Monday Motivation

“Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.”– Chinese proverb

For more from education and entertainment from W.L. May Company click...HERE

Friday Featured Client: Valley Oak Appliance

Team picture from Holiday Breakfast Award Ceremony.
Awards were named after the company mascot, "Miles The Dog"
Awards were given for working "MILES" above the competition.
Back row (L to R): Desi and Rafael
Front Row: (L to R): Lawrence, Eric, Mario, and Chris 

At W.L. May Company, we realize that without our clients we have nothing. In the spirit of celebrating that relationship, every month we feature one of the companies who allow us the privilege of helping address their parts needs. 

Name: Tim Hawkins

Company: Valley Oak Appliance

Contact info: 
Web page: www.vohac.com 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/valleyoakappliance
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/valleyoakapp

9710 Elk Grove Florin,
Elk Grove, California 95624
(916) 686-4690

Where did you grow up?  Elk Grove Ca 95624.

How Long have you been in the trade?

This is our family business and I have been involved with it for 24 years.  But active for 11 years.

Tim's dog and store mascot, Miles

What do you enjoy off work? 

I enjoy Bass fishing, golfing and taking care of our Koi pond.

What do you credit to your success? 

I credit my Family, employee's and my business coach Cami Mclaren.

  

The other thing is following the formula for success. 1. Clearly state your goal. 2. Have a end date for your goal. 3. Get accountability partners. 4. Take action daily. 5. On the projected date of completion close down.

What do you like about doing business with W.L.May Company?  

Well I love love love Brad and Kelly.  Todd and Glyn are OK as well.  

Seriously though, having W.L. May truly care about the success of our company.  What does that mean? When we have a idea on how we want parts shipped, packaged picked up, they are there to say what can we do.

Technician Alex holding baby Elli. Elli is Parts Guy Mario
and  Head Dispatcher Ashley's baby and Tim's God daughter

What can I share with others in the industry?

  

The biggest thing I have learned is truly truly treat your employees and customers as family.   For family business, or any business for that matter, find a way for your employees to be successful in business and in their personal life.  How can they go from renting a house to owning a house and living that dream?

Is there anything else you would like to say?  Thank you for the opportunity.

If you would like YOUR company profiled as a featured client send an email to: rob.m@wlmay.com

For more from education and entertainment from W.L. May Company click...HERE

Throwback Thursday: News Recap March 27, 2014

If you have been reading the W.L. May Blog but haven't checked us out on Facebook, Twitter or Google+, you may not be getting the whole story. We use all of those social media outlets to share news stories that relate to our industry as well as appliance tips we have found from other sources. Here is a recap of some of the top stories we have seen lately. A lot has been happening so without further ado:

We start with some consumer friendly articles we feel would be great for sharing:

• Miami Herald had an article By Angie of Angies List discussing which is "greener" a new or a rebuilt appliance. LINK
• Yahoo lifestyle offers 10 things to know about loading a dishwasher. LINK
• Porch covers some tips for maintaining your washer and dryer. LINK
• Fark highlights Seven creative uses for old dryer lint. LINK
• The dry winter in California has many people thinking about water conservation. The Sacramento Bee examines dishwasher vs. hand washing water use. LINK
• Heloise shares a tip about crayon stains on laundry. LINK
• A British fashion blog tested washing "dry clean only" items in a home washing machine-you may be surprised at the results. LINK
• Mason County Press shared this list of washer maintenance tips from State Farm Insurance. LINK

Next, we look at the manufacturers and how they have been in the news recently:

• GE is working rapidly at implementing refrigerators that use Magnetocaloric heat transfer rather than a compressor based system. LINK
• Just when you though it was ok to get rid of that avocado touch up paint, GE is bringing avocado back...maybe. Oh, and the old Westinghouse ad in the article is pretty groovy too! LINK
• Electrolux has teamed up with designer Camille Styles for more ways to make laundry room makeovers more pleasant. LINK

We found several articles that might be of interest to those of you who love all thing appliances:

• If you are a fan of Dr. Who, then this refrigerator decal kit to turn your refrigerator into  a Tardis, I mean a "police box", might make for a fun accessory. LINK
• A supposed "repairman" claimed to be a "stock trader" when really he seems to be a "con man". LINK
• 95.7 KEJZ posted that they have conclusively concluded that spoons should be loaded handle up in the silverware basket of your dishwasher. LINK

