Joseph Dowdy '11
Marketing Assistant at Van Meter Industrial
The Missing Desk Toy and the Final Secret Shop
Posted on August 10, 2010
Journal Entries from August 3rd, 2010 through August 9th, 2010
I arrived at work on the morning of the 3rd at the normal time and proceeded to work on my Social Media Proposal. I admit that I had hit a bit of a stand-still on it and was having trouble coming up with a new direction. After about an hour worth of fruitless research, I left for a marketing meeting with the department. During which there was some branding recap and group discussion. When I mentioned my proposal, Nate from Werner Electric commented that Facebook Advertising might be a good avenue to look into. I ran with it, and afterwards submitted a draft of the proposal for Lauren to look over. The rest of the day was spent doing little things, but also I managed to make my way to community room where St. Lukes hospital had set up and donate blood.
I also ended up doing some work on a promotion for sales people to sell products of a certain supplier. They supplied prizes that you could win by selling more of their product than other salespeople. My job was to put together the prize list and create a power point.
The following Monday, August 9th I came in to complete my final secret shopping. Lauren and I drove to the Des Moines and Clive branches and I posed as a runner for Dowdy Electric, hoping to price some specific products for my boss. Afterwards, I attended a short information session given by Lauren, where I met Allen, one of the regional customer service managers that I would be presenting the secret shopping results to later in the month.
When I returned to my desk that day, I was appalled to find that my only desk toy, the one I had been given at color training, was gone.
July in Brief
Posted on August 5, 2010 by jdowdy11
It's been a whole month since my last post, and let me tell you... a lot has happened! Here's a quick update of the last month:
On the first of July my big project was to write a pair of articles for the Current, a company newsletter. The articles focused on Continuous Improvement and a warehouse expansion. Continuous Improvement is a company department designed to, well, continuously improve the way Van Meter does business. It seems a bit corny, but at the same time an important part of the Van Meter culture. For the articles I interviewed Jen, Continuous Improvement Leader, and Shawn and Mike, Vice President of Operations and Executive Vice President respectively. Then later, with Lauren, I ran a report for one of the supplier partners regarding a program they run to incentivize Van Meter representatives to sell their product.
When I came in next Tuesday, July 6th I had a few things on my plate. I turned in the two articles (I will try to attach them to the blog somehow) to Kendra, who is in charge of the Current. Then after going through a few edits with an editor on staff I turned my attention to my secret shopping project. Using guidelines from the past intern's work and concerns discussed by the Regional Customer Service Managers, I developed a plan for what I would critique when shopping. Then I held a conference call with the three regional managers and went over my plan. During the call we built a role for me to assume while shopping. To end the day I made up an oversized check for Van Meter to present to Aiming for a Cure.
Then, it was off to Austin, Texas for a weeklong vacation. I returned the 15th of July and caught up by attending several meetings – one with the marketing department, one with Lauren, and one with the interns. Otherwise, all I was able to work on that day was to bundle some shirts to be sent out for an employee event later in the month.
The following Tuesday, July 20th marked the first day of secret shopping. I started with some work that morning doing research on social media for my proposal which included attending a few web seminars. Then, around noon I was off. I drove to Iowa City and Waterloo that day to secret shop. To do this, I assumed the role of a runner for a made up contracting company called Dowdy Electric. The runner I was acting as would be looking to price a pair of parts that are not supported by Van Meter to bring back to his boss. The hope would be that the counter employees would cross support the products and then try to upsell the runner to include additional products.
Thursday was a bit interesting. Lauren and I had planned for me to secret shop the Des Moines and Clive locations by carpooling with some other employees that had planned on leaving that morning. I decided to bike and arrived around 4 AM. Around 5:45 AM I realized that the carpool had left without me and by 7:30 AM an apologetic Ben confirmed. After the return journey home and a short nap, it was off to Davenport and Muscatine to do some more shopping.
