Carlisle FoodService Products Blog

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Carlisle U Class of September 2009

Another successful Carlisle University kicked off on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 with over 25 participants. 

The fall session of Carlisle University was completed on Friday, September 18, 2009.  The photo above shows the graduates and some of the facility in front of Carlisle FoodService Products office in Oklahoma City, OK.

Numbered from left to right are:
1.  Dianne Brooks, CFSP Director of Corporate Sales

2.  Natalee Harp, CFSP Associate Product Manager

3.  Mike Gibbons, LoneStar Restaurant Supply, Buyer

4.  John Haberstroh, Ace Mart Restaurant Supply, Sales

5.  Mike Moore, Ace Mart Restaurant Supply, Sales

6.  Sherri Hervey, LoneStar Restaurant Supply, Sales

7.  Garry Mans, CFSP-Asia Acct Manager

8.  Gerrit Van Dyl, LoneStar Restaurant Supply, Sales

9.  David Fortune, Kenco, Sales

10.  Jack Von Itter, Top ‘O The Table, Sales

11.  Scott Leathley, Wasserstrom Company, Sales

12.  Keith Sisco, CFSP Director of Sales East

13.  Jeff Mills, CFSP-Dinex, Mktg Communications Manager

14.  Lisa Austin, Lone Star Restaurant Supply, Buyer

15.  Laura Higdon, Ace Mart Restaurant Supply, Sales

16.  Nancy Voorhees, CFSP Director of Sales Central

17.  Helena Patterson, Ace Mart Restaurant Supply, Sales

18.  Suzanne Stark, Wasserstrom Company, Sales

19.  Eli Forman, Smith and Green, Sales

20.  Lorrie Lanfair, Baltzer & Assoc, Sales

21.  Alan Vernon, Kenro, Sales

22.  Holly Widdowfield, Tundra Specialties, Buyer

23.  John Soos, Ace Mart Restaurant Supply, Sales

24.  Jill Ponce, CFSP Director of Sales National Accts.

25.  Laura Bedilion, Central Products, Category Manager

26.  Danny Gallegos, Ace Mart Restaurant Supply, Sales

27.  Flo Fussenegger, CFSP-Dinex, Director of Sales

28.  Carlos Alferez, Mexico, Business Owner

29.  Catherine Martz, CFSP-Dinex, Pricing & contract Coordinator

30.  Roberto Aldape, Mexico, President of Aldape Refrigeracion Sa De Cv

31.  Caron Gillespie, Smith and Green, Sales

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Kitchen Flare-Ups

Starring Chef Jordan
Episode 1 - Pandemonium… Put a lid on it!

Get Flash to see this player.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Heat Lamps Show Their Creative Side

Heat Lamps are a hard-working, no-nonsense product that you usually find towards the back wall of a kitchen or serving line warming up some fried pies or tater tots. 

Not so with Carlisle’s HL7237. It has taken on a new look – thanks to Linus Of Hollywood’s recently released CD “Reheat And Serve”.  Linus used our humble heat lamp on the cover of his CD along with some “hot” tunes.

The CD has been released on iTunes (and several other digital sites).  If you go to the iTunes Music Store and type “Reheat And Serve” in the search, you’ll see the album.

Even though the HL7237 is now a star, they have not let success go to their head (or bulb perhaps). They will still be there performing their primary job in restaurants across the country - keeping food hot for you and your customers.

Friday, June 20, 2008

There’s Only One Way to Make Money in Sales

Over the years I have bought and sold several rental properties. One of my recent houses needed some work done since the yard sloped toward the house and caused a water problem.

I was going to build a deck but first I needed to work on solving the water problem.

I started with a shovel. That lasted about 15 minutes. I knew there had to be a better way so I headed to the equipment rental company.

After I arrived and looked over the options, I decided on a Bobcat. A Bobcat is a small tractor with a bucket on the front that scoops up the dirt. The person renting me the equipment asked if I knew how to operate it. I said “of course,” thinking to myself: “how hard can it be?” I hooked it up to my truck and headed home.

I pulled up behind my house, sat in the bobcat seat and prepared to pull it off the trailer. I started the engine, let out the clutch and lost control.

It jerked ahead and by the time I figured how to stop it I had run into the gas meter and caused a gas leak. I immediately called the gas company and they were there in a matter of minutes to fix it.

I got back on the Bobcat and, as I was turning around, I lost control again and destroyed two sections of my fence.

As soon as I started digging my wife opened the door and said the TV cable was out. I told her to call the cable company and she said the phone didn’t work. The only thing I didn’t damage was the water main.

Twice during the day my neighbor, who is about 85 years old, walked over, looked at what I was doing, shook his head and walked away. At this point I really didn’t need any criticism.

