Interview with Radek Vybíral - Field Force Director
In the last article we wrote about merchandising and its development news. Today we bring you an interview directly with Radek Vybíral, the head of our merchandising department, where you can find out, among other things, his view on the latest trends, but also about the weirdest order from a customer.
Radek, you started at ppm factum a. s. almost sixteen years ago. How did you become Field Force Director? I started as an auditor in the Retail Audit division. Gradually all colleagues were dropping out until just me and one other colleague remained, and of course someone had to run it, so I took over.
During the long time you have been working in our company, you have to keep up to date with the expertise in our customers' various fields and you have to be able to select the optimal combinations of our customers' solutions. What helps you in your continuous learning? Constant contact with the customer and listening to their needs, it is also very important to have constant contact with the people doing all the hard work in the field. You'd be amazed at the number of great ideas that spring up from the field experience.
Can you at least give some trends on how our customers' requirements have changed over time? There is definitely a push for quality of service. A quality and well-paid merchandiser is now replacing the sales representative for some of our customers. On the positive side, more and more of our customers realize that you can't have quality service for 100 CZK per hour. But it's still a very long distance run.
Have you been surprised by a customer order recently? If so, how specifically? Were you able to resolve it successfully? Yes, they requested a merchandiser at one location with a frequency of 1 x hour per week for CZK 96,5. I really couldn't solve this (-:
How does the whole process actually work in ppm factum, starting with a customer enquiry and ending with the delivery of a comprehensive service? It is a very complex process. If I were to explain everything, we would probably be here for a long time and I might reveal some of our know-how. In any case, because we are a very sophisticated company, all the processes are clearly laid out and there is no way around them, because then the whole system wouldn't work.
What do you find most difficult and, conversely, what do you enjoy most about being a director in terms of leading the whole work team? The hardest thing for me is climbing to the 4th floor when the elevator is out of order, but the sweet reward is the great team of people I have around me. Every successful company is built on people skills and we really have the best people in all positionsin the industry.
And now something about you, what are your favorite hobbies? My three children are my greatest hobby, so I spend most of my free time with my family. However, when I do have some time left over, I spend it hunting, where I relax and unwind internally.