The Shred Coach : Recent Episodes
Tom Adams
Ever wondered how security intersects with every facet of modern transportation? I'm excited to introduce you to the mastermind steering the ship at Babaco Alarm Systems, Greg Haber.
Babaco is an innovator in the realm of transportation security. Greg delves into the challenges faced across multiple industries, emphasizing the importance of driver-focused solutions and security trends. With Babaco's in-house designs and a notable patent portfolio, they're at the forefront of addressing these challenges head-on.
The conversation steers towards the safeguarding of assets being transported by your business. With a wealth of knowledge at his disposal, Greg unveils the significance of process enablement and system security. He shares his wisdom on the role of a self-locking mechanism, the essentiality of conducting regular spot checks, and the steps to take when the field process deviates from the expected plan.
Ever heard of GPS jammers or AI detecting potential threats on the road? Gear up as we navigate through these innovative topics, going into details about how these cutting-edge technologies are transforming vehicle security. Learn about the 'WAIRE Program" in Southern California and the revolutionary impact this carbon footprint recording initiative could have on the industry. As we wrap up, we discuss the importance of continually developing new strategies to stay at the forefront of this ever-evolving industry. Tune in for a knowledge-packed journey!
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Greg Haber
Babaco Alarm Systems Inc
BabacoFulfillment
LinkedIn
Ever wondered what it takes to rise from a front desk role to becoming the VP of an industry-leading organization? Get ready to be inspired by the remarkable journey of Jennie Gift, the newly hired VP of Member Services at i-SIGMA.
Jennie's story is a testament to the power of perseverance and the magic that happens when you seize every opportunity that comes your way. Jennie shares her experiences from her humble beginnings of answering phones at a RIM service provider Paxton Records as a temp worker, learning the ropes including industry software, understanding certification to managing the entire division for Paxton.
More recently she moved to the vendor side and worked with industry heavyweights, Shred Nations/Records Nations as well as CSR Privacy Solutions. She shares some of the insights she learned as she grew to work with many industry companies. Jennie also shares the lessons from both her role as the elected Corporate Partner representative on the new i-SIGMA Board of Directors to the wealth of experience from her involvement and local chapter leadership with ARMA.
Jennie's commitment to fostering a positive culture, building meaningful relationships, and staying receptive to new possibilities is very inspiring. As she embarks on her new role and journey with i-SIGMA, she aims to make a significant contribution to the Association while helping members grow their businesses.
We not only celebrate Jennie's accomplishments but cheer her on in her ambitions to help create a better future for the RIM industry through her new role in it.
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Jennie Gift
Vice President of Member Services
Email: jgift@isigmaonline.org
I-SIGMA : https://isigmaonline.org/
The world of recruiting and hiring entry level labor staff in today's market is extraordinarily challenging for shredding and destruction operators. Tony Ommani, the recruiting manager for a large consortium of companies that hires a lot of entry level labor employees for the consortium companies joins us to share his perspectives and experience.
Listen as Tony shares his wealth of knowledge on the unique dynamics of white-collar and entry-level labor, the impact of the gig economy, and the minimum wage becoming a thing of the past. In our conversation, Tony discusses the nuanced and competitive field of entry-level labor where value propositions have become as significant as paychecks.
In the post-COVID era, retaining employee interest and balancing work-life dynamics have never been more crucial. Tony digs into the grit of these challenges, sharing successful strategies and enlightening us on the necessity of maintaining a continuous recruitment process. We also tackle the debate of traditional versus energized job ads and how to attract the right candidates by sustaining their attention with your mission statement.
Lots of valuable insights from Tony Ommani on the episode today.
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Tony Ommani
Human Resources Executive,
Employment Services Inc. (ESI)
Special thanks to Katie Macintosh from Ameri-Shred for the connection to Tony.
Get ready to explore the fascinating journey of Kristjan Backman, a recycling entrepreneur who started with a bicycle rickshaw business at 17 years old and went on to build Phoenix Recycling in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
In our conversation, we uncover the stages Kristjan took to create a incredibly successful, full-service recycling, shredding and records storage business. We'll discover how Christian differentiated his service with an additional layer of security, smaller particle size, and lower price point, and the impetus behind eventually selling the business.
Kristjan reflects on the lessons learned from the startup phase to the sale of the business, touching on the importance of ignoring negative opinions, being aware of market volatility, and utilizing data to build relationships. We also explore the potential of purchasing and green-fielding a shredding business, the fluctuating multiples within the industry, and the advantages of the Entrepreneurs Organization.
Join us to hear Kristjan's inspiring story and great insights.
