$500 Gucci belts, 88° bends, and cut hands — reflecting on my first fortnight in a Reece branch
My first fortnight in the Reece Box Hill branch has come to a close. It has been a bit of a whirlwind if I’m honest, and I’m not quite sure where all the time has gone. I thought it might be a good idea to jot down a few things that have stuck in my mind…
(Before I do though, a massive thanks to the crew at Box Hill for making me feel welcome from day one, for finding all sorts of ways to keep me busy, and for pushing me outside my comfort zone (aka “That phone ain’t gonna answer itself Cam”). I’ve already learnt heaps and know there’s a long way to go.
First impressions — it is bloody freezing in-branch.
I arrived (early) on day one in my brand new probationary gear — a spiffy Reece check shirt (at least one size too big), my sleeveless knit vest, and my Reece issued polyester pants. I immediately turned a beautiful shade of Reece blue.
Luckily the crew back at the RSC (Reece Support Centre, aka home office) swung into gear and had me a softshell jacket for day two and the guys in branch gifted me a beanie to keep my bald pate warm. Day two was much more comfortable.
The Reece Way — Create customers for life
The customer service culture described to me during the interview process was one of the big reasons I joined the company. As a UX Designer, I’m curious to see what happens when you take a true customer-first culture and add UX people and processes into the mix. While I thought I had a handle on how important this is to Reece, nothing prepared me for the level of service provided in branch.
Customers wander in and rarely have to wait to be served, they grab a coffee, some biscuits, use the bathroom, and maybe even raid the secret stash of staff lollies in the manager’s office. Many of them are greeted by name and staff know which company they work for, the big jobs they are working on, and what addresses they are working at. Time permitting, the more regular customers might be asked about their kids, dog, footy team — all while staff plug away at other tasks. Nothing is too hard for these guys.
Understand your customers. Build relationships so you can solve their problems. Create remarkable experiences. Become their partners so they are as loyal to us as we are to them. #createcustomersforlife
Something missing from your order? We’ll get it out to you right away.
No part in stock? We’ll “rat” it out of a kit if we can.
Not stocked at our branch? We’ll tell you where it can be found and work out the best way for you to get it in your hands.
Got an old part or an overseas product that needs fixing? We’ll see what we’ve got that might work.
Can’t describe exactly what you need? Come out the back with me and have a look at what we’ve got that might suit.
Serving five customers and three phones ringing? Someone will stay say g’day to the person who just walked in the door.
What’s our motto boys? Customer service!
Try not to blush — some Product naming conventions are a little ‘colourful’
In the plumbing world, each half of a pair of mating connectors is conventionally assigned the designation male or female. The “female” connector is generally a receptacle that receives and holds the “male” connector.
There’s a whole bunch of other regularly used terms that make me feel a little uncomfortable, including china hats, nipples, & male and female connectors (and some others I just can’t even bring myself to type).
Me — “Hey Johnny, how do I know which one of these is male/male and which is female/female?”
Johnny — “Well Cam, I think you’re old enough for the talk, so step into my office and let me explain to you about the birds and the bees.”
Learning a whole new language — with regional dialects
The words that come out of the customers’ mouths are very rarely what the staff type into the computer. The words (or pneumonics) typed into the computer very rarely match the product names that appear on screen. And just when you start to think you’ve worked the pneumonics out, you start to run into all the exceptions. Our staff are constantly translating what they hear into what they know they can type to bring up the product they need to select, and different customers will call the exact same product by a multitude of different names.
And the new language doesn’t stop with just customer-speak, it also applies to the conversations happening between staff in store and across branches.
Here’s an approximation of a phone conversation I had week 2…
<phone rings>
Me answering phone — “Reece Box Hill, Cam speaking”
“G’day Cam, it’s Bob* from Croydon* I’m going to f7 you a job for one of our customers that needs to be delivered today.”
Me — “Ah, OK. No problem.”
<awkward silence>
Bob — “Can you give me a number?”
Me — “I’m sorry, what number do you need?”
Bob — “Would 90 be OK?”
Me — “I’m sorry Bob, 90 what?”
Bob — “90 minutes, do you think you can get it there in 90 minutes?”
*name and branch changed to protect me
You need to be very precise — except when you don’t need to be
Sometimes an 88° bend is actually 90°, sometimes 88° is 85°, and sometimes 88° is really 88°. Similarly, sometimes a half inch is 15mm, sometimes half inch is 16mm, but an inch is always 25mm.
Sometimes the precision required comes from the customer — if they specifically ask for an 88° bend, then that’s what they want. Other times this precision comes from our own systems — if you want to find some 88° products, you must type 90 or you’ll get no results.
Some other things I’ve learnt this fortnight
— how to do a product query to find out where to put stock
— (roughly) which shelves everything goes on
— how to stock shelves
— how to receipt goods
— how to do product credits
— how to order custom flashing
— why you wear gloves
— where the band-aids are kept
— we sell a bath plug worth $150 — and people buy it!
— Gucci makes a belt that sells for more than $500
— vape comes in strawberry milk flavour
Looking forward to a weekend full of sitting down, then charging back into the branch bright and early Monday morning. If you’re in the area, drop in and say g’day.
