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A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN ACCOUNT MANAGER

WITH PAT JOHNSON

Pat Johnson explains a day in the life of an Account Manager, what it
takes to thrive in the position, the hardest parts, and much more…

I’ve been working as an Account Executive for 33 years and each and every day is a different as a

fingerprint, and I can tellyou that until a friend of mine told me about the position that was open Iwould have
never dreamed of being in steel sales. I interviewed with myformer General Manager John M. O’Connor

and I was so impressed with not onlyhis character, but his open, friendly, and sincere attitude during the

interview process, that I felt that even though I had another job offer, Ineeded to accept his offer, and never
regretted it. The Account Managers job on the inside is, tosimply put it, the ones that make it happen for

the customer. That is,taking the accounts you have, and doing your best to grow them throughaccurate,

timely, and competitive quotes that can then turn into profitableorders for the company. It’s about
developing relationships with yourcustomers so that you’ll have credibility when you communicate with

them. It’sabout not only handling the easy things, (orders just sent in…) but alsoskillfully handling customer

problems to retain and still grow the account. I think maybe a misinterpretation of account managers is,
that we justsit and take orders….that is the farthest from the truth! We’re busingeither entering quotes

or following up on them, entering orders, tracking downmaterial for customers, and taking care of issues

that undoubtedly pop upduring the day. I think some of the strengths one might need for this job is an
attention to detail, instinct, organization, the ability to prioritize,and the flexibility to change in an instant

what you’re doing. As inside, wedeal with virtually everyone associated with taking care of the customer.

Whetherit’s with purchasing & inquiring, and following up on material, to workingwith credit, traffic, or paper
trail issues. Like I mentioned earlier, no one dayin this job is the same, the goal clear though, and that

is taking care of thecustomer. A typically a day for me starts by following upon what orders did or did
not ship, handling back-orders, taking care ofquotes, and prioritizing those, then following up and turning

the quotes intoorders. I think one of the hardest parts of my job is accepting things that areout of my

control, i.e. mis-shipped material, truck issues, but taking thatnegative and making it into a positive.
I would recommend this job to others, asthrough the years, it has been a good company to work for.