Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 59
Location: Ohio
| Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 1:32 pm Post subject: Team Leader vs Specialist | |
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So I'm at my two day orientation and chatting with everybody at break. The group is talking about some guy who is very weird. Multiple people tried to have conversations with this person but he made no sense. Now I'm interested and have to find out more about this person. Next break, I walk over to talk to this person. The conversation went something like this.
Me: Hi, my name is Jim. I'm going to be the Millworks team leader. Are you as excited about working at Lowes as I am? Weird Person: People....people span the earth. Vast areas contain different groups. Various situations pertain to each group. ***Long pause*** People overcome many hardships and life continues. Me: Ummmm....ok. I like the fact we are opening a brand new store and starting from the ground up. What about you? Weird person: Lowes ***Long pause*** is a company. Many times a river will change direction and pause along the way. Sometimes its best to stop and build a fire while other times its best to camp overnight. Sometimes a canoe works better then a boat but only after you know the current can you make that choice. Me: Ummmm....ok. Hey, breaks over. Better get back to watching those films. It was nice meeting you. ***WHEW*** Back in the building. Sales manager: Hey Jim, did you have a chance to meet your Millworks Specialist? Thats him right over there. Me: Ummmmmmm...we just met. Ok, now I'm dying to know what the relationship is between the team leader and the specialist? How close they work together? HELP!!! |
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Joined: 03 Jun 2008
Posts: 6
| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:33 am Post subject: | |
| In my experience, specialists think they are too good to do basic tasks like put up freight or downstock. The phrase 'it's not my job' gets thrown around a lot with them in that in their minds they are there to sell and nothing more. Technically team leaders are supposed to delegate tasks to everyone in the department, including specialists. Just whether or not those tasks get completed is another story. | |
Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 48
| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 4:10 am Post subject: | |||
in my experience, team leaders are too lasy to do what they are asked. Technically, my boss is my sales mgr, and my job is to sell! if, however, my job to sell means displaying product, then how can I complain? MY job does NOT answer to a dept mgr or a lowly team leader, it answers to the sales mgr, store mgr and DM. And, if there are any issues for POGS I go to the OPS mgr for solutions. 
remember this, sales specialist, your job is to sell! and to the person that is stealing MY sales, yours is due and I'LL get you, one way or another!!!! |
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Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 59
Location: Ohio
| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 4:24 am Post subject: | |
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The more post I read, the more the team leader and specialist seem to be playing a divided role in the same department. This type of friction cant be a good thing. My first day of actual training starts tomorrow morning. Now I'm wondering the following questions.
1. Are each team members roles laid out as far as duties and job task from the get go? 2. I can understand the position of specialist but is this person there from the time the store opens to the time the store closes and 7 days a week? 3. Are the other team members required to sale anything or just hand off each customer to the specialist and spend the day downstocking, freight and keeping everything tidy? Honestly, I know that I will kick azz as far as sales. I'm just that kind of person and have already taken great steps in learning about the entire line of products in the dept. and installatiion. I hate to knock another team member but this guy can't even communicate on a normal level. Serious, if I was a customer, I would run away from this guy. Like everyone said during orientation, this guy is weird. I would assume it would be hard for a specialist to cop an attitude when the other team members pull in a higher sales volume. Plus, if this person turns out to be a problem, couldnt I use those numbers against this person? Now before I go way overboard on this person, I just want to say that I hope everything works out fine. Who knows, for all I know the guy left his meds home that day and that was the cause of his.....ummmm.....weirdness. Heck, maybe customers that buy millwork products at Lowes are just as weird as him and they will be able to relate to each other like kin. 
