Letter on the Third — April 2021

Dear Datamax Family,

Have you given any thought to this question: “What’s your professional style? Your brand?” As the President, one of my “style points” is to remain both approachable and personable. That’s the reason I make my stroll through the office every morning to greet employees, to get a sense of what they’re thinking, how they’re feeling. People hopefully know, too, that you’re more than welcome to walk into my office or to call me at my extension. This came from my great friend Mike Riordan: I believe firmly in the idea that nobody cares what you know until they know how much you care.

Know it or not, we all here have our own professional style. When we talk about “style points,” those signature ways each of us approaches our role every day, what we’re really talking about are differentiators. What makes us different? There’s so many Datamax style points, elements that make us different than other companies like us, but here’s just a few:

We hire the right person for the right job with the right relationship.

A lot of companies have “great people.” My question is, what do we do different with our people here? I truly believe that no matter what position you are in, your success comes down to those three elements: Right person, right job, right relationship. And as a result of that, I think people are here because they want to be here – not because it’s “just a job.”

We are big on planning and setting goals.

So, we want to do 10 percent better next year. That’s great, how?  What does that mean, and what does that look like? We write down our goals, and we follow up with our progress regularly. It’s like waking up one morning and saying “Let’s go on vacation. I don’t know where, let’s just get in the car.” Positive experiences come from proper planning.

We don’t pound our chest and talk about how great we are.

That’s not differentiating. From our marketing to our DatamaxCares initiatives, to our employees’ ability to listen intently to what our customers are really saying, we don’t make it about us. After all, the best compliments come when you’re not asking for it.

When it comes to style points, some will change with the season as we constantly strive for relevancy, and others will never go out of fashion. Consider the Philosophies and Principles from the Datamax Little Blue Book. During the pandemic last year, many companies floated along like a cork on water, but we stood strong in what we wanted to do. The words printed in that book weren’t just written down – they’re things we stood by through unprecedented times, and still do today.

Have questions about the Datamax style of doing business, or insight on how to further develop your professional brand? I’d refer you to the Datamax Little Blue Book. Rest assured, the verbiage on those 26 pages will never go out of style.

The Best is Yet to Be.