CEO of Remote Banking

CEO of Remote Banking

My new career started with a great learning experience. I of course lived in a hotel during the week and drove home every Friday and returned Sunday evening until the family moved. This first 6-week period with the company was spent in a practical learning mode that was invaluable.

Every morning I met with our customer relations manager, a seasoned experienced salesman, for coffee before breakfast with visiting customers. We had customers visiting us nearly every day. In addition to teaching me customer relations William also thought me everything he knew about our products and systems and how they worked. For the first two weeks I was required to spend at least 4 hours each day observing product presentations and demonstrations in our display hall and accompanying the groups on our plant tours.

At that time nearly everything was done in the main plant. Administration, accounting engineering, manufacturing, service, and a dinning hall. We had three other manufacturing facilities. One down the road that manufactured the bulk of my products and one in a near by town that manufactured metal under counter furniture. The only other manufacturing facility was in upstate New York where we manufactured Pneumatic tube systems and large mechanical files. The only other offsite facility was a warehouse. At his time we manufactured Safes, Vault doors, Drive in windows, Remote banking Pneumatic tube drive up systems, Metal furniture, Safe Deposit Boxes, Night Depositories, File systems, Pneumatic Tube systems, and distributed a cash dispenser made in England. We also provided complete delivery, installation, and service for all of our products.

Most lunches and dinners were spent with visiting customers. I spent the remaining part of my days learning about the remote banking business. Here is where I put on my CEO cap and started to roam around the entire company learning from everyone who had anything to do with my products. I also had a great assistant, Bob, who had been in the department for many years and could point me in the right directions. He was a great help and a great mentor to me. In addition, I was assigned a very capable and experienced secretary who was of great assistance in directing me to the right places in our company and knowing who really was important to our mission. Connie was with me for about a year.

I talked to engineers, manufacturing foreman, the manufacturing men and women on the line, packers, shippers, accountants, order entry people, the documentation group, sales, advertising, and salesmen in the field.

This was an interesting experience because I don’t think any other product managers took the CEO concept to heart. Some times I had to explain to people why it was my business to talk to them and why I had the responsibility without the line authority. I think this is where I really learned to lead rather than manage people. Because I did not have authority over them I had to persuade, encourage, and motivate them to do what I thought was necessary for success. Eventually they began to understand the concept and started to help me. That is when real success began to happen.

Lessons learned:

1. Informal time like breakfast, lunch, or dinner is a great way to understand your customers needs and desires.

2. Never underestimate the value of learning from experienced associates.

3. When moving into a new situation spend time understanding and listening to the aspirations of your new associates. The return in the form of support and assistance is invaluable.

4. Take the time to learn all your company’s products and systems and how they work together or compliment each other.

5. Talking and listening to the people who do the work that makes your products perform will provide the best input you will ever get to maximize your results.

6. When others begin to take ownership of your business and assume responsibility for results, you will see great results.