Info, Tutorials and How To Guides
Information about the everyday goings on at SJF Material Handling.
To kick off the summer, SJF held a company barbecue in the parking lot last week. Hamburgers, Brats & Hot Dogs & even some Venison (Deer) were expertly grilled by our very own Eric Moen and Ed Salonek.
We even busted out our custom made SJF grill made from material handling components left over from various projects in the production shop.
All of the employees enjoyed their lunch and then played a little hoops before returning to work for the rest of the day.
As mentioned before in this blog SJF was nominated as one of the 100 best companies to work for in MN by MN Business Magazine. This past Thursday night, the dinner and awards ceremony was held at The Depot in downtown Minneapolis.
Several of SJF’s employees enjoyed an evening of food, drinks, and excellent conversation as well as a very nice slideshow put together by MN Business Magazine.
Once again, SJF management would like to thank all of our employees for making this possible.
SJF just announced the start of the summer 2013 fishing contest. All employees and their immediate families are invited to participate in this catch & release contest. The contest runs from May – October and will feature monthly as well as overall contest winners.
Winners will be determined using a point system based on the length & species of fish caught per month and over the entire time period. In other words, you may not win a specific month, however you can still win by having the most points at the end of the contest.
SJF is honored to be named on the 100 Best Companies to Work for in MN for 2013. Â This list is compiled by Minnesota Business Magazine based out of Minneapolis, MN.
About the Nomination (From MN Business Magazine)
[this award salutes] Minnesota organizations setting the standard for employee well-being. The 100 Best are chosen using data gathered from an anonymous employee satisfaction survey administered by an independent research group. Only the top Minnesotan companies, as judged in areas such as work environment, employee benefits, employee happiness, and leadership, are selected for inclusion in the list.
There will be an award ceremony to honor all of the companies on the list on Thursday, June 6th.
Thanks, MN Business Magazine and thank you SJF employees for making this possible!
You can view the full list of nominees here.
In my time in direct sales, I have uncovered 2 simple truths. The first one, I had to learn. The second is a truth that I’d like my customers to learn.
First and foremost though, project sales is harder than it looks. And by hard, I mean time consuming. Don’t get me wrong, the lead opportunities are great at SJF. There’s no shortage of customer interest & quote requests. Whether it’s by phone or email, when I do speak with customers they don’t always know how to put into words what they envision in their minds. The back and forth translation of needs & wants takes a lot of time. There are days where I feel like a child on an Easter egg hunt with an eye patch and a broken hip. It’s not that we don’t have the equipment, (we have loads of equipment!) it’s just that with used equipment, having the exact material at the exact time a customer needs it can be a challenge.
The SJF chili competition was a big success! We had three entrants this time around. Lori Foster brought a red chili made with mostly home-grown ingredients. Vance Haugen entered a delicious red chili, and Craig Fasching brought another small pot of excellent red. Kent Powell brought home-made corn bread to compliment all of the entries. ‘Fixins were provided by SJF.
After all of the chili was tasted, the final vote count was as follows:
Vance Haugen: 9
Lori Foster: 4
Craig Fasching: 3
Making Vance the winner (…this time).
Congratulations Vance.
An Addendum: There were to be four entries in the contest this year, however one of the entries made it only as far as the front door of SJF. A certain owner of the company (his first name rhymes with Tank) forgot about the tupperware bowl full of chili in his briefcase. As he entered the building, briefcase in hand, he wondered aloud what smelled like chili before realizing that it was the entire contents of his bag.
