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If we asked you the top three things a consumers wants out of their retailer, what would your answer be?
We’re betting engagement, trust and advocacy aren’t what immediately came to mind, but they should be.
In this episode, we’re joined by Jesse Kostuhoski, Vice President of Retail Development for the Furniture and Appliance Mart in Stephens Point, Wisconsin. He is a 25+ year industry veteran, spending more than 15 years in retail stores and almost a decade with Serta. Based on his unique perspective, it’s clear he has a pulse on the consumer and what their core needs are.
We also chat about hiring and the current issues with finding good help. Lack of help is a pervasive problem that is currently affecting every industry, and we discuss how hiring an employee goes beyond their skill set, but must also include a discussion on goals and dreams–both for the employee and you as their employer.
Full Transcription
Mark Kinsley
We’re gonna take a little jaunt up to Stevens Point Wisconsin on the show today, we’re gonna talk about the three things every consumer wants and you may not know about them and Hey, wait a minute. How is hiring all about dreams and goals? That does Marco show begins in 60 seconds.
Mark Quinn
We are here this is very exciting. We got Jesse Casa Hawk ski we’re not going to talk about him just yet. We’re going to introduce him in a second but there he is on the screen. Jesse welcome we’ll get right to your brother Hang on a second but Kinsey you know Miranda with the Siena mag was foundation sent us an email and guess what’s coming.
Mark Kinsley
I -24, I-24
Mark Quinn
Bingo Night, baby exactly October 27 8pm Eastern 7pm Central. And you can go to the Siena maggots Facebook page and check it out. But guys go do it. It’s a great charity mark and I’ve been involved with it for a long time they are on the front line on fighting pancreatic cancer. Roger is going to be there Gary Fazio past CEO of a Mattress Firm and I you know it’s you can wear a costume and Kinsley on this bingo event, and it all goes to a good cause. And Miranda told me that she might be doing like the Wizard of Oz thing like 10 man, you know, Cowardly Lion stuff. So I might just show up to see what she she comes on the screen with but
Mark Kinsley
yeah, like, Hey, I’m wearing a costume today myself, but it’s, it’s more like Tell me about that.
Mark Quinn
I see this shirt which by the way, I don’t even have one of those. So like, how do you have that? Like, what is it? Why are you holding out on me?
Mark Kinsley
That’s more of a uniform now and you’re gonna have to get on board with wearing the uniform. And for those listening, I’ve got the DOS Marco show. The galaxy’s greatest mattress podcast shirt. This is one of a kind given to me as a birthday gift from my good friend Dakota. Dakota is so thoughtful and sweet. And she is she’s brilliant. And she’s really compassionate. And she’s such a good gift giver. And she’s very artistic as you can see. And she’s a fan of dos Marcos. And she actually one is our youngest fan. Yeah. And I think she wanted me to kind of have this in just a little bit, give you a hard time for not having one.
Mark Quinn
In a Dakota, I got to talk to you on a FaceTime call with your mom and dad who are fantastic people and boy, if you ever have extra craft our time, I’d love to have one of those shirts
Mark Kinsley
and you know, Dakota has her own podcast for the sugar gliders, okay, that’s their homeschool pod and she hosts the podcast and she interviewed the kids. And I was lucky enough to be the opening voiceover guy for that and to produce that show for them and they’ve done a fantastic job. And obviously, her talents go beyond the microphone, as you can see with this shirt right here and a guy whose talents go beyond the screen that’s in front of us right now. Is Mr. Jesse Messina, right? How’s it going, brother now Jesse here with furniture and appliance Mart and Ashley homestore and Stevens Point, Wisconsin. And we got hooked up with you through Chad Fisher, our mutual friend Chad, the nationwide marketing group. And we’re so excited to talk to you about the three things that every consumer wants and you’ve actually done research that goes beyond just the research that happens within our four walls so often and we’re going to talk about hiring and how that’s about dreams and goals. And we’re going to get into some of the things that you think the industry should be talking about but but before we get there What’s that smell? When do you have there’s like fire around you?
