The Story of SOLV | Stories With Traction Podcast

SUMMARY: In this episode, Tressa McLaughlin and Matt Zaun discuss why Tressa is so excited to help her team and clients.

TRESSA MCLAUGHLIN BIO: Tressa is the Co-Owner, President, and CEO of SOLV.

For more info, check out Tressa HERE.

MATT ZAUN BIO: Matt is an award-winning speaker and storyteller who empowers organizations to attract more clients through the art of strategic storytelling. Matt’s past engagements have catalyzed radical sales increases for over 300 organizations that range from financial institutions to the health and wellness industry.

Matt shares his expertise in persuasion with executives, sales professionals, and entrepreneurs, who he coaches on the art of influence and how to leverage this for profits and impact.

For more info, check out Matt Zaun HERE. 

 

*Below is an AI-generated transcript, which may contain errors

 

Matt Zaun

In January, I spoke in Meridian, Idaho and I met the guests for this episode.

I was so So intrigued by her business that I had to have her on the stories with traction podcast to hear her story.

Today, I'm joined by Tressa McLaughlin, who is the co-owner, president, and CEO of Solv. Welcome to the show, Tressa.

 

Tressa (SOLV)

Thank you.

 

Matt Zaun 

Happy to be here. Well, thanks for your time. I know you are extremely busy based on everything I know about what you do.

So thank you for the time you're giving us today. I very much appreciate it. So I want to dive right into a little bit about your business and then we'll backtrack and talk more about your story.

But what are the core functions of Solv?

 

Tressa (SOLV)

Solv is a sales organization and we work with businesses to provide print, promo, apparel, and year-end tax forms processing.

 

Matt Zaun

Okay. And what was the idea when it started versus what it is today?

 

Tressa (SOLV)

The idea when it first started was many years ago and it was an opportunity. for the then owner to start a business that helped other businesses with their printing name.

 

Matt Zaun 

Okay. Okay. And it's definitely developed into something a little bit different today, right? Because I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of your team members, and it's amazing the different departments and the different hats that a lot of people wear.

So is there something specific that you're excited about? Let's just look at this year. Is there something specific you're excited about regarding maybe a new project or new launch regarding what you're doing?

 

Tressa (SOLV)

I would say there's two things that I can really think of right now is one. We adopted CRM tool and it's actually a suite of apps, and we're using the CRM portion to help ourselves team manage their day and work with customers better, and then also get the workflow going to our fantastic project.

statistics support staff. Really excited about that. And then we have a couple of really great marketing events that we do each year, and I'm seeing how those are shaping up, and those are for our customers in the Valley, and they look really amazing.

 

Matt Zaun 

Great. All right, so let's go back to a little bit more of the beginning. Was there something that sparked an entrepreneur or a spirit in you or grit in you?

Is there a specific hero that you can point to and say so-and-so was the one that primed you to have the grit that you have, or was there like an aha moment that you could take us back to?

 

Tressa (SOLV)

I think it has a lot to do with my DNA, and that specifically is from my parents. My parents are very hard-working individuals.

They come from farms, ranches, and they graduated high school. They moved to the city. got some education and they both went into business on their own businesses and I think growing up with those two really shaped my independence as well as my responsibility and drive to make things better.

 

Matt Zaun 

So after you saw them and you experienced it not only consciously but also subconsciously all these messages of working hard and grit did you say to yourself I'm going to go into business was that was that the main focus?

 

Tressa (SOLV)

I did when I was younger probably about high school age that was one of my dreams was to own my own business okay wasn't sure it was going to be possible but opportunity presented itself and I was like yes I'm going to do that.

 

Matt Zaun 

All right so lot of people so I want I want people to think of Hollywood messages right so when we think about grit and business a lot of times we glamorize.

and a lot of different characters in different movies are glamorized regarding business and because business are because movies are relatively short.

Right a couple hours we don't see the whole story and a lot of people get into leadership roles and they recognize very quickly that it's not as glitzing glamorous as many people in the vision.

So take us back so you you got a lot of drive from your parents you want to go into business you get into business and what were some things that you learned early on regarding what it takes to make it in business.

