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A Day in the Life continued product in, or a miscommunication between a salesperson and a customer would become your problem to fix." When a man labors in another man's shoes, he either walks away fully enlightened or develops amnesia. Cypress is referred to as "one of us" by his crew, a group of six with nearly 100 years of industry experience and the kind of kinship that comes from labor- ing to lift a 500-pound convection oven three feet in the air—and investing hours to assemble and then reassemble a piece of equipment because of a sketchy diagram. "Oftentimes a piece of equipment is designed to be assembled in different configurations, so a manufacturer may ship a bag of hardware for several pos- sible configurations," explains Cypress. "Imagine being pressed for time and having to guess on the sequence for assembly because instructions are not provided. And then realizing, nearing completion,that youmust undo some of your work because you guessed the sequence incorrectly. "It's difficultwork that could bemade easier if the industry would invest in a little training, but unfortunately a lot of people aren't aware of the realities of life in the field. I've been on dealer coun- cils for a lot of factories.There are rep councils. The service agents have a council but there's no formalized plan to get feedback from these guys,which is a shame because, in many instances, they're the last to interfacewith the cus- tomer and their performance, profes- sionalism and attitude can encourage or discourage repeat business." Yet, there are no workshops, factory visits, webinars or any form of online education dedicated to the functions performed by guys like Abraham, Gary, Tony and Ronard, four of the senior members of Dixie's crew. More than Just Delivery "Twenty five years is a long time to be in an industry without seeing any kind of interest in providing training for 1 2 FEDA News & Views what we do or how we do it,"says a visibly brimming Abraham Cotton, statesman of the elder the group. "That's why I'm so honored that someone wants to hear about what hap- pens behind the scenes. Most people see us as just guys who deliver equip- ment, set up and then move on." But delivery guy There are rep councils. The service agents have a council but there's no formalized plan to get feedback from these guys. Fred Cypress of Dixie Store Fixtures falls far short of what transpires in the field. There's really not a name to describe what these guys do, says Cypress. Long story short, every- one does what's necessary to get the job done—diplomatically explaining to a customer that the problemis notwith the functionality of the equipment but with howit's being used (thereby head- ing off a wasted trip from a service agent); delivery; uncrating, assembly; fulfilling an impromptu request to remove smallwares from old shelving before installing new shelving; and even having a rep's back.That's some- thing Ferrell Hataway knows firsthand after working closely with the crew for a number of years. Hataway, a partner with the rep firm Carman-Girard Associates, is a longtime friend of Dixie's. (The bond between rep and dealer are uncharacteristically close, something that Cypress attributes to the equally uncharacteristic level of cooperation that seemingly flows among dealers, consultant, reps and service agents within his market.) "As reps,we need to talk to everyone in the dealership, and particularly the guys in the field," says Hataway."They're problem solvers. I can't tell you the number of times we've had a shelving layout that didn't quite fit and one of the guys fixed it. Just the other day, they calledme to bustmy chops about shelv- ing I'd measured at a school. I was six inches off, so I went back to check my work and the customer was ecstatic about the job—not because of what I did. I messed up and the guys covered for me." The Supporting Cast Then again, that's the level of service you expect when you work with a veteran crew, par- ticularly onewith Dixie's skill set. Jeremy, the unofficial newbie of the group,got his start in the industry 13 years ago at a competitor's. He's certified in refrigeration and plumbing and worked with Dixie as a subcontractor for a number of years prior to joining the team last summer. He gives the Birmingham-based dealer the luxury of tackling certain jobs from within,opposed to hiring subs to make routine connections/repairs, says Cypress. Abraham and Tony, two of four crew members with 20 plus years, work in tandem with contract department head Sue Cole to execute jobs in the field,which make up a 60 to 80 percent chunk of the dealer's sales volume.Billy Jones,a trained draftsman, is the floater; while local Fire Captain Gary Nix, the only part-timer on the crew, specializes in stainless work (cut- ting, welding, grinding and polishing). He also has more than 20 years invest- ed in Dixie, along with veteran truck driver Ronard Boglin, whose area of expertise is smallwares. The schools love him, says Cypress of Boglin, in part because of a steadfast rule to never leave the customer without a verbal confirmation that Dixie's fulfilled its side of the bargain. "Whenwe get to a school,sometimes they just say drop it off," says Boglin, "but I always ask to speakwith theman- continued on page 14