Building the Ultimate Systems of Tomorrow featuring David Krengel, CEO of YD Wood Floors

hi this is David krangel of why the what flaws we will be talking about hardwood floors and how to build a company with excellent customer service [Music] welcome to another edition of mind your business right here on 710 WR the voice of New York and around the world on the powerful IR radio network and this week we're catching up with David Kringle CEO of YB woodforce and where are we having our conversation from from the Pinnacle conference in Toronto Canada David crane CEO of yd what was why the wood floors has established over 10 years ago back in 2011 and supplies installs and finishes hardwood floors in the entire tri-state area why the wood floors ensures customer satisfaction and makes the entire flooring process as simple as possible for the customer we say hello and welcome to David Kringle thank you for joining me here on mind your business welcome it's Clark thank you so much for bringing me on to this show it's an honor for me to be here thank you and I feel I'm just in a very good place to be here thank you and you know being here at the Pinnacle conference and a special shout out of course to Norm Norm trainer and keita Denning for coordinating this incredible conference um we could potentially maybe get to and share some secrets about about YB and maybe certain things that were implemented of course without sharing without giving away the fort because obviously uh your secret sauce is is what the what what makes YB uh so unique but David perhaps can you explain the concept of how a product can be much more than a product and can truly provide customer satisfaction so me being a flooring expert and doing wood floors for over 12 years 12 years in my own company and I got to that point that a floor is very very personable it's very very a very sensitive subject people have very very high expectations on wood floor and this brought me to become who I am today okay um because you would think just you know flooring place carpeting you know it's the type of thing that like okay you walk on it but you walk of it and you expect that the walking on it should be a long lasting a very long lasting product people expect you you touch the wall in the house you touch anything the house it breaks in a second but if you walk on the floor and you keep on walking and everyone walks on the floor you only walk on the floor and you but the expectation is so high that the it must be a long lasting product and also without any issues if there is any little issue you right away get a phone call what's going on so it's a it's a very sensitive very sensitive subject and that's why a floor needs to be done right so David it really brings me to my next question how important is it to truly listen to customer feedback a customer calls up and maybe then there maybe it's a it's a obviously we all pray for the compliments and the compliments on shortcut but let's say there's a critique or suck someone's complaining maybe they're not even correct they're not right but how important is it so that's why it's extremely important to when you start discussing the flooring in the beginning with the customer when they walk into you the first time say hey I need a floor and and it's very important to become very attentive listen to Why they expect what do they want how do they want it and just make sure that they get that experience because later when it's going to be all done and everything is going to be finished every sentence what they said they're going to repeat to you we told you that you know very very so listen carefully early on because that's the guidance and ultimately what's going to happen right oh and the feedback and the way it is they appreciate it or not will be based on the experience that you provide which you were given the heads up because they did tell you from the outset the key is to make sure to listen and to implement yeah all the time I come to the customer and the customers says David what was this you know so I right away want to see is it something that affects the whole floor is it in one area is it a defect of the product that's why it's very very very important to just keep the ear open and make sure that you just listen just listen to the customer now David you talk of course about implementing the feedback but now we go to the question about doing the homework you are known in the industry of someone that does their homework can you tell us why research is so important for a CEO of a company and to do the homework and not just say Well it worked yesterday it worked a week ago worked a month ago worked a year ago but rather stay on top of the trends and do the research why is that so why is that so key so the flooring industry is a very very complex Market um you're gonna go into any local suppliers they are going to sell you anything that's on the Shelf there's so many things on the Shelf it's only products that you could buy and you could choose from and there's only a few that our customers are going to be happy and most of it is going to just be problematic and the whole idea is that when you do a floor you want to bring something that's going to last a very long time not something that they sell something that's good for this environment something that belongs in this type of setting if it's in floor heat if it's high humidity or if it's low humidity whatever it is in the setting you have to make sure that you're going to bring something that's going to last the customer is not going to be happy if they have to call you with a problem then the whole job wasn't worth it and it's not it's not anything that you want to be you want to be there my guess is the CEO of yd wood floors David Kringle and we're recording the show from the Practical Pinnacle conference Pinnacle conference 2023 in Toronto Canada and I'm