Last month I had the pleasure of attending my region’s annual forecast review.  All of the managers in the region meet once a year to present their plans for the following year.  I had spoken with many of the managers on the phone before this meeting but had only met a handful of them.  Since all of the profit centers vary quite a bit, it’s always good to hear about the other managers’ experiences.  Because I will train with one of them in my next phase, I was particularly interested to talk with everyone.  Each manager prepares a packet filled with last year’s ambitions next to the actual outcome.  They also create a breakdown of goals and how they will achieve them specifically.  I sat down with my mentor, my region manager, the vice president, the president, and the owner of Hajoca.  What a room to be in!  I would have thought it would be extremely intimidating but I was surprised at how encouraging the meeting was.  Instead of the forecast being a presentation, it is a conversation.  It is a time for managers to be held responsible for what they committed to do.  Managers are questioned about their weakest areas and their forecast is reviewed critically.  But more than a test or judgement, it is a time to get feedback.  The forecast is especially good for companies like Hajoca that give limited instruction to the managers.

I am now finishing up my counter phase and about to move into operations.  Although, working at the counter won’t be ruled out for me.  Instead of giving up the previous phases, moving to the next one is just adding more training.  I have very much enjoyed my time getting to know our frequent customers.  It’s not all fun and games- I worked in the hot/cold warehouse carrying heavy boxes.  And not all customers are easy to handle and some of them expect us to be mind readers.  Everyone in sales and service needs thick skin and it helps to be able to let comments roll off your back.  Overall, however, it’s rewarding to get praise from customers and co-workers.  Nothing beats the compliments like “You’ve only been in plumbing for 7 months? Wow, you learned fast!”  Many of my mentors are my co-workers but I also get a lot of training from plumbers who chose to invest time in teaching me how to best service them.  I look forward to my next phase, operations.  Next I’ll report about all the behind the scenes work of keeping up the business.

Since my last entry, I’ve had some great new experiences!  It’s a tough call, but I think my favorite week of working for Hajoca has been the MDP workshop.  There is an annual workshop for all trainees held in Pennsylvania at a conference center.  This is the only time all of the trainees are in one place so it’s an amazing networking opportunity.  For four days, we listened to different topics such as Business Etiquette, Pricing, and Sales Strategies.  The president of the company even gave a two hour presentation about leadership and personnel.  He made us all aware that we are the future of Hajoca and reminded me of how much power I have to make a positive impact in my Profit Center.  It was amazing to get to mingle with the top leaders of the entire corporation.  They are all very approachable; even the Vice President sat at my table for dinner one night.

Back at the profit center, I am about half way through my training at the parts counter.   The counter module is the time that I have to go out with plumbers and see them in action!  Since I’ve gotten to know many of our top customers fairly well, I am comfortable asking to join them for a few days.  This month, I was able to see the installation of toilets, lavatories, a mop sink, water heater, and water fountains.  We were working on a new store in the mall: Rue21.  This trip was mostly watching, but I did solder some copper pipe and fittings which entails using a flame to fuse the metals.  Another customer took me to see a final inspection.  That morning we finished soldering the drain pipe for a Chick-Fil-A and then walked through every fixture with the inspector.  I will have to become at least a little familiar with plumbing codes to help my customers get the right items, so this was a great experience.  A third customer took me to a residential trim.  This is the final step in plumbing a house and includes all of the things that the home owner sees like faucets and the water closet.  I was able to learn completely hands-on because the plumber explained each step and watched me do some of everything.  I set a toilet and installed the faucets on a shower and tub.

I have been encouraged by my manager to make any changes to our counter area that would help increase our sales.  From seeing the other stores, I noticed ours had less merchandise for customers to shop themselves so I went about adding some displays.  First, I looked for shelving at liquidations, bought the cheapest I could find, and painted them to look like new.  Then I stocked them full of products our customers might not know we carry and also the stuff they buy every day.  So far it’s been successful and the biggest problem is keeping the shelves full! I’m not done with my counter makeover but I’m already feeling proud and happy to see a project through from start to finish.

I applied for the Management Development Program because I value autonomy.  Hajoca trusts its leaders to make their own decisions because the company understands that knowledge from the field is the best guide.  The culture is decentralized but one thing is consistent: managers believe in what they are doing because they are choosing it.  Before I will be offered a management position, I will train with two different managers.  During the interview process, I worked with staff to find a good location for me.  I moved about an hour north from home to a new city.  My Profit Center Manager (PCM)/Mentor immediately gave me a warm welcome onto the team.  It is a medium size Profit Center (PC) and I am one of eight employees.

Four months ago I began my Phase One in the warehouse in Fredericksburg, Va.  I worked alongside warehouse employees for two months. The tasks I learned right away are simple but can get a little confusing, and require knowledge of the material.  I started with receiving incoming material.  Products come to us from manufacturers on freight trucks or through FedEx and UPS.  This process includes verifying the material is correct and in good condition.  When things arrived, I would go to a computer and pull up our program that tracks inventory to add the new material. It updates the database real- time, so that our salesman can add it to orders for our customers.  When large deliveries (like bath tubs and water heaters) arrived, I used the forklift.  There is plenty of training on safety before ever buckling up and driving the forklift.  

After I became comfortable with the receiving process, I began learning a new process called “pulling orders”.  It begins when a salesman prints an order for a customer.  It prints on our counter where the warehouse employees pick it up and package the list of material.  Again, it is a simple process; the location of the product is printed next to the description so you can go right to where it is.  This is the best way to get familiar with the products.  I was also given workbooks to get a general overview of the types of things most Profit Centers carry, and recognize items and their uses.  I got my first glimpse of the job sites when I went out on deliveries with our driver for a few days.  The warehouse module is where you put on your hard hat!

The next module of phase one is the counter.  I have completed two months out of the five to six total months of the counter module.  This is the part of the business that feels most like retail.  However, instead of the customer shopping and bringing goods up to the counter, the salesman takes down a list and retrieves it from the warehouse.  A good portion of the customers are people who own a plumbing company and are picking material up for their employees to use.  These are the easiest customers to help because they know exactly what they need.  It gets challenging when the owner sends his service plumbers to pick up material because they expect to figure out what they need with the help of a knowledgeable salesman (me).  Luckily, my counter mentors are there to help with the tricky questions.  The only way to keep track of the things I learn each day is with a notebook, due to the high volume of detailed information.  What do you know? College did prepare us for employment!  Most of my notes are instructions for finding a product in the computer.  There is lots of plumbing jargon so I have many names for the same thing written down.  

One good thing about the program is that I will get a different mentor for each module.  I was able to see the counter salesman do their job for a month before I ever put in an order.  Now that I am on the counter, I can watch our operations specialist and pay close attention, because soon enough I’ll move to that module.  I also work closely with our inside and outside salesman and can ask them any questions I have about my future training.  It is comforting to know that the curriculum is well-tested, and I always have a good idea of what my goals should be.  In the end, though, taking advantage of all the resources is up to me.