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Kristjan Backman
Entrepreneur
Join us for an inspiring conversation with Reesy Neff, CEO and Founder of Omega ECycles, as she shares her journey from a career in banking to running a successful e-cycling business. Listen in as she gives us an inside look into her startup story for end-of-life IT assets and how her small but mighty team is making an impact in the York, PA area.
Reesy discusses the challenges she's faced in transitioning from banking to entrepreneurship and how her financial background has helped her navigate the shifting landscape. Learn about the importance of building strong relationships in the industry, how Reesy's practical approach to connecting with others has shaped her success, and the valuable lessons she's learned along the way. Hear about her personal experiences growing up in poverty and how these experiences have shaped her life and business approach.
Finally, discover the powerful impact of vulnerability and authenticity in business, and how Reesy has learned to embrace her true self in order to create meaningful connections. Reesy also tells us more about her book, Stripping Off The Labels.
This episode is packed with valuable insights and inspiring stories, so don't miss out on the chance to learn from Reesy Neff's incredible journey in the world of records and information management!
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Reesy Neff
Business Owner
Omega ECycles LLC (https://omegaecycles.com/)
Stripping Off The Labels book link
https://amzn.to/3qyikX6
Guy Wakutz, President of Alpine Shredders, a shed truck manufacturer based in Kitchener, Ontario joins Tom on this episode. Guy shares the current state of the shred truck industry as it relates to supply chain issues, costs and implications. He also recommends how business owners need to think about acquiring a new truck in the current market. He discloses an interesting statistic about how many trucks are being made that are for Non-CDL vs CDL drivers. Tom and Guy also discuss the differences between being a new shred operator versus a seasoned shredding business owner as it relates to their truck buying needs. Finally, Guy shares the biggest challenges he sees once companies have their trucks.
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Guy Wakutz
President
Alpine Shredders
David Moses, founder of XpresspaX, Inc and Express Business Forms & Systems joins Tom on this episode. David shares his story of helping Iron Mountain with their first mass produced and printed barcodes for their emerging records storage business. He then shares how a conversation with a VP led to massive innovation for the Iron Mountain media vault business that dramatically changed the game for the company. Out of these stories, David then shares the secrets underlying innovation and the creative process. This show provides some great insights into three elements of innovation, the distinction between product and process, and the critical importance of a transparent relationship to ensure innovation and success.
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David Moses
Innovator & Advisor
https://davidmoses.solutions/
On this episode Tom chats with Cory Layes of Bins4Shredding based in Barrie, Ontario. As a long-time vendor in the industry, Cory removes his sales hat and shares his deep knowledge about all things collection containers.
Cory discusses the mistakes he sees a lot of shredding companies make with buying bins not using Just-in-Time programs, bin selection and client container placement programs. He provides advice on collection container diversity and recommendations for an ongoing awareness of what's currently available to support a full range of client collection options. He also explores container maintenance and emerging innovations in the space. There's something in this show for every operator.
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Cory Layes, General Manager
Bins4Shredding
https://bins4shredding.com/
The Entrepreneurial Operating System - or EOS for short - is the hottest business operating system in the world today, especially for service companies. Developed by Gino Wickman and fully outlined in his book, Traction: Get A Grip on Your Business, EOS is a complete set of simple concepts and practical tools that has helped thousands of entrepreneurs around the world get what they want from their businesses.
In this solo episode, Tom Adams review the elements of EOS, as well as some of the history of other operating systems that preceded it. From there, Tom outlines the basic components of EOS, as well as lessons learned in assisting companies with it over the years and some recommendations about implementation depending on the size and scope of your shredding business.
Renee Keener, the Founder and CEO of American Document Securities - the company she sold at the end of 2021 - based in Carrolton, Georgia shares her incredible story of starting the business, growing the business and eventually exiting the business. She describes the critical changes she needed to make upon the win of a huge State contract, as well as the lessons gained through the massive growth that accompanied it. She shares insights learned through the sale of her business and then looks back on her big secrets of success. Learn what “Riding the Day” means and how it could help you in your business.
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Renee Keener
Retired & Loving It
On this episode Tom chats with Stacey Lombardo of Infoshred based in East Windsor, Connecticut.
Stacey shares her entrepreneurial story of buying the shredding business 25 years ago and her amazing journey till now. Stacey was one of the earliest NAID members when it was first established. She shares her philosophy of “rising the tide” in the company and how that influences their perpetual focus on people and profit. You’ll hear how she manages by wandering around and using heart-based leadership to lift everyone on her team, self-described as the team's Momma Bear. Stacey discusses some tactics she’s used recently, including her Open Forum and ones she’s employed for a long time, turkey’s for everyone on the team at Thanksgiving.