The reason I asked for a defintion of the roles and duties in advance is to help create a more friendly, successful dept. for each team member and a definite asset for Lowes. Already knowing in advance this person could be a potential problem, I wanted to think the scenario out and have solutions lined up. And just for the record, solutions meaning how we can function as a team knowing his odd personality and not how to get him fired or sent to a different area. |
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Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 59
Location: Ohio
| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 4:32 am Post subject: | |||||
Hey Audiosup, Thanks for joining in the discussion. Can you touch on one, two or all three of the questions I asked? Thanks |
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Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 48
| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:09 am Post subject: | |||
the team lead is there for the asking, the lead is the person to do the every day job of the dept, sales support, display management, cleaning and other things like the audits and weekly inventory counts. specialist hours depend on the department they work in, contractors get there early so building is a must to be in by 7am. Others are not there until 7or 8am and , again depending on the dept, until 7pm or until close. ass kicking depends on if you are stealing the sales or not, if they have talked to someone who has sold them on a product and you take credit you are stealng sales! I am experiencing this as the week goes on and WILL confront this asshole, but thats another story. maybe thats a start? |
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Joined: 02 Jul 2008
Posts: 4
Location: quakertown, pa
| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:49 pm Post subject: first post will be a good one | |
| I have applied to Lowes and then plan on making me a team leader in hardware...no idea how that's gonna be...that's the reason I'm here. I currently work for a cell phone company, I am a full commission salesmen...and to the person complaining about getting your sales stolen, gimmee a break...if "your customer" comes back in on a day your not here and asks the specialist another 10 questions its noit your deal anymore, it wasn't you deal once they left the store you were talking to them in, you didn't close the deal. If you were lucky enough to get some paperwork with there info on what they wanted you might have a fighting chance. I've been in phone sales for about 5 years and what I've learned is you can't be mad at the other salesmen, he is just doing his job. If you made such a connection with the customers they should have known your days to work and would have come in to see you. Correct me if I jump the gun please but that's what I took from it | |
Joined: 23 Jul 2007
Posts: 25
| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:57 pm Post subject: | |
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I just wanted to weigh in on the discussion since I have been a specialist, and a department manager of a specialty department.
Technically, specialists report to the Sales Manager. However, they are still responsible for getting worklists (as issued by Team Leaders and Department Managers) completed. That being said, specialists have a lot of pressure on them. They are responsible for sales, and if they're downstocking doors and throwing freight, they may miss an oppourtunity to push an Installed/SOS sale. Does this mean that specialists will *never* have to help out in the department? No. Sales come straight from the shelves, too, but primarily, the team leaders and CSAs will be responsible for the merchandising aspect of the department. Specialists are responsible for keeping their showrooms dusted/swept/priced, working order management and generally garnering sales. As a team leader, there will be times you are the only person in the department, and thus have to work more in-depth with a customer selling a project. When I was department manager, if I sold a detail or SOS, I put it in one of my specialist's names (depending on who worked that day) and rotated. I know there are some people out there who think that if they spent time with a customer, they should get the credit. If you are aiming to be a specalist, then I could see the point. However, since you are a team leader, I am guessing that your aim is to move up through management, in which case you should focus more on learning the reports and keeping your department downstocked and operating smoothly. There is a lot (sometimes) of follow-up required in selling specialty items, so my advice is to let the specialists work that end of the business. Also, regarding "sales" and the stealing of them...use the Golden Rule. Do unto others...Look at it this way, the customer touched base with a salesperson, spent time picking out doors and windows and set up a detail. In a perfect world, the customer would wait until that person was scheduled before coming in to purchase...but in a time when gas prices are skyrocketing, customers are going to come in when it's convenient for them. Always, always, always put the sale in the person's name who sold the detail. You can't go wrong doing it this way...and everyone should be on the same program. Take care of each other. |
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Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 48
| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:19 am Post subject: Re: first post will be a good one | |||
