Forced Availability

[thelloydgang]

Hey Bear

You feeling ok....................shall I come and take your temperature?

K ;D

[hereticus]

bear said:

Yes there are good, diligent folk in Hillarys organisation, who try to make things happen/be better.

Sadly though, NONE of them are in a Managerial Position!

Bear

Bear......understand your point but have to disagree with you in at least one case - Kevin Beardsley ! And I'm sure he's not the only one, just the first to come to mind.

In fact, whilst I think about it, Diane Stanley in the Service Centre, Helen Huthwaite as team leader in Diary Maintenance....I won't go on, for fear of embarrassing both you and them.

There are good people at Hillarys, including members of management. Sure, there are others who we might question, but even many of those are let down by the system, or not given the flexibility to operate properly.

We are on the outside looking in and, quite rightly, judge everything according to the way it affects us directly, but we don't always see the bigger picture. We should continue to raise the issues, vent our frustrations, and work towards change, but I don't buy the conspiracy theory that they are all out to get us.

[dolly]

DEAR HILLARYS
Well ive just completed my day with the 6 extra appts you kindly booked in.So how did we do?
Well i had to do my 1st appt at 9AM to fit them all in only the house was empty, i wasnt told to ring an hour in advance and you didnt supply the mobile number you were given, result try again on WED.
Then with the wasted first hour i have rushed allday finishing the AM's at 1PM with a further 4 booked in to do by 3PM.Not including the extra LPM and EV appts I finally get home at 8PM for tea.Not bad but too chaotic.
The final result is a few cheap offer sales a lower than average conversion rate and most of them quotes as i am the first company to attend despite the panic on lead times. All calls were not attended with my usual relaxed self, instead almost heres the books, wheres the window attitude that just isnt how i work at all. Hope your happy though as its six appts you can cross off your list.
Hope the rest of you have more luck

[RED]

dolly said:

DEAR HILLARYS
Well ive just completed my day with the 6 extra appts you kindly booked in.So how did we do?
Well i had to do my 1st appt at 9AM to fit them all in only the house was empty, i wasnt told to ring an hour in advance and you didnt supply the mobile number you were given, result try again on WED.
Then with the wasted first hour i have rushed allday finishing the AM's at 1PM with a further 4 booked in to do by 3PM.Not including the extra LPM and EV appts I finally get home at 8PM for tea.Not bad but too chaotic.
The final result is a few cheap offer sales a lower than average conversion rate and most of them quotes as i am the first company to attend despite the panic on lead times. All calls were not attended with my usual relaxed self, instead almost heres the books, wheres the window attitude that just isnt how i work at all. Hope your happy though as its six appts you can cross off your list.
Hope the rest of you have more luck

Nope Dolly,
Similar scenario as you. All 3 for 99 customers. Had a job to sell 300 quids worth. Still, got the leads and thats what counts nowadays, not the sales. They nearly all said I was the first in and they were getting other quotes. We have no chance.
Fast getting to the point of not wanting to go out at all.
To top it all off my FSM rang me today asking for more availability. What for, just to send me out to more 3 for 99ers. Not likely. I can earn more doing a paper round so I am not giving any more space. They can bring another agent in if they like but he wont stay. I can guarantee that and then I wont earn the pittance I am earning either so I wont stay so then they will have none.
Hillary's have lost the plot totally.

Red

[dolly]

Yes RED its becoming quite sad really. What was a cracking job is having its heart ripped out.

[silktown1]

hereticus said:

bear said:

Yes there are good, diligent folk in Hillarys organisation, who try to make things happen/be better.

Sadly though, NONE of them are in a Managerial Position!

Bear

Bear......understand your point but have to disagree with you in at least one case - Kevin Beardsley ! And I'm sure he's not the only one, just the first to come to mind.

In fact, whilst I think about it, Diane Stanley in the Service Centre, Helen Huthwaite as team leader in Diary Maintenance....I won't go on, for fear of embarrassing both you and them.