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Stacey Lombardo
President and Founder
You can find Infoshred here: https://infoshred.com/
Muff London, the Founder and President of Document Shredding & Storage (DSS) based in Amarillo, Texas joins Tom on this episode. Muff shares the early story of starting the shredding business in a most unusual way, leveraging other people's empty trucks and warehouse space before graduating to a F-250 and a trailer. She also shares two of her favorite "subtle" marketing tactics that created a lot of positive momentum and name recognition for DSS. Don't miss her deep dive explanation on how she trusts her instincts and how she handles difficult people. There are so many great insights in this episode.
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Muff London
Co-Founder & President
On this episode Tom chats with Jay Burns of Crown Information Management based in Winter Haven, Florida.
Jay shares how his own personal growth and development as well as the evolution of the business has been deeply impacted by an external coach. Jay talks about the early benefits and the evolving evidence of the impact of his coach on him personally, especially as it relates to his emotional intelligence. Pay special attention to the discussion about the focus groups Jay wanted to implement with his team and how his coach really changed the outcome because she led it and not Jay. If you've considered hiring a coach, Jay shares his experience and some recommendations for you in this episode.
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Jay Burns
Owner
You can find Crown Information Management here: https://www.crownshredding.com/
Jill Fasken, the former owner of Colorado Document Security located in Grand Junction, Colorado joins Tom on this episode. Jill describes how she and her husband Scott started the company in 2003, and the growth and development of it over the years. But, the focus of the conversation is how Jill responded and dealt with Scott's unexpected death in 2019, and the immediate and ongoing actions she took to lead the business forward. Learn how she transitioned from her administrative and financial roles in the business to fully running it despite the profound emotional loss she was experiencing. Jill also shares some of the lessons learned and insights gained from the last few years now that she's fully exited the business.
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Jill Fasken
Superhero
On this week's episode, Tom meets with Jim Beran, Director of Sales at Gilmore based in Pensacola, FL. Jim is a long time sales leader in the shredding industry. He discusses the history of selling in the industry and some of the differences he sees between the early selling and today. Jim also shares some of his phone needs assessment process which can be really helpful to company positioning. The big takeaway in this episode is the way they sell hard drive destruction to existing clients with small numbers of hard drives to shred in a targeted city or area.
You can find Gilmore here: GilmoreServices.com
Liz Metts, Senior Director of Business Operations at Secure Shred & Opportunity Enterprises located in Valparaiso, Indiana joins Tom on this episode. Liz describes how they employ individuals with disabilities in the shredding and recycling operation. She shares the benefits the individual employees gain as result of their employment, but also the incredible business benefits that come from hiring them. She discusses the important training and business structures that ensure optimal success for the team and how a shredding company like yours could hire someone with a disability to be an incredible part of your team.
You can find Opportunity Enterprises here: OppEnt.org
You can find Secure Shred here: SecureShred.org
Jonas Rice, Owner of ShredPro Secure of Lenoir City, Tennessee explores the elements of the S.P.E.A.R. acronym that guides his shredding business. This framework gives his team a memorable and specific way to define and live their values every day in the business. Jonas gives us a deep dive into each element in order to understand how powerful this tool is in his business.
You can find ShredPro Secure here: shredprosecure.com
On this week's episode, Tom meets with Gary Wright, Vice President of Operations at Williams Data Management & ShredMyFiles.com based in Los Angeles, California. Three months ago Gary implemented a program called Bank the Box, which rewards drivers on purge job for the number of boxes they shred over and above the work-order expectation. Learn about how Gary has implemented this program with his driver team and the really cool benefits he's seen in the process. Plus, Gary shares other significant ways the company has bucked the industry and national trend of high driver turnover such that they have an average 14 year retention rate.
You can find Williams Data Management here: https://williamsdatamanagement.com/
Heather Fitzanko, Vice President of AAA Certified Confidential Security Corp of Peoria, Illinois shares their unique small business service program with Tom on this episode. About four years ago, Heather launched the ShredSmart program, an annual billing program for select small business clients. Learn how she implemented the program, the benefits and challenges she's uncovered along the way, and the advice she has for you if you choose to do something similar in your business.
You can find AAA Certified Confidential Security Corp here: www.confidentialsecurity.com
On this week's episode, Tom converses with Chris Isabell of iSecure located in Grants Pass, Oregon. Chris shares how a core set of values he adopted from his years in the military have been integral to leading and running his shredding business. Chris also shares a simple model of "process" and "performance" which helps him to improve the business on a regular basis. There's a great story about a baler too.
