Happy New Year everyone!! 2014 definitely flew by and I have quite a bit to update you on. My blog entries have been non-existent the past few months, but don’t worry I’m still around and busier than I’ve ever been!

I’ve recently relocated to Sarasota, FL for my outside sales phase of the MDP program. The past 5 months have primarily involved me transitioning into my sales part of my training. Preparation for outside sales has involved a lot of prospecting, working on customer quotes, identifying new potential accounts, etc. Inside sales has definitely prepared me for dealing with challenges that may arise when servicing customers.

The people here at my new profit center in Sarasota have welcomed me with open arms and my new mentor is an incredible PCM (definitely one of my heroes). Mark Boyer has been a PCM for 25 years and has experienced incredible success and I’ve already started picking his brain. He’s always said the key to his success has been his people; everyone here is extremely customer focused. Mark is definitely one of the PCM’s that believes in engaging his people and interacting with customers on a daily basis. He always says “You can’t run a business from behind a desk!”

In August, I attended my second MDP seminar in Ardmore, PA. This past year we had over 50 trainees in the program and it was incredible! So many new faces and the atmosphere was a lot of fun. We played a ton of icebreakers that Kate, Noe, and Haley came up with which really helped us get to know each other a little bit. My partner, Raj Ram, and I worked very hard on our group presentation and received very positive feedback. Our project was focused on improving our people at the counter through customer service training and reorganizing the counter area. We measured our success by customer surveys/feedback and GP% growth. Our project was definitely a success! Over the course of the 3 days we also had the opportunity to visit our corporate office and interact with the people that provide support to all of the profit centers for our company. We also had the opportunity to attend a Phillies game and watch from a suite with free food and drinks!

In November, I attended the Dale Carnegie Sales Success Training in Fort Lauderdale, FL for a week. This training provided me with some sales tools and solutions that will be useful when I go into outside sales. This past month we had a pool, well, and septic sales meeting. This meeting included a lot of our partnered vendors and salespeople from across the state of Florida. We were introduced to new products for 2015, discussed 2014 performance, and came up with solutions for continued sales growth in 2015. For me personally, this was my first exposure to pool products. I’ve primarily been exposed to plumbing and well/septic products; I have quite a bit to learn on the pool side of the business and I’m very excited. Stay tuned for next quarter’s update!

July was another great month for me here at my new profit center. My mentor and the employees here started a new weekly counter promotional event for our customers. We have it once a week on Wednesdays and we call it “Hughes Hump Day”. Each week it has grown in popularity and I think the word has gotten out to quite a bit of our regular customers. We try to have a vendor or sales rep agency come into the store and conduct product specific hands-on training with us and our customers. This definitely adds a ton of value and makes our customers feel appreciated. Oh, and did I mention we also provide BBQ?

This month we also had a mid-year performance meeting with the entire profit center. My mentor, Joe Davenport, has been with the company for over 40 years and has a ton of leadership experience. I don’t think there’s a single situation or problem he hasn’t been faced with. Our meeting was very relaxed and provided an open forum for employees to discuss any concerns/issues. It was a very productive meeting and we really are a small, close knit team here.

Joe went over how we’re servicing some of our key customer accounts and also asked for feedback on how we can improve and better align with these customers. We also covered our financials for the month and Joe definitely has us on the right track and everyone here is working very hard to make profit sharing again this year!

I also took some vacation time this month and was able to attend the US Youth Soccer National Tournament as a referee. This was a huge honor considering there were only 96 referees in the entire country that were selected to attend. I was able to meet and get Mia Hamm’s autograph, which was life changing! I also had the opportunity to meet FIFA and MLS referees and pick their brains on how they achieved so much success. My referee career has been moving pretty quickly and I’m loving every minute of it. Now, it’s back to real life…

 

June was definitely a huge transition month for me. I just finished my first month here at my new training site in Ocala. The majority of the past few weeks have been spent learning about the operational functions within my new profit center. There’s a huge difference between an RF environment which I came from in Orlando to a traditional, non-RF environment here in Ocala.