Mark Quinn
Yeah, that so I had to put this out you know, I because colonial sent us these awesome candles, can you see that it’s beautiful, and it’s got one of the wood wicks to it. And so I’m, I couldn’t wait for the show where we talked about as I started, I started burning it. And I’m going to tell you, man, this thing burns for ever and it smelled incredibly good. And it’s got our company logo on there. And so anyway, they did a fantastic job with these and they’re great gifts because candles are awesome. Anyway, so for all of your needs. And Akins you got another one here. But this candle was a really great way to just get your brand and it’s been sitting on my desk. So if this had your company logo, it would be sitting on my desk for the last two months, because I’ve been burning it so it’s a really clever gift to give.
Mark Kinsley
Well that’s one of the hallmarks of doing business club with colonial promotions calm is that they sourced quality goods and just like you said, You’re burning this great smelling candle with your company logo. If you have an employee appreciation programme, if you have gifts you want to give in a kit to some of your top customers or any customers high volume time definite product distribution, the colonial promotions comm team is there to help their consultants, their sales consultants, they help companies grow. They help with employee appreciation and they source really good quality goods. Kinda like this little spa kit here shower gel bubble bath massage comb. This is just super sweet. And this would be a nice thing to show up on somebody’s desk. I don’t know about those two guys as faces on it. But outside of that this thing’s money.
Mark Quinn
Well you can you can even get your company logo shirts from colonial which is a huge deal. I know Englander does I gotta I gotta hit Wes and Tim those guys up. So anyway, yeah, awesome stuff. Love colonial Jesse. We’re loving you, too, man for taking time with us. Thank you. And so you are you are involved in the retail business you used to work with Cerner, I know that you guys are currently wrangling 14 stores tell us a little bit about yourself and kind of what’s going on
Jesse Kostuhoski
25 years in the industry. So as I mentioned to both Mark earlier, I started young, so I’m not necessarily old, right. But we’re very blessed Love, love the industry and done a bunch of it the retail side, you mentioned cert, I did that for nine years and went back on the retail side again. And really just trying to see life from the guest perspective, regardless of the position I’ve ever been in. And as a company, we continue to grow, ever growing, because our company’s Why is all about improving the quality of people’s lives by making amazing rooms together helping people improve their lives, not just our guests, but everyone in our companies and throughout our communities. So that’s a little bit about our company a little bit about myself. But it’s really about putting people first.
Mark Kinsley
You said one of the before we talked, we talked ahead of time you said one of the biggest opportunities for our industry is understanding our guests and their journey. And I love how you talk about your company right out of the gates because you’re giving it meaning you’re giving it purpose. And you also talk about it with language that’s very community oriented, meaning we’re going to do this together, we’re going to make these rooms together. I love that language. Go into this a little bit more and talk about the biggest opportunity for the industry is understanding the guests and their journey and what you and your team have done to better understand the guests and their journey. And well yeah, absolutely.
Jesse Kostuhoski
So So we’ve done a ton of research. So the goal is to kind of think beyond yourselves in your own scenario. Obviously, we can collect the data from our guests, right? And we can talk to the people that work in our stores and what their experience. But we’ve reached out to other retailers across the country wholesalers across the country. We’ve gone in other people’s websites, read reviews, we’ve read other people’s blogs, right? And the idea was to really start to understand where’s the consumer and as I mentioned, who want to talk to a lot of people and we kind of live in what I would refer to as a little more archaic industry and we need to move to the now and the best way to do that is to understand what the consumer is asking for us. Right? So in that journey, the first thing we need to understand is usually by the time they come into a brick and mortar store, they’ve been doing it for months. They’ve been on the journey. Right. And as we looked at that, understand that when they have gone on that journey, when they finally come into a brick and mortar store, understanding what they’re looking for, I’ll give you three key words. It’s engagement, trust, and advocacy, see, so you want to be an advocate for them, right? So they want you to be an advocate, they want you to trust and they want you to engage with them in the right way.
Mark Kinsley
Alright, so let’s, let’s dig into each of those. Okay, so engagement, trust, and advocacy, that’s what they want. When after months of searching, and shopping and thinking and talking, all of a sudden, those double doors open and they walk into your store, talk to us about what does engagement mean, give give us some meat on that bone. What do people mean by engagement, they want to, they want to be rushed at the door, and like accosted with all the spec speak, that’s gonna fall out of your mouth, like vomit. That’s not engagement.
