Hot News re Advisor Feedback Seminars

[Blind Scout]

I always laugh at this North vs South divide. Now let me check the map. Yep right. Leeds in the North? Its 4x the distance from Nottingham to Leeds as it is from Leeds to Edinburgh. Aberdeen thats about 6x the distance. Are any of these invited agents from Scotland as we have different problems or are they picked as being close to the meeting locations. Distance and roads are one, and Scottish price tables are generally much lower than in most of the UK.

[jerry]

Ref Southern Area meeting in Reading Berkshire..The FSM for Berkshire is Damon Smith...NOT Tony Boyd...

Where will i find the list of advisors attending this meeting??

[jerry]

sorry just found advisors list

[phugly]

Have just found the list of advisors invited to the seminars. could of kicked me in the teeth cos my name is there and I didnt know. How many others are on the list and not been informed of it.
If any others have got the full details of where, when and other relevant info I would be glad to receive it so that I know where I'm going

[JoY]

phugly said:

Have just found the list of advisors invited to the seminars. could of kicked me in the teeth cos my name is there and I didnt know. How many others are on the list and not been informed of it.
If any others have got the full details of where, when and other relevant info I would be glad to receive it so that I know where I'm going

This is brillaint..... there won't be many advisors at the meetings if this is anything to go by!!!! What's going on?

[kevinm882]

I believe that this is a positive step and the 23 agents have an excellent opportunity to bring the Hillarys management back to reality.

The policy of recent months by which they have cheapened the brand will probably take years to put right. The idea of having a fitting charge indicated in the foot note, although helpful in the short term will just ease the process along further. The days of Hillarys being respected has a trusted high value brand may be numbered if we sit back and let 3 blinds for £99 continue.

The rising number of DORs is also a valid point and I believe that the campany can't have it both ways, by charging for mismeasures but expecting their mistakes to be put right by us FOC.

Good look

[hereticus]

Whoa ! Did I jump the gun ?

Just seen phugly's posting, and also got an email from him direct.

I got the list emailed to me in advance on Friday so that I could get the debate started on the forum. Everybody else's copy was being mailed to them but I felt sure that they had already been invited and accepted and that the list was definitive and confirmed, so apologies for the surprise.

Just hope I haven't upset Ross before we even get started.

Anyway, don't lets get sidetracked by an administrative blip - focus on the opportunity and keep the comments coming.

[gloryboy]

first post this year and its going to be positive!!!!

excellent news about these meetings, lets hope its the start of regular excursions outside private rd 2.

i,ve just read through the postings on this thread and will take some time to ponder my responses.

maybe 2006 will be better than 2005 after all ;D

[aikido]

Hi all.
I have been with Hillarys for many years and seen many changes all of witch have been good for the company.

Over the past few years I have felt less and less important to Hillarys and very conserned about the state of my business.

I am full time and need to earn a good income to support my family,Almost over night my income fell by 50% due to the introduction of the 0800 numbers and CLG .

I still have customers beeing told there is no agent in your area. My area managers hands were tied so there was no help for me.

Some weeks I only have a handfull of leads when I used to be bussy and this is still true today. But Hillarys still recruted another agent in my area without my knowage I only found out when the new agent phoned me to say he is not going to take up the post as he felt it was very poor practice on Hillarys part He said "if thay were prepaired to do that to you after all those years of service then how would they treat me". I do wish some real good comes of this and I for One will do all I can.

I wish to stay with Hillarys but I feel so unimportant to them I wonder if thay still want me?

All the best to you all

[russell]

dont spend your money yet for increased commision and clawbacks is my advice over the last two years its all been one way traffic as far as us paying out and them not do you really in your wildest dreams think we will get a pay rise ::)but what i think we will achieve is too stop the rot and improve quality as that suits us both its a good start as long as those that represent us do just that without worrying about payback KEEP IT SIMPLE is my advice i think the agenda is far too wide for a first meet most of those things are regualy put forward at fsm meetings i think a list should be put on this site and we vote for 5 strong points we all agree on otherwise they will get bogged down with stuff about sam which is important but not really the stuff for this type of meeting and who there will have answers to tech stuff anyway i suggest ;Dcommision clawbacks ;Dpayment for dor ;Dlimited agents per population ;Dquality of blind ;Dand devaluation of brand ;D its a fantastic opportunity well done motters and LOOK FORWARD TO THE MINUTES BEING PUBLISHED ON THIS SITE ASAP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hereticus]

Russell - I hear what you say and to a large extent I agree with you, but we are not in control to that extent.

Hillarys have issued the invitations to these seminars, and Hillarys have set the agenda - partly as a genuine 'olive branch' to listen to our problems and concerns, and partly to get some input from us on their problems and concerns. Its a two way thing.

I certainly expect that our top ten frustrations will become the major part of the meetings. With regard to the top ten ideas (and I would include SAM development in this) I hope we can come up with some really good ones but do not expect them to be discussed exhaustively at the meetings - more a case of 'we suggest this, please think about it and promise to get back to us please'.

Please also remember that we have two bites at this - if we managed to actually resolve something at the first meeting it doesn't need to be dwelt on at the second, and if we fail to make any impression on something at the first meeting then the lads up north can give it more welly.

I'm sure that we will all get to the meetings with our priorities firmly in mind, but also properly prepared for all the agenda items.

And thanks for your top five - these certainly seem to reflect the general mood and will be up there for serious discussion.

[mendipmagpie]

Just noticed that the H/O reps are all sales orientated. Does this mean that anything they cant answer will be referred back to h/o or is ths MD going to chair the meeting. If so that might be interesting.
MM

[catinthehat]

Hi all
At last. I was beginning to think all those above my fsm were robots. I'll post some ideas shortly

[catinthehat]

The agenda looks great, specially the online parts catalogue.
I put this to the quality director the other day in an email after a missing parts fiasco. his reply was that I should talk to my fsm as if this hasnt been an issue for years.

Ideas from the field
WHY DO WE HAVE TO USE SO MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF BRACKETS !
Surely if the headrails were redesigned we could use vertical style top and facefix brackets for metal vens, romans and, depending on size and weight, wood vens. This would in many cases speed up fitting so I can do more and it would make our fitting life (min half the job!) less stressful (v.important!)

Using two screw brackets when lintels are so variable or 5 screw complex pieces of ironmongery which arent even one size fits all (romans!) exasperates me!!!
Note: the quality director tells me they do have a budget for basic blind improvement.

any thoughts ??

[Augustus]

catinthehat - welcome !!!

I know you registored a while back and today we see your 1st post, this just shows that these meetings are proving to be a major pulling point for us all.

We need to get an order setup very quickly.

Also, it might well be an idea to set some things for the first meeting and the rest for the second - otherwise we will end up going over old ground. - have a nice night out in Leeds mind you

It will also allow a reasonable time to debate each issue.


P.