We just had our first North American Sales Conference, at the end of January, that brought together over 400 SSI team members from all of our business units and companies all across the US and Canada and I am still on an emotional high. For those of you that don’t know me, my engine runs at a pretty high tempo and my enthusiasm and passion can at times border on over the top; I’m not apologetic in the slightest bit. However, the passion, vitality and commitment to One School Specialty, or as we call it internally “One SSI”, I felt from the team was nothing short of phenomenal and their energy could have powered all of the lights on the Vegas strip.
The meeting embraced a few key items:
- A celebration of the first systemic year over year growth/success the company has achieved in over 7 years, the unrelenting level transparency of where we are going and how we plan on getting there and why candid input from all School Specialty team members is not only critical but essential to facilitate our journey toward long term success
- The continued evolution of what our mantra “Lead With Action” means and how it relates to and drives our new vision, mission and culture. The introduction of a theme song to complement our mantra and maxims to assist in the motivation of building a winning mindset and never quit attitude. An ethos to enhance and redesign our map toward continuous improvement to better serve our customers and make it easier to do business with School Specialty.
- A re-engagement on a much more personal and collaborative level with our supplier partners, the unveiling of the plans developed by our diverse and cross-functional Strategic Initiative Teams and how they will heavily influence and chart our future success: Art, Early Childhood, Furniture and the 21st Century Classroom, EPS / IS Collaboration, Physical Education, Special Needs will lead the way.
- Finally the request of personal commitment of all School Specialty team members to think beyond yourself and to make a pledge to something bigger than yourself; to a collaborative, communicative, motivated “One SSI” dedicated to support each other, to deliver for our customers and to win.
So, let’s touch on a few of the topics from above. We just put out a pre-release of our CY15 results and we now expects to report that CY15 revenues will be up approximately 2.4% versus CY14 and we expect leveraged free cash flow for CY15 to be approximately $21 million, which represents an improvement of approximately $33 million compared to the prior calendar year. This will allow us to reinvest back into the company by updating some of our systems and platforms: a new phone system, a new CRM and new Transportation Management System are a few investments to help us better serve our customers. Additionally, we are to continuing to expand our services and recruit top notch team member to enhance our category management teams and subject matter experts.
However, while this is exciting and encouraging I will caveat it with the football analogy I used at our conference. “After seven years of being a 1-15 team we have broken out with a winning season of 9-7 but we didn’t win the conference or division and we are not going to the Super Bowl. Some portions of our game are executing and being successful and some still need improving, but we are poised to win big this coming season”. Stay tuned, the future looks bright!
The mantra of Lead With Action was complemented by a theme song of “Hunt You Down” by Saliva. Is it a little hard and in your face? Maybe, for some, but if you truly listen to the words it reinforces what Lead With Action means: being proactive, moving forward, taking risks and making mistake but learning from them, never quitting , raising the standard and pushing the boundaries. In my opinion, Hunt You Down is about: Confidence not Arrogance, Winning not Losing, Proactive not Reactive, Being a Lion and not a Lamb, Being the Hunter not the Hunted and it supports our Vision Statement
To create the leading customer focused distributor of innovative and proprietary products, programs and services across an expansive breadth that supports customers in education and other markets to teach, assist and inspire those they serve. Sales and operational excellence will drive the distribution of these solutions and create partnerships that reach beyond the scope of possibilities and strive for the extraordinary.
As “Hunt You Down” so strenuously articulates – “I came here to win!” and we are challenging our teammates to think that way every day. This also means winning for our customers, to provide them with the perfect customer experience, from a seamless, transparent and easy ordering process, to timely customer care assistance and interaction, on time, accurate and damage free delivery of our products and services and enhanced supplier partner collaboration.
We also talked about commitment to continuous improvement and the attitude necessary to do that and through the use of several stories we focused on some key themes:
Never Quitting, Commitment to the Mission, Raising the Standard & Pushing the Boundaries, No Limits, Be Vigilant and Visionary, Challenge the Unchallengeable, Innovative – Be Part of Creating Our Future.
I am excited as we prepare to “Enter the Breach” in 2016, now the fun really begins.
Lead With Action!
–Joe
Joe Yorio
CEO and President
School Specialty, Inc.
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