Jesse Kostuhoski
Engagement, it’s, it’s more like they’re being attacked. So I guess it’s engagement, but it’s the wrong guy. So it’s just that right. So when they’re walking into a store, remember, they chose to walk into our store, even though they had the opportunity to both learn and purchase online. And that would be the first thing I need people to understand. So reason I share that is when you realise that then you have to lean on your strengths. So when that customer walks in your door, it’s got to be visually wild, what I mean by wild, it’s got to be way over wonderful. So it’s got to make sure it speaks their eyes, and they feel it right. Your products got to be set up in a way where they feel like they’re being welcomed in and they can engage with us to sit down on a sofa, or lay down on a mattress, right. But to your point, it’s not about walking up to that person and saying, Hey, my name is Jessie, how can I help you. That’s not what they mean by engagement. They want to exchange names, they want you to get to know them, they want you to find out where they are in their journey and give them credit for it. Right. So truly engaged, so welcome them, talk to them, get to know them before you move forward. Don’t just talk about product, don’t just talk about price. Talk about them. Talk about you being the difference.
Mark Kinsley
And you know, one of the things I learned a long time ago from a guy named Craig Brace, who was a mentor of mine and a boss, when we would sit down and debrief on my journey and how I could grow. He said, you want to get things done, and that’s good. But it can come across as being too efficient with people. And I think that speaks to what you’re describing. When people come in, if you’re just treating them like another up that you’re trying to move in and out the door as fast as possible and you know, get a cell phone in their truck or a mattress on top of the station waggon. That’s being efficient with them, like you said, give them credit for their journey, the work that they’ve done, and understand that this is a big transition in their life. And you’re there. Yeah,
Jesse Kostuhoski
I absolutely love that. And I’m kind of a tactician myself. So I can relate to this to what you learned as well make sure it’s not too brisk. So in that journey, it’s not something we only know it’s out there, right? There are these things called form questions, right? So form is an acronym. It’s you know, family, occupation, recreation and motivation. Right? So you have to understand that forum questions, build relationships, right? So it’s not just finding out what size mattress they need. It’s not just finding out what they need for their living room or anything like that. It’s making sure you build a personal relationship, allowing you to understand that form questions are just as important as product questions.
Mark Quinn
That makes me think of a saying that we’ve heard on this show, and I think Brett Thornton actually Kinsley is the one who brought it out. And it was a conversation you have with Craig McAndrews, which is be more interested than interesting. And so by showing empathy and engaging them on the form questions that really dig down and show them that you’re interested in them, it’s a great way to build trust. And that’s the second one here, because trust is critical, right? So if trust isn’t there, there’s no foundational element for you to then be acknowledged as their guide. Mark and I talked about trying to be a guide, and that how important that is, we’re reading a book right now. Building brand stories,
Jesse Kostuhoski
they talk about being guides. So trust is like critical for that, don’t you think? Trust is massive. It’s actually when I did all of our when we did all of our research, I mean, the team and the company I worked for we did all of our research, it’s probably the one that broke my heart the most is how they described trust, was really asking quality questions, but actively listening. And Mark Kinsley mentioned that on one of the last shows that you guys had, about how important it is to actively listen to somebody, right, and meet them where they are. And that continues to what we found in our research that they’re looking for, right? So ask quality questions. But listen intensely, listen with your heart, right? Make sure that you’re then intentionally responding and give them credit for what they’ve done. Right? So I’ll give an example of that right. So what we found was most customers are coming in They weren’t being asked about what have you done so far in your journey to finding that perfect night’s sleep, right? And they’re not being asked that. And when they are, we’re not actively listening in most cases and what that should sound like, like, that’s awesome. It sounds like you put a lot of hard work into figuring out that that’s what you’re looking for. That’s the kind of mattress that you want, give them credit for that. That doesn’t mean you can’t still take them through your process, and still help them in the way as an expert, but give them credit and actively listen. And it’s as simple as whatever they say, repeat it back to them and give them credit for it. But be intentional. It can’t just be the questions like, hey, what size are you looking for? Right? It can’t be those basic questions because they already know what size they’re looking for. And you can find them the perfect night’s sleep and figure that out on your writing invoice, right? So this makes sure that you understand that trust to the consumer today means that you’re asking quality questions, you’re listening actively, and that you’re going to give them credit for whatever they say.