catching up with David Kringle because he's one of the participants here and he has a great story to share again why the wood floors has been in operation for 12 years he excels in customer service and many areas and in fact I want to turn to David at some you know from being on the front lines for over a decade what would you say is the key to your success success in a company in general but and but you could say you know what this was really a key to myself so the very very big part is systems setting up and setting up systems that work that you should be able to grow what's flooring Specialists we do custom finishes we do very nice work we also are a construction company we have to come in in Between The Raindrops we have to install the floor before the time that I asked the sheet Dragon before we have to be able to coordinate between so many trades and then the floor there needs to still be something that lasts and and something very strong so in order to get that you need to have systems in place that you should be able to execute um we used to do jobs that used to take months they used to come to before we set up and and the manager the owner the developer they call us they say how much time do you need to do this building and I used to accept talk with everyone and start today I said called back the guy and I said this job is going to take four weeks and the guy was very happy okay and that was time we wanted to do more and we wanted to not be stuck on one project wanted to be able to do a bunch of projects and go on and and so we implemented systems that we should be able to work much less on the job more on the setup more on the preparation more on the proactive being proactive and taking care of all the little things that need to get done because when you do What flows you like having a shot from the you like setting up a whole shop but where you set up everything beforehand and you have everything lined up you have these good systems in place that tell you take care of this purchase all the stuff get everything lined up so by the time you get the call to come do the project everything is ready and we we come you just come in go out you don't understand anyone's way and I would imagine over time that you perfected the process right over the years yes so now this you've learned in the early years and now you have it down to a sign so so we used to do these custom houses and it's impossible to do like it was impossible to to do a custom house so many different designs that's custom everything is customer floor is built in into the room how's the room going to look after the floor is finished so you need to come into the room and make sure that and it's not like the plan the players never like the the final final so we come in you need to and it takes so much time to deliver a quality product just one two three so what did we do we implemented A system that we don't work on the customer's time we work it we do it on our time no one is making known as calling no one's calling hey wait when are you coming when are you coming we called the customer we call them we tell them hey everything's ready we should come in everything is ready and by the time they call us we're just gonna be we did now lately a bunch of custom jobs that it just took us some jobs a half a day we used to sit there five days seven days half a day wide system set up being proactive and now now David you're running this company you have a team under you but talk about the role of the CEO um CEO has to show up every day confident excited passionate right they can't be in some type of sour mood because it's going to affect the entire team how maybe you could speak to that the role of a CEO it's very very important to be positive and confident and work is hard it's not easy to go and knock out a job very very very important to come with the positive approach that everything's gonna be good and we're going to figure everything out just because things go so quick and when things go quick it could break down it could break down and things it is not going to go you make a schedule and you say it's gone we're going to be finished in two days in the three days and then it comes a day and you see it's not going to happen this broke and that fell down and and his he didn't show up and they didn't show up and we showed up and they're not ready and there's so much dealing with so many a lot of details Sonic details you must be positive in order to drive this now here's a key and a delicate question in order for a company to scale they do have to delegate you have to have a great team right there's a limited amount of time in the day to oversee everything every client wants to know that the CEO is involved on some love what's your recommendation on that because I'm sure you know YB has a great team overseeing the projects but still I imagine every client wants to know that David Kramer is looking after my child correct when when when when we go and we confirm a sale with with any client any customer I mean the value for any contract any designer they expect David Kringle to understand and to be on top of every little aspect so when they call me they need to be informed right away what's going on and I also need to know what's going on so very important for me to know to be in the know um every step and the way and this I mean let's face it in a job like this there's a lot of details and it's over a length of time like you said some are four weeks some I don't know if it's fair to say it could be a few months especially a big project so that means you're you really have to I don't know how you do it because there's all you're talking about the house in the day but to really be kept abreast of all the details of what's going on on each job site right so this this is a a very very strong part that I focus on systems that I should be in the know that I