 

Tressa (SOLV)

I felt so through high school and college working in a grocery store. So I worked with the public I was low man on the totem pole so I always had the really late evening shifts and split between a couple different jobs and what I learned from there was customer service and you work with the public.

And in a grocery store, whether you're bagging groceries, the checker, working in produce, all those different things you're still serving that customer and customers have different needs.

have different ideas, what's great. And I learned really early on that as a young kid, I didn't know everything.

And perceptions aren't always what they seem. I had one particular customer that taught me a really great lesson that I'll never forget.

And she was an older lady, and I was probably about 16 at the time, and she would come through the grocery line by like three items, and she would want them bagged separately.

And I, as a young kid, always thought it was a waste of bags. And there was one day I was carrying out her groceries, put them in the back seat for her.

And she said, I so appreciate you carrying these out for me. I have arthritis and it's crippling and I don't have anybody at home to carry my groceries.

So when you divide these up for me, it really helps me carry in these small things. And I remember that lady, I can tell you what she looks like and I will never forget thinking one, you don't know every base story, two, the little things do matter and whatever she would come in.

I would specifically go to her check outline. I was always back for groceries. I would always bag them so that they were super light, double-bag them and I would always take them to her car and put them on the seat so she didn't have to reach up out of the back of the car.

 

Matt Zaun 

Wow, wow, that's a plot twist, huh? From wasting your bags, too. Wow. Wow, thank you for sharing that. appreciate that.

So I I want to touch on this grocery store piece, okay, so when I was in high school, I worked in a convenience store.

So, you know, selling all kinds of stuff, a very, very high traffic convenience store. And from that moment, I remember saying when I have kids, they're going to work in some type of retail capacity.

And in addition, they're going to be a part of one campaign, one political campaign. So, I've already had them a part of the political campaign.

We've already knocked doors. I probably knocked hundreds of doors with my kids already, but I want them to be in retail because I also not only want them to learn customer service, like you said, but I want them to learn the darker set of humanity.

I think often in retail jobs, people are just dumped on. And I learned through working at a convenience store, I was the cashier.

So, just constant. This convenience store, so it's convenience store that it's... I'm pretty dominant in the area that I'm in.

It's called Wawa multi-billion dollar corporation. They're in the process of expanding all over the U.S. They're they've expanded into Florida as well, but they're going to be hitting the southern states very soon.

High traffic. So literally, there's a line at any moment, which is person up to person. And I quickly learned people that have charisma of us, people that don't, right?

There are people in line that just you were excited to see them because these are your coffee drinkers. You're religious every morning.

They're buying their cup of coffee and their doughnuts. You get to learn about people. But I learned a little bit more about processes as well, right?

Some processes. You know, it's interesting. I was recently in Motown in Detroit and it was very interesting the way they developed Motown.

It was actually developed as if it was an assembly line, right? So they took processes from assembly lines and they said, how do we create superstars?

So basically what they did, actually the gentleman who started it was a Ford factory worker went into the music world and said how do we get individuals that have really good singing ability and then on the other side of our assembly line we're going to create they're going to be superstars and that's what Motown did really really well so there's a ton that we can learn from customer service did you maybe see something else that you wanted to duplicate when you became a business woman.

 

Tressa (SOLV)

I did there was a couple things one you said process so I do love a good process as long as it's effective and that processes serves the entire company to help our customers.

As a salesperson or a leader of the company. like. to be in front of people. I like to be in front of my customers, learning more about them.

And if I've got a good process for sending in orders so that the support team can take that and complete it and get to the customer, it gives me a great peace of mind.

So I really learned in all of that to listen. And if I would hear a complaint over and over about something that told me the process wasn't working or it wasn't clear or it wasn't effective.

So in the grocery store line, you're obviously trying to get people through in an efficient manner but still be friendly.

So I learned a lot to listen for what wasn't working and then also listen to what was working and to try to do more of that.

I think sometimes we get really focused on the negative side. It's not working. It's not working. sometimes we need to focus on, okay, this is working well.

 

Matt Zaun 

How can we do more of that? So when we met back in January, I remember a conversation conversation, you and I both had, we were talking about sales, and I was shocked as to how much you're involved in the day to day regarding your sales process, especially for someone like yourself in the position that you're in.

