Career paths

Maintaining Close Communication to Support Distributors

As Territory Sales Manager for North Florida and South Georgia, I was responsible for selling Goodman brand products and HVAC related parts and supplies. Although my territory covered approximately 80 distributors, I worked to maintain close communication with each one. This enabled me to obtain a deep understanding of our customers’ needs, and this knowledge helps me even now to make the right decisions for our customers. To ensure that our dealers reach their long-term goals, I established comprehensive marketing plans for the area, including small and medium-sized accounts, and provided whatever support was needed. That part of the job was particularly rewarding.

Instilling the Right Company Culture at the Branch Office

In my job as Branch Manager, I would often ask myself, “Are our products being delivered in an accurate, timely manner? Are conditions suitable for product inventory? Are employees working with passion in serving customers’ needs?” In seeing that these conditions were always being met, I learned the importance of instilling the right company culture at the branch office by faithfully expressing my vision of it to our employees. Having employees share the same level of commitment is what drives customer service excellence and what enables Goodman to provide unsurpassed service prioritizing the customer experience. It is exciting as a Branch Manager to see a relationship of trust grow month by month with customers from the cumulative work executed by the entire branch staff.

Since joining the Daikin Group, Goodman continues this commitment to serving customers as part of a shared business approach of both companies.

Challenges of 12 Companies/Distribution Centers and HR Management

In the following year after becoming Branch Manager, I was appointed Region Manager for North Florida and became responsible for oversight and management of all sales and operations staff employees and operation staff employed at the 12 branches / distribution centers in the region. The key metrics for Region Manager are revenue to budget, new business acquisition, and market share growth. Getting all of this accomplished requires human resources. The position of Region Manager gave me the opportunity to build and train a staff devoted to meeting the primary goals in challenging ourselves to set high goals for us to exceed on an annual basis. By watching this process play out time after time, it helped me better understand what qualities to look for when hiring potential sales people.

Managing Approximately 40-65 Branches of the East Division

The average Division Vice President manages between 40-65 branches. I supervise the Region Managers in the five regions of the East Division and am responsible for sales management of the region and achieving Goodman business objectives. In order to reach the sales goals of the region, it is critical for the DVP to act as a support system for the Region Managers while holding them responsible for the desired results. Currently, this is my fourth year serving as DVP for the East. The most rewarding aspect of the position is constantly working strategically to ensure our Division's bench strength is where we need it to be. This entails endless training of employees and suitable evaluations of managers. The payoff comes when a need presents itself and you have the right person for the job ready to step in and execute. The fact that Goodman is a part of the Daikin Group gives me even greater options in talent management.

Turning Point

As a result of a number of promotions and normal attrition with key personnel in the East, we faced the challenge over the last 12 months of re-building our bench while simultaneously making sure all five regions achieved their sales plans. It was a daunting task understanding the importance of having the right people trained and ready to fill in when called upon. Our focus and diligence paid off when a couple of positions for Region Manager opened up, and we had the right personnel ready to step in and execute from day one.

My future goals with the company are fairly simple. I want to leverage the strengths of Goodman with Daikin technology to lead the East Division to be the market share leader in all major markets in the East across all segments of our business. Also, I want to see employees from the East Division continue to be promoted throughout multiple business units within our company.