Mark Kinsley
You know, Mattman does a podcast for as you mentioned, you know, just stories with bt great podcast of it fam news. madman Andrew Schlesser also does a podcast with us on fam dot news, the adventures of Batman. And he I don’t know if he’s actually done a podcast about this, or if he told me this in person. So we’re gonna have to get him to do a full episode, if not, but he talks about a book that he read, called never split the difference. And this guy was like a hostage negotiator. And one of the things that he talked about that was a really good process flow for getting people to talk was a very simple, repeat, repeat, acknowledge the emotion. So and I’ve talked about this on different episodes, and I given speeches about it in the speeches around this idea that open ended questions are your secret superpower? But But how do you how do you give people enough space? Whenever it seems like they’ve stopped talking, and there’s a little technique you can use, which madman has described to me and I think I’ve seen some other people use very effectively and empathetically. And it’s something like this, if somebody comes on your sales floor, and they’re like, you say, you know, what’s going on with you? And they say, you know, I’ve got, I’ve got some back pain. And they just stop. How do you handle that? Well, you could just say, back pain. And all of a sudden, they’re gonna keep talking. Yeah, just, you know, I heard it a few years ago, and, and it’s just been given me a lot of trouble. A lot of trouble. Yeah, it really has been, and you just give them a little more space and time. And all of a sudden, then they say, yeah, so I’m really upset. So it sounds like you’re frustrated and trying to fix this back pain. Let’s, you know, let’s help you out. And we can talk more about that as we go along here. Yeah, but sometimes it’s just pumping the brakes and mirroring what somebody is saying. And it gives them space and time to think a little bit more. And that takes the pressure off. So anyway, I love kind of thinking about these ways that you could show somebody you care, give them some space, and ask good questions in a way that gets them talking. Yeah.
Mark Quinn
Yeah, get it get get them talking.
Jesse Kostuhoski
Yeah. Another thing I would say.
Mark Quinn
Jesse, you missed it. You missed it. Jesse was playing when you were supposed to do was take his lab? Yeah.
Mark Kinsley
Play in New Jersey, Jesse.
Jesse Kostuhoski
Oh, good. That’s all good. I’ll give you another another little rule of thumb for everybody watching. It would be if you ask a question, you didn’t receive information that allows you to actually do something with how they responded, ask a probing question. So you understand, so you can truly move forward. Right? So if you say, you know, what brought you in today, what was your motivator for coming in? And they said, back pain? That’s all they said, you say, tell me a little bit more about your back pain, right? And, and pause, and they’ll tell you more. But you have to make sure you add those probing questions. Because if you ask that question, with intent, with purpose, to help that person improve their life through a better night’s sleep, then you need to get the information and we’re gonna pay that forward and deliver it.
Mark Kinsley
Great tip that’s just
Mark Quinn
being a good app. What does it What does being a good advocate mean? Let’s get to the third leg of that stool, right? So
Jesse Kostuhoski
yeah, here’s here’s the, here’s where we’re gonna break all of our industry is hard. So we all know where the supply chain problem, right? So what our consumer Oh, yes, like, typically, that’s not just our industry, but the consumer feels like because of the supply chain happening to the world right now is we basically sell them and we let them go. And what an advocate does is they continue to take care of that customer after the purchase. So if somebody comes in and buys something from you, and let’s just say you haven’t set up for delivery, two weeks later, right? And all of a sudden you find out one week later that it’s not going to come in, it’s calling that customer up and just informing them. It’s little things like that. It’s after they buy after they got that delivery. After they got that delivery. You’re going to call them up and thank them, ask them out why but I’ll give you one step forward because I want I want everybody understand the reason they’re coming into a brick and mortar store, because they want people content, and you can deliver something online can’t is because you have a heart, right? So here’s what I mean by this. When it comes to that customer, they come in and you fit them and you find them that perfect mattress, whatever brand you have in mind, right? You find them that perfect match for that guest. And one of the reasons when you found that matters from us, because hey, they have shoulder pain, and you made sure you found him a mattress that reduces that shoulder pain, so they do less tossing and turning. So they can wake up more refreshed to take on the world, call them 60 days later, I said that call them 60 days later and say, hey, how’s your shoulder feeling that’s being an advocate, that’s making sure they understand that it’s not just one and done on the purchase. But you’re there for the long haul, either making sure that if something happens in supply chain, you’re going to inform ahead of time and take care of it. So make sure that you call up after delivery to make sure that everything went well is to make sure that whatever you fit them for the solution you found for them actually did that if it didn’t get them back in and find a way to solve that. One of the things that we you are going to separate yourself from every competitor you ever had, and you’re gonna get more repeat or referral business. And you’ve ever seen that we just advocate that the consumers?
