Business development aka sales people....

[Coldworld]

People in BD seem like drivers. Spread to thin to be efficient at thier jobs. Put more of both on the streets and take better care of the customers. If we don't someone else will. Better service is all it takes not a bunch of smoke and mirrors.

YEP, its called getting back to basics. Its really not that hard of a concept, the founders of this company knew about this. Now as we loose more and more of the competition and it ends up being like it was in the old days, the usps and ups, ups needs to get back to this simple rule, but being ups they usually have the hardest time with the most basic things.

 

[Coldworld]

It is a fact that many customers do love their drivers. I agree, drivers should have something in their DIAD to allow them to have customer contact time. Perhaps it already exists but has not been communicated to the drivers. There has to be a happy medium somewhere. I wonder how long it will take us to find it??

True, but for gawds sake when mgt is harassing a driver for taking 1 minute for going to the bathroom, what the hell are they going to do if you give them 20 or 30 minutes a week in customer contact, and I dont mean with the shipping clerk but asking to see the shipping mgr and asking them how they think their experience with ups is going. Now this isnt going to be possible with the ll bean, fords, and home depot accounts but for small to medium businesses, Im almost positive that they would be absolutely positive about being asked how THEIR business is doing, especially in this economy. Its not hard, its called CARING, TAKING CARE OF PHYSICAL NEEDS, AND MENTAL NEEDS. In todays large business model, large corporations have lost the personal touch with their customers, you hear this every day...they just dont care. What a wonderful way for ups to stand out, they have a valuable resource with their drivers and bd folks, but these two groups of people are walked on the most..why is that???

 

[wisedragonfly]

YEP, its called getting back to basics. Its really not that hard of a concept, the founders of this company knew about this. Now as we loose more and more of the competition and it ends up being like it was in the old days, the usps and ups, ups needs to get back to this simple rule, but being ups they usually have the hardest time with the most basic things.

We don't run the company like we did when we were a employee owned company. Everything is changing since we went public. I wish I could understand the differences between the employee owned and public. It's getting worse instead of better. Hopefully, upper management will see the big picture soon and save us. There is not really too much that can be done on a district level. This issue needs to come from the top down. I'm sure Jim Casey is rolling over in his grave.

 

[wisedragonfly]

True, but for gawds sake when mgt is harassing a driver for taking 1 minute for going to the bathroom, what the hell are they going to do if you give them 20 or 30 minutes a week in customer contact, and I dont mean with the shipping clerk but asking to see the shipping mgr and asking them how they think their experience with ups is going. Now this isnt going to be possible with the ll bean, fords, and home depot accounts but for small to medium businesses, Im almost positive that they would be absolutely positive about being asked how THEIR business is doing, especially in this economy. Its not hard, its called CARING, TAKING CARE OF PHYSICAL NEEDS, AND MENTAL NEEDS. In todays large business model, large corporations have lost the personal touch with their customers, you hear this every day...they just dont care. What a wonderful way for ups to stand out, they have a valuable resource with their drivers and bd folks, but these two groups of people are walked on the most..why is that???

I wish I knew myself, coldworld. I remember when we were Fortune 500 #1, years and years back to back. Last time I looked we were down to #42. So sad, but true facts.

 

[wisedragonfly]

People in BD seem like drivers. Spread to thin to be efficient at thier jobs. Put more of both on the streets and take better care of the customers. If we don't someone else will. Better service is all it takes not a bunch of smoke and mirrors.

I agree, old brown shoe.

 

[Just Numbers]

There was a time at Ups when BD reps were called Customer Service reps. They were assigned numnerous duties which included pickup accounts and obtaining new ones. Those were the days in which the C/S rep knew every driver on a first name basis and introduced himself to every new driver. Our reps name was Tom A.... Sometimes he was a pain and other times very helpful to us drivers. Whenever there was a new p/u acct. or a problem with an existing one Tom would have a mtg with the center manager, driver and driver sup to come up with a pausible solution for all involved and quess what...it almost always worked. THAT IS WHAT IS MISSING WITH TODAY'S UPS! I hope someone in corporate is monitoring this!!!

 

[JustTired]

There was a time at Ups when BD reps were called Customer Service reps. ........... THAT IS WHAT IS MISSING WITH TODAY'S UPS!

That's because they are tasked with "developing business", not "servicing the customer". Customer Service became a misnomer. Probably a legal thing. (I doubt it...but who knows)

 

[Catatonic]

That's because they are tasked with "developing business", not "servicing the customer". Customer Service became a misnomer. Probably a legal thing. (I doubt it...but who knows)

Customer Service was changed to Sales or BD because Corporate thought that Customer Service was every UPSers job.
Back in the 80's, when a customer had a problem, most people thought that was the job of the CS rep .... most times, it was not. It was something the center or driver needed to do.
It does appear that there is more acceptance of customer service by all UPSers as part of their job since that name change.