First off you idiot, learn how to spell. Second, you do not know the system at Lowe's. If I put a quote into the system then comments are required or the quote is deleted or its deleted just to be deleted. We have to pass audits here at Lowe's! As for you being in phone sale, so what! I'm talking thousands of dollars, not $19-$250. If I show an appliance in a particular color during a promotion, customer with an elderly mother leaves to eat dinner, calls me back and I inform her that I can get her a less expensive model quicker and she comes in and tells associate exactly what I've told her and she has asked for me but I'm not there, is that stealing? I believe so. I work on an ethics basis, however, I'm rethinking my stance since this has happened to me twice in the last week and many times since the people I currently work with have come aboard from other stores within my district. And by the way, spending money on appliances is a very BIG deal, that's why they are called MAJOR appliances, people need to sometimes shop around for the best deal. Its not a phone that I can buy at my local Target! |
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Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 48
| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:29 am Post subject: | |||
I agree with the last part but if a TL gave me a worklist I would probably make him/her eat it before I did it. Thats just the culture in my store, it maybe different elsewhere. If you look at the flow charts posted in your training room, or if you had to sit through a career meeting with HR, St MGR and SM, like I had to do last week, you would see that a specialist flows to the SM to OPS to St MGR to Dist MGR. |
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Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 59
Location: Ohio
| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:43 pm Post subject: | |
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Well, yesterday was my actual first day on the job. It was a real eye opener! First of all, I'm training at another store because ours isnt open yet. With so many people going there, the training room cant handle the load. I was told to pretty much just spend the day on the floor and they would get around to actual training room stuff when a space opens.
I was introduced to the millworks team leader who pretty much hates his job. He has been in that position for the last 3 years. Besides the two specialist, he is and has been the only person in millworks. About six months ago, they did hire another millworks person to help him but the kid never showed up. Come to find out, the kid decided he wanted to work in lumber and spent his first week in thet dept. without anybody knowing any different. The manager told the kid that he needed to be in millworks dept. Every 10 minutes the kid would wonder off back to lumber. After a couple weeks of this, the manager gave in and let the kid go to the lumber dept. The millworks desk in this store is pretty much centered in the store. Everybody jokes about it being the "Information" desk and not millworks. I was hoping to get some training in but spent the first few hours being bombarded with customers looking for non-millwork items in others depts. Between customers looking for other products, the phone was ringing off the hook. About 90% of the calls had nothing to do with the millworks dept. According to the team leader, the store motto is "When in doubt, transfer the call to millworks." Anyway, the team leader went to lunch and I was on my own. I was pretty much useless! When he got back, I was told to go to lunch. When I got back from lunch, it was time for the team leader to clock out. Before he left, he introduced me to one of the specialist who would help me. About a minute later the specialist went on his hour lunch. When he got back, he had to go to the front because of some problem. Again, I was left back at the desk feeling pretty much useless. The specialist felt bad because we are suppose to have some type of mobile phone in the dept. but its been broke for a few days. When the specialist came back, it was time for me to go home. I walked into the HR Training room to clock out and the HR lady asked if I learned all about the computer, the dept. products and how to do a SOS order. At first I thought she was kidding. Then she expalined that I better know this stuff right away because I take over the millworks dept at the new store next Monday. Highlights of the day: 1. I was coming back from a break and some customer needed help finding flooring. I handed off the customer to a flooring person who told me it was time for them to clock out and they needed to go. I then handed off the customer to a specialist in the area who told me they had something important going on and didnt have the time. If the customer could wait about 20 minutes, they would be back. It took about 30 minutes but I did find and select a new floor for the customer and even did a few of those add on sales. 2. I was introduced to one of the two specialist in the millworks dept. The one millworks specialist is a real go getter and does everything and anything to make the dept look, run and operate smoothly. Both the team leader and the specialist warned me that the other specialist is pretty much complete opposite and wouldnt empty a garbage can even if his life depended on it. From what I was told by a few people, you can get a specialist who is part of the dept. or you can get the opposite. I'm hoping the specialist in the new store will be part of the dept. because the work enviorment seems to be much nicer when everyone works as a team and not an individual. 3. I was told by many people that the store I was training at is a complete mess. Our new store in a smaller community will be like night and day. I'm hoping they are right! |
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Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 59
Location: Ohio
| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 12:13 pm Post subject: | |
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Day two! Think it went a little better. I actually knew where a few items were located. Had one upset customer because he came in to sign his SOS paperwork after they measured and the specialist was gone on lunch and nobody could find it. The specialist had it in his hand and went to help another customer that morning. Guess he had a brain fart because he sat it down in the ceiling tile area and forget about it I smoothed that over and had the guy and his wife joking and laughing by the time it was all over.
