Focus on Leadership: Emser’s Mike Weaver seeks to build business by building relationships – July 2024
Interview by Kemp Harr
Mike Weaver, vice president of dealer/trade business for Emser Tile, graduated from the University of Maryland and began his career as a cashier at Linens ‘N Things, working his way up to regional manager for the company within a handful of years. In 2006, he transitioned to Emser in the regional manager role, climbing to vice president in November 2021.
Mike focuses on relationship building as he seeks to grow Emser’s share in the market, leading a team that approaches their clients’ challenges as their own and seeks to provide solutions, all the while learning and putting that knowledge to use.
Based in Dallas, Texas, Mike lives with his wife Joanna and their daughter Kinsey, age ten. In 2023, the family welcomed a Swiss exchange student into their home.
Q: What led to your decision to attend the University of Maryland to study economics?
A: I grew up in Oregon, and my stepfather worked in the newspaper media business. When his company transferred him to a division of USA Today, our family moved to Maryland during my junior year of high school. My stepfather’s education was in financial crimes and economics from Ohio State. This sparked my interest, and in high school, as I learned more about the financial system, I wanted to understand how to become financially free. That is why I majored in economics.
Q: How did you end up in the flooring business working for Emser Tile? What attracted you to Emser Tile?
A: My biological father worked for Emser Tile in the Pacific Northwest. For years, he encouraged me to transition from retail to the wholesale industry. While I began my career in operations, I quickly learned that the best technique for selling was being able to problem-solve. If you solved the “problem,” you won the business.
Q: What is unique about Emser versus other players in the business?
A: What is most unique is Emser Tile’s approach to business. Instead of having a standard offering, we meet the customer first, understand the need or the “problem,” and then offer a solution. Being privately held offers a certain amount of flexibility that allows us to create a custom approach to really be everything to everyone.
Q: Who was your mentor, and what did they teach you?
A: My greatest mentor has been Dennis Olson, our company’s CFO. His very realistic and calculated approach has taught me that a plan is only as good as what can and will be executed. Taking an account- and customer-specific approach allows you to understand your full potential in partnership with that account and, ultimately, the sales you can earn. This offers room for expansion and not just incremental growth.
Q: What character traits do you look for when you are building your sales team?
A: I look for hungry, authentic individuals who enjoy taking a creative approach to selling. If you need an exact playbook, without room for creativity, you may leave a considerable amount of opportunity on the table. During an interview, I intentionally look for the unconventional ways the candidate has earned significant sales growth.
Q: How do you teach your team to network both internally and externally?
A: This is an area where I do my best to lead by example. Ultimately, a customer would rather buy from someone they enjoy, who is responsive, and who cares more about their joint long-term success together, rather than the individual sale.
Q: What is the best way to build rapport with your customers?
A: You must be honest about your intentions in partnership, seek to understand their business and take an intentional approach in how you partner-everything from the products you offer to the shipping and logistics program to simply being genuine in your communication and delivery.
Q: Tell us about your greatest career win.
A: My greatest win has been partnering with my team to build our company’s outdoor program. This is a program that we built from scratch when we offered very few outdoor products. We targeted the single largest pool builder in the country and set out to understand its business. We admitted that while our offering was limited, if they shared what they were using, their largest pain points and how they expected to be serviced, we could quickly become its single supplier.
Additionally, we were transparent about the fact that we would use this knowledge and education to build an outdoor program to grow our company. The partnership with that company has allowed us to grow one of the strongest, most scalable outdoor divisions in the industry, and we are just getting started.
Q: How do you balance your time between managing people and achieving your own primary objectives?
A: My individual goals and those of the company stay aligned at all times. In nearly every occasion, if I am personally building something within a segment of the business or with a customer directly, there are local reps and managers with me. We also document and share the successes, detailing the “how” on every occasion for the entire company to see.
Q: What do you think is the best way to motivate people?
A: Motivating people can be tricky, as what motivates some may not motivate others. Globally, I lead by example, explaining and demonstrating what winning looks like. In every occasion, I share the simplicity of the path to success and ultimately how it can be duplicated.
When performing one-on-one coaching, I am constantly seeking the authentic trigger within my team members and playing to their strengths. This can be extremely motivating. Lastly, I am very high energy and remain positive and optimistic, and people often feed off of that energy.
Q: What is your favorite leadership book?
A: For the last 15 years, my favorite business book has been “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” Emser, and nearly every business I have been a part of, has been about people and your relationship with them. While this book teaches you how to be relatable, it doesn’t teach you tricks, but more how to use your authentic self to better connect.
Q: How do you and your wife balance family time along with managing two career jobs?
A: I have a very successful, caring and loving wife. We share in our interest to be the best providers we can and are working to build our legacy. This takes significant sacrifice, and we are in that stage.
Together, we understand our long-term vision, and this keeps us motivated to consistently deliver. As a family, when we are together and I am not traveling, we make the most of our time together, enjoying every moment.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you would give your daughter?
A: While we can all always get better, you are a wonderful you. Be a genuinely good person, work hard, share love, and you will win. There are enough people in the world only looking out for themselves, and the Weaver family does not subscribe to that.
Q: What do you do for fun when you aren’t focused on work?
A: Outside of work, I enjoy hiking, shopping with my daughter and football. Having grown up well below the poverty line, the little things in life that are often free or inexpensive make me the happiest. These are often the things that are taken for granted by the more fortunate and seem out of reach for others.
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