Sometimes, the links we post are related to technology, business or happenings on the internet:

• SCORE made some timely suggestions for spring cleaning your business both physically and digitally. LINK
• Web Pro News posted an interesting article about Yelp and allegations of extortion. LINK

We close with a  fun story:

• Blogger notes how her large family uses more dishes than her dishwasher has the space for. Sounds like her machine needs at least some TLC, and maybe replacement with a unit with more capacity. LINK

For more from education and entertainment from W.L. May Company click...HERE

What Would You Like?

Whats on YOUR wish list? We would love to know.

Here at W.L. May Company, we have always made it our goal to have what you need on hand and ready to go before you need it. We uses many techniques to anticipate future needs such as factory recommendations, inventory monitoring and tracking, and in some ways the most important: client feedback.

Client feedback has been responsible for introducing us to several products through the years. In fact, some of our most popular accessory items were introduced to us by our clients either telling us about a product or asking for our help in locating a product.

W.L. May Company has made a commitment to helping to further the success of our clients. The most outwardly visible way of doing this is by participating in trade groups, such as United Servicer's Association. Another way to help further your success is by our concentrating on stock availability and accuracy of all details of our business from the initial research assistance, to making sure warranty credits are applied quickly to your account. It takes some time and effort. Much of it happens out of the sight of our clients, but we hope you notice the results.

On the subject of furthering our clients success, we know that it takes more than just parts for a service business to stay successful and grow. It takes good equipment, a good appearance, and more and more it takes computer expertise. Our position in the supply chain means that we are approached regularly with solution suggestions for all of those issues.

So we pose the question: "What would you like?" Are there aspects of your business that you are struggling with and would like some assistance or direction? Uniforms, trucks, software, tools? Let your parts expert know what you are struggling with and we will do our best to help address those needs.

Thanks to all of our clients for your help and support. We look forward to hearing your suggestions. Have a great servicing day out there!

Kelly's Korner - Sprucing up the laundry room

Hey, All,

I don't know about your laundry room but mine is in it's own little room with the hot water heater, an old bookcase, no window and VERY dark when the light is off lol.  It gets used a lot as a place to toss stuff I really don't want to deal with that second and then stuff piles up.

Well, thanks to my son's girlfriend, it is now cleaned of all the clutter and I've been thinking and looking for ideas to spruce up and brighten up that room.

While adding a small window is not feasible for me at this time, I think a coat of paint would really help.  Everything is white and, while bright, not a colour for me - thinking about a sunny yellow or maybe a cool aqua.  And either painting or restaining the cabinets above the washer and dryer.


see link at bottom of page

But for the washer and dryer themselves, they are the basic white appliances.  I found this blog and it has given me a few ideas:
http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2013/11/stripes-and-dots-elsies-washer-dryer-makeover.html

And with all the amazing colours and prints on duct tape you could go really crazy playing with that.  Or you could find some wallpaper or contact paper you really like and cover the outsides with those.  I would recommend making a template before putting on the paper so you know where all the doodads go and it fits right the first time.

Want to change it down the road?  Pretty easy to strip off and clean any stickiness off with GooGone (part number GG44 and yes, we sell it).  Or, if you are really artistic, you could paint them with your favorite theme - flowers, bugs, stars and moons, flames, dragons, fairies or whatever your heart desires.

So if you're tired of the same-old go searching for some ideas on how to transform your laundry area - who knows?  It might make that chore a little more enjoyable.

Have a great week!

PS:  I found this site also and thought it hilarious although maybe a bit out there:
http://alittleoffcolor.com/category/crafty-azz-projects/apply-to-the-appliance/

Monday Motivation

“Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.” – Zig Ziglar

Friday Morning Videos: Westinghouse

Today we would like to share with you a very interesting documentary about George Westinghouse and the company he founded. It is a feature length video so it's not a quick view, but if you can comfortably watch a feature on your computer then you should find it interesting, with lots of anecdotes, old film clips and photos, not to mention some great old advertising. Enjoy!



For more from education and entertainment from W.L. May Company click...HERE