After my shopping the previous week, I started the 27th off by typing up my evaluations of the four counters I visited. Then I attended a meeting with Shawn, Todd, and Lauren to set up golf teams for the upcoming 31st outing. All I can say is golfing is important to the corporate world. Then, I confirmed and finalized details for the following day's service activity at the Mission of Hope.
I think I mentioned in the past about how I set up a service event for the Marketing Department at the Mission of Hope soup kitchen in Cedar Rapids. Well, the day had come. That Wednesday the marketing department and the facilities manager arrived at the soup kitchen at 10 AM and grilled up several hundred burgers using Van Meter's grill. Then, because some volunteers had not been able to show up that day, we all proceeded to serve the meal. 161 guests signed in. It was a lot of work, but very worthwhile!
My last workday of the month started with a phone call from a hypnotist about setting up entertainment for an event that would come in the winter. Afterwards, I was invited to attend a branding consultation with the marketing department which I found to be very worthwhile. Time was spent discussing every detail regarding Van Meter's image. I had no idea so much thought was spent deciding things like the color of the website! I ended the day working on my social media proposal.
Then, on the 31st, came the employee golf outing. I was a player on the 11th team. All I have to say is that golfing is much harder than it looks and a lot of people take it very seriously.
And that'll do it for July.
Posted on June 29, 2010
Journal Entries from June 24th and June 29th
Thursday the 24th started off with another job shadow. This shadow would be a little different in that all of the interns were scheduled to experience the warehouse for two days in a row, 8 AM to 4 PM. I was paired with Kelsey and we were taken to the picking and shipping stations.
Of course, being a two day a week intern, my schedule was a little wacky. With the Mid-Year Summit coming the following Tuesday, I was scheduled for a lunch and meeting with Lauren for a majority of the afternoon. That meant I had to duck out of the warehouse come noon. So, I got to experience shipping and picking in four hours instead of eight.
I started in picking. One of the warehouse managers showed me how he accounts for inaccuracies in delivery or shipping corrections at his computer and then it was straight to work. After a short rundown of the conveyor line and the section where most material flows out of called the ‘grays’, he handed me a barcode scanner and a tub and I started down the line.
To very briefly explain picking, think about the name. Shipments come in, orders are programmed into a computer and the wireless scan guns, and then the scan guns are used to navigate you through the aisles of product that line the conveyer belt. The main point is to pick product up and drop it in a plastic tub. Overall, the system seemed very efficient. The manager explained that just about every error can be traced back to workers counting quantity of a product. Which sounds like a stupid mistake, but it can actually be a little tricky sometimes.
For example, when you need one quantity of product 117-0-2-E, which we’ll pretend is a roll of batteries, do they want a full box, a full roll, or a single battery? I made a mistake or two with the quantities but overall it was a fun experience.
In the last remaining hour I jumped over to shipping. One of my fellow greens (I was a green by the way if you know what that means) from color training was there and showed me the ropes. Shipping was very simple as well. Grab a plastic tub that had just passed through quality insurance (the stop after picking), put it in a box, tape the box, label the box, and then drop the box off in a crate to be shipped.
My fellow green had it down to a science, packing and folding in mere seconds. It took me about ten minutes to get through my first box but I’d like to think I was just as much a pro by the end of that hour (I wasn’t). Despite a disapproving look from Kelsey, I left to go meet Lauren for lunch. She took me out to Mongolian Grill, which was very tasty.
When we returned I finally got to learn a little bit about what Lauren does. Some main aspects of her job include spending marketing funds earned from percentage sales with supplier partners, planning events, analyzing sales data to better understand yearly progress, maintain relationships with both customers and suppliers, and many other things.
TO BE CONTINUED!
Summit Business: Journal Entries from June 17th and June 22nd
Posted on June 23, 2010
I arrived Thursday June 17th and quickly prepared for a job shadow at the counter. I wanted to be able to not only learn about the work they do there but also how digital signage could better help them, as well as figure out some things to look for when I secret shop later on down the road.
