Similar to our national sales meeting, our national BOM (Branch Operations Managers) meeting allows participants to gather and focus as a group on how best to improve areas they can directly impact, such as daily operations, sales, margins, and training. This year’s meeting was held at the Crossings Resort outside Richmond, VA February 20-23. Participants included branch operations managers from around the country, along with regional purchasers, regional managers, and home office operations personnel.
One aim of the meeting is to stress the vital importance to a branch’s success of the BOM position. From their product knowledge and sales skills to their operations knowledge and ability to create good, strong relationships with customers and vendors alike – our BOMs are at the heart of the branch and keep things running day-to-day, while the branch manager focuses on building sales in the field. It’s critical our BOMs know their role and the resources available to them to perform their jobs in the most effective and efficient ways possible.
Important topics covered this year included a look-ahead for the company spanning the next five years, instruction on the upcoming GUI operating system upgrade, branding deliveries, a focus on safety issues, and time management strategies. Break-out sessions covered other topics of interest such as strengthening the bench, recruiting, Fleetmatics, managing margins, P&L basics, and addressing associate challenges.
The meeting was a great success and everyone left energized and ready to Deliver Excellence from the Inside Out. Let me express my personal appreciation to Billy Mosby, Devin Rich, Nikki Stone, and their team for their time and efforts planning, organizing, and executing such an outstanding meeting.
