Easy hookers, lugged elbows, and Babel Fish— reflections from 8 weeks in a Reece Branch.
It has been an amazing 8 weeks, and I’ll admit to being a little sad that my branch time is over. Due to popular demand, I’ve decided to write this follow-up post to wrap up the entire eight weeks. First though, you can revisit the recap of my first two weeks placement in the Box Hill Plumbing branch.
Since those first two weeks, I’ve gone from completely useless in store, to being (somewhat) useful as a staff member. I’ve gone from focusing on learning the products and systems, to really observing the staff interactions with customers (and each other), and filing away potential opportunities to explore as part of product planning.
I feel like the first few weeks the crew at Box Hill were trying to do their day job while also training me on the fly — I was helping where I could but often just trying not to get in the way.
Jonny said to me numerous times the first few weeks, “You’ve done a mighty fine job of holding down that back counter today Cam. A couple of times I thought it was going to fly off! But not with you leaning on it and holding it down!”… but he didn’t say that at all the last few weeks because…
I finally started adding value
During my last few weeks something magical happened. I started to understand what our customers were asking for, how to enter that need as a search query, and what to look for on the screen! I was actually starting to add *some* value. The crew actually asked me if I could come in early to help handle the morning rush. Short of staff for Saturday, I was able to come in and help pick up the slack. And just as I started to repay the team for all the effort they put into training me… my branch time has ended.
The more you help, the more mistakes you make
Early on, the team was very good at standing on my shoulder to help while I took orders. They were also great at identifying customers who were a little more forgiving of ‘the new guy’. But as my skills and confidence grew, and I started serving more customer by myself, the opportunities to make mistakes increased tenfold. I had to learn strategies to minimise errors, how to react when a mistake was pointed out, and how to work *with* our customers to work out exactly what they need.
I also noticed that I wasn’t the only one making ‘mistakes’… the other staff were just much better at preventing mistakes before they made them, and their strategies to avoid errors were much more advanced. I still have much to learn.
Time in branch is not a research exercise
One for the Product and UX folk… this 8 week stint was not research. It was work. Hard work. I spent time in the business, and learnt a lot about the business and our customers that will hold me in good stead when working on our product initiatives, but this type of deep immersion neither allows for, nor takes the place of, the type of user research needed to make world-class products. There is no time to to ask open ended questions. I don’t have time or permission to peer over shoulders and observe how customers use their workflow tools.
I have though gained a massive appreciation for the day-to-day work our branch staff do, and the accumulated product knowledge they’ve gained. I’ve created relationships with both staff and customers that I’ll codesign with on upcoming projects, and I have a place I can go when I need a dose of customer reality.
I’m not tired, but I have lost weight
On returning to the Reece Support Centre (aka Head Office), a number of folk have commented that I look tired. I’m not tired, but I have lost 7kg, dropped a pant size, and gone in a whole (non-gucci) belt loop! And this is despite having a steady supply of biscuits, hot chocolate, and Kool Mints on hand. It seems that after spending almost my entire working career sitting at a desk, spending a few weeks on my feet and carting boxes around the store has different energy requirements. I’m not sure how to feel about this… none of my pants fit me now though!
Related, and somewhat controversially, I’ve decided that the best biscuit combo is the scotch finger/choc chip packet. Now I know the guys at Box Hill will say the cream biscuit combo is the best, but in this case they’re just wrong.
Write everything down
Answering the phones is a bit like a box of chocolates — you never know what (or who) you are going to get. Dodgy phone lines, customers on job sites with power tools roaring in the background, hands-free calls from cars with windows down. It can sometimes be impossible to hear, and it is always embarrassing to ask a customer to repeat their business name 6 times.
During week 3 Stevie backed me in to answer the incoming calls — “Just answer the phone mate and write down everything you hear, we can work it out from there.”
<phone rings>
Me — “Reece Box Hill, Cameron speaking”
<furiously writing everything down>
Stevie — “You look a bit puzzled Cam, can I help?”
Me — “Yeah, that was Dean* from East Ringwood and he wants the Geoplex tool?”
Stevie — “We don’t have a Geoplex tool mate, do you think he said Duopex?”
Me — “Yeah, that would make more sense.”
Stevie — “And do you think maybe he said he was from ‘Reece Ringwood’ not East Ringwood?”
Me — “Uh, yeah, maybe.”
Stevie — “And there’s no Dean* there mate, do you think it might have been Pete*?”
Me — “Umm…”
So, despite me getting every piece of that message wrong, true to his word Stevie was still able to work it out. And not just this one time, but every time I took a phone order the team could work it out. Write. Everything. You. Hear. Down. Best advice.
Learning slang terms for products
Colloquial product names are still some of the hardest things to learn. About week 3 or 4 I was serving a customer who asked me for a “450 Easy Hooker”. I dutifully typed in the search query exactly as he said it, but all I got back was a page full of Dura Flexible Hoses — not an Easy Hooker in sight.
Me — “Hey team, I’m having a bit of trouble here… can anyone tell me how to find an Easy Hooker?”
<raucous laughter from both team members and customers>
I felt a little like the apprentices who were sent in to the Box Hill branch one day by their boss to buy a “PVC pipe circumference measurement tool”.
For the record, an “Easy Hooker” is the flexible braided hose that connects your appliances to water or gas supply… but in our product catalogue it is listed as a Dura Flexible Hose. I only made that mistake once.
Here’s a few other thoughts and observations
- My phone is now full of product photos, bunks, boxes, and product codes.
- I’ve trashed a pair of shoes, and that polo shirt really needs to be thrown out.
- I still keep bashing my hands on everything — although I have stopped barking my shins on the safety steps in each aisle!
- For the record, I cracked 30 dockets just once (in my last week).
- Illness and (non-work related) injuries seem to be part and parcel of branch life. From memory everyone in the team missed time during my placement due to one or the other… but somehow not me. Not one sick day. I’m absurdly proud of that.
What next?
While my branch time at Box Hill has finished, I’m planning a trip out to Metalflex Boronia, and then will wrap up my first immersion stint with a week at Viadux in Campbellfield. Stay tuned.
