Wolf

In Praise of Counter People

Tom Wolf published this article on May 5, 2011 in Build your Business. Total Comments: 3 | Comment

The women and men who work as inside sales representatives in independent building supply companies are my heroes.  These counter people have tough jobs.  They shoulder big responsibilities; they help their customers work through serious crises on a daily basis; and they play a key role in determining the success or failure of their businesses.  I think they deserve all the support and help companies like Wolf can deliver.  I also think they deserve all the recognition, respect and praise we can give them.

I have a special appreciation for the work of the counter person because I used to be one.  Early in my career, after spending a spell as a truck driver and a forklift operator, I became an inside sales person working on the counter in a lumber yard in York County.  I learned that there are at least five things that counter people must do to succeed:  First, good counter people must be willing and able to work in a physically demanding environment.  Second, good counter people need to know a lot about the products they sell.  Third, good counter people must be able to develop strong and productive relationships with the yard and warehouse workers.  Fourth, good counter people must establish close working relationships with the outside sales reps and their company’s professional customers based on qualities of trust and competence.  Finally, good counter people must be able to build strong and reliable relationships with their vendors. 

The first of these – the physical demand of the job – was the biggest surprise for me when I began my career as an inside sales person.  In the course of performing my daily tasks, I spent more hours on my feet than at any other time of my life.  I also probably walked more miles without ever leaving the store.  I suspect that few people outside the industry understand the physical demands of the counter person’s job, but the reality is that it is a tough one.

Second, good counter people have to know everything there is to know about the products they sell.  They are consultants to the customers, outside sales reps and even vendors who depend on them.  They have to know which product is best suited to the job at hand and they have to be able to let vendors know when there are gaps between what the market needs and what those vendors have to offer.  It is tough enough to stay abreast of new products and new techniques in a static market, but it is especially tough in the building products markets where things are changing all the time.  Good counter people do this throughout their careers.

Third, good counter people rely on their fellow employees to make sure customer promises are kept.  This is harder than it seems.  Although there are frequent interactions between inside sales staff and outside sales reps and warehouse workers there are equally frequent opportunities for miscommunication and misunderstanding.  This can lead to an unproductive rivalry that stands in the way of the healthy relationship that ought to exist between these groups of customer servants.  Good counter people understand that they have to break down these barriers in order to ensure that promises made on the inside are kept by the people who work on the outside.  As I understood this more clearly, I actually took time away from the counter to help load trucks, make the deliveries (This was before the era of the CDL requirements), and call on customers.  It turned out I was not very good at any of these tasks.  But the experiences helped me build a closer relationship with the warehouse workers, the drivers and the outside sales reps upon whom I depended.  It also gave me a better understanding of the immense challenges they faced in trying to do their jobs.

Fourth, good counter people build relationships with their customers based on trust and competence.  Professional building product customers look to counter people to organize their supply chain effectively, accurately and consistently.  Customers rely on them to make sure they get the right materials for the job, that those materials are priced appropriately, and that they get to the job site at the right time and in the right condition.  My experience was that our customers held me responsible for the coordination of the supply chain.  I was their first point of contact if something went wrong (For some reason, I rarely heard from them when things went right).

Finally, good counter people depend on reliable vendors.  My darkest moments as an inside sales person came when a vendor was late with a product I had promised to one of my customers.  I therefore did everything in my power to make sure this rarely happened.  I worked exclusively with vendors I could count on, and I let them know that I held them to very high standards of performance when it came to service quality and reliability.  My customers needed to trust me and so I needed to trust my suppliers.

Over the years I have held many different positions in my company.  Today I am Chairman and CEO of Wolf, but I still believe the most important – and quite possibly the hardest – job I ever had was when I served as a counter person in a lumber yard.  Although I don’t hold that position today, I try to make sure that Wolf does everything it can to make the work of the counter people we serve as easy and productive as possible.  To all the counter people, you deserve a high level of service from us and you deserve a high level of praise for what you do.  Let me know what Wolf can do to make your professional lives easier.