Building Out: Deck Planning and Career Planning at Simpson Strong-Tie

It was clear to the team at Simpson, especially the senior directors of sales, that we needed to use Salesforce to help us grow our business and make life easier for our reps. Josh Fitzgerald volunteered to tackle this project on behalf of the sales team. During his journey to understand our needs and potential solutions, his path crossed Jayne Hoon’s through a mutual friend.   

Jayne became our CRM Lead 18 months after consulting on our strategy. I was on Jayne’s team with a previous company, and she’d become my mentor and career advisor. When she called me about this opportunity and explained the background and company culture, it was obvious that joining Simpson was the right choice for me. 

Formal CRM strategy teams like ours are rare. A company needs to have a solid vision for its future to recognize its value, and it seems like a lot of companies are on the path to realization in that respect. I’ve only been on formal CRM teams for four years, but I’ve been connected to CRM strategy in tangential roles for over a decade.  

My background in sales planning and communications kept me involved in every aspect of sales, marketing and business operations. Innovating in those areas meant that I had to become comfortable with technology and help others learn how they can apply it to make their jobs easier. That’s the core focus of our team: It’s our job to make our customer-facing teammates’ jobs easier.

Company Culture 

I didn’t know Simpson before Jayne introduced me. She told me that I was going to love the people and the culture and that it was going to be a natural fit. She was right. I’ve recognized our Nine Principles of Business in every interaction with every person I’ve met. I’m still recognizing them as I continue to meet new people, and my buddy, Mardi Hammontree, is really bringing them to life for me as I adapt to Simpson culture. The three principles that stand out most to me are these: 

1. Relentless Customer Focus
2. Everybody Matters 
3. Have Fun, Be Humble 

I’m also recognizing connections in my personal life that prepared me to join Simpson. My dad was an electrician, and he was also a big guy with giant shoulders. It was hard for him to fit into tight spaces when he was on a job, so sometimes, he would send me in to get that part done. Together, we built decks and fences, hung drywall, remodeled my first home, and did a bunch of other odd jobs. I never paid much attention to which brand he used. I just took what he gave me and got it done. 

Dad passed away nine years ago, but I still feel like he’s with me when I do these kinds of projects.  

Deck Planner Software™ 

Two years ago, my mom signed our family cabin over to me. Her grandparents built it on our church campground around 1940. It’s a simple, two-room tiny house built out of repurposed materials from the family farm. Dad rewired everything and upgraded the plumbing when they owned it, but it still had only one door.

Two cabins near us burned completely in my lifetime, including the one directly beside ours. It melted our shingle siding. Seeing those empty spaces made me feel the need to create a second exit from the cabin in case something should spark, especially now that my son stays there with me, so my contractor, Brett, installed a door for us.  

Having two exits made me feel so much better! But the door in the back room had a straight drop that ranged anywhere from 4′ to 8′ depending on how far you could jump in a particular direction. You could either land on a giant glacier rock or a soft patch of weeds and mud mixed with poison ivy. My options were to build a deck or break a leg.

Brett and I talked through ideas, but I needed to get approval and a permit from the camp office. My cousins had recently helped me extend the deck on my house, and I was still reeling from a three-month ordeal working with a building inspector who kept insisting on more detailed plans for a deck that ranged from 1″ to 12″ off the ground. I didn’t want to face that again, and I didn’t even know where to start with a deck that was eight times higher!

During my first week at Simpson, Jayne shared the Virtual Summit training sessions with me and recommended them as a good way to learn more about our business and our customers. So the second week on the job, I joined our customers for Simpson Strong-Tie® Outdoor Living Solutions— — Design and Build Dream Structures with Easy-to-Use Software. 

I was on the Deck Planner Software™ site almost immediately. I spent five minutes playing with it. In those five minutes, I input three measurements. I added a wall, a door and a window, and I even chose a wall pattern that reminded me of the cabin. And then I downloaded a full plan and bill of materials.

I knew my estimates were likely off, but they were close based on the conversation I had with Brett, so I sent him the plan. He said that he could work with that, so I sent the plan to the camp office for approval. The camp approved the plan in one week! I didn’t have to revise it once. There were no tears this time. I let Brett know the plans were approved, and he happened to have time available that week, so my deck was done before I’d finished my first month with Simpson. 

I still haven’t met our software product managers, but speaking as a customer, I know beyond any doubt that they live our first company value: Relentless Customer Focus.  

What’s next?  

I keep connecting with the right people and we keep building! Professionally, that means pulling together strong cross-functional teams to understand how we serve our customers, how we can do it better, and how we can use our business platforms to support our efforts in the most efficient way. 

Personally, I have a couple of projects on the horizon, but a new shed is the highest priority. My son is already calling it our “outdoor office.”