Our Cam only shows up about once a month bull sh--s with the manager for about 2 hours about how bad it is here and doesn't even talk to the commercial sales guy and is back on the road. I don't think he even visits any of the shops. Sitting in meeting and listening to the DM. don't help the customer.
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LOL. DMs are going to hold CAMs accountable? I can’t even get a response to an email, text or voicemail from my DMs. They could give a sh-- about the commercial business. CSMs replaced by DMs? This is just silly. DMs are responsible for operations. CSMs are responsible for sales. Two different worlds and both are already working way too hard given the lack of resources.
Good thing you think the CAM job is so easy. Their are a ton of openings since most of the good Cams left and took their customers with them . Sales is always based on relationships and the customers know when the store screws up that it isn't the CAMS fault. As far a CAMS working for the DMs..that would be a joke..they don't have a clue what's important to a commercial account.
CSMs and CAMs are both a waste of resources. A qualified DM with a smaller store count makes more sense. Productivity per dollar spent does not equate to an intelligent ROI.
I've seen over and over CAMS become an unofficial assistant dm with no power or control for the position. I've also seen DMS expect CAMS to investigate and report store issues that are not in their scope of job description.
Here is where you are wrong the CAM is not part of management. You manage nobody. Go to work, see customers and get the phone to ring period! CSM’s will be gone in 2018 and the CAM’s will report to the DM’s, you will see the CAM’s then because the DM’s will hold them accountable.
Obviously the last post was by a CAM. Some may be doing the job as best they can, however the vast majority are not salesmen to begin with. So who wants to talk about how poor hiring practices are from top to bottom? There are examples at every level that continue to erode the company.
There are useless CAMs out there, for sure. I guarantee you that those in the top 200 in the company are doing everything that the below poster says. They are doing their job with a lot of pressure to grow sales. They have 6-10 stores and hundreds of customers. If a CAM isn’t visiting a customer very often, it’s because that customer isn’t worth the ROI. With the workload and time they have they are working the biggest, best and customers that have the most potential to grow. They have to be very strategic with their time. Also realize, that CAMs have to get a lot done at home as they don’t have an office to go to. They also have a ridiculous amount of conference calls and Web-Xs early in the morning and after 5PM. It’s not a 9-5 job if they want to make money. My CAM calls me before they visit to see if there is anything new they should know about before making sales calls. The market is big and the store is right in the middle. My CAM makes sales calls on the way to the store to be more efficient. It’s not usual for me to see them before 11AM because they are working on their way to the store. I guess I’m just in a good market. All the CAMs work together to help each other out. I have a couple of backup CAMs that are of great help when mine is on vacation or out sick. It’s awesome!
Sounds like your cam needs some time management skills. The majority do not even put in a full day. I know cams that show up around 10 am and have vanished by 4pm. Commercial accounts say they see their cam ever 5-6 weeks. How do you build relationships with that routine? Another failed AAP program.
I'm in the DIFM world now.. haven't seen a CAM since October.
Put yourselves in the position of your CAM. They have a lot on thier plate. They HAVE to make 50 sales calls a week while handling credit, delivery and store issues. They do this while driving around in their own personal vehicle with thier personal cell phones blowing up all day. Throw in all the corporate BS taskes/projects that have to be documented in the perfect format and it makes for a very long day. They have to spend time in the early morning and late in the evenings just trying to get everything done. They get ridden from store teams, customers and thier CSM for things that are beyond their control, yet they have no authority. It’s the toughest management position in the company. I see how hard my CAM works and I appreciate all the effort. My CAM is very important to the success of our Professonal program. Without my CAM’s relationships with our customers, we would have never made it through all the BS that happened this year.
Good cams or bad, they all spend more time in Salesforce reporting mostly false data as opposed to actually selling. I guess the exhorbitant cost of salesforce has to be justified somehow. Keep pushing paper while your competitors continue to take your customers.
I see my CAM quite often but not as much as I see your Mom.
I am a cam and I show up every day. Begin every day at the store and send a call report to that gm, cpp, dm, and csm at the end of the day. That being said, there are plenty of fellow cams that coast and say they are somewhere when they aren’t, so I get it. But don’t lump the actual good ones with the ones that are worthless.