job description

While I am the president and owner of a produce company, the long and short of it is: I'm a lowly salesperson. I'm here to sell as much product as I can to make profit for the company.

No, I'm a salesman. We have a very small staff, so a business partner and I work together to get sales. He sells one group of items for the company while I sell another. We do have additional salesmen that we oversee, but what they do is very similar to what I do.

Our company is known as a “rebagger.” We bring in various types of washed and graded produce. We then store the fruits or vegetables until we get an order. When that happens, we bag and ship the produce. There are four different varieties of potatoes that we handle: Reds, Whites, Yukons and Russets. These potatoes are handled in 3 lb, 5 lb, 10 lb or 20 lb pound bags. The potatoes are shipped out immediately all over the state following an order.

Our service is important, because it allows grocery stores (or any store that sells fresh produce), to keep very little inventory. The last thing a large grocery store wants is space being filled by potatoes that are going more rotten by the day. We keep the potatoes at prime humidity and temperature so that when companies are ready to put them on display, they are still very fresh. This way, retailers can have a variety of pallets delivered to them, depending on their customers, we also eliminate any risk for the companies from whom we buy the produce.

Because of the chance that I'll be stuck with a load of potatoes that no one wants and eventually goes rotten, I earn a premium for my services that will cover any risk.

Mechanically, in larger areas such as Chicago or other metropolitan areas, they have large machines that bag only one type of potato in one size of bag. This means that for each combination of Reds, Whites, Yukons and Russets in 3 lb, 5 lb, 10 lb, and 20 lb bags, there is a separate machine. That means that there are at least 16 machines! Because we are a smaller distributor, we have a couple machines that need to be constantly recalibrated to meet the current load requirements.

No, because of the quality of our work. We pay very special attention to our machines and produce because of constant adjustment. This leaves the consumers receiving a very combed-over and superior product. As good as you can get, in fact. The quality issue why we re-grade the potatoes for any other imperfections even after they have already been washed and graded to the top U.S. requirement.

Grading is the evaluation of produce. In our situation, the potato has to be a certain shape, size, and cleanliness to receive a grade by the government of one. We re-grade by having two guys re-check the supply to see if any inferior product is still present.

It is headed to a grocery store in Boone, Iowa. That grocery chain is probably our largest account for potatoes.

I don't want to own any trucks. Too much hassle and liability. We contract it all. We have a permanent driver that works with us through the contractor. The driver is a gentleman that farms during the summer and ships for us in the winter.

Eight or nine months.

education & career path

I graduated from high school in 1977. I went on to four years of college. There, I got three business degrees from what is now Truman State. I had been raised on a farm and knew agriculture pretty well, so I started working with the parent corporation of a large banana company. I did merchandising with them in Des Moines for about a year until there was a big shortage of bananas from Honduras and Costa Rica. They laid off about 97% of their staff, including me. They offered me a spot in San Francisco about three weeks later, I declined. Later, I got a job with a citrus company in Des Moines, and sold citrus fruits around the Midwest. Next, I became a salesman with this company in 1984. After seven years, I became a junior owner in the company; this was followed by another seven years before I became a senior owner.

My partner, who is equally as proficient as me, has no college education. It certainly helped me with the business aspects of management, but overall, getting to know the field from the ground up is the way to go. Guys that make it big in my business were working the produce aisle at the local grocery store, learning the true craft.

Well, the first interval treats people the worst. Many people that enter this business leave quickly because it is too tough. You can’t be an order taker; you have to be a salesperson. There is a big difference between the two. You have to be able to take “no” for an answer, and come right back with another item to sell. You can’t be too pushy, but certainly be insistent. It’s tough to break through because of the trust factor. The more well known I became in an area, the easier it became to sell my product. When I first started, no one wanted to take a chance on the “new kid.” The best part of where I am today is that some consumers know me as the “God of Potatoes”; this means that my name is the first one that pops into their head when it comes to getting a shipment of potatoes.

Two is the magic number when it comes to years in distribution. That is the learning curve and if by that time the newcomer can't figure it out, he wasn't meant for the industry. You either sink or swim. Making decisions on your own is key.