This past month I’ve also spent quite a bit of time in the warehouse and the counter. I’ve been doing my best to become familiar with the products we stock and also learn customers’ names and faces. The employees and my new mentor have been very helpful in bringing me up to speed and I love it here already. My primary goal has not only been to learn as much about our customers, but also to work hard and show the people here that I’m a part of the team.

There are some pretty drastic differences between the Orlando and Ocala markets. Our customers here are laid back and a ton of fun. They call Ocala “horse country”! There’s a lot of farmland, BBQ, and it’s definitely the horse capital of the world. Being the southern girl that I am, I can’t wait to do some fishing with my co-workers soon!

On a personal note, the FIFA World Cup has consumed my life for the past month and has been a heck of a tournament. Now that I’ve transitioned from a player to a referee, I’ve been very critical of some of the controversial decisions so far. I’m so sad that it’s coming to an end soon, but I’ve definitely enjoyed watching every match!

My first year with Hajoca was this past month and I’m looking forward to many more! This month was jam-packed and very busy for me. It was filled with inventory, training, and preparations for my next phase of training. I spent quite a bit of time wrapping up my educational sections of my Phase I training for the MDP program. This included the operational functions of our profit center which includes accounts payable, payroll, hiring/onboarding process, purchasing, credit management, etc. Where has this year gone? I’ve learned so much here in Orlando and the people here have made every day so rewarding and a ton of fun.

I spent the second week of the month in Naples for inventory. It was a lot of fun to travel there and meet some new faces. This was a very smooth inventory and I was also able to spend some time with some fellow MDPs, which is always a good time. We even had time to catch a little bit of sun after we were done!

As I begin to move into the next phase of my training, it is so bittersweet for me. I’ve built so many great relationships with my co-workers and mentor here in Orlando. Saying goodbye is never easy! I’m excited to start the next phase of my journey in Ocala and I’ve already met the people there. They seem really enthusiastic and are ready to put me to work! I will be starting the Inside Sales portion of my training at the Hughes Supply in Ocala next month. I definitely feel a little anxious to get started and learn about this new market I’m jumping into!

April was definitely another exciting and solid month for me! I was able to travel to one of our profit centers in Clearwater, FL for an inventory where I was the lead observer. The inventory ran very smoothly and we were done in time to enjoy the beach! This month I continued to finish up my operations phase of training. I worked with our Purchasing Agent here in Orlando who is in charge of buying the right products to serve our customers. Buying the right amount of products from the right vendors is crucial to success in the wholesale industry. I learned about the different queues we utilize to manage our buy lines, different methods to reaching vendor targets, and how we ensure accurate on-hand quantities.

Here in Orlando, we’re fortunate to have a corporate satellite office next door. I was able to train with our District Credit Manager for a week and learn about how we open credit accounts for customers. The credit department works with profit center managers to collect past due payments, provide lien releases, open new customer credit and job accounts, and provide aging information. After working one on one with our District Credit Manager, I’ve realized just how important they are to balancing the risks we take when selling to certain customers. In our company, profit sharing is the ultimate reward/goal for a profit center; a customer’s inability to pay can hinder a profit center from reaching its profit sharing goals for the year. We’re very grateful to have a solid and aggressive District Credit Manager here in Florida.

 

Over the past few months, me and a few coworkers have been planning a fun sport/activity for our profit center to participate in. Everyone voted and decided on kickball. We began the planning immediately. My mentor and I were the team captains and picked teams in the most dramatic fashion (names out of a hat). Once the teams were decided, the trash talking began. Here in Orlando we know no limits and our competitive spirit is ridiculous! Let’s just say the game was exciting, emotional, and intense. We had such a great time playing kickball, eating BBQ, and enjoying the fellowship of family and friends. I’m proud to say that in the year that I’ve been training in Orlando, quite a few people here have become like family.

Here are a few videos that will give you a snapshot of how intense our kickball game was:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijLx4ojErfc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Oo5sljYcE