There are good people at Hillarys, including members of management. Sure, there are others who we might question, but even many of those are let down by the system, or not given the flexibility to operate properly.

We are on the outside looking in and, quite rightly, judge everything according to the way it affects us directly, but we don't always see the bigger picture. We should continue to raise the issues, vent our frustrations, and work towards change, but I don't buy the conspiracy theory that they are all out to get us.

[silktown1]

hereticus said:

bear said:

Yes there are good, diligent folk in Hillarys organisation, who try to make things happen/be better.

Sadly though, NONE of them are in a Managerial Position!

Bear

Bear......understand your point but have to disagree with you in at least one case - Kevin Beardsley ! And I'm sure he's not the only one, just the first to come to mind.

In fact, whilst I think about it, Diane Stanley in the Service Centre, Helen Huthwaite as team leader in Diary Maintenance....I won't go on, for fear of embarrassing both you and them.

There are good people at Hillarys, including members of management. Sure, there are others who we might question, but even many of those are let down by the system, or not given the flexibility to operate properly.

We are on the outside looking in and, quite rightly, judge everything according to the way it affects us directly, but we don't always see the bigger picture. We should continue to raise the issues, vent our frustrations, and work towards change, but I don't buy the conspiracy theory that they are all out to get us.

[farmer]

stonehills said:

dolly said:

DEAR HILLARYS
Well ive just completed my day with the 6 extra appts you kindly booked in.So how did we do?
Well i had to do my 1st appt at 9AM to fit them all in only the house was empty, i wasnt told to ring an hour in advance and you didnt supply the mobile number you were given, result try again on WED.
Then with the wasted first hour i have rushed allday finishing the AM's at 1PM with a further 4 booked in to do by 3PM.Not including the extra LPM and EV appts I finally get home at 8PM for tea.Not bad but too chaotic.
The final result is a few cheap offer sales a lower than average conversion rate and most of them quotes as i am the first company to attend despite the panic on lead times. All calls were not attended with my usual relaxed self, instead almost heres the books, wheres the window attitude that just isnt how i work at all. Hope your happy though as its six appts you can cross off your list.
Hope the rest of you have more luck

Nope Dolly,
Similar scenario as you. All 3 for 99 customers. Had a job to sell 300 quids worth. Still, got the leads and thats what counts nowadays, not the sales. They nearly all said I was the first in and they were getting other quotes. We have no chance.
Fast getting to the point of not wanting to go out at all.
To top it all off my FSM rang me today asking for more availability. What for, just to send me out to more 3 for 99ers. Not likely. I can earn more doing a paper round so I am not giving any more space. They can bring another agent in if they like but he wont stay. I can guarantee that and then I wont earn the pittance I am earning either so I wont stay so then they will have none.
Hillary's have lost the plot totally.

Red

Yes, got to agree again.

Although the forced avilabilty isnt a problem for me, yet, the point of us being the 1st in to see the customer is a big problem for me.

As i keep bleating on, a local blind company, called Yorkshire blinds, run by ex Hillarys lad, purposely asks the customer, if they have have got us going in to quote. if the customer has, he books his appointment after us.

So i go in, quote £800 on 4 rollers, yes £800, (stratford fabric, and Bellini).

he texted me to say yorkhire blinds 1 Hillarys 0. he got the order, on the very same fabrics, 'cos he uses arena trade blinds as well as all the others.

So come on anyone, preferably any f.s..m or john risman, how just do we get around this kind of situation.

no one seems to have an answer do they.

Well if you think i am going to continue going into scenarios like this, then you are mistaken.

I asses what i want to earn from the job, and then price accordingly.

So dont come to me bleating on about discount levels, availabilty, sales conversion, and the rest, until you have some answers.

We know the answer though dont we.

it doesnt matter if it takes us 10 call to make a grands worth of sale, or just 1. the upper tiers of management still get their cut.

