Thread regarding Lowe's Cos. layoffs

I was a very successful PSI for a top volume store for the 7 years the program ran in my market. Produced over 10 million in sales. I had a premium installer which was the successful key and partner. I worked more hours than any person in the store. Lowes let me run the process until it changed and CPO was brought on. With too many people in psi process , it started to fail. Support was lacking and incompetent from management and associates. The care was not there. If you had an associate that was a diamond in the rough, they eventually left. I had a wonderful coordinator early on which kicked a--, then a loser afterwards which did nothing to increase the business.

The install sales manager who wrote the opening comment to this thread, was spot on!

I am looking forward to moving onto future endeavors . The job was exhausting and I was tired of the sub -par Lowes life. Good luck all!

I hope they they eliminate the Market Sales Mgrs. What a bunch of arrogant buffoons. Get that Region 6 MSM out also. He said, “ You don’t have to know the product, you just have to be a good salesman”(when we first started the PSE).That’s why we had a psycho, then a used car salesman as PSE’s at our store. They sold total cluster f*ck jobs that cost the store a lot of money.

PSE and PSI are failed programs.. what is the PSE program, or better yet, why was it made.. To get the money before the customer changes their mind. Before it took 48 hours to schedule detail , 2 days to work detail and approx 2 days to work up estimate..3 to 5 days is what we shot for.. the pse program suppose to get the customers money before they can shop around and or spend their money elsewhere. Look at your PSE scheduke.. most of the pse cant estimate faster then 5 days.. so temhe program is failing.. no pse and we just go back to the old way and send out an installer..

Psi program failing because of lack of knowledge. Someone gets their lead for them.. they cordinate colors and whatever.. the psi suppose to team up with a salesman.. most salesman are bot knowledgeable enough to do specialial orders.. anyhow, salesman orders product and follows up on it.. production office gets it from there on out.. have mercy on them. They have nothing but a big mess to straighten out. In a jiffy: psi cordinates colors and make a huge commission.. i wonder why no one wants to push the leads.. more work for us while the psi gets ALL the bank..

The PSI program is not set up for success. Let’s be honest. No set goals. Loose management structure. Relying on stores for leads. Complicated installs prone to problems. Just look at the amount of customer complaints on installs. In any business you need to know what you are good at and what you not. Lowe’s or Home Depot is NOT a custom design showroom. Was never meant to be. PSI tries to make us that but fails. It’s like taking a long distance runner and making them a sprinter. Just because they are runners they are very different. We simply don’t have the infrastructure , systems or time honestly to handle large scale installs. The psi’s just wat to sell, in many cases prices are crazy because we are trying to get a margin on top of a margin , then the jobs have poor management and issues while the psi has moved on to sell a new job. Just a very bad model and one that can never work in out environment. Hell half the employees don’t even understand it.

The program can work, just not how lowes is running it. A good PSI qualifies their customer, has a good relationship with the GC, ensures the project is sold correctly and clear expectations are set, and can engage the staff to garner support. Problem is a good PSI is hard to find. You also need a good install sales team. Personally, i dont think CPO knows whatbthey are doing. At most installed sales should be centralized by the market and work out of one of the stores. Their should be a manager that goes to each store in the market to inspect the install bays. This will still save money while also giving a personal touch with customers.

Problem is the company would rather centralize stuff than manage on a per store level. They deem too many positions unneeded. Heck, they took out phone operators. I was in a 65 mil a year store that got calls non stop and they take outbthe phone operator position? Thats i sane!

Mr. 6 milion dollar man, why take it so personal? If you work hard, who cares what people say?? I have to say anyone in the PSE position for long periods of time must do their business well. Changes are imminent but who knows what??

I am a PSE and have been with Lowe's going into my 6th year. This is the only position I have ever held, and I was an external hire. To date, I have over 6 million in sales and I am running the highest margin and average ticket sale in my market. I have always worked hard and put in many hours a week to achieve this level of success. I have always worked with the store associates on lead generation as well as working with them on the overall program itself. My biggest obstacle is employee turnover. Every time I turn around there is new face. We have not gone CPO and the production office is overwhelmed with the amount of sales I produce. This program can work. With the housing market slowing with rising interest rates many people must remodel versus buying new homes. As a company, we must figure out how to best utilize these programs because we need the potential revenue from these programs if we want to compete in today's market.

Lowes needs to address the lazies in the stores. Our PSI and PSE are among the laziest people in the store. Our current PSI does nothing to generate her own sales, instead she depends on the leads of others. You know those leads we supposedly get paid $10.00 for? The previous PSI would walk the store and talk to people when she didn’t have an appointment.

Our PSE wants to move into management so he spends all his time s---ing up to the managers trying to get a management position. You should see him now that there’s 3 department supervisor positions available. Our current one is better than the one prior who frequently slept in his office because he had two additional jobs besides Lowes; delivering newspapers in the morning and night time custodian at a 24 hour gym.

Promoting from within works when its the right people. My old store manager started as a loader and he is very smart. Of course, when he started it was a time when you could learn and grow in the company. Now, there is no extra time to learn and most of the experienced people are gone.

The PSI/PSE should be taken from within the sales specialist pool. They need to know sales and product. They also need to be able to work with others and have some kind of leadership skills so they can get the sales floor to help them. But low wages means less quality in your work force. People who can get a better job leave and those that cant stay.

It is a doomed system. Who are our GC’s?

Answer Bottom feeders, people who can’t get work on there own, ( only these people will dance to Lowes tune, reguirments and liability’s. ) sad song : we get what we pay for and of course you want to mark costs up 30 percent. Oh my and we still loose money what a joke

My store is Top 20 volume in gross sales for the company.

We have had trouble keeping the PSI position filled, PSE has been less problematic.

Definite problems with cost and time over runs, delivery SNAFUs, quality and timing of labor...

I couldn't agree more about support for the programs. I have heard it said that Lowe's could not handle the business if they adverised. Its a combined 2 Billion top line. They need more but I disagree about profitability. If a PSE can not get 25 percent, they are the wrong person for the job. PSI is different. Promos control their business. As far as CPO and XPO, those have to be fixed NOW!