PeteB

Caz home soon after 04:30 and telling me stories of the weird people on her shift! She gone again for another 16:30-04:30, so on my own again! She was with some people in a gate house last night and what a mixed up set of folk! One chap has three cars, which he cleans fastidiously, with more attention to them than he pays to his wife, another who was a councillor until his laptop was discovered to have an adult film left in the slot while he was at work and another who admits to being fixated with online gaming and he and his wife build empires online or are at work! And the last fellow confessed to have his wife pose like 'other models' around the house while he photographs her for his private collection......Makes my life seem very tame and lame! I had a chiro appointment and then a day of office work and sorting issues over the phone. I think that I must have been on the phone for over 4 hours today.....We also got a sales meeting next week so had to read the last minutes and start to write up my notes for this one as I will not have much desk time between now and then. We also do a company magazine for four times in a year and they wanted some stories from me for that. Our PR/Press people also want stories and pictures all the time and all of that starts to encroach on my Sales time. One of the other things that I started to give some thought and organisation too is this business of Key Accounts management - now mine, whereas we let a couple of our dealers have that before. I got a short list of ten firms that I need to get about, with perhaps four or five visits to each participating depot per year - that will spread me even thinner than I am now and mean that, potentially, I can be south of London, West of Exeter, Inverness and many points in between in a week! Cold Ham, chips and salad for tea, and promptly in bed as I have to be in Bishop Auckland for 09:00.

barge

Pretty tough day here. Up at a reasonable time and done my expenses to start the day off! Why is it that I try to keep all the receipts but there always seem to be a few missing. Search high and low to no avail. Then, they turn up when I'm doing the next load! Bizarrely found a handful from last December that the office will be glad of! After a few frustrating calls about the week ahead, I go off to collect a demo unit from a customer, we had agreed last week that I'd collect it from his yard in Beeston, Nottingham. Frustratingly, despite him and his manager telling the de-veg unit to pull it off a Railway job at the weekend, they didn't and denied all knowledge! It was tentatively booked for another demo on Thursday and failing that, the factory wanted it as my colleague is showing some other people about machinery. Not only did they 'forget', but they aren't supposed to move machinery off site until Saturday night! 'Cat in't pidgeons Yoof!' The company then scattered about the countryside with six sites on the go - mainly night work, so I was left in limbo. As it transpires, the lad who wanted the demo has got some bother so that is off and I could do with some desk time to plan a rook of deliveries that I got earmarked for me to do and we have a sales meeting which needs some prep work! I hope Caz managed to catch a nap this aft, she is on the 12 hour night shift patch this week - 16:30-04:30. She will crawl into bed at 5:30 when I start to wake up! It seems that Tom's plans to pep up a Subaru engine on the cheap aren't going according to plan. The outfit who agreed to do it now quote a 10 week lead time and several others are too busy to do it themselves. I've suggested that he gets it cleaned and does it himself! Not rocket science, just care and attention with some elbow grease and a decent way of measuring stuff. He acquired some 'belting conrods and pistons out a mates racer', and would need new rings and barrels to suit but I see nowt wrong in having a go! It spun a rod shell at some point so inspection and new shells and away! It ain't an F1 car!!! Sausage n mash for tea, I'll do plenty so she can have them tomorrow without much bother! This week, we will only see each other for an hour a day. We will have the weekend together and she is off next week and will stay at hers so it will be lonely!

We came up to North Nottingham on saturday morning and after a quick stop at Wood Lane, we piled the kids in the car and went to view the new house. Sweet terrraced house wi=hich has recently been done up. Short walk along the canal to Retford town centre and the shops. Caz has visions of us going for a few drinks in town and walking home.Shame that the canal path seems to be the local dogs toilet - well, I presume that is dogs! I'm a dog lover but I dislike the attitude that dog muck is okay just left..... We all went out for a few drinks and a supper to celebrate the birthday of Caz's mum. We then got talked into going to another pub which had a band playing. We drank, a lot, and had a glass of wine when we got home. Caz is feeling very subdued and I feel tired. Got to be done every now and then though! Beef dinner tonight, Caz's Dad is away to help take down a stand at some shooting show in the NEC and one of the kids is not coming either so it will be a quite affair. Dog walk todat was good. Until he ran off to meet a short haired colly which has anxiety issues and wanted to fight! !Removed! animals....lovely weather for this time of year too.

Happy New Year to you too! I try to give a daily update into the life of a machinery sales rep! Some full moments but the rest is full on and frantic at times!

