Speaker: Grant Hancock, GM - Client Services
How long have you been working for AVB?
Grant Hancock: Hi, my name is Grant Hancock. I'm the general manager of client services. I help support all of our member facing teams in AVB marketing, and I've been here for 2.5 years.
What was your first job?
Grant Hancock: My first job growing up was during my summers in high school, I worked for a manufacturing facility that specialized in manufacturing products made out of steel and aluminum. In that job I worked on the assembly line, I worked loading CNC machines and then in my second year I worked more in an administrative role where I was focused on improving processes, inventory control and just helping out, you know, generally speaking in terms of big picture where the business was going. Now after college, my first job was working in sales at an independent retailer that specializes in appliance, electronics and mattresses. And in that role for throughout 10 years I worked in sales, I worked in store management and merchandizing as well as marketing. And so throughout that 10-year period I went from sales all the way up until I was vice president of marketing and merchandizing for the organization when I came over to AVB after working at that independent retailer. My first job over here was director of ecommerce merchandizing before I moved over to my current role, which is General manager of client services.
Who is your hero?
Grant Hancock: Who is my hero? I have two heroes, The first hero that I have is my father. You know, that's pretty common that your father is your hero for so many different reasons, you know, how hard they work. The example that they set for you, the way that they teach you life lessons that help you personally and professionally, the way they encourage you to succeed and do whatever makes you happy. So many different reasons why my father is one of my heroes. My other hero is my grandfather, Howard Roach, and there's a few reasons why he's you know, one of my biggest heroes too, and idols, especially from a personal and professional standpoint, He was born in west texas during the Great Depression, very poor, really had a very low quality lifestyle, picked cotton as a very young kid to be able to help put food on the table for his family, didn't have a pair of shoes for, you know, quite a bit of time during his youth. And then ultimately, as he grew up, moved over to southern California and at the age of 16 started repairing radios door to door, and ultimately built his business into a very successful independent retailer. One of the reasons why he is my hero and an idol is just because he has been so successful based off of his work ethic, his dedication, but also a lot of the values that he had and one of the values that he had was that, you know, you really in a leadership role. One of your jobs is to help make your people and the people who you support successful. If you can help educate them, empower them, give them the tools to succeed, they will ultimately succeed in their own regards, which will help make you succeed as a leader as well as a business owner. And so that really made an impact on me. In addition to the fact that although he became very successful throughout his life, you would never really be able to tell it from the outside looking in. He has lived a very humble lifestyle. He treats everybody the same. You know, whether you are an executive, whether you are a top salesperson, whether you're a janitor or have an administrative role. You know, really taught me the value of treating everybody the same because we're all human beings.
What is the best advice you’d give on how to find success here?
Grant Hancock: The best advice I would give on how to find success here at AVB Marketing is one ask a lot of questions We are a complex organization. We have a whole lot of products and services that we offer and with that we have a lot of different support teams with different roles and responsibilities. So I would encourage you to ask a lot of questions to learn about our organization, what each team does and how they can help support you. And I would also recommend on partnering up with a person who's been here for a couple of years, who has a little bit better idea of how to navigate the organization, which teams do different things, how we support our membership because that person will be able to help give you a lot of great advice and guidance on how to be successful and you're all right.
What’s something you’re planning on doing in the next year that you’ve never done before?
Grant Hancock: At this point in time I don't really have anything scheduled for the year that I haven't done before. But I do have a son who is 20 months old and so I'm sure that there will be some exciting new things that I experienced or do this year that I've never done before as a father.