Had to top stock some doors. Arghh....maybe its just me but doing it with a ladder by yourself seems a little extreme. The team leader stated we were lucky to even get a ladder right away because most of them are busted at this store. They did find me a used utlility knife! They are also a hard to come by commodity at this store. Suppose to be a special day today. They are doing a door reset! Was suppose to happen for the last three weeks but its FOR REAL going to happen today. Well....according to manager anyway. One specialist said he would help if possible. The other smirked and walked away. Guessing that means he will be buried in paperwork. |
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Joined: 03 Jun 2008
Posts: 6
| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 2:57 pm Post subject: | |||
Typical 'holier than thou' specialist way of thinking. |
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Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 5
| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:51 pm Post subject: | |
| Specialists need to get off their high horses and realize they are part of the team. If they want the products on the shelf and for us to pass of sales to them, or take the time to take care of their SOS orders, then they need to jump in and give us a little helpt oo | |
Joined: 19 Oct 2003
Posts: 2562
| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 10:01 pm Post subject: | |||
Have your installed sales office set a file by alphabet and keep a copy of all details that come in, keep for a year. as the details come in file it by last name with the most recent in the back of each file. when you need to clean it out and update just go through each letter and pull whats over 12 months old. You don't know how many times I had people coming back to my installed sales office looking for a copy of a detail. DO IT! |
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Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 59
Location: Ohio
| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:54 am Post subject: | |
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Day three is over....WHEW!!! Honestly, I don't even know where to start. My Lowes experience was terrible. I walked in the store ready to rock and roll from the start. First thing, the team leader (and only person in millworks and the person supposdly training me) didn't come in. I don't get it! The guy misses every other day, takes 2-3 hours lunches, leaves after working half a day and still has a job. According to him, he has some medical issue and he can pretty much come and go as he pleases. Of course, It's my luck to get someone like that to train me. Arghh!
The crew did arrive today to do a reset on all the doors. They assured they would take care of everything and leave the place sparkling after. Of course they left early and the entire millworks area is a total disaster. Pallets of doors are over the place, doors stacked up against commonly sold products ect. Heck, they didnt even bother to pick up the garbage. The two specialist arrived around noon and buried themself in paperwork. I was then called in to do some e-training and get certified or something on a forklift. I was shocked to find out that I wasn't the only person being trained for the new store that basically had no training so far. Even worse, I wasn't the only person being so called trained without even a person in that dept to train you. This one girl being trained for the new store in hardware was almost in tears. She had been out there half the day by herself in the dept and pretty much felt worthless because she couldnt answer any customer questions. Guess the customers were beating up on her pretty bad. Same goes for a few other newbies left in dept's alone and by themself. I had about 10 minutes left before clocking out after getting forklift certified. I remembered there was a bad shelf in millworks so I figured I would fix it real fast. I hunted down some tools and went to fix the shelf. I finished and went to let the two specialist know that it was done and that I was clocking out. Where the heck are are they? Ok, there is a note. Wow, they both went to lunch at the same time! Just about then, two customers walked up. One said they were looking for something in hardware and another one needed something in paint. Ok, I'll do my best and take them there. Of course I'm hoping to hand them off to someone who works in those departments. I get there and both have maybe half dozen other customers waiting for ANYONE to help them. Of course no workers are to be found. Then I hear some guy cussing really loud. I start pushing customer waiting buttons all over the place and go down to the cussing customer. Him and two other customers have been waiting for 20 minutes for someone to make them keys. I try to calm him down and push more customer waiting buttons. By then I'm being converged on like flies on.....well you know. I start paging help in all the areas and then page for the MOD. By then the customer waiting page is going off in millworks. I took a fast sprint down about 20 aisles and not a single worker was even around and all the cutomer waiting pages still going off. Absolute zero coverage in any of the areas! After listening to about half dozen insults telling me why Lowes sucks so bad, the two specialist came wondering back from lunch. 