Organic growth is what we refer to when a young company slowly and gradually puts down strong roots in the community. They grow their business mostly by doing all the right things for ten or twenty years. Their customers trust them. They keep coming back and telling more of their friends. Unlike corporate giants who blaze into town and close up shop after a year or two of failing at an experiment, organically grown companies have strong roots that can handle a fair bit of economic ups and downs.
What happens with organic growth is that specific jobs and titles are not always spelled out and that’s because everybody in the organization kind of jumps in and does whatever it is that needs to be done. The trouble with this is that when business spikes and there’s more work than hours in the day things start to get missed. Things get missed because nobody knows exactly who’s responsibility it is to make sure whatever it is gets handled. Oh business is getting done, and you’re taking far more steps forward than backward, but a good business never settles for dropping the ball on anything.
Now is the time to insert a new Warehouse Manager position.
The type of person we hope to hire
There are folks who look at this wonderful chaos and instantly see systems, procedures, and policies, and metrics to measure and quantify. They can easily visualize a thousand pieces, moving in concert and harmony.
These managers can see three steps ahead. They know what you’re going to do before you do. And the beauty is that you trust them and follow them and want to please them because you know that they know what they’re doing. They’ve got it under control and in the end, everybody will look like heroes at their job, because everything gets done..right.
The job duties
This post is for two different companies. The type of person–the personality and soft skills (management, people, organization) are basically the same. Of course the companies are completely different and the product is different. Some of those differences are listed below.
| Distributor | Electrical Contractor | |
| Product knowledge | Roofing, Siding, Windows, & Doors. These things are not rocket science. Your ability to manage systems will be much more important. | Many hundreds of electrical construction components. The learning curve here is greater, so specific industry experience is preferred. |
| Customer service and getting product into their hands. Deliveries | More than 100 loads a day go out. Contractors picking up product as well as scheduled deliveries. Get all the trucks loaded properly and safely. Get the product on the job sites–on time & accurately. Make sure your customers are happy. | Your customers are your Technicians and Mechanics. The job is to always keep all of the jobs from waiting on materials. Make sure they have the product to load onto their trucks for tomorrow's project. |
| Deliveries | Spend a portion of your day delivering last minute items | |
| Personnel management | You hire and fire. Maintain records and enforce policy. You keep your staff safe. You hold necessary meetings. You document stuff... | |
| Inventory management | Document, count, sort, rotate, maintain, etc. When you have shortages or excess, you notify the Purchasing Manager. | Document, count, sort, rotate, maintain, etc. When you have shortages or excess, you purchase what you need via established channels. Source out new and better vendors / products. |
| Vehicle management | Ensure that all company vehicles are documented and maintained at all times. | Ensure that all company vehicles are documented and maintained at all times. |