Woodford Brothers is the Winner of the Supportworks 2023 Integrity Award

The following is an excerpt from the Supportworks network publication, Foundation Nation;

We recently caught up with Tom Woodford Jr., owner of Woodford Bros., the winner of the 2023 Integrity Award. He shared his reaction to winning the award, what it means to him, and his thoughts on training, growing a business, and more.

FOUNDATION SUPPORTWORKS:
TAKE US BACK TO AWARDS NIGHT AT REDEFINE (National Network Conference). WHEN DAVE (Supportworks CEO) ANNOUNCED YOUR COMPANY AS THIS YEAR'S INTEGRITY AWARD WINNER, WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND? WHAT WAS YOUR TEAM'S REACTION?

TOM WOODFORD, JR.:
Honestly, it was a little surreal. We did not have any inclination that we were going to win it, or that it was even on the table. But when Dave started describing the winner as a company that had been in business for 60 years, I thought, 'Hmm, that's narrowing the field.' Our team was super excited. Tommy (Tom Woodford III) was just sort of with me, absorbing it.

FOUNDATION SUPPORTWORKS:
YOU HAD A HUGE YEAR OF GROWTH LAST YEAR (THE SECOND-FASTEST GROWING DEALER IN FOUNDATION AND CONCRETE REPAIR). WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THAT SUCCESS AND GROWTH TO?

TOM WOODFORD, JR:
My mentality is that we are incredibly open to all of the ideas that are put out there. I don't think that any person or any organization is completely flawless, but (Foundation Supportworks) has a huge advantage in that, you've got all of these dealers in a network who are contributing their ideas and their experiences. Why in the world wouldn't you want to take advantage of that? Look, if
I wanted to learn how to play chess, I'm gonna go to somebody who's an expert chess player and who's obviously doing well. I'm not gonna go listen to my Uncle Bob, who plays once a year. We
literally just took the attitude that we were gonna be open to these new things, new ideas from the network. And even if they didn't resonate with us 110%, that was OK. We were still gonna try it.
And you know, 98 % of the time that's worked out just great for us.

FOUNDATION SUPPORTWORKS:
ONE OF THE WAYS WE SEE YOUR OPENNESS TO IDEAS IS YOUR AND YOUR TEAM'S CONSISTENT PRESENCE AT TRAINING EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. TELL US WHY THAT TIME AND MONEY INVESTMENT IS WORTH IT FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE AS AN OWNER OF A BUSINESS.

TOM WOODFORD, JR.:
Well, you know the adage: 'What if you train them and they leave? Or worse, what if you don't and they stay?" Plus, I think that the employer-employee relationship is changing. People expect more. Another consideration is that I'm a second-generation owner. Hopefully, Tommy is third and his son is the fourth. So, we're not thinking short-term and we know that to scale, I can't even begin to do everything, so we're just literally looking to scale up and empower others and allow them to become better at what they're doing. And those trainings are given to us, so again, why not? Why in the world wouldn't we do that, you know? Yes, sometimes, we've had occasions when we've taken 20 people out of the field to go train for a week. That hurts a little, you know, but as far as we're concerned, that's literally just an investment in them and in our future.

FOUNDATION SUPPORTWORKS:
AND IT CERTAINLY SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE DOING JUST THAT! IN CLOSING, HOW PROUD ARE YOU OF YOUR TEAM FOR TAKING HOME THE TOP AWARD IN THE ENTIRE NETWORK?

THOMAS WOODFORD JR.:
If I can do it without getting too emotional, the Integrity Award is really important to me because our company's core values are really my father's. Our core values are One Team, Hungry, Honest,
No Drama and Dependable. And I think that those literally could be put in a circle around the word 'Integrity: So, just the idea that we were recognized for that, I know that would make him really
proud, That's half the reason that I'm in business. Because it is a family business, and because the legacy was important to him. And we're looking to continue that.