

“There is always the unknown,” Cal said. “Maybe the person isn’t in the right clothes for the right job and we can help them be better. I wouldn’t know if I didn’t see the employee in those pants.”

Ken believes being proactive can help in avoiding negative interactions. While not all customers are going to be %110 happy every time, by making sure problems are identified before they occur, Ken can make sure CITY’s relationship with a customer stays positive. While his action impacts the work of district managers, it’s also an important factor for CITY’s Route Service Representatives [RSR].

“We are setting ourselves up to service them better and provide more service,” Ken said. “You have a happier RSRs too because they have more of an opportunity to shine, the more services we offer and it becomes more challenging.  It’s a win all the way through.

Cal likes to take the information he gathers at customers to make sure he improves service all around. If he sees something that’s not right in one place, there might be a problem in another. By creating a pro-active approach to service, he stays on top of business.

“You just need to go see all of it,” Cal said. “Sometimes to see what we are doing right and push that good from one customer to the next. This is working here, so let’s see if it might work for another RSR here. Some really great things happen when we do that.”