So there is someone listening to this episode that loves to delegate. They love delegating every aspect of their business, and if they knew how involved you were on the sales process, they might even be shocked.

But what, what words of advice would you give to that person regarding understanding and unpacking things that maybe some of your sales reps aren't seeing because you are a part of that process?

 

Tressa (SOLV)

I like to call it getting your fingers dirty. I understand things better when I can actually see them and talk to people.

So with the sales team, I've really enjoyed working with them. A lot of them are fairly new to the company, some are pretty seasoned, and when you're talking to them, like what's your day to day like, can we go out on some sales calls?

tell me about this customer and what you're working on. You really start to learn what their daily life is like and where you could make it more effective so that they could be in front of customers.

then it also helps too when you're sending the orders in because you understand what they need to do to get the order to our support staff.

What does a support staff mean? And I can improve on delegation for sure, but I just like being with the sales team.

I just enjoy being with them and being in front of the customers. So to me, not really work. It's more about how can I help them?

Does it have a goal to meet? Each of them have a goal. want them to be successful. want them to feel good.

So how do I know how to help unless I'm working with them?

 

Matt Zaun 

Sure, sure. It's amazing. A lot of leaders that don't have that mindset, right? I appreciate you. mentioning that because it's really important being with your people, understanding, unpacking lot of these different processes and trying to figure out how to make it work.

One of the stories I love talking about is the story of Barefoot Wine, absolute genius. So the owners of Barefoot Wine, they would talk to every one of their employees and they would go into the warehouses and figure out what was working and wasn't working.

And one of the things that they discovered when they were going into some of these warehouses of individuals that were not their employees, their employees would basically give shipments, different pallets of this wine, it's in the warehouse.

And what they recognized listening to the warehouse employees was every crate looks exactly the same. So when you are busting up crates, so if you have a time crunch and you need to get certain amount of orders out, there was a lot of damaged goods.

So one of the things that the owners of Barefoot Wine did was they established was really good tight knit relationships with warehouse workers across the country.

And they painted their crates different colors, so they knew that that was barefoot ones inventory. So they were a lot less likely to throw it around or potentially break it because they had those relationships with them.

So it's just one of those stories where you sit back and you're like, wait a second, all the other people that could have done that but didn't and they had substantial amount of damage goods and it was hurting their bottom line but barefoot line was willing to do that.

So you as a leader that's willing to go on these sales calls and learn willing to learn, you're unpacking different things than someone not willing to do that, right?

So I want to shift gears and I want to talk actually this is more of a selfish question I guess if you will because we're talking about you younger as well as in grocery store and all the different things that you learned.

So I have three children. My oldest is nine. I've got to return 10 or about to celebrate his 10th birthday double digits.

And he is talking all the time about business. He has all these business ideas. He is obsessed with going on YouTube and just watching business videos, marketing videos.

He loves business. Okay, and he has some pretty cool ideas. What advice would you get to my nine year old son Elliot regarding business right out of the gate?

So clearly he's, you know, very young. What do you think he could be doing now to prepare himself for the business world?

 

Tressa (SOLV)

That is a really great question. I would think about number one. Are there businesses that his parents have friends in that he could go visit and learn and just take a tour, understand how things flow?

Who could you shadow? I think it's really helpful. full community service. You mentioned running the campaigns, learning to talk to people.

So when you're out meeting people, shake their hands, look them in their eye, repeat their name, make them feel warm.

If you can develop that skill, that works really well. And the skill of listening listening with positive intent. You can develop that.

That will take him far.

 

Matt Zaun 

You just gave an amazing, a lot of great suggestions, but one that really sticks out to me that I think a lot of people miss.

Is there a business that his parents friends own that he can shadow? He could see. Here's what's so amazing about that is I've heard from a lot of business leaders that when they have family business and their children are coming into the business, they're having difficulty getting them in the business with other work.

world experiences, right? So I've heard a lot of times that sometimes we'll have to go get a job elsewhere, build, you know, climb the corporate ladder, so to speak, and then they can get rolled up into the family business.

This is a great way to start early for people. So if their children are have those business chops, it would be really good.

