Was perusing HGV jobs last night (the way you do ) and found one for Air Products, which as most of you probably know sells industrial gas, this job being delivery of bottled gas, which I presume is welders bottles etc. Anyway looked down the obligatory job description and among the many list of tasks was to liaise with the commercial dept to actively sell the companies products, to seek out new business opportunities, find new customers and to keep the commercial dept updated on the activities of all competitors⌠whaaat??
Maybe itâs just me, but I would have though getting through traffic, managing to get parked at the destination, then manhandling heavy bottles at that destination would be more than enough to contend with, without some office bod thinking you should have some sales targets too. Go down that route and you might as well own the companyâŚ
I bet you guys have some tales to tell about extra âdutiesâ being tagged onto your driving job role.
Itâs not exactly sales targets is it?
Nobody would know the customers better than you. You are seeing them every few days or weekly whereas a rep will be every 3-6 months. The goods in staff will tell you more as youâd build up a rapport with them. All they are asking is that if customer says âwe use X and Y for this or that, or X and Y have done this to usâ is that you tell the office as they may be able to get more work from it.
Itâs pretty common practice amongst companies.
Sounds like they just want you to have a good look what other competitorâs bottles might be around as theyâll likely be in the same place but puffed out to sound grand.
When that Isuzu truck woman boss went undercover wasnât there some girl doing parts deliveries that got promoted because sheâd been cold calling hauliers to see if there was any business?
Itâs the drivers that just want to sit in a cab and waggle the wheel whose cabs will be empty first when the driverless technology comes along.
I am polite and courteous with customers when delivering things in the past, but didnât really have a rapport with them. Like most folks I made the drop then left. Any ârapportâ was likely to be what they were doing at the weekendâŚ
Yes, must agree its not really difficult and youâre in a good position to do so. On turf and topsoil I have a stack of cards in the cab and am often asked by passers by if they can have our details cos theyâre thinking of getting their garden done. Also let the office know the details of any unfamiliar vans of landscapers on jobs so they can add them to their list of contacts. Handy when things get slow and they want to look for new leads.
Sales are what/who is keeping you in work.
As far as âdealingâ with getting parked and off loading goes, all part of the day. And if it looks like a struggle, just stop in the road and let them behind wait.
I do agree with what you guys are saying, my concern was more to do with this this aspect being part of the formal job description and those elements being formal duties of this role, in âblack and whiteâ.
I remember delivering office equipment a few years ago when I was doing a two week holiday cover through an agency. The guy thought I was going to cold call on surrounding businesses to drum up trade. I hate people who knock on my own door, so certainly wasnât going to knock on others doors.
A company you work for want you to sell/push their own products to customers? Gosh,whatever next.
Its hardly an unreasonable extra task as far as I can see. Getting to the premises and finding a parking space isnt exactly pushing the limits.
I think they probably just want you to offer more stuff to clients you are already at (ie deliverieng to at that moment) and things like that. Sounds like they have padded it out to make the job seem more professional and hoity toyty
What hourly rate were they offering?
Cold calling is very different and something I wouldnât do.
A lot of these 7.5t snack vans are advertised as driving but you also have to make extra sales but get comission on them and itâs described in the description.
The-Snowman:
A company you work for want you to sell/push their own products to customers? Gosh,whatever next.
Its hardly an unreasonable extra task as far as I can see.
What is it they say âit is easy to give something away but far harder to sell itâ. If selling was easy, folks would swap their manky trucks for a smart company BMW coupe and sleep in hotels rather than rubbish strewn laybysâŚ
Most truck drivers got their licenses to drive trucks and that is their skill set - in a driving role, plus any specialist training (or not) for the types of loads that they carry. There isnât a pay rate specified in the advert but here is a brief excerpt from itâŚ
" A significant part of the role will be the commercial element, which will be to develop and assist in the growth of sales quickly in a specified region working with the local commercial team."
and also this âProactive signing of new business opportunity in defined geography both directly and in conjunction with the local BDM. Initially this shall represent a large percentage of the role as we drive to get business up and running.â
The-Snowman:
A company you work for want you to sell/push their own products to customers? Gosh,whatever next.
Its hardly an unreasonable extra task as far as I can see.
