When it comes to client engagements, John Eckstrom—the president and CEO of Carolina Business Equipment (CBE)—has just one question for his team members: will it amaze?
That’s quite a tall order. An amazing experience is certainly not something that one encounters on a daily basis. Something that is amazing will definitely stick out from the typical daily interaction, but perhaps Eckstrom is following the “aim small, miss small” mentality. Much like a marksman or a golfer, the primary thrust is to focus on a small spot as close to the target as possible, minimizing the degree of your missed shot.
“We are very clear to our whole team at CBE. We instruct them to interact with the customer or prospect so that the engagement will be amazing,” notes Eckstrom, a 2019 ENX Magazine Difference Maker. “In fact, our rally cry is ‘Will it amaze?’ With that question being asked of and by our whole staff, it keeps in the forefront of our collective minds that we better be different from everybody else when we are dealing with the customer or prospect.”
Garnering Respect
Eckstrom takes great pride when his team executes on a job to a level where it is recognized not only by the client and employees, but fellow dealerships, manufacturers, suppliers and even competitors. A former accountant who became controller and later bought into the company, Eckstrom sets the bar high for himself and the team. Although CBE is an accomplished dealer, the push for improvement is a constant one.
“It might sound cliché, but we all realize that leaders always have everyone else gunning for them,” Eckstrom noted. “With that in mind, we surround ourselves with good people and good mentors. We take advantage of industry training and we are in groups like BTA and industry best-practice peer groups.”
Getting things done right the first time helps CBE deliver on its promise to amaze. Eckstrom has even managed to exceed his own expectations; in mid-2019, he had set a goal for opening another branch by the second quarter of 2019. Not only was he able to do it ahead of schedule, it opened before the end of 2018.
Eckstrom also bought a piece of property next door to CBE’s headquarters in Columbia, South Carolina, with the intention of constructing a network operations center, which will be called the First Response Center. The goal is to have the center up and working by Labor Day, which he feels is a tall task.
Takes a Team
Eckstrom has high praise for his team of 65 employees. “They are the ones whose shoulders I stand upon,” he said. “Those 65 people are spread out over six offices in three states. The way to improve is to be able to scale, and that is what we are constantly working towards—the scalability of our processes and procedures.”
Eckstrom has been married to his high school sweetheart for 35 years. Their oldest son, Harris, works for CBE as a sales trainer. They have another son, Pete, who formerly worked for CBE, but is now serving in the U.S. Navy. Their youngest, a 16-year-old daughter, plays first singles on the high school varsity tennis team. An avid fisherman and the owner of vintage boats, Eckstrom will be traveling to Ontario this month and in September to spend a week “off the grid and enjoy some intense fishing.”
