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Training


I really want to be an electrical wholesaler!


By Barry Hall, a Sales & Management Training Consultant with Pinnacle Solutions – a specialist training company working specifically within the electrical wholesaling and manufacturing markets.


O


n leaving school there followed the obligatory discussions with the


Careers Officer to map out my various options. “You know, I really want to be an


electrical wholesaler!” I declared. “Really?” came the reply. “Are you sure? What about having ambitions to drive a train or direct an Oscar winning film?” “No, not for me,” I said. “Selling plugs and sockets, that’s the thing for me!” Of course, this conversation


didn’t actually take place – as I’m sure you’ve already guessed. A career in the electrical wholesaling industry was the furthest thing from my mind. To be honest, I wasn’t even aware that such an industry existed! Who does? In fact, when I told my mates where I worked, they gleefully responded with, “Can you get me a cheap telly?” But anyone who has come into the electrical wholesaling industry and who has made a career out of it will surely testify that it is, in fact, anything but mundane or passé. It is vibrant, dynamic, challenging, rewarding, stretching – and constantly evolving. Little wonder, then, that I managed to make my mark while cutting my


teeth working in a cold warehouse, being ‘brew boy’ extraordinaire, lugging ridiculously sized drums of cable across a trade counter, whilst going out of my way (hopefully), to please and delight the customer.


Personal development The passion and dedication that was, and is, very much part of my make- up was not matched by an investment in my personal development. I was pretty much left to ‘get on with it’. Only when things went wrong was my presence acknowledged, generally with a severe rebuttal and a withering put-down. A structured and comprehensive personal development plan for me did not exist. There was little interest in me as a person – what my aspirations were, what I wanted from my career, any recognition of my strengths and, yes, my weaknesses. The critical implications of this are enormous – as are the


opportunities. If we consider that people development is essential to the


success of our businesses, surely, we must take the time and effort to invest in them. Besides the already excellent


‘hard skills’ training provided in the industry, there is a range of ‘soft skills’ available that really begin to focus on talent recognition and growth of individuals at all levels – from new starters to managing directors.


Empowering Indeed, as we climb the career ladder, the transition from one level to the next can be testing as we have to develop a different set of


skills to those needed in our previous roles. For example, the role of branch manager to regional manager is, by definition, very different; the former needing a wide range of business skills to growing a team, the latter, managing ‘from a distance’ whilst motivating and empowering teams to deliver on the wider business strategy. As I go around the industry working with people at all levels, one thing I hear constantly is that ‘good people are really hard to find!’ This may or may not be true. But I would ask you all to consider what levels of unexpressed talent exist already within your organisation. What initiatives can be taken in order to discover, recognise and then nurture people to grow to become the best at what they can be? In other words, who will be the next ‘you’?


The benefits of this approach are huge – increased motivation and job


satisfaction, recognition and retention of key achievers, reduced staff turnover, enhanced company image and the ability to strategically develop a succession plan that ensures the future growth and security of your business. In a market that is extremely competitive, perhaps we should take a


step back to see how we can do things differently – working smarter not just harder. Quite often, it’s not what we do but the way that we do it – and the


investment in personal development of our people is essential in delivering a uniquely different customer proposition.


www.pinnaclesolutions.net


I would ask you all to consider what levels of unexpressed talent exist already within your organisation? What initiatives


can be taken in order to discover, recognise and then nurture people to grow to become the best at what they can be?


36 | electrical wholesaler March 2017 www.ewnews.co.uk


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