For those of you growing up in the late 60’s and early 70’s, you probably remember the popular hit TV show, the “Mod Squad”. If you are like me and just barely missed this important time period, then I will give you the Reader’s Digest version of the show. The show was about 3 young social outcasts working as undercover detectives in order to avoid jail time for their crimes. Pete Cochran was the long haired rebel. Linc Hayes was the African American who was arrested in the California Watts riots. Julie Barnes was the blonde “flower child”. The team was mentored by Captain Adam Greer. Greer formed the task force because he realized that, in order to infiltrate the counter culture of the 60’s, he needed individuals that could fit in. In Greer’s words, “The times are changing.” They are indeed.
When Master-PT went looking for the Product Specialist team we didn’t necessarily seek out individuals who had experience in the Power Transmission Industry. We looked for individuals who had the various skill sets to be successful in helping our customers. We knew that our Captain Greer (Bob Lee) would instill in them the product knowledge they would need. In a sense, we wanted individuals that would mesh and form a collective team that would support each other, much like the Mod Squad. Well, we found 3 highly capable individuals that now form what we call “The Bob Squad” (Steve “Easy Rider” Mercier, Richard “Woody” Cade, and Marissa “White Lightning” Clontz). Fortunately, none of these individuals were forced into becoming Product Specialists because they faced jail time!
All joking aside, we intended to be different than the traditional Customer Service/Inside Sales Department. You might ask yourself, how is MPT different than the other Power Transmission Manufacturers? Well, to begin with, our Product Specialists understand that “the times are changing” and customers need quick responses regardless of the nature of the call.
Our mission is to be “Faster at Master”. Our Product Specialists have the latitude to make decisions that allow us to provide quick responses. The Product Specialists handle all inquiries (we like to say “from soup to nuts”), whether it is order entry, interchanges, expediting, return authorizations, technical support, or price deviations.
The other thing that separates our Product Specialists from the crowd is that they are extremely committed. In fact,it was their idea to implement the “Sun Down Rule” for Master Power Transmission. This means no one leaves for the day until all quotes are completed. Not exactly jail time, but some days it seems like it. The other rule is that we “work hard and play hard”. So, in case you overhear laughing when you call in, it means we are bonding (i.e. laughing at someone else’s expense). This team even volunteered to stay at a nearby hotel and walk to work to be available for customers when we had bad snowstorms in Greenville that shut the city down (about 1.5” of snow). They celebrated their successful arrival with a snowball fight in the parking lot culminating in a couple of people on the ground and, you guessed it, laughter.
Oh yeah, if you haven’t figured it out by now, we do like to have fun at work! Can you dig?