Regrettably, another day of frustration and screw ups! Caz away on her 12 hour shift and she has now got a couple of days off, shame she is too knackered to do much! I set out early with a little chipper that I was told that was needed back at the factory. I got filming today and hopefully all goes well. But it didn't! The spot that we used last time was too bright, somewhere else was too dank and dark, another spot had been 'tidied up' with someone in a telehandler and they got it stuck! They wrecked the bonnet and damaged the engine in trying to get it out too! I borrow the local Estate Sawmill's key to a quite spot in the woods a couple of miles away and bingo! The job gets done in magic time! Right impressed! The camera man and I set off to grab lunch and get the next unit, only to find that it had been robbed for a couple of parts and 'our time' was binned! Sweet of them, they forget that when a salesman is doing filming, he isn't selling. So now I have to give up more time to do this necessary job that takes me away from sales..... I then get into a couple of conversations as to why this little chipper was needed and it transpires that my colleague is doing some sales training with a couple of his dealers and has booked every machine we have - despite that fact that they only need to see one going and then pour over new machines to understand the features and benefits of the range. Oddly, he has not booked a turntable machine! Anyhow, he will be disappointed as I got a demo booked in and that includes using the flagship model....I despair at his shenanigans - he thinks that we are blind but unfortunately, I think that I'll end up trying to have that 'career development' conversation soon. He is even trying to get this machine launch delayed as he admitted that he does the lambing nightshift of r a busy sheep farm on The Gower Peninsula, and they are due to lamb in May.

Perth to Alcester via Kinross is a trip! All at 60mph too! Towing best part of 3000kgs has a way of burning fuel too! Set out from Perth close to 9am after an hour of emails. Stopped at Kinross to buy more adblue and use the dealers jet wash. That chipper was embarrassing! Too dirty! I'll be having words with that customer! I stopped at the delightful Tebay Services coming down Shap for a tachometer break lunch and made very good time up to getting to the M42! Dropped the trailer at the factory and turned around and went to Shepshed, getting there just before 8! Gave Caz her card etc and that was today! From the amount of calls etc, we are getting into a busy patch again!

Airport

Birmingham

The end of a tiring, frustrating and annoying long day! Left the hotel at 08:10 for the 17 mile drive into Redford Barracks in Edinburgh which took 45 minutes! The bypass is as bad as the M25! Met the dealer rep and the potential customer. Ryan is leaving the Army to join the Reserves for two days a week while taking up tree work for the other three. Decent chap. I feel pretty awful as the demo unit is a disgrace, the paint is shocking and a previous demo had it rolled on it's side. For some reason, the service manager's decision to strip and rebuild was overuled as it was a cost issue!?! As a consequence, we have an unimpressive looking demo unit. We get the two off the trailer and I set about my speel. Ryan wants to feel how it goes behind his new 4x4 ARB truck. The body builders had made two mistakes in that the body was low slung and then impossible to hitch the chipper on it. Out come the spanners and I had to drop the hitch to make room. They had also fitted a seven pin plug when a 13 pin is standard fit on all trailer plugs!!! Good job I keep an adaptor. We have a drive around the outskirts of Edinburgh! Next comes the trial. All goes well until we get a tad over ambitious and stall it! Out come the spanners again. Not a good way to demo stuff. Baring a haggle over price the deal is done, brilliant! Then to load it all back on the trailer, the control lead is too short and I look a Pratt, getting the second one is a disaster, before the wheels are on the ramp the battery pack for the winch dies! I have nothing but a ratchet strap to winch it on! I feel really unprofessional in front of the customer and his dealer! Get it sorted and away! Next is a quick dealer principal meeting which confirmed their commitment, ace! The next job is a rescue/swap scheduled to be at Gordonstoun School up by Lossiemouth, some four hours drive! I'll be late and he cannot hang about as he has an evening appointment that he cannot break. He agrees to leave it elsewhere. I forget what PITA the A9 can be coupled with the cross country road from Aviemore. Stunning scenery but slow at times. Anyhow, I swap it for a loaner a bade my farewell. While I feel for him as the return is due to warranty issues that we singularly failed to address through the dealer, but his chipper is a disgrace, he hasn't cleaned it in a year and it is battered and dented! I'll struggle to defend him! The drive back from Elgin to Perth seemed to take forever! I got here at 19:50. Drained, cross, frustrated! I had to put up with a call from the colleague who is the triumph of ambition over ability, he wanted to explain why he only 25k out of his tyres after he found out that I was put out at only getting 38k! Apparently, it is an issue with a trailer that he tows yet he couldn't answer why it happened later on mine and I tow more than him! Then he starts to tell me how brilliant his day has been as he has sold a dealers demo unit from him, but is for a lot less than the lad wanted for it! I am also reminded that has driven further than me this week and he hasn't had time to see anyone important as he has too busy getting there and back!!!! I despair! Caz lonely at home, but she confessed to having a walk/talk with younger workmate. Poor girl, mid-twenties, rented house, BMW, etc, is over £25k in debt! Yes, I'm in debt with a mortgage but that is it! She admitted that she borrowed money to buy stuff as she was unhappy with her life and people queued up to justify her borrowing from them! Crazy!!! That's all folks, shattered and time for bed!

