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One-on-One
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| Eight months into a business merger between his 35-year-old family company and Gary and Valerie Braun's Chicago area tent operation, 36-year-old Ben Shipper, IV, talks about family-business issues, making construction decisions and applying the Golden Rule to customer service. Rental Pulse: Your company's undergone some huge changes this year, first merging with Braun in April, then a groundbreaking and construction venture for your new facility. What sparked the decision to build, and why now? Ben Shipper, IV: We'd been looking for the right building site even before our merger. We outgrew out facilities a number of years ago, and it's been very costly in terms of overtime and additional equipment. We've also got 15-20 semi-trailers of equipment in addition to our three warehouses. Inevitably the equipment you need is in the front of Trailer No. 5 and you have to pull everything out of the back to get to the thing in front of it. It's become more expensive to operate as we've maxed out our space. We don't have enough loading docks, so we're paying drivers to sit and wait for an open dock so they can load and get out. A new building is just a matter of practicality, space and economics - it'll be more cost effective to get most of our equipment under one roof. RP: You've got quite a large staff now, since the merger. This must be a sizeable structure to accommodate everyone. B4: We've got about 175 people now - and actually parking and bathrooms have been big issues for us! Our new building is 101,000 square feet. We'll have 8 private offices, a large accounting area, a sales & customer service area and plenty of bathrooms and parking. RP: And the look? B4: It's a beautiful building. We put a little architectural spin on it; we want it to be stylish as we're in a style-conscious business. We want to project a good image when people pull up to our building. We want our staff to feel good about coming to work. RP: What's the building process been like, Ben? How do you handle doing your regular job plus all the decisions involved in a construction project? B4: Well, we hired a consultant who has helped guide us through the process, helped us select a general contractor and get it bid out. They've done a lot in terms of helping us make choices. Designing and building are definitely exciting. You have the opportunity to create your dream warehouse. It is frustrating at times because you're at the mercy of the weather, and it was a very wet spring, so we got a late start. And now, as it gets closer to completion, you remember things you weren't thinking of during the planning process. So you're making changes, adding or subtracting, and constantly verifying that things are the way you want them. It's fun, but you've got a business that you're running day-to-day. You don't realize how much more time is being allocated to the building project, so you find yourself spread thin quite often. RP: Of course you're not alone in this thing--it is, after all, a family business. B4: The majority of the construction decisions have been made by Ben III and me. RP: Tell me a little about the whole ownership and management structure of the company. B4: There is Ben Shipper, III, my father, who is president. I am vice president of party. Gary Braun is vice president of tents. Valerie Braun is director of marketing. We have a director of sales, director of logistics, and a warehouse manager. John Kerr is our chief financial officer. Debra Shipper is president of our sales company, Event Equipment Sales - she also works occasionally on marketing projects with Valerie . We're very lucky to have Braun Event & Tent as partners. It is a good meld of each company’s strengths. RP: And at what point did you enter the picture? B4: I grew up in the business. I started going to work with my dad when I was a kid. Through high school I worked, and through four years of college I worked 40 hours a week as well. I've always enjoyed the challenge and diversity of the rental business. It's rewarding to be a driving force in helping the business grow and progress. There is always something new and exciting, and it's fun to be a part of it. RP: Family businesses can be a delicate balance of lots of things, not the least of which might be sensitive feelings, egos, rivalries, money, control issues. What do you wrestle with, and how do you keep a smile and work together as family members? B4: As our business has grown, we've had enough office and building space so we're not sitting next to each other 12 hours a day, five or six days a week. There's a huge amount of responsibility within our organization. We try to define job descriptions in advance so there's not an overlap. About two years ago we started working with some consultants and initiated our Family Business Council. We meet every two months to tackle issues facing the family's businesses. We focus on direction, goals and the strategic planning necessary to achieve those goals for our group of family businesses. RP: What a smart idea. Creating a regular forum for yourselves, planning for communication. B4: It's not cheap, but it's good! Working with the consultant gives us a good neutral ground to discuss problems we may be having, and to see where we are succeeding in terms of business or with any relationships. We've always been very careful to try to keep business “business” and family “family,” though working with family, you're going to have a certain amount of overlap. We try to focus on the advantages that this unique situation presents. The important thing to remember is that as much as we like to take credit for the business, we've only been a part of it. There are many people who work hard, have pride in their work and have excellent ideas. We're only part of the equation, we're not all of it. We rely on and appreciate our whole team. RP: A person like you, in your line of work, could probably add the title "professional firefighter" to your resume. What kinds of "fires" do you handle, and what's your crisis management approach? B4: It's funny you ask that. When people asked me what I do, I used to say I'm a fireman and a cheerleader. Now we have worked to put in the management and staff to decrease my