Stacy Collins is the owner of South Carolina Pallet and Recycling Center in West Columbia, South Carolina. The company offers new pallets and recycled pallets, including custom pallets.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the best piece of business advice that you have ever received?
Collins: The best business advice I have received is to invest in good people. You can’t go wrong with that. It is also beneficial to be open to the ideas of all employees invested in the well-being of the company. This lets employees know that you value their contribution.
Pallet Enterprise: How do you decide whether or not to try a new idea in your company?
Collins: I ask the closest people around me for advice before implementing something new for the company. Then I survey customers to make certain that I consider their input.
Pallet Enterprise: What is one thing you do at your company that is different from other pallet companies?
Collins: We offer same-day delivery as well as delivery within 24 hours. We cater to the customer. We accommodate customers who need rushed orders.
Pallet Enterprise: What is one of the hardest business decisions you have ever made?
Collins: To continue going. At first, it was tough to get it up and going. I couldn’t find reliable help or consistent customers. But I decided to put my best foot forward and go harder. It was a great decision to stick it through because we are now one of the top pallet companies in South Carolina, with less than two years in business.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned about customer service?
Collins: I’ve learned that the ‘customer is always right’ to a degree. I used to go out on a limb to please my customers, even if it cut into our bottom line. Now I stay fair and firm, and customers respect that more.
Pallet Enterprise: What performance indicators do you track to measure how your company is doing?
Collins: We have a pretty simple way to track how well we are performing: customer satisfaction and profit margin. When it makes sense for the customer and our bottom line, we consider it a win-win.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the most important thing you do each day?
Collins: We’ve implemented a way to encourage employees to arrive 30 minutes early for what we call our ‘Early Bird Meeting.’ The trick is to provide coffee and donuts for those who attend. For the most part, this gets everyone in attendance. Then, we talk over breakfast much like a family would. This brings us closer together, and it allows us to have fewer conflicts on the yard. It’s definitely a keeper.
