. I
Started At Bottom,
Nearing Top In Bottling
The clink, clink, clink of bottles rolling down an
assembly line and then on to delivery trucks is a sound
Charley Thomas has known since his childhood.
Nowdays, the hubbub of activity around GCM*Inc.,
the local bottler of Pepsi-Cola, Dr. Pepper and Seven
Up, reminds the 30-ish Thomas of the responsibility he
has been entrusted with.
Thomas is director of supermarket sales for the firm
over a 15 county area covering the cities of
Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point. Elkin,
^ Statesville, Reidsville, Mt. Airy and Spencer,
He supervises a "couple hundred" salesmen and
deals with 30 chain stores; however, he began in the
soft drink business as a "swingman", "the very bottom
of the list," he says.
"1 worked real hard and I enjoy what I do," said
Thomas of his rise to^ a management position.
Thomas got initiated "to the beveraB^usiiie^'as a~
warehouse for a beverage company up there for 14
years," said Thomas.
L P^filiSfaESS I
"Most of what I know, I picked up from him and from
people- like my first sales manager," he added.
Although one might think a traditional nationallyknown
product like Pepsi or Dr. Pepper would sell
itself, Thomas dismisses that notkar v.
"The competition is very, very stiff because of pricing
and inflation^," - said Thomas. "It has to be
merchandised properly. If it doesn't catch the
shopper's eye, then they won't buy it."
The merchandising includes catchy displays and
discounts in prices at certain times of the year, when
sales might drop off.
"We have to keep the market in line," said Thomas.
He declined to cite sales figures, but said he has to
reach a three per cent Increase each quarter.
Thomas said "attitude" is the key to success in the soft
sales field, "my job involves handling rapport with the
chain stores and keeping their buyers happy."
"You've got to keep a good attitude," he said. "Your
attitude moves you a lot further in this business
because you have to meet the public."
"It takes a lot of tact," he added. "If you don't have
it, you're going to run into something you can't
handle."
He recalled his days as a route salesman in the late
1960's. "There was this one lady who didn't want me
(as a black) to come into her church, but my bosses
backed me up. They tojd her 'That's your route man.
Either get it from him or no drinks."
Thomas got the sales, and he's gotten a lot more
since. _ ,
BERT PULI
ATTHENTO J
HP
I Winston-Salem Cle
| 301 W. Fourth St.
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" CharttirTKomas
I
the Administrator
By Naomi C. McLean
Business Writer
The outstanding admin- in any school or college,
istrator has three types of They are the outcome of
skills. The first is tech- knowledge and experience
nical skills, which have to which enables one to get
do with the materials, quickly to the point of every
used for the job to be ac- confronts the administratcomplished,
and the good or. He or she learnes
administrator knows what how to balance one considis
going on every day per- eration with another and to
taining to accomplishm- arrive at conclusions based
ents. , on the truly significant as_
, r . -ii pects of the situation.
The second tvpe of skills r . , ,
? , . .... Administrators can help
y be called human skills. themse(ves and ,e with
Such acills^o beyond tech whonrtheTOTT^ in-COIt^
?niques_a^d Presses and tac< h^pncoura^
have to do with the abil- T' .
. . 4 . . analvsis from time to timelty
of the administrator r .
4 u & ?. .Al_ in the lieht of these three
IUi wui* CIICVIIVC1V Willi ? , ,
basic aspects^ ot adminis"people
and to secure their Tlrativeskills. 7~
full cooperation. It is this jf administrators were
type of skill which largely more flexible and varied in
determines the atmosphere their procedlAreS; if thev
oT ^e surroundings, were' less the pedagogue
The third type is concep- an(j m0re the friend; if
tual skills. They have to do they used more insight and
with the ability to recog- |ess recite; understanding,
nize relationships and to the way to be more interestsearch
for the significant el- ing is to have a greaterements
in any situation, variety of interest, and the
Such skills are not acquired more human they are in atTZER
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titude, the better administrators
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being closely^connected OpenjJi
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Life ins
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