When Problems are No Problem

By Bob Cox

Chris Barr didn’t realize he had been living life on auto pilot without any genuine sense of purpose until two major events jolted him back into the game of life. Shortly after celebrating his 65^th birthday, Chris’s store had been robbed, which initially left him feeling violated, disheartened and directionless. Instead of caving in to self pity, Chris, who is the franchise owner of Granite Transformations in Rancho Cordova, used these opportunities to dig deeper into his soul for some much needed self examination.

He also reached out to a few trusted friends and colleagues to get some constructive feedback, which affirmed what he suspected. He had become bored after completing his mission of resurrecting a failing franchise and transforming it into a shining success. Six years earlier, he had heard about the growing problems of a distant franchise over 3,000 miles from the comfortable corporate office where he worked in Florida for Granite Transformations.

When Chris heard that the franchise had been vacated and was in serious need of steady leadership in every facet of the business, the challenge and potential opportunities were simply too tempting for Chris to pass up. So, he and his family hopped on a plane and embraced a brand new adventure. “One of the things that I have learned about myself over the years is that I am most motivated by problem solving. My biggest adrenaline generator is when there’s something that needs to be fixed or some hurdle that has to be overcome. And as I look back, that’s been true my whole life,” explained Chris.

Under Chris’s sage stewardship, within a few months, the dying franchise experienced a resurrection of optimism and passion. Chris was able to restore trust and confidence in the loyal workforce that had hung in through the toughest of times and they all teamed up to give their customers the care and attention they deserved. Several years after all the substantial problems had been rectified, Chris found himself in the uncharted territory of malaise and apathy.

“Because we had solved all those specific problems and the business had been humming along for years, I found myself just sitting and watching it happen. Letting that evolve without direction wasn’t just status quo, it was a negative thing because you start to lose momentum. And when I lost momentum personally, the rest of the business reflected that. My salespeople were not quite as energetic and creative, my install crews were a little bit less put together and the whole business suffered from that lack of forward momentum,” Chris recalled.

After a brief period of self reflection and crucial feedback from his friends and colleagues, Chris was able to spring forward by gathering a renewed sense of purpose and passion. “There was a moment this January when that switch just got flipped. I personally transitioned to a place where I was motivated not by fixing the business but by focusing on rebuilding it from where we were, which was a healthy place,” said Chris.

From that brief low spot, the franchise has thrived while experiencing another positive transformation. “There are some specific things we did but this is fundamentally a reflection of the change in energy level here. I also got more involved with customers and received a lot of positive feedback about the quality of our work, which gave me even more energy. I feel grateful that we recognized what we needed to do and we got a lot of personal satisfaction and validation out of making it happen and then seeing the results.

Year over year, Granite Transformations is now up over 25% in sales and the future looks extremely bright. I spoke with Chris about some of the other great things that are happening with his business.

Q: What have been the greatest rewards of owning this franchise?

A: There are two things I find greatly rewarding. The first is the incredibly positive feedback we get from our customers. Everybody that we do work for fills out a review form and we get enthusiastic feedback 99.9% of the time. The second thing has to do with the team we have here. I've come to know and respect these people and their families. They are an astonishingly great group of people.

Q: Can you tell us more about the feedback?

A: There are at least four things that we hear consistently. First, most people love the idea we can do all of the messy part at our place and then install in a day instead of several weeks of downtime, mess, noise and confusion. Second, our product is the most durable product on the market and it is zero maintenance with a lifetime warranty. Third, our products are beautiful, so our customers love showing off their transformation. Finally, our customers love the overall professional, no-stress experience of working with us.

Q: What sets Granite Transformations apart from other countertop companies?

A: We're the only company that can install a brand new counter in one day. The other thing that sets us apart is the actual finished quality of the product. There are some other good quality products available but ours is really quite special, which is why we offer a lifetime warranty where other companies do not.

Q: How are you able to transform a kitchen in just one day?

A: We go over the existing counter surface, so there’s no demolition to live through. Once we’ve built a physical template of all the surfaces that we’re going to cover, we do all of the construction work in our shop here in Rancho Cordova.

Q: What are the core principals you follow to achieve success in business and in life?

A: I don’t want to sound sanctimonious about this but we believe as a company in being fair. We treat our employees and our customers well. If there’s a problem, we fix it. It’s that simple.

Q: Is there anything else new at Granite Transformations?

Yes, two things. We have a line is called Trascenda. It’s a product we manufacture that looks like natural stone with the movement of marble but has absolutely none of the downside that natural stone has. It’s completely non porous, durable, low maintenance and it has the lifetime warranty plus it’s just gorgeous. Second, we’re offering a greater focus on delivering the same speed and quality of our cabinet refacing projects. With cabinet refacing, instead of ripping out old cabinets, we start with the basic skeleton of your cabinets. Everything that’s visible is new, including the doors, the drawers and the hardware. We have expanded our staff and now have a fantastic new cabinet crew.

Editor’s notes: Granite Transformations is located at 11367 Trade Center Dr. # 130 in Rancho Cordova. Their phone number is (916) 851-9745 and their website is www.granitetransformations.com.