I was lucky. I had agriculture experience since I was a little boy, and stayed involved in it my entire life. When I started my career, I already knew everything there was to know about it. I took a two-week training class in Louisiana accompanied by ongoing education in Indianapolis to learn any new techniques. I was selling bananas once a week, and was in the store watching transactions four days a week. With the citrus company, I was behind a desk, taking orders and making sales every workday. It was hard for me not to learn the craft inside and out.

The conditions and treatment of different types of produce is very important to me. In fact, it has to become second nature to work well in this business. Some types of produce need to be mildly ripe, others need to be fully ripe, and others are disgusting if any ripening has occurred. Strawberries need to be kept at a nearly freezing temperature. At the same time, citruses and tomatoes can't be anywhere near that low or they will sustain damage. We control the fruit decay, which is of direct importance when it comes to the consumer's selection and enjoyment.

my day

Mostly the logistics of the business itself. While we store potatoes, we also broker many other produce items such as radishes, greens, lettuce, onions, citruses, and berries. The hardest part of my job is getting different products to different locations fresh in as few trucks as possible. The right trucks, in the right areas, with the right products, on the right days are required day-in and day-out to make this business happen. If I had to ship a straight load of potatoes, there'd be no problem. Trouble arises when I have to ship out a half load of potatoes and a half load of berries in different directions. Potatoes are stored and shipped at 50-55 degrees. Berries would be mush in that setting. So I have to adjust, prepare, compromise and push customers, suppliers and truckers to make it all happen effectively.

I am constantly making sure that we have truckers who are driving within a legal time frame. We can't have guys running 36-hour shifts, which is illegal. Not only that, but if for some reason their truck breaks down or refrigeration malfunctions, that is a load of my product that is now worthless. At some of the bigger consumers of produce, our contracted trucks have to wait in line. If we have another shipment ready to go, and our guy is stuck in line at a grocer, it is my job to find another way to get a sitting product out.

We mainly just own the building and bagging machines. I just purchased a new forklift to make loading easier. We have had railroad service from time to time to help us ship, but trucking is the main form of transportation these days.

I do the job everyday. Eventually, your mind starts to adjust to the constant stream of new information. You learn the pitfalls and benefits to every decision you make. Being a day late is not an option. When that happens, consumers find another supplier. Being unreliable isn't an option. You must be reliable to survive the industry.

You take a hit to your reputation and your finances. If a shipment arrives that is short or late, the expense comes directly out of my pocket. After that, the grocery store loses trust in me, and I lose business. That is why consistency is vital. Its gotten to the point where we ship our valuable loads with temperature recorders to make sure that our product was cared for every step of the way.

salary & lifestyle

With the invention of cell phones and fax machines, I don't need to be attached to the business. I normally come in between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. and work until the job is done. Most of the work that I get done happens in the mornings from 10:00 a.m. to noon. In selling, there are some non-verbal things that I have to take care of on my own. I might have a guy that I sell to seven days a week, but we only correspond once a week. A lot of my time is spent setting up these deliveries and sales. After noon, I stick around if I'm needed; if not, I take off and golf. With my business cell phone, of course.

Not everyone can handle the complexity and risks with my job. It is very difficult and a huge time commitment, which means that not anyone can do it. It takes a great bit of knowledge of the product and the people you're interacting with. If I have a trucker deliver an entire load of berries to a place that only wanted a half shipment of potatoes, then I have to make an executive decision to get this thing figured out, and know how to salvage what I've got.

Well good, let's put it that way. I've checked out the pay rate for salesmen, secretaries, and seniors on government published reports. We are each at the absolute highest pay rate. Our employees are all looking at thousands of dollars in bonuses, excellent insurance, and a great retirement rate. Our assistant foreman did not finish high school, and he's looking at making over $20,000 dollars. It's very lucrative in the distribution business.

Cell phones have revolutionized my industry. It allows me to get out of the office a lot more than my predecessors. We call ourselves "slaves to the phones.” That, and we are "24/7, 365,” which is actually true. Normally, major problems are resolved before I leave the office, but in case they aren't, I end up doing work at home, on the golf course, at dinner, etc. Normally, office workers like to keep their home numbers off public records. For me, it's the opposite. I'd much prefer to take care of a machine malfunction or a missed delivery at 11:00 p.m. than the next morning, when the problem has gotten much worse. It might not be exactly what the consumer wants, but at least they know that we will do everything possible to get them as much as we can, as soon as we can.