Mark Kinsley
You’re absolutely right. We just did this webinar with podium where we talked about how do you make the sale, the beginning of the relationship? And how do you make sure that you’re a part of their transformation? And you know, you said, you know, let’s recap the three things every consumers want, you guys went out, did your research, engagement, trust and advocacy. And one of the things I kept thinking about is, well, people want an assurance of an outcome. But that is advocacy, you’re advocating on their behalf to ensure a positive outcome for them, and calling them 60 days later, which scares so many people, they don’t want to do it because they don’t want to reveal a problem is actually part of that transformation process. And you being part of that advocacy. And like you said, when you do that, all of a sudden, I’ve got a guy or a gal there my person, who am I gonna recommend Jesse or whoever from Jesse’s team called me to make sure my shoulder pain was fixed. Yes. So okay, so here we are. So we’ve done the three things every consumer wants, the engagement, the trust, and the advocacy. And we did did some great details there. One of the other things, you know what, I don’t want to go to hiring yet. I want to go to what is nobody talking about in this industry, they should be talking about? No, man, you’d mentioned the bridge between the guest, and how they would prefer to shop and how they spend their money.
Jesse Kostuhoski
Yeah, man. So how they spend their money is really about, oh, give me a little bit more. So I answer your question correctly. I want to I want to make sure I hit the wire.
Mark Kinsley
Well just go with your gut here. What So you said our industry is our cake. And in many ways it is. So in this industry in its current state? What should we be talking about that we’re not talking about? What what is what are the Where are the landmines out there? Where are the threats? What do you think about what keeps your team up at night?
Jesse Kostuhoski
Well, I would say what keeps our team up at night is excitement for another day to improve people’s lives. And I’m not saying that, as just the line. If you walk into our store, you’ll feel it, you’ll feel the difference. If you come to a meeting, I welcome you to join us at one you’ll find an energy and a confidence level that’s next to none, because we connect everything to their dreams and goals. And I’ll save it because that was the next heart you’re leading me to. But I really believe we’re what our what our industry really needs to understand is is their position in that customer’s life. And it’s, it’s we have to stop trying to sell them products. First and foremost, right? We have to start selling them solutions are better than selling, finding them solutions. And we have to focus on the end game, right? So we’re not just trying to sell somebody a mattress, we’re trying to help them find a better night’s sleep so they can wake up and over a fresh take on the world and do whatever their dreams are right? That makes a difference. So really, I think the biggest thing our industry needs to do is really take advantage of education and information. And this this is true. If somebody is not listening to this podcast, and if you know somebody in your team, people listening, invite them to watch this podcast, that’s a start, read the magazine, watch YouTube videos. But I will tell you and I just had this conversation with two leading either C suite or vice presidents from some leading companies in the last three weeks. And I literally said education is the future of our industry that whether you’re at wholesale or retail who’s ever educating their people to take care of their guests better will win in the future because regardless of how much business goes to online if you’re living in an omnipresent and you’re the people that are primed as the experts, because through education you’re able to give more, do more and be more that guests will never leave your site or ever look anybody else up, they’re gonna just come to you. So my one word would be education.