After spending 12 years or more, building this business up around this town, do not patronise me constantly with threats of other advisors coming on board, my poor converion, or discount levels.................not that anyone does, yet, but i deserve a little more respect thankyou.

[Bear]

Bear here ( You can take my temperature anytime you like ,Mrs, only where do you put the thermometer?)

No, Not there Hillarys alreday occupy all available space!!!


Yes folks I have been quiet, and reticent to get on my hobby-horse too much recently, as i am too busy fitting for "Nonails" who is shifting shedsloads of blinds at decent prices.I was his boss once, how are the mighty fallen!!!

Average order I fit for him is about £310.00 on which he makes o £70.00 to cover costs of his advertising and selling the deal, and I get £70.00 to fit .....

Thats £140.00 grooss profit on a £310.00 sale.....

My availability for Hillarys 3 for 99 has not changed....FSM "tool-head" tried to fix it its way, but I just manage my diary to suit me, because its my diary , and not Hillarys Diary. and first priority goes to my fits then Nonails fits, then my sales...in that order..
Thankfully I have another line of income
So I don't let life get me down, and they recently put a new recruit onto my patch 8 weeks ago.

Lives 4 roads down on my estate , if you please??
No Info from management, just tripped across him when I helped driver unload the wagon one morning.

HE TELLS ME I HAVE A NEW AGENT ON THE PATCH!!!

I have been watching his deliveries and they are not huge frankly, --NOW HES GONE and I have 2 service calls. Did a service call on an old customer yesterday, who wondered why reverse roll and ordinary rollers were mixed in the conservatory.
So asked her why she didnt ring me instead of him.
Said she had lost my number, wanted me to come, asked for me to come, and on the day she wanted I was free, but they insisted they could only send the new man...

So much for loyalty to an agent of many moons standing who shifts sheds loads of blinds....

Hereticus, how do I balance that against your reasoned statement that there are decent folk in Hillarys, which I dont dispute, with you not subscribing to the theory that " They are out to get us"

If Hillarys are not FOR me then they are AGAINST me--it was ever thus.

Bear

[hereticus]

bear said:

Hereticus, how do I balance that against your reasoned statement that there are decent folk in Hillarys, which I dont dispute, with you not subscribing to the theory that " They are out to get us"

If Hillarys are not FOR me then they are AGAINST me--it was ever thus.

Bear....I really don't know how to balance that one. I understand all the problems you are getting because each and every one of them has also happenned to me at some time, I do empathise completely, and there are problems like this affecting all of us at some time or other which we do need to continue to unite against.

I'm just not convinced that Hillarys even recognise or understand that these things are happenning, never mind how they impact on each of us and our businesses. Everyone at Nottingham is working in isolated departments, only given access to relevant information rather than seeing the whole picture, and has their own 'performance target' or objective to work towards. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, and the place it all comes home to rest is with us. Individuals at Nottingham, in the context of their particular responsibilities, are mostly doing a pretty good job (and some of them go the extra mile) but there appears to be no cohesion or direction and everybody seems to be working against everybody else.

I guess the only way to improve things is better communication all round - between us through the forum; between us and FSM's; reporting every mess up back to team leaders, etc - until somebody senior sees a picture emerging and takes some action. If only management had continued to monitor and participate in this forum, and if only the matters discussed at the seminars had been followed through properly, we might be a lot further down the road by now.

I think personally that the real key lies with FSM's because they are the people most like to get a broader view. The advisors who have a decent relationship with a good FSM generally don't get much hassle, whereas advisors who have a strained relationship or an ineffective FSM are taking it non-stop. For too long the FSM role seems to have been to direct us, not to support us; to talk rather than to listen; and to block dissent with a flippant retort (its only you) rather than take our genuine concerns back to Nottingham, put our views over to the managers responsible, and initiate change where necessary. Some are better than others (again I've been lucky so far) but there needs to be a change in the fundamental ethos of the FSM role. They should be our representatives in taking things to the top, not the barrier that stops anything getting further.