You can find iSecure here: theshredcompany.com
On this episode Tom chats with Grant DiGioia of Patriot Shredding based in Rockville, Maryland. Grant shares how he used the early COVID crisis to dive deep into all the data they had about stops, time spent, factors on those stops, revenue and profitability. As a result, they built and continue to use a dynamic purge pricing calculator that came out of the data they uncovered. You'll hear all the elements and factors that define the new pricing model, but you'll also learn how the model allowed them to price the right jobs lower and still improve their critical result, revenue per truck per day.
You can find Patriot Shredding here: https://patriotshredding.com/
On this episode, Tom converses with Jay Barwick, VP of Operations for River Mill Data Management, located in Columbus, Georgia. Jay discusses practical ways they’ve implemented internal communication for improved team connection within the organization. Jay shares about his regular driver meetings and how that’s given River Mill some of the best return on that investment. He also shares about a cool vehicle inspection mobile app they use with drivers to ensure better communication on truck-related issues.
You can find River Mill Data Management here: https://www.rivermill.net/
You can find Whip Around here: https://whiparound.com/
Greg Miller, President of Altitude DocuShred located in the Denver, Colorado area joins Tom on this episode. Greg shares how 20% of his revenue comes from re-orienting large or complex service requests into high value projects to ultimately resolve the client's bigger problem. He shares his approach and examples of these types of projects. He also provides the unique type of thinking and perspective required to upsell the these projects.
You can find Altitude DocuShred here: https://www.altitudedocushred.com/
On this round of the podcast Tom chats with Christopher Jones, Chief Problem Solver of Secure Records Solutions located in Thomasville, Georgia. Christopher outlines five critical approaches he’s taken to respond to a sales problem he uncovered in the company, along with the implications and outcomes of that response. That’s at least two major $10,000 insights in this episode that you won’t want to miss. If you’re struggling with sales in your shredding company, this one's for you.
You can find Secure Records Solutions here: https://securerecordssolutions.com/
On this episode of the podcast, Tom has a conversation with Lucy Shipley, Group Director of Shredall SDS Group based in Nottingham, England. Lucy shares the reasons for their recent big software change decision, the process they went through before the implementation and the lessons learned along the way. If you are considering a software change in your destruction business, do not miss what Lucy has to say in this episode.
You can find Shredall SDS Group here: https://www.shredall.co.uk/
On this episode of the show Tom talks with Nate Segall of AccuShred based in Toledo, Ohio. Nate shares how he employs a lot of little things in his business to ensure customer retention. You'll hear about the famous AccuShred cookie, GPS and Susan G Komen fundraising. There's so much good stuff on the podcast today, so keep listening.
You can find AccuShred here: https://accushred.net/
You can find Susan G Komen here: https://www.komen.org/
On this episode of the show Tom talks with Cory Tomczyk of IROW. Cory discusses how he prioritizes and hires to ensure his team over communicates with customers which is critical to success in the rural culture where he provides services. You'll also hear how Cory has leveraged his role on boards over the years to support him and the business.
You can find IROW here: https://www.irow.bz
On this episode Tom talks with Jim Dowse of Time Shred Services. Jim shares with Tom his very specific approach to direct mail marketing, including the steps in his process. If you want to learn how Jim gets lists for free and some of his best vendors, you're not going to want to miss this episode.
You can find Time Shred here: https://www.timeshred.com/
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
PostcardMania - https://www.postcardmania.com/
Avery Design & Print - https://www.avery.com/software/design-and-print/
Avery 5136 - https://www.avery.com/templates/5136
975Supply - for labels https://975supply.com/labels/
On this episode Tom chats with John Alford & Will Fountain of GreenServ. John and Will share with Tom how they created a Shred Sales Specialist position in their business and the profound impact it had on shredding-related sales. You've got to hear this because you will definitely get a return on your listening investment today.
You can find GreenServ here: https://www.greenservinc.com/
On this episode, Tom welcomes Brock Miller of Shred Northwest. Brock is going to talk about implementing a "stop and no" approach in his life and business. Intrigued by what that even means and how it may help you? Settle in for some great insights on the show today.
You can find Shred Northwest here: https://shrednorthwest.com/
On this episode, Tom talks with Dave Bixler of Veteran Shredding. Dave shares with Tom how from the very beginning he focused on local shredding in his immediate backyard and has maintained that approach for the last 11 years. Keep listening, and you'll hear why his local approach has provided an incredibly strong return on that strategy.
You can find Veteran Shredding here: https://veteranshredding.net/
On this episode, Tom's special guest is Josh Hartwell of Shred Boss. Josh will discuss how he's implemented and evolved the development of process and procedures into internal policies for his team and his business. If you're struggling with process and procedure documentation in your business, there's some amazing wisdom on the show today.
Find Shred Boss at https://www.shredboss.com/