Award

do

Caz away early, I woke up to say goodbye as I'm away myself until Thursday night. I got up in good time and drove the truck and the 16 foot trailer over to Coalville to the Chirporactor. It is a thing to try and park at the best of times so had an early morning walk to his office having had to park several streets away! Treatment ongoing and he still can feel some tension in the muscles and it can be quite sore at times. Once that was done, I had a few emails to do and a quick email search revealed that a competitive make is flogging a german made machine direct from their factory - it begs the question, did they buy it to copy it or at least see how it works? We don't tend to buy but beg, borrow or rent them! This model would make us think that they want to get into a market that we are in and also are feeling the strain against another UK made, but German copy, unit. Once those jobs were done, then pack a back, fold up my laptop, fit the tacho card in the truck and head north. I just not arrived in a Premier Inn in Lanarkshire ahead of tomorrow's demonstration. In real terms, the dealer should have one of these and should have been capable of doing it himself. But, by doing it, I can prove that they should have one and hopefully, sell a couple. I ought really to have a chase around the key account people too but I want to be home in reasonable time on Valentine's day - with garage flowers and crumpled card! I phoned the card dispute team about the ongoing saga of the lemon Q7. I really am not a fan of call centres with staff whose English is not good to be honest. I got through to the 'Difficult Dispute Card Transaction' team who have been handling this with some priority for some 8 weeks! No one seems to have an idea on how long it will take to get to their resolution. But I think I may end up paying a UK solicitor as this lot seem to be a shower of stuff! These call centres seem to be full of people who will 'personally take up your case', 'next time you ring, tell them that you are under the care of Karteek/Steve/Rashid/Richard and they will transfer you.....', 'Mr Bigguley/Barggily/ Buggerly/Mr Peter, we will contact you with the good news in two days!'...blah blah blah..... The diary is going fairly mad now with requests for demo or help from all directions - that will look good in my report for the upcoming sales meeting but it will not be long before Caz and myself will have a break in Egypt! It'll be manic when that happens!

Punch

Away in good time today to get to the office for filming. These are instructional videos on the safe use and correct maintenance of our wood chippers. They get emailed out to users, dealers and translated into different languages too. They get used in our Social Media campaigns as well as put up on YouTube for all to see. When you sell machines pretty well world wide then it is a good tool to have - visual will often take the place of the written word. We do videos that are purely promotional on models etc, some to promote the factory and there was one done which just pictured different members of the work force under the banner 'Proud People' which had a way of making them feel part of the team too. Today was two different models in the same category and to be honest, I was struggling with stuff this morning and kept on fluffing things up! I forgot what things were called, fluffed lines and even dropped things! We got it done in the end apart from some voice over stuff which we will do later. Friday is another couple of models too. I then had to load two towed units on a trailer - someone lost the remote to the winch lately so that was replaced by a cabled switch. But, in true style, that fitter has fitted one with a cable which only reaches half way down the bed! So, if you are trying to guide something onto the trailer like a vehicle or towed machine on bumpy ground or lift the tow bar up the ramp - it cannot be done! He also left the open plug dangling in a spot which picks up all the salt spray of the towing vehicle and put the toggle switch in the box full of wet and salty straps that 'sweat' everywhere! I would struggle to warrant paying that lad! He has recently had to service all the trailers and that means the brakes need re-adjusting as the brakes come on tight when reversing, and the last time he did the service, I lost a wheel on the M6! Caz is driving across from hers after she has seen her family and she will be in bed early for her early shift pattern again. The factory is holding an educational day for all employees on March 26th. We do this every now an then as it helps the staff understand what we make and why we make it! I usually get a couple of competitors machines for comparison and they are all invited to 'buy in' to the day to get a feel of our existence and what the sales people have to do to get the sale! Hopefully, it helps them, the team, to up their game and up the quality and reduce the foobars that need rectification. This year, they will have to do without me as Caz and I will be on holiday. They will have to make do with my colleague from the south - but I'm not sure that he can 'sell' the thing to staff as he has a way of demoralising people rather than motivating them. There is an awful lot of 'selling yourself' in any role at times, I was on the factory floor and the people can weigh up the sales force so you cannot lie to them - but you can 'hide' things. For instance, if you walk fast, they thing you are busy, if they don't see you, they thing that you are busy! If you always hang about the factory than they know that you aren't in your territory selling stuff. If you walk slowly, they don't think you have things on the go and ask the despatch people how many deliveries they have in your area! Unfortunately, they know he moved to on far corner of his area, he always appears at the factory and spends a few hours talking to people and they know........

