November 2006 Industry Leader:

The Reward(ing) Career of Ed Storm

Nine years ago (in 1998), when Ed Storm joined Reward Wall Systems as president and chief executive officer, things at Reward in Omaha, Nebraska, started to change. Today, Reward is the industry's leading manufacturer of insulated concrete forms (ICFs), as well as the first to manufacture a reversible flat wall system and to engineer a ledge reinforcement system.

In 1998, there was no depth to the organization," explains Storm, adding that most of the original employees are no longer with the company. Back then there were only a handful of employees, where today there are 40 employees and the company has very little turnover.

To add the personnel that Storm says was lacking, he focused on developing expertise and depth in an effort to service and recruit customers. But because Storm came from the financial services industry (he has a degree in accounting), he says he knew he was up against a steep learning curve. "I realized my getting up to speed could be the biggest barrier to our success," he recalls. "But I saw that there were people here who had knowledge, and I relied on them while I learned. Knowing how to use concrete is a helpful skill to have, but its not necessary for my role," Storm adds. "All businesses are the same at the core - hiring and keeping successful people."

Admitting that the success of Reward didn't occur overnight, Storm notes, "There was a period of about 24 to 30 months until we built a solid team. Getting the right people on the bus was hard." In fact, according to Storm, his first major hire, Kelvin Doerr, the director of technical services, is a key player in the backbone of the company. "I knew our customers needed his skills," says Storm of Doerr. "I don't think theres anyone more knowledgeable about ICFs than he is."

In fact, Storms management style was unusual in that he recognized where his knowledge was lacking and sought to fill those gaps. "I hired people who have skills I didn't possess but would allow me to still be involved while I learned," he adds, "which strengthened the company and built depth in the process."

He also implemented a rigorous hiring process, one that begins by identifying what Reward wants from the position in question, even before they run an ad looking for the person to fill that position. Only once the role is clearly defined do they start the process of referrals and ads. (Storm says some of the best hires stem from referrals through existing employees.)

"We have a rigorous hiring process from the beginning through the entire career of the employee here," explains Storm. "We offer training and growth opportunities, we clearly define our expectations of the person, and we set defined goals and action plans to achieve the set goals, so the employees can be successful, which helps Reward be successful."

Storms passion for his job is clear. Not only does he live for selling foam, but he also oversees and conveys the Reward strategic plan to his employees daily, as well as oversees results for his share holders. "Our mission and goal is to change the way people live and work through the use of ICFs," he says. "We want to build the largest ICF network in North America. I love the idea of us being the biggest and the best, and we strive to achieve these goals on a daily basis."

Admitting that Reward "had their share of growing pains," Storm says he knew they had to understand the market and learn what their customers needed to succeed. For example, before Storm owned the company, a new customer would agree to purchase a territory from Reward, and this customer was called a "distribution partner." In essence, the distribution partner owned the rights to the territory. But this business model was not working out, because anyone who had the money could become a distributor.

In learning more about the construction market and how products move through the sales channel, Storm says he realized he had to change the way Reward recruited new customers. He noted that in order to sell product, he needed customers who were in the construction industry, either as a contractor, a builder or building products distributor.

As part of his hiring the right people to do the right job, Storms second major hire was a sales manager who had a lot of expertise in selling construction products. In turn, that sales manager hired a sales force to call on contractors, builders and building product distributors.

Essentially, Reward stopped selling territory and started selling a product to those entities that wanted or needed the product. Slowly, Reward's customer base grew and now includes many regional building products distributors, large general contractors, home builders and concrete contractors. These customers continue to grow their business, which makes Reward business grow.

Reward even branded their customer service, calling it Solid Support^SM. "We pride ourselves on our quality customer service and care what customers think of us," comments Storm. "I still get excited when we land a great project, or when one of our customers lands a great project."

That enthusiasm has clearly helped take Reward to the top of its game. And, again, assembling a great team helped. "We have a great group that starts with the senior management thats second to none and goes all the way down the line," he notes. "They all do such a great job, it filters into everyone."

"We make it known that our employees are very important to us, because you're only as good as the people you have around you," Storm adds. "So we try to make it a fun place to work, and offer good benefits, pay well, have teambuilding exercises, provide continuing education and even monthly speakers to talk about issues that are important to our employees. We have a big holiday party and fly in everyone (including spouses), and have annual family activities."

Storm says Reward provides continuing education thats important to their employees. "They can study anything that will help them do their job better," he says. "We spend a lot on training and personal development, but in the end its worth so much more than money."

Reward Wall Systems
www.rewardwalls.com

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