should be able to know what's going on I used to not know we used to have so many jobs but I did not know who's going to be ready next what are we gonna need to go to him when are we gonna need to go over there now when we have a system in place so we already check in advance that we so we know all these jobs are going to be done later and this is we don't need to look at and this is and I'm only focused on these ja these projects that are important now at the moment and I always keep space for the for my relationships to make sure that I have space for them and time so that it is serviced and they're being taken care of they get David crangle 100 percent now here's a key question why is it important for a company to provide full service and not only one piece so for example you are a a hardwood flooring specialist when you come in you're like taking care of that entire process right from you're working along with either the interior decorator the interior designer the architect the contractor whatever the case may be and overseeing that and then ordering the supplies laying it down sir I imagine servicing it this like a lot involved as opposed to some companies they're just like okay just you know I I'll just you know do one side of the equation why is it why from your perspective is it critical and I know again YB does this that you look after the entire flooring project so in the beginning when we started we were a flooring installer we did just installation and finishing and finishing so we did install and finish and we bumped into so many issues where we need to take responsibility on every single piece that there isn't that part on the wood floor the installer is responsible um if the floor moves if the customer has a very very they call hello what's going on we have movement in our floors and if I don't I'm not involved in the selling Park and the material then it's very hard for me to keep control not to say where that okay now let's go check whether they buy it the way they go it doesn't it doesn't go together so we we right away took the Pro Staff whatever we do we don't do 100 we're gonna make sure we're gonna bring products that work and we're going to make sure we do finishes that work and we're going to make sure that we do everything that works matter of fact we had a years ago it was a certain what Brazilian Cherry a very popular World extremely popular everyone came in acting about what do you want Brazilian Cherry Brazilian cherry on them and these designers came in and they said let's go let's do it and every single job we did was failing we couldn't figure out how to finish the product and make sure the customer is going to be happy and we came back and we redid every house and it costed thousands and tens of thousands of dollars to get and figure out what's going on here we didn't we we did not know what we went with the product they called what why didn't finish work they have names the syndrome I'm a fetish and different types of reasons but the bottom line is it did not work we went to the Battle of it we figured out which product we found the product that works and since then this was seven years ago since then we discontinued all the products from the sales line from the failing and we use only this product for finishing so whatever calls up and says uh we want you to use this company and that company we're not that type of company we're a company that guarantees you that the quality is going to be the best the Finish is going to be the strongest and it's going to last you know to be happy and we don't like to go in if we if we if we customers tell us use this product use that product you can take responsibility not cool yeah so that's a very important point that if you're going to take responsibility on a project then you have to look over every aspect from the materials from the glue from the way it gets worn the the minute with the way they lay it down the actual talents and then the team that installs it because of these different parts of the project that are that are that are not under your jurisdiction how could you take responsibility exactly um when years ago this was before I had so much experience there was a very very very famous Hall that they had a lot of issues in every few six months there was water damage fixing so they used to call the floor guy break up that part put down a new come now six months later now we have water in the other part fix up and these are thousands and thousands every year spending thousands of dollars and I was called down to this job and and I was asked David what can you do for us and I recommended them a special glue that they should use for the floor and one thing I can say it's now it's I did it when I started the company it was almost 12 years ago this floor was only scraped maybe one time and maybe one time there was an issue coming in but this floor is still intact beautiful sitting in position no movement no problems just to bring the right product and the what the customer needs in that circumstance what do they need so Laura speaking with David Kringle from the Pinnacle conference in Toronto Canada David crangel is the CEO of yd wood floors I have an interesting question and it's maybe a little bit of a delicate question but just uh an important one you know anyone who's been in business for a a couple of years certainly for a decade or longer knows that you gotta service the customer properly and when you service them and you provide great customer service you win over a client in fact it's fair to say that if a if a company handles a I don't say a crisis but a a situation that unfortunately didn't go so well and they serve as the customer in a great way they win them over for life do you have any perspective on that or maybe even any stories so yes so I have this customer that gives me the job very very custom house very expensive