Kim Beisser
Today, the brawny, mustachioed Kimberly David Beisser–his ex-merchant marine father named Kim after South Africa’s Kimberly diamond mines–may be bigger, but then so is his business. Over the 33 years that Kim has been in charge of the company his father founded in 1953, Beisser Lumber Co. has grown to a three-branch, $70 million operation with 130 employees and such a wide service territory that it files income tax statements in 11 states. That’s part of life in Iowa, which covers 70 times the territory of Ganahl’s Orange County, Calif., but has slightly fewer people. Beisser is expanding its installed sales program, has just bought a wall panelization company, and is eager to move more deeply into commercial projects. Beisser may be one-quarter as big in revenue as Ganahl, but in many ways it’s a more complicated company.
While Peter Ganahl’s job is predominately about managing others, Kim Beisser remains heavily involved in day-to-day operations. He spends half his time buying framing lumber and the yard’s other basic commodities. It’s a situation that leaves him a tad uncomfortable but not distressed. “When we were a $20 million company, Pat and I used to know everything that was going on,” he says, referring to Patrick Mashek, a childhood friend who is Beisser’s president and COO. “Now it might be a week before we hear of something.”
Two-Headed Manager
Spend a day with Kim and it becomes clear that this genial ex-collegiate shot-putter succeeds in large part because of his confidence in Mashek’s oversight of the sales and operational sides. Still, Kim has reached the point where he’s felt the need to create a corporate structure, in recent years filling such new management positions as a human resources director and a chief information officer. But Beisser Lumber still doesn’t have a mission/vision statement or a formal declaration of corporate culture. Instead, Kim relies on an open-door policy as well as a soft touch when employees make a mistake. “If somebody’s willing to go out and make a decision, we’re not going to spank ’em,” he says. “That’s the kind of leadership we want to see.” In turn, Beisser rewards its employees by offering a prize perk: 100% health care coverage for employees and their dependents.
Kim uses his purchasing officer position to both monitor and influence the company’s direction. Buying the lumber means he has to stay aware of all potential deals in the works, particularly projects for stick-built hotels the company is pursuing. On this day he’s looking at a quote prepared for a builder served out of Beisser Lumber’s yard in Fort Dodge, Iowa, about 100 miles north. (The other location is in Coralville, Iowa, 118 miles due east. In contrast, none of Ganahl’s branches are more than 35 miles from headquarters.)
Kim looks at the job’s materials and compares prices on the pro forma bid with his recollection of current prices. He then considers the customer, the yard’s needs, and the yard’s competitors. The result: lower prices for two items on the list and a slightly higher price on another product on which Kim knows he carries a better grade of wood than the competitor. “If you can buy a percent or two better, that goes to your bottom line,” he notes.
Canada Calling
“People ask me, ‘Do you like to go to Las Vegas?'” Kim says. “I say, ‘No. I’m in Vegas every day.'”
Time was that a person could make a living just playing the 2×4 pricing game. “People ask me why we got into installed sales, into panels,” Kim remarks. “It’s all about selling sticks.”
Well, yes and no. Overseeing multiple yards, a panel plant, an installed sales program, and a real estate venture (the Grimes yard sits on 59 acres of land, most of which lies fallow or has been leased to other businesses) requires a mind that can handle complexity. Kim says his father had enough trouble just dealing with the increase in SKUs at a typical yard over the years. “‘Why do you sell all this Mickey Mouse stuff?'” he recalls his father asking.
Panel Plans
Panels actually are a relatively new venture for Beisser; it was only in February that the company acquired D&D West Homes, a manufacturer of panelized wall components that had set up a factory less than half a mile from Beisser Lumber’s Grimes facility. Panelization isn’t popular in Iowa yet, but Kim sees strong opportunities in it. He’s helping D&D reorganize so it can quadruple its output.
Kim also is pursuing sales of framing lumber for the ethanol plants that are sprouting across Iowa, and he has made Beisser Lumber the area’s leading proponent of iLevel by Weyerhaeuser, particularly its computer-aided design programs. Mashek describes the involvement as providing “a fine edge that gives us an edge.” The aim, Mashek says, is to be about two years ahead of the competition.
What isn’t in the future is a Beisser in command, as neither of Kim’s daughters is interested in the business. Such a situation, combined with Kim’s age–he’s 56–has got the buyers circling; on this Monday morning, three of the seven messages on his voicemail were from brokers asking if he’ll sell the company.
Kim has begun selling, but not to outsiders. Nearly two years ago, he sold 26% of the company to key employees, and he plans to gradually sell more shares to management periodically. “Our track now is to have three generations of owners, so that every 10 years one group could buy out another,” he says.
He also plans to stay at work a good long time, though perhaps he might come in fewer days each week. After all, his mother is in her mid-80s and she still visits the Fort Dodge yard regularly. She’s particularly effective at calling past-due accounts.
“I would like to think I could work here until my late years,” Kim says. “We’ve got some things to accomplish here to be the kind of yard we want to be.”
–Craig Webb