45 minutes later, I was able to finally clock out. Part of the reason why I loved working at Lowes was because of the so called Lowes experience. It doesn't just affect the customers but the employees. There is great joy when a customer walks in, finds what he wants, thanks you for your help and leaves with a smile. Its almost like you made a friend and that friend is going to return because he knows your there and you care. I get pumped listening to everyones stories, making jokes and small talk all day. The day passes fast and you feel good about what your doing. Its almost a joke to call the job work. My Lowes experience today was a complete downer. How in the heck can they run an operation like that? I guess I'm not the only newbie speaking up about this issue because the new store manager wants most of the new store crew out of that store tomorrow. Wants to have a big meeting at the new store. I'm willing to bet it has a lot to do with the operation of this store we are training in. Not only the way the store is being run but the poor attitude and work ethic of the employees. I know our Lowes in a smaller community will never be like this store. Us small town folks have a close knit community and we have a lot of pride. Where as the workers at the other store could care less about their jobs, we are honored to have Lowes set up in our little city. |
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Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 59
Location: Ohio
| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:07 am Post subject: | |
| I thought I might add, you should have seen how upset the two specialist were about spending 45 minutes helping all the other people in different departments! | |
Joined: 23 Jul 2007
Posts: 25
| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:52 pm Post subject: | |||||||||||
A reset crew must be signed out by a senior manager or they don't get paid. What I would do is find out who the hell signed them out (if anyone) and then call the company. If you don't feel comfortable, give it to the team leader (if he ever shows up again) or the zone manager.
Have you spoken to your HR, or the store's HR? This is exactly why people quit. They get frustrated because they haven't been trained and get beat up by the customers. We had a new store open up last year, and their people came to train at our store. They were always, always, always paired with another associate in the department to ensure that they weren't left alone. Now, I guess they can't help it if the team leader you're training with never shows up...is there another store in the area you could be sent to? I urge you to bring these concerns to your HR immediately before people start quitting before they've even had a chance to work in their own store.
If both specialists are at lunch...who the hell is selling? This is again something I would bring to the attention of management. It's obvious there's no accountability in the store and people are allowed to do whatever they feel like, but you (and your fellow trainees) are the ones who are suffering.
I understand your position, but it is the golden rule that you do not, under any circumstances, hit the call buttons. I understand you were overwhelmed and couldn't find anyone and probably didn't know what else to do, but this is a big no-no. I don't know how other stores are run, but if you hear a call button go off, even in a neighboring department, you are to go hit that button as soon as you hear it, and then try to track down someone in the department. Is it frustrating? Heck yes. But look at it from the customer's perspective, they hit a button and wait, and wait, and wait, and no one comes. If you go to cut it off, they see that someone in a red vest is trying to help, and while some customer's will still raise hell because they're just angry at the universe, most will be satisfied that you are trying to help. You ended up doing the right thing by calling the MOD and alerting him/her to the situation.
Some stores are crap...like everything else in the world. I've seen this happen to a lot of good, hard workers. They try their best and have to carry the rest of the slackers in their department until eventually they get burnt-out and either quit, or become disengaged like everyone else. The management team really sets the tone. Accountability is a huge factor in keeping morale up. I'm sorry you're working in such a sucky environment right now, but keep your eyes on the prize and realize that this is only temporary and soon you'll be in your own store. 
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