 

[TheDick]

One reason FDX is able to offer cheaper rates is they don't pay their drivers the high $$$ that UPS pays to their drivers. FDX does not provide better service! BD does not dictate the drivers route. EDS & PASS were not created by BD.

Another reason FDX can offer cheaper rates is they dont pay their Mgmnt the high$$$ that UPS pays their Mgmnt either.

Say what's the $$$ levels for the 5 account types?
One of you BD's mentioned it before. My local BD has 3guys to do all of that. Then they doubled the BD's territory.

 

[pickup]

Corporate monitor: please read this thread and report back to your illuminati masters. Good business sense can be had for the taking just by reading this thread.

 

[BLACKBOX]

There are times when a company can be picked up or delivered at a given time but mgt doesnt want you to break trace...even if the damn customer is right across the street....

This is the part that irks me also. The sick feeling I get when I'm on one side of the street and our customer is on the other side with his hand on his hips with the "when am I going to get my stuff" look. Whaddayado??

 

[old brown shoe]

If customer service is all our jobs, please tell me how to code it out so I can provide some. I would love to be able to spend a minute or two with my customers or other business to try to get more volume, but don't want to get fired for stealing time.

 

[Coldworld]

This is the part that irks me also. The sick feeling I get when I'm on one side of the street and our customer is on the other side with his hand on his hips with the "when am I going to get my stuff" look. Whaddayado??

there was a post on here a month or so ago about complaints and concerns going through the roof right now...whats going on ups??? How many of these complaints are DIRECTLY related to actions being decided by operations....I would guess a very high number. It should make every upser ill with whats going on right now.The economy will get better, do we want the customers to come out of this with a disgruntled attitude of ups?

 

[Coldworld]

If customer service is all our jobs, please tell me how to code it out so I can provide some. I would love to be able to spend a minute or two with my customers or other business to try to get more volume, but don't want to get fired for stealing time.

We are told to "grow the business", who cares if they ask you why you were at a business for 10 minutes..tell them the truth, you're rounding up business just like mgt should be doing!!

 

[Coldworld]

This is the part that irks me also. The sick feeling I get when I'm on one side of the street and our customer is on the other side with his hand on his hips with the "when am I going to get my stuff" look. Whaddayado??

Thanks for being an employee who cares about this company and the customers. Mgt really has no concern for the customer...period. Ups taught each and every single driver in the beginning that the customers are what its all about....whats going on...whats changed??There still are millions of customers who are surviving and need service in these times. Its frustrating to know what it takes to keep and grow customers, but mgt holding people back, and holding this company back. I truly believe that ups has some of the strongest customer service values in their drivers and reps out there in todays business world. Why would you want to hold them back over a few seconds???

 

[TheDick]

I tried to put out a fire today when one of my retarded customers couldnt fax a claim with the form ups gave them with fax number included. So she asks me to put fire out. I dont know the freakin fax number but i bet the BD's know the number! So i call the
"AE : 40k - 200k a year"
and ask him.
He blew me off and told me to tell customer to call the 800 number-and said rtard customer looks at me like i'm the rtard!
Oh yeah and my POS neighbors route got eliminated today so the POS next to me with more seniority and 49% of his route on mine decided to assert his seniority on my route. Then he decided to take the day off once he saw the EDD.

 

[wisedragonfly]

Customer Service was changed to Sales or BD because Corporate thought that Customer Service was every UPSers job.
Back in the 80's, when a customer had a problem, most people thought that was the job of the CS rep .... most times, it was not. It was something the center or driver needed to do.
It does appear that there is more acceptance of customer service by UPSers as part of their job since that name change.

Do you really believe that?

With respect Hoax, I came from Customer Service when I was hired back in peak of 1984. Corporate began downsizing the department in the mid 90's. The department was abolished completely by 2000, with the exception of PCA-Preferred Customer Associates, which was abolished by the end of the 1st quarter this year, 2009.

I have always been told that Customer Service was a cost to UPS since we didn't make money for the company. We took pickup orders, solved customer problems and assisted the sales force. Now the Customer Services jobs are held by a vendor company, only they don't problem solve or help the sales force. They strictly send messages to the centers. Service issues are dumped on the sales force, taking up all their selling time. How can they sell and handle the many service problems?