We rarely end up in the courtroom. In my 23 years, there have been a total of four situations that resulted in legal disputes. The cool thing about the produce industry is it is the opposite of every other industry in one sense: finance. When a buyer goes broke, typically, the government gets their share first. But, because of a law to keep people fed, produce sellers are guaranteed compensation first in any weird situations. People who are well fed don't revolt, and the government understood this.

pros, cons & trends

Year by year, it is ridiculous. The ebb and flow is crazy. One year you may sell a ton of grapefruit. The next, a freeze may kill off the entire crop (like right now). If it freezes long enough, there will be no citrus produce to sell, and it will all turn into juice. It will take three to five years to get those trees producing grapefruit again. When the consumers come to me looking for grapefruit, I either have to find another source, or convince them that they want another fruit instead. I can't sit and twiddle my thumbs waiting for certain fruits to grow. I go out and find something else to sell, or sell to someone else to make profit for the company. You are bouncing around all the time depending on season, company movement, or popular trends.

When it comes to bagging potatoes, it is all mechanized. Personally, however, I fought the computer for years. Lately, I've learned hunt-and-peck typing, because I realized the amount of organization and information computers could offer me.

Right now we have a machine that dumps potatoes into twenty-four different bags simultaneously. These are German-made machines that can fill each bag to within one-thousandth of an ounce of the desired weight. This means that I am not wasting money shipping out extra product. Once bagged, the product is shipped out on trucks.

The days when sales can't be made and supply is sitting. I'm constantly dealing with things, and when a big hitch gets thrown in my system, I have to drop everything to fix the problem. A stalled truck in Johnston or wrong shipment at Fairway can quickly become a deciding factor regarding my reputation. Whether or not it’s fair, it doesn't matter, because if a consumer sees that my product is delivered late, what will they think of me? Who do they order from next week? Not me.

It certainly has lowered the amount of manpower needed to run a site. The people that work now are very qualified. They can load trucks, move product, fix a machine, help me with a sale, and evaluate the product. Because of this, the warehouse can function well with four people.

advice

There are three people to satisfy in every transaction I do: the customer, the trucker, and the shipper. One of these sections is always screwing up at one time or another. It's my duty to make sure that the other two areas have no inkling of the other's mistake.

Christmas Eve, this year is a good example. A lot of shippers don't work this week. The guys only get two weeks off a year, and they all take Christmas to New Year's Eve off. We had all our product shipped out, and considered ourselves done for the rest of the year. Here's the curve ball: a grocery store sold a lot more potato salad than they had originally planned. They wanted an extra load of potatoes from us very quickly. My inventory was empty though, because it was the holidays, and we didn't expect to have any demand. Instead of just giving up on the order, I took it into my own hands. I called up my supplier's assistant (the supplier was on holiday also) to see if I could get an extra shipment of potatoes. I begged for a load of potatoes, and he assembled a last-minute crew to ship them out. It all worked out perfectly.

Recognition isn't everything. This applies to the job, life, whatever. Much of what I do involves making things happen behind the scenes, so consumers have no stress or worry. I don't need a pat on the back for what is expected of me, despite how much work it took me to do it. A subtle personal acknowledgement of your own skills and triumphs is what is needed for this type of job.

Versatility is a key to success. There are typical shipments in my job that works on schedules and regularity. But everything else depends on my evaluation of supply and demand. If I see a lot of product in one area and a lot of demand somewhere else, there is my opening. It is my duty to be as versatile as possible, so that neither side notices any difficulty.

We have the phrase, "Golden Handcuffs.” This is when a new salesman is wildly overcompensated in hopes that they will not be able to leave their job because of such financial security. I want people that want to be here working with me. We pay well, but only to a degree less than that of "Golden Handcuffs.” Salary is based on how much you bring in. People that sell a lot of product deserve to be compensated, and it is very fair in distribution.