{"id":35704,"date":"2019-08-15T10:16:13","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T17:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=35704"},"modified":"2019-08-15T10:27:19","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T17:27:19","slug":"by-seeking-to-amaze-cbe-difference-maker-john-eckstrom-aims-to-stand-above-the-crowd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/the-week-in-imaging-twii\/editors-blog\/2019\/08\/by-seeking-to-amaze-cbe-difference-maker-john-eckstrom-aims-to-stand-above-the-crowd\/","title":{"rendered":"By Seeking to Amaze, CBE Difference Maker John Eckstrom Aims to Stand Above the Crowd"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
John Eckstrom, president and CEO, Carolina Business Equipment<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to client engagements, John\nEckstrom\u2014the president and CEO of Carolina Business Equipment (CBE)\u2014has just\none question for his team members: will it amaze?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s quite a tall order. An amazing experience is\ncertainly not something that one encounters on a daily basis. Something that is\namazing will definitely stick out from the typical daily interaction, but\nperhaps Eckstrom is following the \u201caim small, miss small\u201d mentality. Much like\na marksman or a golfer, the primary thrust is to focus on a small spot as close\nto the target as possible, minimizing the degree of your missed shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are very clear to our whole team at CBE. We\ninstruct them to interact with the customer or prospect so that the engagement\nwill be amazing,\u201d notes Eckstrom, a 2019 ENX\nMagazine<\/em> Difference Maker. \u201cIn fact, our rally cry is \u2018Will it amaze?\u2019 With that question being asked of and by our\nwhole staff, it keeps in the forefront of our collective minds that we better\nbe different from everybody else when we are dealing with the customer or\nprospect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garnering Respect<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eckstrom\ntakes great pride when his team executes on a job to a level where it is\nrecognized not only by the client and employees, but fellow dealerships,\nmanufacturers, suppliers and even competitors. A former accountant who became\ncontroller and later bought into the company, Eckstrom sets the bar high for\nhimself and the team. Although CBE is an accomplished dealer, the push for\nimprovement is a constant one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\nmight sound clich\u00e9, but we all realize that leaders always have everyone else\ngunning for them,\u201d Eckstrom noted. \u201cWith that in mind, we surround ourselves\nwith good people and good mentors. We take advantage of industry training and\nwe are in groups like BTA and industry best-practice peer groups.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting things done right the first time helps CBE\ndeliver on its promise to amaze. Eckstrom has even managed to exceed his own\nexpectations; in mid-2019, he had set a goal for opening another branch by the\nsecond quarter of 2019. Not only was he able to do it ahead of schedule, it\nopened before the end of 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eckstrom also bought a piece of property next door\nto CBE\u2019s headquarters in Columbia, South Carolina, with the intention of constructing\na network operations center, which will be called the First Response Center.\nThe goal is to have the center up and working by Labor Day, which he feels is a\ntall task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takes\na Team<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Eckstrom has high praise for his team of 65\nemployees. \u201cThey are the ones whose shoulders I stand upon,\u201d he said. \u201cThose 65\npeople are spread out over six offices in three states. The way to improve is\nto be able to scale, and that is what we are constantly working towards\u2014the\nscalability of our processes and procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eckstrom has been married to his high school\nsweetheart for 35 years. Their oldest son, Harris, works for CBE as a sales\ntrainer. They have another son, Pete, who formerly worked for CBE, but is now\nserving in the U.S. Navy. Their youngest, a 16-year-old daughter, plays first\nsingles on the high school varsity tennis team.\n\nAn avid fisherman and the owner of vintage boats, Eckstrom will be\ntraveling to Ontario this month and in September to spend a week \u201coff the grid\nand enjoy some intense fishing.\u201d\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to client engagements, John Eckstrom\u2014the president and CEO of Carolina Business Equipment (CBE)\u2014has just one question for his team members: will it amaze? That\u2019s quite a tall order. An amazing experience is certainly not something that one encounters on a daily basis. Something that is amazing will definitely stick out from the typical daily interaction, but perhaps Eckstrom is following the \u201caim small, miss small\u201d mentality. Much like a marksman or a golfer, the primary thrust is to focus on a small spot as close to the target as possible, minimizing the degree of your missed shot. \u201cWe are very clear to our whole team at CBE. We instruct them to interact with the customer or prospect so that the engagement will be amazing,\u201d notes Eckstrom, a 2019 ENX Magazine Difference Maker. \u201cIn fact, our rally cry is \u2018Will it amaze?\u2019 With that question being asked of and by our whole staff, it keeps in the forefront of our collective minds that we better be different from everybody else when we are dealing with the customer or prospect.\u201d Garnering Respect Eckstrom takes great pride when his team executes on a job to a level where it is recognized not only by the client and employees, but fellow dealerships, manufacturers, suppliers and even competitors. A former accountant who became controller and later bought into the company, Eckstrom sets the bar high for himself and the team. Although CBE is an accomplished dealer, the push for improvement is a constant one. \u201cIt might sound clich\u00e9, but we all realize that leaders always have everyone else gunning for them,\u201d Eckstrom noted. \u201cWith that in mind, we surround ourselves with good people and good mentors. We take advantage of industry training and we are in groups like BTA and industry best-practice peer groups.\u201d Getting things done right the first time helps CBE deliver on its promise to amaze. Eckstrom has even managed to exceed his own expectations; in mid-2019, he had set a goal for opening another branch by the second quarter of 2019. Not only was he able to do it ahead of schedule, it opened before the end of 2018. Eckstrom also bought a piece of property next door to CBE\u2019s headquarters in Columbia, South Carolina, with the intention of constructing a network operations center, which will be called the First Response Center. The goal is to have the center up and working by Labor Day, which he feels is a tall task. Takes a Team Eckstrom has high praise for his team of 65 employees. \u201cThey are the ones whose shoulders I stand upon,\u201d he said. \u201cThose 65 people are spread out over six offices in three states. The way to improve is to be able to scale, and that is what we are constantly working towards\u2014the scalability of our processes and procedures.\u201d Eckstrom has been married to his high school sweetheart for 35 years. Their oldest son, Harris, works for CBE as a sales trainer. They have another son, Pete, who formerly worked for CBE, but is now serving in the U.S. Navy. Their youngest, a 16-year-old daughter, plays first singles on the high school varsity tennis team. An avid fisherman and the owner of vintage boats, Eckstrom will be traveling to Ontario this month and in September to spend a week \u201coff the grid and enjoy some intense fishing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":34061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,1650,82,1638],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35704"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35706,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35704\/revisions\/35706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}