Mike Williams is the general manager of Bay State Pallet in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1977, Bay State Pallet focuses mainly on recycled pallets and reclaiming lumber, serving customers throughout New England.
PALLET ENTERPRISE: What is the best piece of business advice that you have ever received?
Williams: If you take care of the little things, the big things always seem to take care of themselves. This covers everything from equipment to all the people you come into contact with. The mindset has to be that you’re always looking to maintain and improve operations and relationships.
PALLET ENTERPRISE: Have you recently started pursuing any new markets/product lines?
Williams: We recently added a grinding operation for our unmarketable wood waste. We knew it wasn’t going to become a huge revenue producer, but we decided to add it to become more efficient. We are now saving money on hauling fees and a lot of time.
PALLET ENTERPRISE: How do you decide whether or not to try a new idea in your company? A new idea could be a new service, a new product, a new piece of equipment, a new way to recruit employees, etc.
Williams: We talk about it with our management team, try it out on the floor, listen to feedback, then make changes if beneficial. We have seen that our best ideas come from our employees looking to improve operations.
PALLET ENTERPRISE: What is one thing you do at your company that is different from other pallet companies?
Williams: We’re a third-generation company focused on slow and steady growth. We concentrate on what we know we’re good at. If we feel like we’re asked to do something that is out of our wheelhouse, we are happy to refer throughout our network instead of creating stress and issues for everyone involved.
PALLET ENTERPRISE: What is one of the hardest business decisions you have ever made?
Williams: It’s always hard to leave a comfortable level you have been at, not knowing if the timing is right to expand. We recently completed building our 40,000-square-foot facility on five acres and moved in less than a year ago. We also purchased a substantial amount of new equipment. Looking back now, it is one of the best decisions we have made.
PALLET ENTERPRISE: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned about customer service?
Williams: That our customers, suppliers and employees have choices in who they do business with. Building relationships and being consistent is key. People deal with people.
PALLET ENTERPRISE: What performance indicators do you track to measure how your company is doing?
Williams: Retaining long-term relationships with everyone we encounter is definitely an indicator that we are doing something right. It’s nice to have personal, two-way relationships. When a small issue comes up, it gets fixed before it becomes unfixable.