deceased

After a short lie in, we breakfasted and set out for North Nottinghamshire in two cars as Caz is staying there tonight where as I am back in Shepshed. We took a half leg of lamb for a supper contribution and a Poinsettia plant that I got to grow from a cutting which has already got the top level of leafs going red - Caz's Mum is enthralled by it so it is hers.....She just has to remember to keep it stood in water. The dog was happy to see us, nice animal and I wished in a way that I saw more of him! Caz's daughter was tired after a couple of late nights so a little angry. Caz's son disappeared early afternoon to spend some time with his Dad, I think Dad's relationship is a tad rocky at the moment! We got to watch the 6 Nations - what a match! A couple of dubious decisions in my book but hey, a win of that magnitude shows that we are doing well. It would be good to get the same sort of result against the Welsh! Caz's Dad has done very well in life to provide for his three children having had all three go to Uni, and then monetary gifts to help buy houses etc. He has also seen that the 6 grandchildren have a start too. But, he can be a grumpy, rude and demanding sort who gets up my nose at times. He was starting to sort out firewood when we arrived back from a trip to Morrison and ignored us when we arrived - just walked in front of the car pushing a barrow. I opened the day and said 'Hi' blah blah. He never even said 'Hello' back....just asked why we hadn't cooked the lamb before we got there! Five minutes later, I went out to fill our barrow with logs and he just said 'leave it there - I don't want you having those logs out of the shed, I'll fill your barrow with old pallet wood'. He knows that I've spent a lifetime in timber and know how crap pallets are on a fire! - I say 'thankyou', leave the barrow and walk away! It is now wonder that Caz find's the place claustrophobic and feels the need to get away. Everytime you start to do something, he has to have an opinion, a say in how it is done and then sits there and watches others do it instead! He got given a Blue Cedar as a present and has already picked who is going to dig the hole, who is going to hold the tree and who is going to fill the hole! All while he stands there and directs. The dead Corsa, which needs an ECU, has already become a feed store for his chicken and geese! Despite me saying that I'll buy and ECU, get it running and sell it to recoup the loss - he starts filling it with his tut, knowing that it gets up my nose! And putting the feed in there is no better for him as he has to walk two sides of a triangle to get the feed instead of walking by the feed dustbin that he has used for years! Back home now and after a bit of box, I'll be away to bed with a stiff back..

Caz away up at 03:00. I snored through the night in a wine induced slumber! I gto up at 8:30 to start the routine of jobs etc. Back still hurts so not as productive as I would have liked....I would have loved to have got busy doing man stuff in the garage etc but was drained after the housework! Managed to spend a little time and thought on her old Focus - I fitted a clutch to it a while back and was going to gift to my daughter. She doesn't seem motivated to get a licence so it has sat there. After I fitted the clutch, it started, ran but then stopped and refuses to start again. A quick bit of simple stuff makes me think that, for whatever reason, the fuel is not getting to the engine. The interia switch is down, and fuses seem okay so the next thing to do is check the relay then onto the fuel pump. The pump is in the tank which is an awkward spot! Hey ho....for another day when the back doesn't protest. Simple house work and an empty washing bin makes the back hurt so I'm glad that the 6 Nations is on, an excuse to do nowt! Scotland did well against a better team, and Wales are currently beating Italy - I feel that they may get the Wooden Spoon! I was also doing a spot of ebay dreaming - what shall I get once i got rid of the diesel Corsa with a knackered ECU, the dead Focus and Sweet Sixteen! Even that needs a few days work, some tyres and possibly a few other bits. The front tyres are easy enough and nowt special but the backs are something like 295/60/15 and that rubber will be dear! Caz came home at 17:00 looking and feeling shattered so is bed for a bit. Her next shift is early Tuesday. So she/we can have a drink tonight - and a lie in tomorrow.