Mark Quinn
But Jesse, what I love about what you’re saying is that it’s education. But it’s education with purpose, which does take us into the hiring that the new hire thing. So I’ll take us there. But I really like what you’re saying. So Mark, and I talked about it quite a bit, and we talked about it in our book, come back to bed, which is serve people, right. So if you’re in the game of selling products, that’s one game. But if you’re in the game of helping people solve problems, and improve on the problem that they bring you, then that is a different game. And so there is a connection. And that builds a trust, which takes us back to the three things that are that are most important. But so one of the things that you and I talked about, before we ever did this show was your the way you bring people into your culture, right? So Dr. V, tells us culture is what you create, or what you tolerate. And so you bring people into your culture, new hires, and you want them to right from the beginning, understand the purpose part of what you do. So talk a little bit about, number one, how you find the right people. And number two, how you make them successful inside of your organisation.
Jesse Kostuhoski
Absolutely. So I’m going to I’m going to give a little credit to the CEO of our company. So we rebirth this year as a personal development company that just so happens to sell furniture, appliances and mattresses. And I’m going to give him all the credit he sends us emails 365 days a year, and he’s done it for three and a half years about how to be better. And who
Mark Quinn
is that all First, let’s get his name on there so we can get you a good review this year. Yep, so
Jesse Kostuhoski
that’s Belafonte. Right? So he’s our CEO, but does an amazing job three and a half years. And it didn’t, it didn’t happen overnight, right. So we just this year called it the year of positivity and growth. And that’s when we launched out we are a personal development company, and that leans heavy into the education part that we’re talking to you. And so when our when our recruitment team, when we’re out there hiring, when are our teammates, right are out there at a restaurant, they see some of the things on their team, we make sure we tell them our personal development company, we make sure to tell them that for us, we put their dreams and goals ahead of our bottom line, I’m gonna repeat that we put their dreams and goals, that means our employees dreams and goals ahead of our bottom line. And so when somebody comes on to our team, they already know that we’re a personal development company. And they already know that we’re about their dreams and their goals. And part of their day one training, we have two structured weeks, but they’re day one, they’re day one, after they meet the people walk this door, we get their dreams and goals. And we speak to their dreams and goals. And we connect the education to how they’re going to accomplish your dreams and goals. And we can talk about they make more money. But we know Mike and money is not the most important thing. It’s like ranked number eight on the top 10. But that money is what gets in that car, the financial freedom paying off their student loan, taking their family to Disneyland, you can tell I get passionate about this one. Because when you get those texts at night, say I got my car, I’m debt free, right? I went to Disneyland, here’s a picture, write it. That’s what moves you as a person. And that’s what allows them to go out and say come work for us. And we actually don’t have a hiring problem. I know we’re not going to get down that that journey today. But we don’t have a hiring problem. We literally have a list of people that want to come work for us. Because we care more a
Mark Kinsley
differentiator right out of the gate is the fact that you know your employees and your team members, hopes and dreams. That alone How many people that you work with, Do you truly understand no and get to participate in the transformation of their life, but you got to know first.
Mark Quinn
You know what, Mark? That is so funny that you say that because as you’re as you’re saying that I’m thinking to myself, I wonder if you had CEOs not like bill, bill, bill gets it obviously. And I love that He called this year the growth the year of growth and leadership and positivity and whatever that was, that’s pretty cool that he did that. But you know, you could you could say to CEOs of any company. Hey, so what are the goals and aspirations of your people? They look at you like I have no freaking clue what those things are. But as you as you listen to Jesse, explain it. It’s so obvious why it matters. Like, I mean, if I’m an employee that comes to work for you, and one of the first things you asked me is what are my goals and aspirations? It tells me the same thing that you’re trying to tell the customers that come into your store is I’m going to pay attention to you as my sole focus. I want to know Mr. Customer, what are your goals and aspirations for your home? What are you trying to accomplish when you’re in the store? But you’re you’re taking a play out of your own playbook and applying it to your own people creating a culture that builds trust and engagement with them and get them hooked in with your company right from the beginning.