floors and we did two parts we first do the plywood on the concrete and then we do the wood on the plywood and then at the time we had two different glues that we used we used one glue that we use for the plywood and then another glue that we use for the hardwood we do the installation everything is done the job is complete and I come check out the floor after the installation and I feel something is funny the whole floor is moving there is squeaking in the floors and i s I don't know what's going on and I go into the next room and I open the class and I see the glue that was supposed to be used on the wood wasn't used they use the wrong glue they used a different type of adhesive that has movement it's good under the plywood but it's not good under the floors now I could be quiet walk away and hope for the best but then comes the sleep I want to sleep at night I wanna sleep and I also want to make sure that the customer is later going to move in and has anything is going to happen he's going to now right away call me and I'm gonna have to come there and stand there and and see the whole floor squeaking I'm not interested to go down that whole way so I call up the customer and I tell them have very very bad news for you and we need to rip out the floor and he says okay just do what you have to do and I reordered a whole it was a Versailles very very very very very custom and we ordered from we started we ripped out the whole floor and we did it redid redid the whole project and yeah the the then after that was done I felt good that right they you installed quality perfect job but now let's be honest that customer probably was very impressed with yd extremely impressed and whatever we did after that was unbelievable growth just because of that part of just doing the right thing now David the art of Simplicity perhaps you can discuss that uh talk about that we know that uh I mean you know Apple made famous you know that their products are very very simple and of course that will help that's part of their uh success perhaps you could talk about the art of Simplicity and and you know you work on some very complicated projects but at the end of the day the floor has to be beautiful and and if I may say even like just simple person don't they don't want to think about it too much it just is there it looks beautiful the art of Simplicity how do you uh how do you explain that so we don't do a bunch of different types of products we don't have a wide range selection we keep a temple we keep it down to very few we don't spend much time with going over this so many different types of discussions we keep everything very very clear and to the point I want to talk right away when a customer shows up I want to discuss what they like what they go for and then we I right away get to the point practical is this going to be practical it's not going to be practical do you want something that's practical don't you want something that's practical and the whole experience is very very quick very very simple and people love it now we touched on this before but in general why is it critical for a company to have clients that are 100 satisfied if that's even possible but why at least to try to attain for that why is it so critical we got calls after we finish projects the project might we do we go through the whole job we check everything and we make sure everything is properly done we have a process how we follow on how we finish a job but still there is there is the part of of the customer still wants to always well anything happens a floor is wood it's a natural product so you you are going to have companies tell you that five percent could be defect five percent could be defect the company so if you have let's say a thousand square feet the company says 50 square feet could be problematic customers don't like it customers are not interested not even in a one they're not even interested in one percent we had one to issue a house that we started we we started to finish the house and we saw that we have so many pieces so many problems and the company only gave us back five percent so it was ten percent we only got five percent but the customers don't care about five one zero they come with the hairlines with any little part and we have already A system that we come and we if what is natural or what is going to see when we finish when we install it locks everything almost the same but when we finish it it's going to pop out all the little things all the little um Nicks and that's in the wood and a customer is going to call you down and say what's with this piece of wood and what's with that the whole house is beautiful but what's with this and what's with that part and we have a system that we are going to fix these little parts and after we do this that is when we finish the job that is when the job is the customer says wow yes you completed you're doing it correctly thank you so much for paying attention to our needs and to others and now a few minutes ago you shared a great story about being honest let us talk about and of course that's important in terms of as we know the word erla kite but even from a business standpoint at the end of the day the reputation of a company is built on honesty is built on transparency perhaps you could talk about that especially in an industry where like you just mentioned there are certain things that are beyond your control there's certain things that are just you know kind of Facts of Life if if if if one of your uh suppliers delivered a product that's not up to par you're saying that why these we're going to stand behind all the ultimate finished product not just giving you excuses say oh yeah five percent you have to understand that's just the way the industry Works no you're going to be upfront and transparent how important is that for a company in terms of in terms of its transparency and honesty