Peter Argiropoulos

7.15 AM

I wake up and begin the groggy process of getting ready for work. I throw on my TLE shirt, jump in the car and head to work.

7.45 AM

Before I start, I head to the cafe right next door to our office and grab a coffee. I’ll then head into work, unpack my things, greet everyone including my team and any customers in the store. It’s a great work environment and the best way to start the day.

8.00 AM

I now sit down at my desk and go over any emails I have received overnight. I check the most urgent emails and tasks and gradually work my way down.

8.30 AM

Now that the most important emails have been dealt with, I need to head to a job site to help a client deal with a home automation product issue. I spoke to the electrician yesterday afternoon about the problem and told him I would head to the site this morning to help him out. His main problem is connectivity issues and a question of where to place the gateway for the best effectiveness. A big part of my role is looking at a problem that one of our contractors brings to me and then coming up with solutions to these problems. To see my solutions come to fruition, be implemented and carried out successfully, is incredibly fulfilling and satisfying. I will also be meeting the supplier of the product at the job site as well.

I grab the keys to the company car and head to the site.

9.00 AM

I arrive at the site and meet up with the client and the supplier who has brought bacon and egg rolls for us. Part of this is that we’re all friendly with each other, the other part is the supplier wants to maintain good relations with both of us, his direct customer, and the contractor, both of whom will purchase these products. We then had a chat about the problem and assessed all of our options.

9.45 AM

We successfully fixed the issue and since I’m already out of the office I decided to swing by the office of one our contractors on the way back. This is a major customer of our branch and I like to pop in and see them occasionally just to maintain a strong and healthy relationship with them. Ultimately, this is a people industry, so the stronger the relationships, the stronger the business turnover. It also means we can rely on these clients during hard times or if we make major mistakes with them, we can retain their support and it gives us great leeway to address any mistakes or issues.

10.15 AM

I’ve arrived at their offices and before I head in, I grab a round of coffees for everyone including myself, using our company card. I enter, greet everyone, and have a long chat to their project manager and owner.

11.30 AM

I have just arrived back at the office and since I’ve been away for a fair bit, I have received quite a few emails that need to be dealt with.

12.00 AM

One of our contractors just emailed me a quote request for a project lighting job they want to undertake. This job has gone out to tender so the contractor is competing with a lot of other electricians among many other wholesalers. It is my job now to send that off to our suppliers, receive their quotes back, and then try to price this as best as possible to ensure it is a competitive price whilst also maintaining a profit. It can be a tricky balance but it’s a great feeling when you win one of these jobs. We input all this information into our software called ‘Unibis’. It has a bit of a learning curve but once you learn, it becomes second nature and you wonder what you ever did before!

1.00 PM

I run my suspended orders on Unibis to ensure I am completely up to date with all my orders and there is nothing a customer should be waiting on that they’re expecting. This checks all my backorders and ensures there is nothing overly outstanding or a sales order that I have forgotten about.

1.30 PM

Lunch time. We’re rather spoilt for choice here with so many options such as Chinese, Japanese, bakeries, and every fast-food venue you could think of. However, as no one brought their lunch from home today, we’ve decided to get some seafood paella to share from our local fish and chips shop. If I was just eating lunch on my own, I generally like to read through FoxSports and check that my footy tips are up to date in the company tipping competition.

2.30 PM

One of the goals my manager has set for me is to try and attract new customers to the branch. This can be achieved by calling electricians who live or work in the local area but are yet to have an account. I’ve performed a bit of research already with my manager into the businesses I will be calling.

3.00 PM

One of our major suppliers has been scheduled to come into the office now to provide us with product training for one of the new product lines they’re rolling out. These are generally quite interesting, and it is fascinating to learn about the products before they become a standard item in most people’s homes. Legislature is also constantly changing and improving which directly impacts these suppliers. The changes often mean they must alter their products to become technically ‘legal’, and they then need to inform us of these changes. Usually, if these suppliers come during the middle of the day, they’ll provide our team with lunch such as pizza. However, with everyone’s schedules being so busy today we could only book them in for the afternoon.

4.00 PM

One of our customers just placed a large cable tray order with me over the phone. They’re coming to pick it up in 10 minutes so I just have to place the order into Unibis and then I will meet them out in our loading dock to help them place the tray into their truck.

4.30 PM

As today is a Friday, some of our customers will hang around when they’ve finished work and have a few beers with us. It’s a great way to maintain good relationships with our customers especially when they look at us as more than simply a means to an end. We also have a keg on tap at work, which changes every couple of weeks, so it’s another great reason to stay back and a further incentive for our customers.

5.00 PM

Time to wrap it up. As I am the one closing the store, I will run all the end of day reports on Unibis and the Eftpos machine. I then close the doors, lock the gate, and turn on the alarm. After all this is done, I can head home.

8.00 PM

Off to the gym now which is only a five-minute walk from my home, and it is one of my favourite ways to wrap up a day.

11.00 PM

It’s been a good week of work and tomorrow I have an early kick off for a game of soccer so now it is time for bed.