The Counter Manager, Randy S., was out at a dentist appointment so I spoke with the three employees running the counter in his absence. The counter operated similarly to a hardware store like Ace, for example. But I think what made the counter unique was the presence of their supplier partners, giving them product lines you probably won’t find very easily. Writing this now makes me wonder about the nature of the supplier partner relationship.
In general the counter appeared to be a service for VMI’s clients to come in and pick up orders set up by sales representatives or for contractors to quickly retrieve very specialized equipment. I noticed that the people at the counter knew the name of just about every customer who came through the door (although there was just under ten customers while I was there) and several of the customers were wearing VMI t-shirts. VMI hands out lots of swag I’ve learned. By the end of it Randy had returned and I had given them their fill of questions.
When I returned to my desk I had just opened the 2X Client to finish analyzing the tour data when Kelsey came to my cubicle, this time informing me I was late for a weekly intern meeting. It was a quick meet were we discussed how things were going with Human Resources manager Jenn H. Afterwards I attended a marketing meeting that took place outside and introduced myself to the team.
I didn’t get a chance to return to my desk as the marketing team had scheduled a group lunch to celebrate Lauren’s 4 year anniversary with the company. She choose to eat at a Mexican restaurant called Cancun, which was so very tasty. As it was so close to the facilities we walked.
After lunch I quickly finished up my analysis of the tour data and turned it in to Lauren. I finished the day off pursuing entertainment options for the summit in December. I sent out several emails after finding quite a few suitable options. The idea would be that after I find several choices, I would present to the marketing team and then a decision would be made.
Next Tuesday, June 22nd, I noticed that the three entertainment agencies had returned my emails and had tried to call. I didn’t have time to respond though as the mid-year summit was coming up next week and Lauren had much for me to do.
First, she had me go over the schedules one last time to ensure that everything looked ok, and then she had me create and prepare name badges. Mostly, it was grunt work but it took up most of the day. I finished sometime in the afternoon. Afterward she called me over and explained the details of the event – what kind of information would be exchanged between the sales reps and the suppliers, what my job would be, and why the company holds these kind of events. We also talked about the role she wanted social media to play for Van Meter and provided me with some information and more things to research.
Excelling in the Office: Journal Entry from June 15, 2010
Posted on June 23, 2010
I began the day working on a schedule for an upcoming event called the Mid Year Summit. The summit is an annual opportunity for sales representatives to meet with some of the bigger suppliers that Van Meter is partnered with and discuss goals for the normal annual summit that happens in December. This required that I use Excel, something I had been looking forward to doing since my Managerial Econ course (we used excel a lot).
Although the work was fairly simple, it took a good majority of the morning to get through for various reasons. About halfway through Kendra, Erin, and Lauren invited me across the cubicle wall to celebrate a fellow employee’s fortieth birthday. His name was Jason A. and his cubicle had been hilariously decorated with black streamers and black balloons. Forty black balloons. Don’t ask me why they choose the color black. After some cake and fruit from an Edible Arrangement, it was back to work.
I finished just before lunch, upon which time Kendra, Erin, and Lauren invited me away from my desk again. This time it was to visit the ESCO office for a lunch presentation by Karen Schumacher. Karen gave an excellent presentation about perspective and out a positive outlook can improve your life – and of course the implications for the workplace were discussed. Olive Garden catered.. very tasty!
When we returned I began working on a project Erin had given me the previous Thursday about the effectiveness of company tours using Excel and a program called 2X Client. I analyzed sales data from before and after a customer toured the Van Meter facilities and really didn’t see much of a correlation – positive or negative.
