Waukesha-based Lakeland Supply Inc. believes that its continued growth depends on each employee taking personal responsibility for customer satisfaction.
Lakeland Supply is a distributor of packaging, paper and janitorial supplies. The family-owned business encourages and empowers its employees to make decisions to satisfy a customer’s needs or solve a customer’s problem.
Sharing the responsibility also means sharing the rewards, said Vince Schmidt, the company’s president. So, when Lakeland met its 2006 financial goal, the company sent all employees and their spouses on an all-expenses-paid, three-day Caribbean cruise in February.
Schmidt’s father, Larry Schmidt Sr., started the business out of his home in 1984. Lakeland now has 30 employees distributing supplies from a 40,000-square-foot building in Waukesha.
Lakeland provides businesses with janitorial products, such as brooms, mops and chemical cleaners, in addition to paper products – tissue dispensers, toilet paper and paper towels. The company also offers an inventory control program, which keeps track of supplies for their customers. That way, Lakeland can refill customers’ orders before they run out of stock.
In addition, Lakeland offers a variety of packing options for their clients’ shipping needs, including custom boxes and stretch plastic films, which hold products in place on pallets.
Lakeland’s revenues grew 17 percent in 2006. Schmidt attributes that success to the trust that customers have in the company and its employees.
Being a family-owned business helps the company spread the message of personal integrity, he said. For example, employees are encouraged to advise clients and potential customers so that they leave the exchange better off than they entered it – even if it means referring them to another supplier if Lakeland is not the best company to provide a particular product or service, Schmidt said.
“Instead of selling a product, we’re selling solutions,” Schmidt said.
Lakeland Supply Inc.
Address: N8 W22380 Johnson Drive, Waukesha
Web site: www.lakelandsupply.com
Industry: Distributor of packaging, paper and janitorial supplies
Revenues: 17 percent growth in 2006
Employees: 30