What is it they say âit is easy to give something away but far harder to sell itâ. If selling was easy, folks would swap their manky trucks for a smart company BMW coupe and sleep in hotels rather than rubbish strewn laybysâŚ
Most truck drivers got their licenses to drive trucks and that is their skill set - in a driving role, plus any specialist training (or not) for the types of loads that they carry. There isnât a pay rate specified in the advert but here is a brief excerpt from itâŚ
" A significant part of the role will be the commercial element, which will be to develop and assist in the growth of sales quickly in a specified region working with the local commercial team."
and also this âProactive signing of new business opportunity in defined geography both directly and in conjunction with the local BDM. Initially this shall represent a large percentage of the role as we drive to get business up and running.â
If the commission rates are good no problem but if no commission paid tell them to do their own selling! When the order goes through the person inputting it onto the system claims the sale and the commission! IMHO
He used to order most of his stock, which was delivered in cagesâŚall the driver had to do was wheel the cages into the storeroom.
But there were other products he soldâŚincluding fresh produce, meat products, fancy goods etc where a delivery vehicle would turn up with a selection of goods in it and my old man would choose what he wanted. The drivers of those vehicles were reps as well as driversâŚnothing unusual in that, and that was decades ago.
I also recall a feature in TRUCK mag with a company called Rutland Fencing. The driver had an artic with a trailer full of fencing products (wires, posts etc) and drove around various farm supplies places where he has allocated areas to stock with merchandise etc. He was responsible for stock control and all the rest of it.
Itâs the kind of job which some people will enjoy and others hate.
We used to do something similar at a skip company I worked for.
The drivers were out-and-about far more than the sales reps could be, so if they saw a new building site, or site fencing appearing somewhere, theyâd let us know. If we then went out and picked up the job, they got a ÂŁ50 bonus the next week. The drivers used to do huge amounts of upselling - aggregates, plant etc.
I couldnât mind doing it if i got a decent kickback, but am no a van salesmen im a lorry driver. Cart stuff from A to B with the least amount of stress and most amount of money as possible.
I did a bit of vans sales at my last job, just the odd time here and there to cover. Quite enjoyed it and was well fed from all the shops. Never had to pay for lunch which i noticed! I wasnât hit wae targets as i only covered so that might have made it a great deal worse i dont know.
I have had merely 2 HGV driving jobs. In both I have sold extra goods, up-sold goods, and offer advice on products to end users. It seems like a totally natural way to conduct business to me. Like above posters have said, I am the one going to all these sites, I know how far a pallet of turf/bag of soil goes, and most importantly I have a face and handshake. All the office boys have is a phone.
The more my company sells, the more likely I am, not be out of work.
Yes I know there will be some people who donât do that, and have no interest in doing it. That is absolutely fine, I wonât begrudge you that. But as OAD says, I know who I would rather employ.
At the end of day, I get paid by the hour, and there is a legal cap on the number of hours I can do. You can only do 15 hours in a day, I get paid exactly the same if Iâm behind the wheel, or if Iâm talking to a landscaper or a site agent, so why would I care which I do??
if all the gaffer wanted was me behind the wheel, that would be just peachy too, but he doesnât, so Iâm not.
I think some of these Co. that do the waste oil collection work, from garages are asked / expected to develop more clients in the area they are allocated. Used to be a firm in Leeds that did this work ⌠canât remember the name ⌠think they became Oss - donât know if they are still in Leeds
F-reds:
The more my company sells, the more likely I am, not be out of work.
This ^^^^, very much this.
If an element of your job involves selling your company or its services and you get paid some sort of comission then fair enough. If however you are expected to do this as part of your normal duties then â â â â it up. Very few employers will employ you out of the goodness of their hearts, they do it for one reason and one reason only, and that is to generate revenue for them. If anyone struggles with that concept then Iâd suggest that maybe they arenât quite ready to work in the grown up world.
Iâd also suggest that if anybody begrudges any employer financially benefitting from an employees labours then maybe they should try strapping on a pair, starting their own business and reaping the rewards of their own labours.
The Rustler:
I think some of these Co. that do the waste oil collection work, from garages are asked / expected to develop more clients in the area they are allocated. Used to be a firm in Leeds that did this work ⌠canât remember the name ⌠think they became Oss - donât know if they are still in Leeds
Yep, itâs part of my job to get new custom, otherwise I wouldnât have a job. I do waste oil, but not for OSS. Thankfully. I donât get paid extra for doing it, itâs just part and parcel of the work.
) and found one for Air Products, which as most of you probably know sells industrial gas, this job being delivery of bottled gas, which I presume is welders bottles etc. Anyway looked down the obligatory job description and among the many list of tasks was to liaise with the commercial dept to actively sell the companies products, to seek out new business opportunities, find new customers and to keep the commercial dept updated on the activities of all competitors⌠whaaat??
