Author: louis

I have seen many studies over the years about how much employees “goof off” or “waste” time at work.  As I was doing an audit in Aliceville this past Friday, the thought occurred to me that whoever was doing one of those studies never completed one while working with Janet and Brenda.  Wow is all that I can say.  As Janet was leaving for lunch, she was telling Brenda a few things to do while she was gone and as she was coming back in the door from lunch she was asking Brenda if she had taken care of those things.  While I am sitting in the chair trying to recover from the awesome food I just had from the restaurant next door, Gates, they never missed a beat.  On the phone, making notes, updating their database, asking me questions that had come to their mind. Oh and did I mention their audit was near perfect? Coincidence? I don’t think so! Way to go Janet and Brenda!!

Rachel

I read an article last week by Dave Anderson on how to overcome the temptations of successful organizations.  I found the article very informative and I would like to share some of the temptations Dave warns about.

1.The temptation to stop working on yourself.  Successful leaders work hard on their jobs, but often times they stop working on themselves.

2.The temptation to stop thinking big.

3.The temptation to stop holding others accountable.

I hope you will keep these temptations in mind as you go about your daily activities.

The best time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining.

John F. Kennedy

Have a great day…Louis

Both of my girls love to watch a show called “Special Agent Oso.”  In every episode, a child realizes that he or she does not know how to do something such as hit a baseball, play duck duck goose, wrap a birthday present or say goodbye to a best friend.  Special Agent Oso will then receive a special alert on his palm pilot and immediately go to the rescue of the child.  His palm pilot will always break down the solution to the problem into three special steps.  The song to go along with the three special steps goes something like this:  “Three special steps, that’s all you need. Three special steps, and you’ll succeed.”  I’ve often thought to myself that it would be nice if every task we do or every problem we must solve could be completed in three special steps.  Not long ago, I visited our Fayette location and noticed that Christie and Rachel were using a dry erase board in the back of the store to condense a very important part of our day to day operations into three steps.  In my mind, I immediately starting singing…..”three special steps, that’s all you need.”  Yes, I have probably been watching too much Disney Jr. but I thought their idea was awesome.   We have all discussed the importance of keeping daily to-do lists so the dry erase board is just another way for them to keep the status of an important task in the forefront of their minds.  Our Vernon store also uses the dry erase board but for a different task.  All four of these ladies do an awesome job and I am sure that any one of them would be willing to share their ideas for use of the dry erase board.  Thanks to Christie, Rachel, Charlon and Susan for all the good work that they do!!

Rachel

On my last blog I mentioned that we were headed to our quarterly Leedom meeting.  We returned early Monday morning and had a very successful meeting.  We came home with many new ideas and some areas we can focus on to improve our business.  I look forward to implementing some of our new ideas over the next couple of weeks.

Hope you have a great day…Louis

Luke, Shane, and I will be traveling today to attend meetings with the consulting group for our buy here pay here business.  As I have mentioned on the blog before, I am always anxious to get to these meetings to see how our numbers compare to the rest of our group.  I look forward to getting back in the office on Monday with new ideas on ways we can improve our business!  I will give y’all a report from the meetings next week.  I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes.

– The Count of Monte Cristo

Louis

I recently read a blog that was discussing pointers on how a company should always be trying to improve their customer experience.  One of the pointers was entitled  “Retention.”  The writer noted that many businesses are so busy attracting new customers to come to their front door, they don’t take care of the customers leaving out their back door.  A recent visit to our store in Belmont immediately came to my mind.  I spent the day with Deborah and observed her gladly doing several things for existing customers that go a long way in retaining a customer’s business.  She had brought cookies and was offering them to customers especially those with small kids.  A customer had some questions about a title so she picked up the phone and called the courthouse for him in order to get the questions resolved.  She offered to bring the paperwork to the car for a customer who had recently been in the hospital.    I have observed a lot of you doing similar things that exemplify customer service at its best.  Keep up the good work and remember that if we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will!

I look forward to visiting with more of you very soon.

Rachel

Congrats to the following offices for hitting their goal last quarter: Baldwyn, Belmont, Camden, Coldwater, Fayette, Greensboro, Hernando, Holly Springs, Macon, Okolona, Saltillo, Southaven, Starkville.  Good luck to everyone on the 1st quarter of 2013.

Being easy-going when you have a goal to reach seldom makes the going easy.

–Frank Tyger

Have a great Monday…Louis

Luke, Shane, Rachel, the area managers, and I will be meeting Monday for our 1st quarter strategy session.  One item on the agenda is “Visioning for 2013.”  We will be brainstorming ideas and using numbers from 2012 to help us make decisions concerning the direction of the compay in 2013.  We will also be reporting on the personal goals each of us set for the last quarter of 2012.  I’m looking forward to seeing the progress that was made last quarter and seeing what 2013 has in store for the company.  Most of all I’m looking forward to leaving the meeting focused and energized for the upcoming year.

Have a great Friday…Louis

I am honored to write the very first blog of 2013!  I hope that all of you had a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR and pray that all of you will be abundantly blessed in 2013.  A few tips for making 2013 your best year that I would like to share:

1.  Let’s all see our mistakes made in 2012 as lessons learned and move on.

2 .  Focus on what you are thankful for – instead of focusing on New Years Resolutions, why not start the year with any empty jar and fill it with notes about good things that happen.  Then, on New Years Eve, empty it and see what all good stuff happened that year.

3.  Surround yourselves with positive people.

4.    Pencil in time on your calendar just for yourself.

5.  Share your blessing with others.

Last but not least, savor the journey!!  I look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Rachel

We hope for your fulfillment,
Contentment, peace and more,
A brighter, better new year than
You’ve ever had before.