The Mallory Difference

For more than 40-years, Mallory has provided industrial organizations with safety expertise and supply chain efficiency along with a broad array of safety products and solutions. During that time, Mallory has grown to include more than 30 offices and nearly 500 employees. We have expanded to be the largest independent safety and industrial distributor in the Western United States.

From the beginning, we set out to make Mallory different from any other safety and industrial distributor in the marketplace. This includes our culture.

Our objective is to play a positive role in helping workers be more productive and safer, and to help companies compete and win in their space. The Mallory Way  fundamentals articulate that mission, and they provide insight into who we are as a company. These fundamentals uniquely influence our day-to-day interactions with customers, and with each other.

The Mallory Way

1.  Passionately Create Safer and More Productive Workplaces

Know how products work, what is available, help prioritize risks and address hazards to lessen injury and increase supply-chain and job through-put. We play a positive role getting people home safely and helping companies compete and win in their space.

2.  Deliver Basic Service Brilliance

Zero Errors. 100% on-time delivery. 98% fill rates. Heroic and breakthrough service. Do the little things, as well as the big things, that blow people away. 

3.  Be Relentless About Improvement

Regularly reevaluate every aspect of your job as "Because we've always done it that way," is not a valid reason. Keep getting better.

4.  Complete a Day's Work in a Day

Keep the whole system humming by completing all daily functions each day - receiving, transfers, shipping, expediting, purchasing, quoting, order entry, price updates, and more. Cross-train, hustle, recruit help when surges hit.

5.  Be a Fanatic About Response Time

People expect us to respond to their questions and concerns quickly, whether it's in person, on the phone, or by e-mail. This includes simply acknowledging that we got the question and, "we're on it," as well as keeping those involved continuously updated on the status of outstanding issues. Rapid response is one of the easiest and best ways to stand out from the crowd.

6.  Create a Tone of Friendliness and Warmth

Every conversation, phone call, e-mail, letter, and even voicemail, sets a tone and creates a feeling. Pay attention to every interaction and be sure you're setting a tone of friendliness, warmth, and helpfulness.

7.  Honor Commitments

There's no better way to earn people's trust than to be true to your word. Do what you say you're going to do, when you say you're going to do it. This includes being on time for all phone calls, appointments, meetings, and promises. Allow extra time for surprises and delays, and don't let these become excuses.

8.  Practice Blameless Problem Solving

Apply your creativity, spirit, and enthusiasm to developing solutions, rather than problems. Identify lessons learned and use those lessons to improve our processes so we don't make the same mistake again. Get smarter with every mistake. Learn from every experience.

9.  Find a Way

Take personal responsibility for making things happen -- somehow, someway. Respond to every situation by looking for how we can do it, rather than explaining why it can't be done. Be resourceful and show initiative.

10.  Go the Extra Mile

Be willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish the job... plus a little bit more. Take the next step to solve the problem. Even if it takes doing something that's not in your job description, it's the extra mile that separates the average person from the superstar. Be a superstar.

11.  Celebrate Success

Catching people doing things right is more effective than catching them doing things wrong. Regularly extend meaningful acknowledgment and appreciation -- in  all directions throughout our company.

12.  Follow-up Everything

Record a follow-up date for every action and take responsibility to see that it gets completed. It's too hard to remember every commitment. This requires a system and persistence, but leads to trust and loyalty.

13.  Deliver Results

We appreciate effort. We reward and celebrate results. Set high goals, use measurements to track your progress, and hold yourself accountable for achieving those results.

14.  Be Process-oriented

World class organizations are built on repeatable processes. Look to create processes for every aspect of your work, and then turn those processes into habits, to achieve consistent results.

15.  Always Ask Why

Don't accept anything at "face value" if it doesn't make sense to you. Be curious and question what you don't understand. Healthy, vigorous debate creates better solutions. There's no better question than "Why?" Never stop asking it.

16.   Get the Facts

Don't make assumptions. There's always more. Gather the facts before jumping to conclusions or making judgments. Be curious about what other information might give you a more complete picture.

