Don Rogers' Story

When I became manager and took over from my dad, I pretty much followed in his footsteps and did everything myself.  I bought the grain, did the merchandising, looked after the daily merchandising routines, and managed the trucks. The result of doing all of those activities was that I was too busy. I found I liked some of those jobs, but other jobs I did not like as much and probably wasn’t doing the best job.

Finally, it occurred to me that I had a capable employee who could assist me. So I began teaching him by training him initially to buy grain. He then became more interested in merchandising, so I taught him some things about merchandising. He soon managed the trucks, did the daily merchandising routines, and took a lot of responsibilities away from me. We worked together and the results were astounding.

As a result, we were offering better customer service, the employee was more motivated, I was happier, I wasn’t so busy and I could devote more time to managerial responsibilities that needed my attention.

Where did this process begin? It began by educating the employee. So if you have a need within your company to grow your employees, I suggest you jump start the process by enrolling them in White Commercial’s Grain Merchandising Certification Level I Course. 

Click here to learn more about the Grain Merchant Certification Program