Heads, I Win
By Steve Carter
This year we are celebrating our 35th anniversary in Advantia and I count myself very fortunate to have been in and around the group for 32 of those years, but I nearly wasn’t.
I joined an Advantia dealer on the first day back after the Christmas break, my role was to run the purchasing function. Unbeknown to me at the time, January is a very busy month with new price files, customer contracts, delivery of catalogues etc. Thankfully my predecessor would at least be there for a couple of weeks, to show me the Progress system and take me through the daily routine; or so I thought.
Day one, I was informed that my predecessor had decided to leave early; brilliant, just what I wanted to hear. Everybody else in the office would muck in and help me learn the ropes but they were busy with their own roles, so help was a bit limited. It didn’t help when the sales team were asking me to source typewriter daisy wheels, Rolodex card indexes, inserts for Filofaxes etc, products I knew very little about, let alone where to find them. I was like a rabbit in the headlights if I am honest.
After a few days, I went for a lunchtime walk, continually asking myself what the hell I had done. I was really struggling and felt that I was letting people down. I took a coin out of my pocket and flipped it; heads I would go back and tails I would call it a day. Looking back now, I am so, so glad that it came up heads.
I went back into the office, rolled my sleeves up and asked for help. Thankfully we had recently joined the Advantia group (or COSTS as it was then known) and I can’t tell you what a relief it was to have them supporting me. The legwork was already done in terms of supplier negotiations, all I had to do was build relationships with the suppliers representatives. They were there at the end of the phone when I needed guidance as to where I could find ‘specials’ along with any other help that I needed. From that first introduction to the group, it was like having a big brother by my side.
I think that steep learning curve did me the world of good and I now know the value of being part of a group. We do have some very good groups in our industry and help is always at hand for any members that need it, and it doesn’t matter what the topic is: never struggle alone, always reach out.
I wish I had kept that coin and framed it.
If you’d like to know more about how you can become part of the wider Advantia team then please do contact us today for a friendly chat.