for a lot for building long-term relationships and long-term relationship you must bring something that works and you must bring be the most you must be honest and open it's not gonna work any other way you're going to be pushed to the corner if you bring and say and do something that's not the right word you can't just do a sale when you do a floor it's not you're doing a sale and it's not finished it starts the work starts once the customer gives you the go-ahead yes where we're giving you the the opportunity to do our project for us you have to make sure to deliver 100 it's a very important it's the only thing that's going to be important for a long time so it's very very very important to be honest to be open and if there is a problem that comes up and pops up you must take care of it right away and you must open it up and be vulnerable to the issue you cannot hide it if you're going to hide it you're going to be toast if you're gonna hide it you're not gonna get the next opportunity you're not gonna get another chance if you fail and it's easy to fail in this business it's very easy to fail especially when the competition is so high and everyone wants to do it and everybody wants to be in this field and everybody wants to be in every field but this field you cannot just sell a floor you have to sell on the stand and be honest with the customer and open and clear and deliver my guest is the CEO of yd wood floors David krangle David an interesting question and actually this is somewhat inspired by the event that we're at we're at the Pinnacle conference 2023 here in Toronto Canada and one of the highlights one of the important subjects that they constantly talk about is systems and processes and I would think for a company like yours that's so critical because you could be managing on an on a daily basis dozens of projects right let's say you have out there 30 40 active projects and meanwhile and for one job site let's say it's a it's on a Monday and you're scheduled to do with the installation on Monday but then you get a call that the supplies are running a day late or two days late that's some you have to shift all your talent to a different site or maybe they could have the supplies a day early or the or the supplies came the day before so you have to really like be you have to plan in advance and then at the same time be agile to to what's happening out in the field yes so very good very good question um this is the reason why I'm here in the conference this is this is why I came here um before I I met Kida before I met the the this group um I was busy writing addresses a whole day I had a whole bunch of papers with projects and every single sheet was a different sheet this is the scraping sheet this is the installation sheet this is the sales sheet this is the sample sheet this is the scheduling in the showroom this is the meeting the customer this is going setting up the job this is purchasing this is problems and after finishing like I know every week I used to write down all these sheets what are we gonna do on the next what are we going to focus I have all these addresses but I'm so tired that I'm not even interested in doing all the work afterwards it's so much writing and like where am I gonna start and the the there's a big problem it's not possible it's not possible to live and to run a company like this so we started to do a system that there's no writing there's we put everything into the system one time and everything is in the right place we have a dashboard we see all the jobs all the projects we don't have to wait for the call we are ready once the when the customer calls we already ready and we are in the know and we have the calendar connected to the system that the everything is is lined up as we have even placed for the emergencies for the special for if things change if things move we have now the guy is sitting idling just because we're so efficient wow so we took out so much time of running around and doing so much nothing and rather being more efficient and setting up and preparing because we have a system in place that just shows up and says okay these are the projects they're gonna be next week two weeks if you have it down to a complete science a systems processes and there's no question the customers must love it because at the end of the day I think the the whole process is being handled smoothly and efficiently and not as I say as as they say out in the field oh I'm coming I'm not coming yeah it's all scheduled all to make the customer feel important the idea is we are now doing work for one of the biggest contractors in New York City and the tri-state area and we are just being ready that when he when he calls we're there not when he calls we start setting up and we're going to be no everything is ready everything is ready everything is ready so we just come in and take care of it very quickly okay David you know the next question has to do with a you know similar to what we discussed before you have many different projects out in the field okay and ultimately every customer wants to know that David Kringle is behind my project but you can't it's not possible for you to be on top of 25 simultaneous projects I mean you're able to have the idea you're managing them you're responsible for them but you're not out there in the field you have a team doing it perhaps you could share what's your suggestion for managing employees and a team that are they're not there with you in the office they're out there at the job sites what's a recommendation and what and what's perhaps you could share the difference at yd wood floors so by us we try to focus on systems that everyone should know and everyone knows what they need to do what's their role what do I do what do I do in order to complete this project and when everyone Falls in if everyone follows the system and they do their part