Color Training and a Rainy Day at the Golf Course: Journal Entries from June 10th and June 12th
Posted on June 22, 2010
June 10th was an interesting day for me. I came in at 7:30 AM expecting a day similar to the previous Tuesday – lots of project research on my own with occasional help from Lauren. The morning was what I expected. I had my weekly ‘mini-meet’ with Lauren to discuss where I was on the project list she had provided. Lauren provided me with a list of expectations from the Counter that she had been given the previous Tuesday during her all day meeting. Afterwards I continued looking into digital signage and social media.
Around 11:30, Kelsey G. (another Cornell intern) came to my cubicle and informed me that color training was about to begin, something I hadn’t been privy too due to a spelling error on the email list. Color training turned out to be a personality test type of activity. New hires, interns, and even some older employees had gathered for a lunch presentation by learning and development employee Karen S. Everyone took a short, fun personality test that grouped individuals into four color categories that represented different personality types. The exercise was meant to facilitate communication and understanding in the workplace. It was actually very enjoyable, and I’d consider it an excellent team-building exercise. Most importantly they gave us all desk toys.
I returned to my cubicle and was given a project by Erin to analyze data concerning tours with customers and whether or not they are effective at increasing sales. After only an hour of work though, there was an ice cream social meant to welcome the interns and acted as a meet and greet.
I returned to the Van Meter facilities the following Saturday, June 12th around 7 AM to meet with Lauren for a golf tournament put on to honor the ESCO group, a customer of Van Meter. My job was fairly simple; I checked people in, took picture of the golfing teams, and helped set up a gift table for an end of the day raffle.
The atmosphere of the tournament was a lot more casual that I had expected. The golfers were all managers and salespeople and the like but they had obviously shed their office faces and had come to enjoy the day. Although the tournament ended early because of rain, everyone seemed to have a good time and it’s definitely something I’d like to do in the future myself.
One thing I did notice was that Lauren was the only female present from both companies. I thought that was interesting and Lauren informed me that it’s a very male dominated industry still – about 95% male.
Getting into the Swing of Things:Journal Entry from June 8th, 2010
Posted on June 22, 2010
Let me preface this entry by explaining the previous Wednesday (which would of been June 2nd, 2010). It was my first day to come in to work, and it was a very typical first day. Shake hands with about 100 people, hear their name go through one ear only to have it come right out the other, and get a company tour (although I already had the exact same one when I previously toured with my Managerial Econ class). I met my ambassador, Pam P., who was very helpful. Generally though, the workday was fairly uneventful.
Getting home, however, was. I had arranged a carpool with my fraternity brother who was also interning in Cedar Rapids, Michael J. We had agreed that he would pick me up at 4:30 PM and we’d both go to attend a MySummerNow event put on by the city of Cedar Rapids. A bad alternator and some bad luck with the towing company changed our plans, and we didn’t make it home until 10 PM that night. That's when Sehar S. asked me if I wanted to carpool with her. I heartily agreed.
June 8th marked what was to be my first normal day of work. I came in an hour and a half early and left an hour and a half late, but it was still what I’d call a normal day. Lauren S., my supervisor, and Erin K., marketing manager (Lauren’s supervisor), were in a meeting all day with the Counter salespeople all day. These are people who operate and manage the in-warehouse counters were customers can come in and purchase items. So, I proceeded to work on my project list that Lauren had provided last Wednesday unsupervised.
At 9:30 I met and job-shadowed with Kendra F., the graphic designer and third member of the marketing team. She explained that she had been an art major in college that specialized in graphic design and had chosen to work at VMI because of the unique atmosphere. She does a lot of everything: design and snout the weekly newsletter, touch nearly every flyer and brochure that is associated with Van Meter, and even a little interior design.
Afterwards I continued to work on projects from Lauren’s list. I finished a short bio about myself and updated some PowerPoint presentations, then met with Pam to listen to some of the company history. Later I ran into Sehar in the family room and had a short coffee break.
I finished the day doing some research on various projects that included looking at the pros and cons of social media marketing for VMI, preparing questions about what digital signage could do to assist counter salespeople, and looked into secret shopping.