Jesse Kostuhoski
Yeah, I’ll tell you one. So my people hear me say this a lot, right? Because it’s it’s so That’s important, but I always say, you know, are wise I mentioned improving the quality of people’s lives. And what I always tell people is, we’re not actually a customer first company, because that would mean we early second, where people first company. So that means that we’re going to make sure that we help our employees accomplish their dreams and goals. And when we do that, they’re going to be better suited to make sure that we accomplish our guests dreams and goals. And as our company’s successful, we’re able to give more back to our community and improve the community’s lives. So when you do the right thing, you actually improve all lives. So we’re a people first company, and it’s excited to work with Jesse, I’d
Mark Kinsley
say, Jess, you’ve, you’ve helped us, Oh, my gosh, did I just go off and I’m back, you just helped us achieve one of our dreams and goals, which is to serve this audience with really great, actionable information that helps them transform their businesses, helps them transform their employees, and the people that walk into their store and their community. So thank you for taking us down a path that that has some good structure to it, too. I mean, go back and watch this podcast again, or listen to it with pen and paper in hand like I have right here. Like I’m jotting stuff down like your while your form questions, hiring about dreams and goals. What Ville is doing with the daily emails, 365 days a year, the engagement, trust and advocacy. It’s all there. So thank you for helping us accomplish one of our dreams and goals. You truly are people first kind of guy,
Mark Quinn
no doubt.
Jesse Kostuhoski
Thank you guys.
Mark Quinn
Well said Kinsley. And before we bounce out here, Jesse, you got to tell us one thing. I want to know, you said that you get those phone calls every now and then from people that come to work for you. And they say hey, I accomplished my goal. Can you can you share a story not to share a name? Because they may not want this? very sure. But can you can you share a quick story with us about a time that happened and how it touched you because you got to be part of that, that that objective in their life?
Jesse Kostuhoski
Yeah, happy to share their story. So this one almost ends in a in a very happy and sad scenario. So sometimes their dreams are to go and not work for your company. Sometimes it’s to open a business of their of their own right. So we had this guy that worked for us. And we figured out how to make sure that he could go into his own business, he started his own gym to trash trainer gym and he went into it made enough money, was able to go into his gym, own it free and clear going in and live out his passion. So I mean, that’s just what I’m so when they say what their dreams and goals are. If it’s if it’s a future where they want to have their own jam, or they want to make sure they do anything we commit to their dreams and goals. There’s no question. So sometimes we love them so much and help them so much they move on. And that’s okay. It’s it’s their betterment, right? But we know that they’re going to send their people disaster, and we’re going to take care of their jam, and we’re going to go to them. But that’s probably one of them that moved me the most was when somebody can actually say, Wow, this company cared so much, that they actually helped me start my own business one day and leave.
Mark Quinn
So Jessie real quick, because we didn’t get to this number. And it’s an important one, when you bring in new hires, and you take them to your training program, what do they normally do for you? Like, what, what is the success rate with that?
Jesse Kostuhoski
Yeah, so uh, so we have a longer training program, but we’re really two formal, intense weeks of education. And these are some stats that I’m really, really proud of our company for being able to put out so I’m happy and excited that you asked the question. So I will tell you anyone that graduates our two weeks without getting into too much specific, but if they pass our two weeks, and there are tests in our company, to make sure you can be there for the guests, we have a 92% retention rate of anyone that passes those two weeks through education. And those people after they hit the floor running the average win rates $942,000 a year. So they’re almost a million dollar writer out of the gate. We actually celebrated somebody this morning. They started our company in February in training, and yesterday they hit their first million and they weren’t the first new hire this year that hit one. So it’s a real deal thing. And again, I’m going to be repetitive is through caring about them but it’s all through through massive amount of education, education, educate, invest in it.
Mark Kinsley
It is the difference maker and you’ve made a difference. Today for us, Mr. Jesse Costa Husky Say it with me, folks, Costa Husky. That’s the house furniture to plants. Mart Ashley homestore. Stevens Point, Wisconsin, brother, thank you so much for being here. dropping some knowledge on us sharing your passion for this industry. And you know, somebody wants to check out your business online. What’s the URL? Where should they visit?
Jesse Kostuhoski
Yeah, so I’d say go to our furniture, appliance Mart comm we have a career page. If anybody wants to move to Wisconsin, we’re always hiring right? And we’ll improve your lives but guys, always open I’m on LinkedIn, I’m on Facebook, feel free to hit me up there as well. always happy to help the industry and the people that live with it because I really care about people from coast to coast. So if you’re from California, Texas or Minnesota, hit me up on LinkedIn happy to discuss something with you. Let’s make it a better place together.