Anybody else got thoughts on this ?

[Bear]

hereticus said:

bear said:

Hereticus, how do I balance that against your reasoned statement that there are decent folk in Hillarys, which I dont dispute, with you not subscribing to the theory that " They are out to get us"

If Hillarys are not FOR me then they are AGAINST me--it was ever thus.

.

I think personally that the real key lies with FSM's because they are the people most like to get a broader view. The advisors who have a decent relationship with a good FSM generally don't get much hassle, whereas advisors who have a strained relationship or an ineffective FSM are taking it non-stop. For too long the FSM role seems to have been to direct us, not to support us; to talk rather than to listen; and to block dissent with a flippant retort (its only you) rather than take our genuine concerns back to Nottingham, put our views over to the managers responsible, and initiate change where necessary. Some are better than others (again I've been lucky so far) but there needs to be a change in the fundamental ethos of the FSM role. They should be our representatives in taking things to the top, not the barrier that stops anything getting further.

Anybody else got thoughts on this ?

Hereticus....Cheers for that!!

I reckon too that the FSM "Job Description"---if there is one, could be the key to many of our woes.

Are they there to boost our business, if so, is it by their HO dictats that they do this?

or is it by tailoring the agents efforts , time, conversions, and the rest of it, in order to maximise the best return for the "Agent cost" as that is how I feel HO perceive us.

Or is it by them applying personalities,, and "its only you", in order to provide the more inept ones with stepping stones to cement their rocky positions?

or is it, ( and I reckon its this!) them applying what they personally think will work for them using us as their tools, if you like, and when that goes tits-up for a succession of FSMs, then you get get load of old raddled buggaires like most us who've been there done that ( and NOT bought the Hillarys T-shirt, 'cos its too firkin dear!) and we end up as we are ,disillusioned and doing it our way, and taking the attitude of buiggaire Diary management etc etc..

just ruminating folks thats all, not ranting ( the pills worked!!)

Nurse, the screens , if you will?

Bear

[thelloydgang]

ohhh Bear............did you find someone else to take your temperature then...............who is this Nurse!!!

K ;D

[RED]

bear said:

hereticus said:

.

I think personally that the real key lies with FSM's because they are the people most like to get a broader view. The advisors who have a decent relationship with a good FSM generally don't get much hassle, whereas advisors who have a strained relationship or an ineffective FSM are taking it non-stop. For too long the FSM role seems to have been to direct us, not to support us; to talk rather than to listen; and to block dissent with a flippant retort (its only you) rather than take our genuine concerns back to Nottingham, put our views over to the managers responsible, and initiate change where necessary. Some are better than others (again I've been lucky so far) but there needs to be a change in the fundamental ethos of the FSM role. They should be our representatives in taking things to the top, not the barrier that stops anything getting further.

Anybody else got thoughts on this ?

Hereticus....Cheers for that!!

I reckon too that the FSM "Job Description"---if there is one, could be the key to many of our woes.

Are they there to boost our business, if so, is it by their HO dictats that they do this?

or is it by tailoring the agents efforts , time, conversions, and the rest of it, in order to maximise the best return for the "Agent cost" as that is how I feel HO perceive us.

Or is it by them applying personalities,, and "its only you", in order to provide the more inept ones with stepping stones to cement their rocky positions?

or is it, ( and I reckon its this!) them applying what they personally think will work for them using us as their tools, if you like, and when that goes tits-up for a succession of FSMs, then you get get load of old raddled buggaires like most us who've been there done that ( and NOT bought the Hillarys T-shirt, 'cos its too firkin dear!) and we end up as we are ,disillusioned and doing it our way, and taking the attitude of buiggaire Diary management etc etc..

just ruminating folks thats all, not ranting ( the pills worked!!)

Nurse, the screens , if you will?