At the end of the day – after eight hours - my yard sloped the right way. I was putting the Bobcat back on the trailer when my neighbor came over. I was expecting him to tell me I was crazy. Instead he said something that turned out to be the best compliment I have ever received. He said there are two kinds of people in the world. There are “spectators” and there are “doers.”

And then he walked away.

I have been selling my whole life and I know hundreds of selling techniques. But there is only one thing that will make you any money in the selling profession: you have to take action.

In a recent study about why ceos fail (based on researching about 30 ceos who had failed in the past 10 years), one of the most interesting things discovered was that once a failed ceo resigned, many of the organizations quickly rebounded under a new ceo. It would seem the ceo was the difference.

However, the study came to a fairly simple conclusion. ceo s don’t fail due to lack of strategy or a grand vision. They fail in execution: They simply don’t take action.

The same is true of sales professionals and their account relationships. A colleague of mine was recently doing interviews for a client to determine why some customers switched to the competition and others hadn’t. Many of the sales people who lost the accounts made reference to problems with the product, delivery, service, etc. My colleague’s investigation showed the only common denominator was not the problems, but whether or not the sales person took action to solve the problems.

5 ACTION STEPS TO SUCCESS
• Under promise over deliver
• Don’t put it off – get it done now
• Attack with a sense of urgency
• Always be selling – always be closing
• Go the extra mile for every customer

The bottom line question is: Are you a spectator or a doer?

-Bob Oros, CSP, CMC, is president and founder of More Gross Profit Institute. A long-time contributor of sales training articles to ID Access (and ID), he can be reached at . Would you like to know how to cut two years off the learning curve of your newest rep and save $25,000 on your investment? Visit his website. The Institute’s website is located at: http://www.MoreGrossProfit.com , where more details can be found.

By Bob Oros

Attack the Market Aggressively

“In the 50 years that I have been involved in foodservice distribution, I have never experienced such a challenging atmosphere for our industry, which also includes our customers and vendors,” said Stephen Horowitz.

The closest period I can remember is when we had price controls, which caused great problems.

Restaurants are facing far higher costs of product, ever increasing labor and other operating costs, and lower revenues. With fewer customers, restaurants are reluctant to adequately pass along their cost increases.

In this business climate, you are going to see the following categories of responses:

• Many will do nothing, and hope for the best.

• Some will either sell, merge or buy a competitor with the hope that the business combination will make them better able to cope with these challenging conditions.

• There will be more strategic alliances where two companies will combine or work together in certain parts of their operations with the idea of reducing costs, increasing revenues, or both of the above.

• Some will attempt to get more market share from their competitors.

• Some will try to dramatically lower operating costs as a way to get through tough times. Companies need to be careful about cutting so deep that they can’t sell or service their accounts as before the operating reductions.

While all of the five approaches have merit, I believe in a more aggressive sales effort, and I look at this difficult period as a great opportunity. Some distributors tell me it costs approximately $100 per delivery. If you only deliver a $500 order, that is a +20% cost just for the delivery. If the order is $3,000, it might cost $140, or less than 5%.

Hopefully, both you and the customer can share in the savings. If there is ever a time the customer should be open to consolidation, to cut costs, it should be now. Of course, with consolidation, your customer will place fewer orders, process fewer deliveries, and have more time to build his business. This is the time to tell this story to customers who have multiple vendors.

Look for more acquisition activity. My own company is presently involved with 10 transactions.

No doubt, the times are challenging, but if you attack the market aggressively, you will be far better positioned when business conditions improve.

- Steve Horowitz is principal of Stephen Horowitz & Associates of Beverly Hills, CA, and a member of the ID Editorial Advisory Board. He can be reached at .
By Stephen Horowitz

Thursday, January 10, 2008

2008 Carlisle Trade Shows

We are providing the 2008 trade shows Carlisle FoodService will be attending. We hope to see you all there.

FEBRUARY

- CFSP & SMP | 12-14 | The Rental Show | Booth #8661 | Mandalay Bay Convention Center | Las Vegas, NV
- CFSP | 26-27 | Catersource | Booth #941 | Las Vegas Convention Center | Las Vegas, NV

MAY

- CFSP | 17-20 | NRA SHOW | Booth #1522 | Washington, DC

JULY

- CFSP | 10-11 | NACUFS | Booth #1522 | Washington, DC
- CFSP | 21-23 | SNA (School Nutrition Assoc. | Booth #521 | PA Convention Center | Philadelphia, PA

SEPTEMBER

- CSMP | 9-11 | ISSA SHOW | Booth #2015 | McCormick Place | Chicago, IL

NOVEMBER

- CFSP | 9-11 | International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show | #2329 | Jacob Javits Convention Center | New York, NY