During the first couple downsizes they eventually closed the phone centers and created Customer Support which continued assisting the sales force in solving customer problems, which was a much smaller unit. Before long Customer Support was abolished as well.

BD is the new name for what used to be considered Customer Service District Office who managed the sales force, with customer service under the same umbrella. In the old Customer Service days, my district had about 90 C/S reps during non-peak season and just over 200 during peak. That number does not count the sales force. Customer Service, or better known as CSTC is gone. DI - Delivery Information, is gone. Payroll, I hear is gone, although some say it's just been relocated. Pieces of Finance are gone.

With all the downsizes that I've seen over the last 15 years, IMO, it won't be long before UPS consists of drivers and management. I truly don't believe that there will be any admins left. There are not that many of us now. I am very Thankful to be able to come to work. I know my days are numbered, in the end. I hope I can hit retirement age before they boot me out the door. I say my prayers every single day!

If we don't do something to fix the service problems our customers are going to divert and UPS will begin to downsize centers.

 

[JustTired]

Do you really believe that?

With respect Hoax, I came from Customer Service when I was hired back in peak of 1984. Corporate began downsizing the department in the mid 90's. The department was abolished completely by 2000, with the exception of PCA-Preferred Customer Associates, which was abolished by the end of the 1st quarter this year, 2009.

I have always been told that Customer Service was a cost to UPS since we didn't make money for the company. We took pickup orders, solved customer problems and assisted the sales force. Now the Customer Services jobs are held by a vendor company, only they don't problem solve or help the sales force. They strictly send messages to the centers. Service issues are dumped on the sales force, taking up all their selling time. How can they sell and handle the many service problems?

During the first couple downsizes they eventually closed the phone centers and created Customer Support which continued assisting the sales force in solving customer problems, which was a much smaller unit. Before long Customer Support was abolished as well.

BD is the new name for what used to be considered Customer Service District Office who managed the sales force, with customer service under the same umbrella. In the old Customer Service days, my district had about 90 C/S reps during non-peak season and just over 200 during peak. That number does not count the sales force. Customer Service, or better known as CSTC is gone. DI - Delivery Information, is gone. Payroll, I hear is gone, although some say it's just been relocated. Pieces of Finance are gone.

With all the downsizes that I've seen over the last 15 years, IMO, it won't be long before UPS consists of drivers and management. I truly don't believe that there will be any admins left. There are not that many of us now. I am very Thankful to be able to come to work. I know my days are numbered, in the end. I hope I can hit retirement age before they boot me out the door. I say my prayers every single day!

If we don't do something to fix the service problems our customers are going to divert and UPS will begin to downsize centers.

If the criteria for a valid job at UPS is whether you make the company money, there would only be drivers and BD people. They could get rid of anyone above the center level and not skip a beat.

Of course to hear them, it's the drivers that are their biggest expense. Never mind that they are the ones who actually pick up and deliver the pkgs. It would be hard to sell a service if there is no one to initiate or complete the transaction.

Everybody would like to have a business where they collect the money but don't really provide the service they're selling. It would be what I would call the "Madoff Philosophy". Nice work if you can get it (and stay out of jail).

 

[upssalesguy]

i work my assssss off. I work with our major customers and spend more time in the offices then the shipping docks. the only time i get noticed is if an account leaves that costs the district money. it is a thankless job and this thread is proof. If I didnt have to deal with constant service issues, I could really make an impact winning business - it is everyones job to do customer service and at the minimum, get the packages there ON TIME and IN GOOD CONDITION. I like when the drivers are complaining about split routes and telling me that is why they dont turn in sales leads. Hey dummy, why do you think the route was cut?

I do buy pizza and bring in breakfast if needed - but why butter up to the guy who will be the first to be laid off?

freight reps also have an unlimited budget and work regionally (MANY regional carriers go after a certain nitch freight lane) and that is the expectation of them by their shippers. They are not strategic like UPS. Also, UPS has about 600 times the customers as the largest freight carrier.

I am fired up today, sorry.

 

[whiskey]

very well said. i wish all drivers thought this way. unfortunately some drivers on this forum say "it not their job" when it comes sharing information/sales leads.

UPS package car drivers really don't have the time to "talk" with a customer about potential volume. Our job is to work with a sense of urgency. We say "Hi" and "Bye" and in between, let the person know signing the DIAD, that we saw the "big game last night". When the DIAD is returned to us, we're gone. Leaving a sideways glance with a smile as the customers parting words bounce off our sweaty backs. Most of us are paid over every day. Unless your one of the lucky ones, who has a pickup stop with 500 envelopes.
To much yin. Not enough yang.