Core Competencies

By

Javier Gonzalez

1.   Building Relationships: Tell me about a time when you shared information, expertise and insight with team members about actions or proposed changes that will affect them.

In my previous job, the company decided to upgrade the POS (invoicing and inventory) system (equipment). We had very old and outdated equipment that was not practical.

The database could not communicate with the current accounting and inventory software properly. It was time to upgrade. The company will be able to produce more accurate and efficient sales reports.

I was responsible for training my sales team in a new OS and procedures. However, it was required to learn new product codes, and many of the salesmen were reluctant and disgusted.

My plan was to introduce the new OS to the sales team and its benefits. Lucky for me, I could get a list of the new product codes ahead of time. Then, I was able to create visual cards to facilitate the transition. Some procedures were very similar, but others were totally new. I created POS aids to help them learn the new screens and procedures.

I prioritized the training in the areas that were more crucial, such as inventories and new reporting screens. I knew that if they could learn those areas first, the rest of the system might be straight forward. The oldest salesmen struggled, but I was prompt to support them and facilitate the whole process without affecting the sales results. 

In fact, my sales team did not have as many inventory adjustments as other sales teams. I did not have serious troubles during the transition. Just minor issues that were resolved rapidly

2.   Problem Solving and Decision Making: Give an example of a time when you considered both common and possible solutions (e.g., “if this, then that” thinking).

Many years ago, I worked in the advertising department of a bank in Colombia. I had to produce a calendar for the 1994 Soccer World Cup in the USA. The agency that was designing the piece presented a beautiful calendar that had all the games, dates, and cities. The design was good. It just needs to be approved by our marketing director.

I noticed that some of the soccer teams were in the wrong position because the calendar was modified by FIFA. I advised the agency about the correction, and they confirmed that it was corrected.

Just before I finished the day, I got an urgent call from the agency saying that the printing company might require the final file of the design as soon as possible to meet the deadline.

 I asked if the designed art was approved by the marketing director. They said that he was not available, so I had to approve. Unfortunately, they did not have time to bring the final art to me to review and approve. The agency promised me that the art was corrected and ready to be sent to the printing company. I approved, trusting that it was fine.

A couple days later, I received 50 thousand flyers with the incorrect calendar printed. It was bad. My bosses were very upset. I had to think of a solution right away.

Looking at the flyer, I noticed that the error could be isolated in 6 countries that were located in the wrong city. If I had six stickers with the proper cities. I could place them on top of the one that was printed in error. It would resolve the error, but who will do that?

We used to donate office supplies to an organization that cares for children with low resources. They had a school that was looking for side jobs to support themselves. I contacted Sister Maria, who was well known in the bank.

She was excited about the project. She helped me to fix the flyers. I saved my job. Good thing to support Sister's Maria organization. 

3.   Resilience: Describe a time when you maintained your composure in situations when you were challenged by others.

I used to work as a delivery driver for a chip and snack company in London, Ontario. I used to deliver to downtown stores. As it is well known, the downtown is surrounded by many homeless.

One morning, I was working in the back of the truck. I was working on a delivery that needs to be done to a convenience store in downtown. I was working diligently when I heard a loud bang at the door. I saw a homeless person that was threatening me with a knife and asking me for money.

He screamed to me, “Give all your money now!!!”. I froze for a second. I was thinking about how I was going to resolve this situation. I remembered all the training that I went through when I was in the military in Colombia. But I thought that it was too violent. I did not want that. I thought to call the police, but it will take longer to get to the phone, so I actually made a phone call. I decided to ignore him. I thought that I could deescalate the situation to get out without getting harmed. I thought all of these in a fraction of a second. In a moment of crisis, the brain works fast.

The guy screamed to me again. I looked at him, and I told him very quietly that I did not have time for him. I was very busy. I asked him if he could come back later because I did not have enough money for him. But later on, I might have more.

The guy looked at me and was confused with the answer. He said that he just needed what I had in my pocket. I said that I did not have much money, and I also told him that I could help him if he just calmed down and put away the knife. He did it. He asked how I could help him; I just need some money. 

I ignored him for a moment and kept working on the delivery. I had to fill boxes with chips so that I might place them close to the back door. He told me that he could take one of the boxes and run. I answered not because I would be in trouble. I will have to pay for the product myself.

At that moment, I felt that I had it. He was calmed and was trying to negotiate something. I went out of the truck, I pulled the doll out, and I started to stack up the cases. I told him that if he wants something, he may have to wait for me at the door. I told him that when I finished my work, I might possibly get cash, then I could help him. He asked how long that might be. I said 15 minutes. 

So the guy just waits for me. I saw him when I left the store. I saluted him with energy and expressed my gratitude for waiting for me. He was expecting something. I pulled a $5 bill, and I told him that I gave that money for taking care of the track and no one stole any from it.

That's why I gave the money. I said, buddy, I had to go and good job. He said, “No problem any time.”

I maintained all the control that I could, but the truth is that I was very scared. I was familiar with all these guys because I worked in downtown quite often. They are not bad people; just they are in unfortunate situations.

I saw him a couple times after this encounter, and he ignored me sometimes.

4.   Championing Change and Innovation: Give an example of a time when you saw change as an opportunity to modify your ideas or perceptions based on new or contrary information.

During my work as Sales Manager in my previous company. I saw an opportunity to use a very popular internet tool to determine and assign sales territories. Previously, I meant before 2018 the company assigned sales territories using a paper map from the area and needle pins. We used to spend time just placing the needle pins by color on the client’s location, and visually we can see the geographical territories that might be assigned to a route. However, this process had a big challenge. We needed to also balance the sales budgets and clients by sales potential. We had to make sure that the routes had the proper sales budgets, client numbers, and sales potential. All routes must have the right combination. We did it by using a paper map, needle pins, and an Excel spreadsheet. It was very timing consuming.

My goal was to find an efficient methodology to adjust the sales territories quickly. By my surprise, I found that I could use Google Maps to create maps, and simultaneously, I could use an Excel database that allowed me to import a series of database queries into Google Maps. After spending a huge number of hours researching and trying to make it work, I found the perfect methodology to upload the main Excel database into Google Maps. I uploaded almost 1600 clients in 20 seconds. As soon as the whole map was available, we had a nice picture of all clients in just one single map. The rest was like a game; we just had to divide it into routes that were very quick. Then we updated the main database with the dollar value. We could make any adjustment simultaneously very quickly and efficiently.

The new process had reduced the planning time from weeks to just days, plus we could do the other sales territories quicker.

Everyone was impressed. By their surprise. I used to google maps almost every day. It is a very friendly tool that just provides the direction to a place. But if you really want to explore more about this tool, there is a huge community that uses it for route planning, sales planning, and others. It can be customized and has many other features. The best feature is that it is open source and free. Lol.