Bear

Agree with both of you, the key probably is the fsms role, but I feel personally that they have had all or most of their Powers of decision taken away and have no way of helping you to build your business. The only power they seem to have is to try and get you to put as many slots in your diary as possible to cope with the grotty 3 for 99 dolite customers.
All of the fsms I have had, I have no complaints about, indeed the opposite but I do get the feeling they are as much not happy as we are but can not say a lot.
Mike, you are also correct in the fact that all departments are isolated from each other and there is no cohesion amongst them. They are now too big and trying to get bigger but as once was said to me by an fsm, you have to learn to walk before you can run. I get the feeling Hillary's are trying to run but stumbling over their own feet.
It does not seem to matter what we say or who we tell, Hillary's are blinkered and know what is best, our experience in sales and blinds counts for nothing. They do monitor this board and sure as eggs are eggs they will know what we are saying but choose to ignore it. It is only a matter of time before the books are looking very slim indeed compared to a few years ago.
Just had a e mail through asking to fax any paper quotes from the last 2 months to head office as they are having a drive on conversion rates, things must be bad. Not much point sending them in if I had any as they never convert any of mine any way.

Just hanging on by the skin of my teeth,

Red

[hereticus]

stonehills said:

Just had a e mail through asking to fax any paper quotes from the last 2 months to head office as they are having a drive on conversion rates, things must be bad. Not much point sending them in if I had any as they never convert any of mine any way.

Red.....you say that Hillarys are monitoring this forum continually, and I hope you are right because it can only be good that they know our frustrations, and this email about quote conversions could well be proof.

Only a few days ago there were comments on this forum about the parlous state of quote conversions, and now this ! Perhaps somebody is listening to us - I do hope so !

[farmer]

stonehills said:

bear said:

Hereticus....Cheers for that!!

I reckon too that the FSM "Job Description"---if there is one, could be the key to many of our woes.

Are they there to boost our business, if so, is it by their HO dictats that they do this?

or is it by tailoring the agents efforts , time, conversions, and the rest of it, in order to maximise the best return for the "Agent cost" as that is how I feel HO perceive us.

Or is it by them applying personalities,, and "its only you", in order to provide the more inept ones with stepping stones to cement their rocky positions?

or is it, ( and I reckon its this!) them applying what they personally think will work for them using us as their tools, if you like, and when that goes tits-up for a succession of FSMs, then you get get load of old raddled buggaires like most us who've been there done that ( and NOT bought the Hillarys T-shirt, 'cos its too firkin dear!) and we end up as we are ,disillusioned and doing it our way, and taking the attitude of buiggaire Diary management etc etc..

just ruminating folks thats all, not ranting ( the pills worked!!)

Nurse, the screens , if you will?

Bear

Agree with both of you, the key probably is the fsms role, but I feel personally that they have had all or most of their Powers of decision taken away and have no way of helping you to build your business. The only power they seem to have is to try and get you to put as many slots in your diary as possible to cope with the grotty 3 for 99 dolite customers.
All of the fsms I have had, I have no complaints about, indeed the opposite but I do get the feeling they are as much not happy as we are but can not say a lot.
Mike, you are also correct in the fact that all departments are isolated from each other and there is no cohesion amongst them. They are now too big and trying to get bigger but as once was said to me by an fsm, you have to learn to walk before you can run. I get the feeling Hillary's are trying to run but stumbling over their own feet.
It does not seem to matter what we say or who we tell, Hillary's are blinkered and know what is best, our experience in sales and blinds counts for nothing. They do monitor this board and sure as eggs are eggs they will know what we are saying but choose to ignore it. It is only a matter of time before the books are looking very slim indeed compared to a few years ago.
Just had a e mail through asking to fax any paper quotes from the last 2 months to head office as they are having a drive on conversion rates, things must be bad. Not much point sending them in if I had any as they never convert any of mine any way.

Just hanging on by the skin of my teeth,

Red

QUOTES, QUOYES I SAY, I HAVENT HAD ONE CONVERTED FOR MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!