Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 59
Location: Ohio
| Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:09 pm Post subject: New millworks team leader...any advice or tips? | |
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Hi,
New to this forum and Lowes. New local store opening around the corner and I was offered the position of team leader in the millworks dept. I live in a rural area and the economy has been terrible so my family and I are very excited about being offered any job at all! Not wanting to sound stupid, I just eagerly agreed. I'm hoping someone can toss me any advice, job description, task or any heads up info about this position or dept. Is there something I can study or learn that might help me perform my job better while I'm waiting for the store to open? Any and all advice, feedback, tips would be 100% welcomed!!! Thanks in advance, Jim 
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Joined: 15 May 2005
Posts: 55
Location: Georgia
| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:32 am Post subject: | |
| Are you going to be involved with the set up of the store? I went thru that with our store and tel you the truth, it kinda instills a little satisfaction in you knowing you help set things up. Good luck and welcome to Lowes. | |
Joined: 19 Oct 2003
Posts: 2562
| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:52 am Post subject: | |||
Yhea, Study DOS and the Lenox computer system! 
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Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 59
Location: Ohio
| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:31 am Post subject: | |
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My orientation starts next week. To be honest, I'm really excited. I have a buddy who was hired PT and he started his orientation this week. Of course I had to call and find out as many details as possible. He said the construction crew will hand over the keys to the brand new building July 7. Many of the new hires will be sent to various Lowes for training. He was told that he would be involved with the set up of the new store. I agree that its kind of special to be involved from the start up. Have to keep my fingers crossed and hope I get that opportunity.
My buddy said the orientation hasn't been that helpful so far as his actual job task goes. A lot of it's HR folks having everyone fill out forms and safety stuff. Guess a lot has to get done after a mass hire for a new store. I'm still wondering what a team leader in millworks job task and duties include. Wondering if I will be able to interact a lot with customers or will I be assigned to other task. What type of products does the millworks dept sale? Is it considered a decent dept to work at compared to the others? Of course this cool forum has opened the door for many other questions such as what the heck is the "100 days of hell?" I have a brand new Lowes store hat from about 12 years ago. Wonder if it's allowed to be worn at work...ha ha Thanks for all the info so far and thanks for the welcome.....please keep it coming! |
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Joined: 04 Oct 2006
Posts: 44
| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:49 am Post subject: | |
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Millwork deals with doors and windows. I can ask the team leader at my old store the majority of his duties.
100 days of hell deals with the spring time when the rush is on to fix up the house. |
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Joined: 19 Oct 2003
Posts: 2562
| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:01 pm Post subject: | |
| Get used to the term Refund Rebill! | |
Joined: 16 Jun 2008
Posts: 10
| Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:56 pm Post subject: | |
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Congrats on the new job. Here's a few things to remember. I've been in Millwork for almost three years, most of the time in a department with no Team Lead, which leaves me, the regular CSA with the responsibility of the Team Leads duties.
-Make the order picker and Star Wars your friend. You'll use them. -Learn how to do a special order, and an installed sale soon after you start because odds are you'll have to process one during the time you're the only one in the store. -Don't start going to church regularly -know the difference between a nail fin, J-channel, and replacement frame for the different windows you can order -Don't order exterior door slabs. Always do pre-hung and push pre-hung doors because customers tend to be idiots when it comes to measure door bore locations. Our installers' labor is more on slab installs anyway. Some companies only deduct $5 for removing the frame. It's not worth the extra work/liability for incorrect fitting, etc. I don't even imply that it's an option. It's not that difficult to paint the new frame and new trim. Sometimes you HAVE to because the door is only primed and ready for paint. -Most storm doors in stock will be 36". Double check for 32" if a customer needs it before you say, "yeah I'm sure we have it." because if you don't the customer will demand the SOS door for the in stock price, and you'll lose the commission. -Also double check about Satin Nickel hardware for storm doors because it's popular here and I have VERY few doors with Satin nickel. Actually it's just two out of the 16 or so that I stock. May be different in your area. -You are not obligated to help Lumber, but the higher ups will appreciate it. -2 3/8" backset for homes. 2 3/4" backset for Commercial doors. This is the distance from center of door bore to side edge of door slab. -4 9/16" frame means framing with 2x4. 6 9/16" means 2x6 framing. If this is french to you, you'll figure it out when you go to order a door. If you know what stuff like this means, then you're already well ahead of the curve. PM me if you have any other questions. I was team leader for about two months also so I kind of know how the department works. I haven't had a special order come back due to salesman error in almost two years, just customer changed minds, installer broke window, etc. PS - someone said to get used to refund/rebills. You should if you have to correct an order that you did, and only you. If a specialist tells you to refund/rebill one of their orders, you tell them that you will put your sales number in the rebill because you're taking the time to do it. They won't bother you again with it. I was very militant in not doing the specialists job without due credit. |
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Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 48
| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:23 am Post subject: | |
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[ PS - someone said to get used to refund/rebills. You should if you have to correct an order that you did, and only you. If a specialist tells you to refund/rebill one of their orders, you tell them that you will put your sales number in the rebill because you're taking the time to do it. They won't bother you again with it. I was very militant in not doing the specialists job without due credit.[/quote]
However, if a specialist is not there and the refund rebill is not his/her fault, do the right thing and give the rebill to the original salesman.  There are waay too many people at Lowe's who are there only for themselves and if they see you have done it for them they will most likely do it for you. And if they donot, fight fire with fire. 
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Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 59
Location: Ohio
| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:44 pm Post subject: | |
| Wow....thanks for all the help!!! Lots of advice and tips to keep me busy. Keep the info rolling in! | |
Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 59
Location: Ohio
| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:53 pm Post subject: | |
| Somebody was telling me about a Lowes Millwork training book. Has anybody completed that? According to one of the managers I talked with after day one of my orientation, I'm going to be bombarded with info over the next couple months. Wondering if anyone has been through that and if they felt fully prepared? Couple managers said dont worry about it, I will do fine. In fact, both said they worked in Millworks from the get go and still couldnt cut a piece of glass without chipping it. I think the comment made me more scared then confident...lol | |