This is CURT!

(Turning Needs into Wants)

In many of my blog posts I relate towing to different events that have transpired in my life. Today I wanted to do something a little different and talk about events that have transpired throughout the history of CURT Mfg. (my employer) that have resulted in my ability to blog about towing.

Anyone that Google’s Curt Tambornino can easily find the origins of CURT Mfg. Starting in ‘93 when Curt and his wife Tammy circled a slew of retailers throughout Wisconsin selling their imported trailer balls out of the back of an Eagle Talon as C & T Distributing. While humble beginnings and underdog stories are heartwarming and inspirational, I wanted to talk more about how their decisions and leadership skills have affected not only the company’s good fortune, but mine as well.

Leadership: Jack Welch former CEO of GE once said “To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn’t know where he is going.” I don’t think there is a single associate within this company that within one or two weeks of employment doesn’t know exactly where this company is going…to the TOP!  I’ve worked for many different companies and this is the first one where I couldn’t tell you the number of times that I’ve personally spoken with the president or vice president of the company. A good leader can’t lead from behind a desk. A good leader inspires and spawns new leaders in his/her wake. This is the only way to be truly successful.

Creativity: People invest a lot of time, money, and pride into their vehicles. Before CURT Mfg., the trailer hitch was nothing more than a boxy flat-black purely functional tool attached to the rear of the vehicle. Curt saw the growing market of custom step rails, brush guards, and bed rails booming in the aftermarket community.  This is when he took the same concept to trailer hitches by custom designing them to fit and compliment each vehicle with either square or round tubing. That and the addition of a high-gloss powder coat finish turned the trailer hitch from a need to a want!

Investment: To me, this is where CURT truly stands out from all of our competition and is the reason why MANY small businesses fail.  By investment I don’t mean putting money back into the business for its own expansion, although that happens here on a continual basis. (Click here to read about CURT’s latest expansion.) CURT truly invests in its customers and associates.  At the end of the day if our customer isn’t happy, that means that we have a problem…not our customer.  This also means we must take the necessary steps to improve. Even if we have to take a step back! As far as the investment in our associates…When I had my first interview I was asked (like most interviews) why I wanted to work for CURT Mfg. If this was any other interview I would have found a way to put “duh, cause I need money” nicely. For the first time I could actually be honest and say “because I’ve never heard anyone say that they didn’t like working here.” Once hired, I was quickly swept away by the hard work, drive, and ambition of everyone. I went from a person that needed to work to a person that wanted to work. In less than 4 years I went from fabrication to shipping to powder coating to customer service to my current position as Social Media & Tech Specialist in our eCommerce department which allows me to do what I truly love, create and write! The first job I’ve ever had that I’ve felt that if I keep up my end of the bargain, so will the company!

CURT Mission Statement: CURT Manufacturing stands for EXCELLENCE in our products and our associates. CURT aspires to be the industry LEADER by recognizing that the Customer is KING and our Associates are our greatest ASSET.

  

CURT is not the only company that culminates these key ingredients of success.  There are many out there, and if more companies took these steps to not only grow their business, but their employees as well, America would not be in the shape it’s currently in. So if you’re reading this and you’re a business owner or manager; GET CREATIVE, LEARN TO LEAD & INVEST IN YOUR PEOPLE NOT JUST YOUR PROFIT!

Travis Mai - Hitch Guy

  

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If You Build It...

Growing up, hunting and fishing was always a big deal in my family. Being of age to hunt was more exciting to me than even getting my driver’s license. It meant that instead of just hearing all the greatly exaggerated stories of my father and uncles, I would now be able to take part in creating them.

40 Acre View

For years my father, brother and I have been talking about building a fully enclosed deer stand where we hunt, but every summer we find ourselves too busy to build one. The reason we need one so bad is the 40 acres of land we hunt can be covered with one rifle,  and if we are spread out all over it the less the chances are of us having deer come through.  For the past few years only two of us would be able to hunt the land in a small ground level turkey blind leaving the third man to go elsewhere. This left us quite cold and unable to see a good portion of land due to undergrowth blocking the blind windows no matter where we put it.

Throughout the 26 years my parents have been married, my dad has been saving every worthy scrap piece of construction material he could get his hands on because, “I’m going to build something with it someday.”  My mother has never shared his positive outlook on this aesthetically agonizing pile of (exploitive deleted) spread around the garage. We decide that two days before opening deer season we would load up the trailer, tow it all out there, and build a pillbox big enough to house all three of us.

We argued about our designs and ideas the entire way to the hunting land, but as soon as we got there our ideas started taking shape.  We got that thing up faster than the bounce rate of a Bernie Madoff alimony check. I began by immediately unloading all the tools and materials and my brother started working on cutting the vertical posts to 8 ft lengths while my father began to figure out the foundation.  We leveled out the ground and nailed the foundation together in less than a half hour.  The floor, walls and windows took a little more than 2 hrs to complete. 

Opening morning everything went off without a hitch, we climbed into the “Death Tower” around 3am toting chairs, snacks, and a propane heater. When we got settled we were able to strip down to nothing more than jeans and a t-shirt. It didn’t take long and we were teasing each other about all the frozen openers that we had shared and the fact that it took my Dad a quarter century to finally build us a tree house. Amongst all the chuckling and knee slapping we came up with a pre-determined shooting order, not really caring if we actually would see a deer.  The order was so that if a 10pt. or better came out it would be my Dad’s, if not it would be me then my brother. 

Current regulations stated buck only and over the past 10 years we had only seen one per season and it had been 3 years since any of us had even tagged a deer. About five minutes into first light I got the first buck (small 8pt.) A couple hours later a 14 pt. and a 6 pt. came out at the same time. A total of three empty .300 Win Mag casings laid on the floor and a total of three bucks laid on the ground, no more than 3 hrs into the season…simply stellar! Let the “Field of Dreams” jokes begin!

Travis Mai - Hitch Guy  

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