“I’ve got to tell you, Dave, I love this job.” ~ Steve Lex
Online ordering: 80% of my customers order online, and we have some in our district that are 90-95% and some at 30%.
But when somebody puts their order in online, that’s not the end of it!! As soon as the order is submitted, I get the email and check that order from top to bottom. Prices must be checked and the out-of-stocks. Substitutions need to be made. Check for out of the normal quantities of cases too due to possible mistakes in entering.
Online paying: Is around 80-90%. I probably only collect 2 or 3 checks a week. My A/R is over 110% currently. Once I get my daily report, I send that email to my customers, and they hit submit and it’s done. My A/R is very good because of that.
Continuing Education efforts: Sysco requires us to take their monthly online podcast courses which cover a variety of topics for our continued growth and education.
Time Management: I organize everything and prepare for tomorrow. I am an early riser and take a couple of hours to get and read everything, all the reports. I get on the road early so I can be back in the office in a timely fashion to go through all the emailed P.O.s and get everything buttoned up so orders are in on time.
I grade my orders using account manager to make sure the cases are correct, and all is allocated, and I check them off old school-like.
Greenhorns:
- You have to give it two years. You must be patient. It takes two years to get your book together, to get your knowledge together and to be ready to go on the street every day and sell. If you’re complacent and lazy, this job is not for you. You must want it.
- I tell them that the most important thing to realize is the sale doesn’t count until they pay, so learning how to help their customer pay on time is key.
- Many greenhorns struggle with the failures. But just like baseball, you have to realize when you make a mistake, that baseball’s Ted Williams only batted 400. That means he made 6 mistakes and did it perfectly 4 times.
- If in two years you don’t feel like you’re advancing, making more money, and you don’t like what you’re doing, it’s time to move on. You must be patient, though. If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.
Veterans:
- Don’t be complacent.
- Wake up every morning and try to do better than the day before.
- You must work a goal. I have goals I have to hit to get paid, to get bonus.
Steve Lex shared his enthusiasm for this job when he said, “I’ve got to tell you, Dave, I love this job.”
Be a Resource and SELL SOMETHING!!