17.  Pay Attention to the Details

From unit of measure to the required date, ship-to address, color, or size . . . details matter. Be obsessive about accuracy and precision. Double check your work. Get the details right.

18.  Assume Positive Intent

Work from the assumption that people are good, fair, and honest, and that the intent behind their actions is positive. Set aside your own judgments and preconceived notions. Give people the benefit of the doubt.

19.  Get Clear on Expectations

Create clarity and avoid misunderstandings by discussing expectations upfront. Establish mutually understood objectives and deadlines for all projects, issues, and commitments. Where appropriate, confirm your communication by asking others to repeat back their understanding to ensure total clarity and agreement.

20.  Keep Things Fun

Remember that the world has bigger problems than the daily challenges that make up our work. Stuff happens. Keep perspective. Don't take things personally or take yourself too seriously. Laugh every day.

21.  Embrace Change

What got us here is not the same as what will get us to the next level. Get outside your comfort zone, rather than stubbornly hanging on to old ways of doing things. Be open to new approaches, including trying new perspectives or point of view.

22.  Be a Brand Ambassador

The image we present reflects upon our clients' reputation just as much as it does our own. Be passionate about Mallory and Diamond M. Take pride in the image you present. Remember that we're all responsible for, and benefit from, the Mallory image and reputation.

23.  Do More With Less

Be a careful steward of our company's resources. Learn to ask yourself, "Would I spend this if it were my own money? Do we really need this? Is there a more cost efficient way to accomplish the job?"

24.  Super-Serve Target and Franchise Accounts 

Partner accounts provide higher average order sizes, better transaction and growth economics, and retaining a good customer is more profitable than finding a new one. Know our key customers and targets and try to find ways to delight them.

25.  Price Intelligently to Market not Margin

Know the competitive market price for products and the value and service costs for an account, and price with a total value model in mind. Co-create value with the customer to reduce transaction costs by reducing small orders and expanding the width of our relationship, which can lower our cost to serve and their pricing.

26.  Give to Get

Deliver value up front, then ask for the opportunity to grow the relationship. Invest in your job, your skills, your customer by over-delivering, and then use this to expand the win/win. Customers don't switch sources easily, it takes work, effort, and feels risky, so we have to earn opportunities.

27.  Understand the Numbers and WIIFM

Distribution is a very competitive, thin margin business with few silver bullets. In order to pay above-average wages, we need to perform above average as a business. All employees to understand the cash leaks and cash traps, retention and service economics, and profitable pricing and inventory management strategies.

28.  Share Information

We can't expect you to fix or improve performance numbers you don't know about, so we have to share meaningful information and train you on how to apply the info. At the same time, share info with each other so that we don't get caught chasing our tails. It always comes down to communication.

29.  Aspire to be Turbo Steady, Competent with Urgency

With dedication to attaining knowledge and skills, superstars can become turbo steady and produce twice as much work output as a newbie, sometimes reaching a state of ?Flow.? We need our whole team operating that way, a path to finding fulfillment in work.

30.  Exercise Inventory IQ

We are a heavy stocking distributor, and trade higher service levels for inventory cost. But there is a limit, and we need to avoid unnecessary shipping, transfers, and stockpiles, and should centralize C and D items, and avoid letting an item stocked for one customer to go stale. Inventory management is everyone's job.

31.  Speak Straight

Speak honestly in a way that moves the action forward. Make clear and direct requests. Say what you mean, and be willing to ask questions, share ideas, or raise issues that may cause conflict when it's necessary for team success. Address issues directly with those who are involved or affected.

32.  Be Willing to Sweep the Floors

The road to success isn't always fun and isn't always easy. Success comes mostly from doing ordinary things with extraordinary consistency. 

33.  Act With Integrity

Demonstrate an unwavering commitment to doing the right thing in every action you take and in every decision that you make. Own up to your own mistakes and apologize. If you make a mistake, clean it up.

Download a pdf of The Mallory Way HERE