then everything is going to just go smoothly in and out okay so now this is already a little bit of a delicate question and it has to do with spotting great employees hiring employees I mean your reputation is on the line right and every job site your reputation yd wood floors is on the line and you're you know you have to make sure that when you're hiring people and they're not schlemazels they they they're they they're sharp they're smart they and they they can't also like like have a situation where where where they put down the wrong materials or they use the wrong glue or they didn't follow they didn't go in the right direction of there's so many details right because we know the interior decorators specked out of very very specific design and layout you need people that are really good as they say yeah what's what you need not only good you also need people that stay you need to have people that that are good for a long time because these projects are not just going to start today and finish tomorrow these projects are very long term we don't control when a project gets completed we just come in when they need us and it's very important to have stable people that are they work on a job for five years plus they hold on a job they they stay they just stay so they could be a and then when you could be able to do a job and and execute the jobs because you have people that are a long time they were here in the beginning they're here in the middle they're in the band if someone starts other one comes in the middle the other one finished they don't know the whole thing gets broken and into pieces so so you you you specialize in having a high retention with your staff so we have I have um yeah we have guys working for us forever over 10 years the the the the the installers are asked by us forever the scrapers are forever um from the beginning I mean we we we keep instead of looking for new we build up the people that we have and we grow together everyone's growing together and we adapt if I come in I I hire a new guy to go to do now the flaws they need to now know so much more things that take such a the learning so much so stability is a very very big key in in employees now here's just an interesting question how how often in your industry do you need to be kept up to date at the latest trends the latest Styles the latest right decide the most very important very very important to know what's going to be next why do people going what are they going to like which type of product is is the next trend and it's going to trade shows and going to doing the research and seeing what's what's happening in the industry they shouldn't fall out and and stay selling products that people are not even gonna like and in two years from now you don't know what's what's going to be so you need to just do the research and and and be on top of it and stay stay focused and that's how you can win it amazing David Before I Let You Go this is just a uh an interesting question uh you started the company 12 years ago and uh Hashem young guy building a a family what what's uh advice what's some advice that you could recommend for people for balancing that we called work life balance out in the world but making sure that you're giving the proper attention to your family and yet at the same time managing the the oil the responsibility of running uh running a major company so I feel that the work and family is one it's too it's two different zones where you have to focus different focuses but it's connected it's connected one with the next you have to work hard at work and you have to work hard at home and if you do both then you're going to grow tremendously never ever give up any of these two if you're going away and doing other things and giving up on the family giving up on work then it's gonna break so you have to be 100 committed to both and make sure that the time that's associated for one is you know your head's in the game for that when you're with your family you need to bring them everything and focus on every single child and and everyone in the family to give them their attention and because you're only there for that period of time and then when you go to when you go to work you focus on that part you don't mix it up but you need to be focused to give the fullest when you're there what a great conversation with David Kringle CEO of yd wood floors David Before I Let You Go what's a final tip that you could share with the listeners of mind your business being in this business for such a long time and being focused on the business we had a lot of struggles throughout the years on how to navigate certain projects and and and we had a lot of struggles um throughout and the I never gave up so I I feel like whenever you do something don't give up on it just continue if you know that you're doing the right thing just go for it and don't let anyone drag you down and pull you away and say it's not gonna work and it can't work and that's not possible it is possible everything is possible it's you you need to do the work and you just continue doing the work and by the end it's going to pay off such great advice and what an incredible show where uh the guest thank you special thank you to my guest David krangel CEO of yd wood floors tonight show brought to you in part by yd wood floors and it was recorded at the Pinnacle conference here in Toronto Canada well this wraps up a great edition of mind your business tuning again next Sunday night for another great addition to mind your business right here on 710 wor the voice of New York have a successful week thank you for watching and make sure to subscribe to this Channel and be notified every single time a new video goes live don't miss out on any of the weekly interviews that I have with top Business Leaders sometimes Fortune 500 Executives hit subscribe and turn on notifications [Music]