fireman role, but I will always continue to support and encourage our staff. My crisis management approach is: do what it takes to please the client. Do your best, and move along. RP: Not always an easy thing to do when you've got a miffed client. B4: We had a client who wanted a special cushion for this particular, expensive chair. We told him, "Okay, you've got to sign off by this date," and they never did sign off on the custom color cushion. We delivered it with the color cushion specified on the contract they had signed. The client got to the event and didn't like the color. They wanted 2,000 of the custom colored cushion. So, suddenly we're trying to make that happen overnight. These are the kinds of situations you deal with. It's a little frustrating when you haven't done anything wrong. You've covered everything you could possibly cover and the client either has a different interpretation or expectation, or there hasn't been good communication with your client's client. RP: Makes me wonder if Chicago Party Rental's acronym, CPR, is just a coincidence! What do you do when someone's turning red in the face and hollering for he wants? B4: When people are upset if there's a problem, I understand. I listen to the client then offer my solution. I prefer not to waste time rehashing the situation, but to focus on solving the problem. While we're rehashing it, nothing's happening. My attitude is let's take care of this problem, let's get it solved, and we'll figure out what happened later. RP: Probably best to try to keep a cool head during a crisis. How about on a broader level - do you have some personal philosophies or rules of the game you try to follow in this business? B4: My personal philosophy, and it sounds so dated to say it, but it's the Golden Rule. I'm not a yeller or a screamer, and I don't expect people to yell or scream or be rude to other people. I can be direct, I can clearly communicate, I can be firm in what I'm saying, but I'm not going to demean someone. The Golden Rule is still what it boils down to. RP: Well, whatever you're doing, it must be working. You're growing, prospering. And you've done some very stunning events. There's a really cool photo on your web site of an O'Hare Intl. Airport sit-down all done in silver. B4: That event was the opening of the international terminal, before it was operational. Obviously you could never do an event like that in an airport today. I remember the clients kept adding on and adding on very close to the event date, and we were maxed out. For example, white wood chairs - we needed 3,000. We had to send one of our trucks to the supplier, pick them up, and as the truck arrived we had to un-box them and take them right to the tables and set them up a couple of hours before event time. RP: Your web site is, incidentally, very impressive, very engaging for the user. B4: We hired a web design firm - did a lot of research and chose a design and look that we liked. But even though you work with a web design firm, you still have to give the directions, approve everything, give them the pictures - you end up doing a ton of work. Debra Shipper, with help from Amy Shipper, spent many hours on this project. We have a person in-house now who's dedicated to coordinating updates with the design firm. RP: What other kinds of marketing do you get involved with, or do you just let your reputation precede you at this point? B4: The minute you think your reputation precedes you is the minute you should look for someone to buy your business, because you're going to fall flat on your face. We advertise in a lot of different ways, from postcards to periodical advertising, and some direct mail. We try to be clever because there's so much junk out there today -we want to differentiate ourselves. RP: So, what's an example of "clever?" B4: We did a postcard recently, a series actually. The front of the first one just had a fork on it, and it said "This is a fork; and we have a lot of them." And the other side had the usual information. Then the second one had another fork, and two of the tines were crossed so it looked like it was crossing its fingers, and it said, "no one should have to hope for a good rental." RP: What do you do when somebody's just got rotten taste? Is the client always right, even when it's going to look ugly, or at least not as good as you know it could be? B4: Here's the thing: this is a major metropolitan area, and you're dealing with a cross section of society. You're dealing with people of different socioeconomic backgrounds and people of different ethnic backgrounds. If people who want to do something that you don't think will look good, you try to diplomatically explain that they may want to consider something else. One of my father's favorite lines to a client is "I appreciate your wisdom and may I suggest...." But ultimately, it's their choice. It is your responsibility to provide them with what they've asked for. We have never had a client come back and say, "Why did you rent this to me--it looked horrible!" We keep notes on the contract that we recommended this or that on such and such day, but the client wanted to go with this. It's all about documentation! RP: Is the overall level of taste of the general public improving? B4: I don't think "improving" is the right word. As people become more exposed to new ideas, their taste is evolving. There’s so much more media out there and a magazine for every different thing you can imagine in the world. My personal tastes have evolved to a more simple, clean, sleek look. Ethnic groups have very traditional styles that they stick with and that works for them. Overall, I think people have become more sophisticated, especially people of means. They're very trendy and they want the latest, the best and brightest. And they're willing to pay for it. Generally your more sophisticated client is going to have a more sophisticated budget. RP: And you're right there to fulfill all their sophisticated desires. B4: Well, we're fortunate to have an inventory where a client can choose from 15 different patterns of china. We have designed our inventory to accommodate various tastes and budgets. They can spend a lot or they can spend a little, but we're proud that we can give them lots of choices. |
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