I took on board what an AA man advised, keep your keys in a steel box or deep bowl at the back of the house. But then, if the thieves are that bent on having it, they will take it! These sub-human people work/live to a different set of values and there is no real punishment that will put them off!

walk

The end of another week! Although Caz has another 12 hour stint in the wee small hours. I got to St Helens in good time for the demonstration today of our 9" tractor mounted woodchipper. Fortunately for me, the Dealer Rep and their staff did most of the work getting it on their tractor which with 90hp, will make it sing! The weather was a tad cold, wet and windy so people didn't want to hang about but they drove it off to site, fired it up and fed some tidy lumps of Ash through it! The safety bar which controls which way the rollers turn was too sensitive and kept stopping or reversing the rollers but with a quick wave of a couple of spanners that I secreted on my person, it got stiffened up and away they went. Right impressed! Delivery on this is between 8-10 weeks so they will place their order and pay for it and wait for it to come. Wished I had more deals like that! Interesting fact though, they had ours back in 1999 - I remember going there to swap a faulty solenoid valve in my Service days, and they remembered that and admitted that they had had second thoughts because of reliability issues from back then! It was lunchtime by the time we got it back on the trailer and I headed south into the M6 traffic delays! Dropped it off at the factory and after a quick natter - headed back up the M42 to Shepshed. Home now.... I got a message from tree surgery forum that I've been a 'name' on since 2007, some young lad from down south pinged me a message complaining that his machine broke down some three weeks ago. The dealer came out straight away (bonus point), but had to take it back as a part was needed. Young lad is disappointed that we haven't yet sent the parts etc....he is having to hire a machine to complete his work and thought he would be chipper-less for a couple of days. I shove it back to our Parts and the Area Manager for explanation. It turns out that the parts are packed and ready to go and have been since the breakdown but the dealer is 'on stop' for not paying his bills! Nice of him to blame us for sending wrong parts and then not sending them! Tricky situation to try and answer.... Caz having a nap so I'll bob to shop to get stuff to make a stir fry - and the obligatory box of wine! (it will dull the pain of continuing back ache).

Room

Caz started at 04:30 and they asked her to stay on so she came home at 16:30! Now in bed having a kip (although I can hear her on the phone now), and I'll have supper ready for about 19:30. Pork neck fillet, salad and sweet potato fries. I started the day badly as I didn't sleep well again, pottered around with some planning and a sore back and decided only to go to the factory and back, giving the Ricoh and miss. It transpired that there was no need to go to the show as it wasn't over good. Not many visitors or potentials to follow up which is disappointing and too many suppliers trying to get our business! I do find it rather annoying when we have paid a fortune to be at a show to sell stuff, to be mythered by people trying to flog us hydraulic pumps, oils, tyres, blah blah blah. I know that they are only doing their job, but they just need the exhibitors list and then do their selling to the buyers! No need to ask me what hydraulic pumps we use and whether we are happy with our supplier! I loaded the chipper that I needed for this demo tomorrow in St Helens and disappeared! We had a few upsets mind. I got the second of two flagship machines being delivered today and a loan machine collected from the same place. Going on what I was told, the driver would be there mid morning. The customer waited in with a few staff. It is going straight to site for a night shift up country. They rang me at 11:30, I rang the driver - he was at the other end of the county going to a different address! I had to get him to divert and drive from Leighton Buzzard to Wellingborough! The dispatch people had forgotten the conversation that we had had.....Another upset being that an incorrect pto shaft had been sent out and it had subsequently broken. So, in our infinite wisdom, we sent out another. This is also the wrong one! I also got asked by the Service manager about another tractor mounted machine that cannot be lifted up very far or the PTO shaft falls in two. This means that the geometry is all wrong and the tractor is effectively too close - I raised this as an issue some 20 years ago and at several points since. Even going to the extent or ordering up new/modified pickup mounts for the last three that I have sold and berating the Management and Development Teams for continuing to make the same base errors! Guess what, our new demo unit is the same and there is one being shipped to France tomorrow! I once pointed out that I don't 'cry wolf', but will stop making any suggestions going forward and let them keep turning out the same problems! To paraphrase Einstein 'it is madness to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result! or 'Do what you always done, and you'll always get what you always got!'

Roof

Caz away early and I left the house at 8. I went to the Network Rail spot in Derby to return their new machine! Their safety rep has quarantined the machine as he believes that it needs an engine kill switch by the tracking controls. I keep pointing out that the ignition switch bus one and there is a stop button on the control panel but his opinion cannot be changed! If they want it, I'll price it up, and they can pay! Then head off to Honley by Huddersfield to collect a loan machine. It had gone to a Plant Hire customer who has moved from his old premises to a purpose built spot. The old place has been sold for housing, it was an absolute dive too. Decrepit, damp, falling to bits with an awful workshop and filthy yard! I had intended to go to Warwickshire, then off to the Hire Show at The Ricoh Arena but back ache started to set in so called it quits and peel off the A38 south of Derby and head home to lie flat! A deal was done at the show to a hire company based in my area so all good!