What kind of businesses can they shadow? kind of exposure can they get to different ideas and businesses? I can think of a couple right at the top of my head while you're speaking right now that I'm going to actually implement what you're saying.

I think that's really, really good advice. So thank you for sharing that. I appreciate that. What is something that really drives you on a day to day basis from a positive perspective?

talked about the, you know, darker sides of humanity when it comes to retail. Obviously, there's not as much glitz and glamour when you are a leader.

You mentioned about getting, you know, your fingers dirty and getting down, so to speak, in the mud, trying to figure things out.

What is something that really keeps you going at the pace you are going when it comes to your business.

 

Tressa (SOLV)

Something, I too, things come to mind. First one, the employees. So we have employees who have decided to work for our company.

So as leaders, we are responsible for them and to them, responsible to give them a good experience, responsible to help them be successful, responsible to make sure they're putting food on the table.

So I always feel responsible for that. Are we doing a great job? Are we doing as much as we can?

I always think about that. And then the second piece would be our customers. We have some really long-term customers that all of us know.

And we know on a personal level, but we really want to know what their goals are and how they are successful.

So how can we help them as a team? We have a pretty tight knit team that's They're a funny bunch.

They love to tease each other. They love competition. So I'm always thinking about them and getting them in front of our customers.

 

Matt Zaun 

They take care of them well. So I love that you, right out of gate, you mentioned your employees, your team members.

That's awesome. I'm in the process of reading a book called The Great Game of Business. Cannot believe that I did not read this book sooner.

It's of the best business books I've ever read. Unbelievable, right? But so many ideas regarding leader of leaders, right?

Positioning people in your organization and all the ideas they bring in, it's phenomenal what it can do. recommend that to everyone listening, The Great Game of Business.

Also, the clients that have been with you for quite some time, I have a question for you on that, is you mentioned you don't know everyone's story.

You mentioned the grocery bag story. Is there some things that you've done over the years to make sure that you know your client's story so you can deliver the most value to them?

 

Tressa (SOLV)

I do. I don't always contact our customers when it's time for them to order something. A lot of times I'll connect out with them when I know maybe they're a remote worker and just the connection to see how their day is going, check on the weather, out a vacation that they're taking.

Sometimes they'll tell you about their kids' graduation, life events. I try to reach out as much as possible. It's hard to do when you have a big client base, but it doesn't take too much time to just call a couple people a week, send out a few emails, connect with them, and make it about the human side.

Because at the end of the day, we all want to work with people that we know, trust, and respect.

And I think developing those relationships means you go beyond the self.

 

Matt Zaun 

For sure. There's a lot of wisdom in that. Thank you. I appreciate you sharing that. And thank you for this conversation.

I appreciate it. There's, there's so many points of wisdom in this. I really appreciate your time. There's three things that are going to stick out to me most regarding our conversation, the grocery bag story, you mentioned and you don't know everyone's story.

I think that's something a lot of people have heard, but they don't necessarily live it and you gave us a picture of what it means to live it.

I think it's really important that we keep that front and center. We do not know everyone's story. The second piece, which is something I'm going to implement right out of the gate.

I appreciate it. You mentioned, do I have any friends that own businesses that my son can shadow can be exposed to can experience.

That's amazing. I highly recommend everyone listening. If you have children that they're interested in business, who are some of your friends that own businesses that your kids could shadow for a day.

Awesome advice. And then the third and final piece, connect with them outside of a sales focus regarding your clients.

Awesome. You mentioned earlier this. CRM tool. I'm sure that's a great way for you to do that. So I appreciate those three points.

If anyone wants to get more information on you, what you do, your organization, where's the best place they could go to get that?

 

Tressa (SOLV)

I would go to my LinkedIn page and then from there you can click on that and get to our website and that will really talk about the team and what we do.

 

Matt Zaun 

Perfect.

 

Tressa (SOLV)

focused.

 

Matt Zaun 

For sure. Perfect. I will include that in the show notes. People can just click and go from there. Thank you for your time today.

I very much appreciate it.

 

Tressa (SOLV)

Well, thank you. appreciate being asked and it's been a really awesome time with you.