Natalie’s Story, Months 15-20

 

Happy New Year everyone!! 2014 definitely flew by and I have quite a bit to update you on. My blog entries have been non-existent the past few months, but don’t worry I’m still around and busier than I’ve ever been!

I’ve recently relocated to Sarasota, FL for my outside sales phase of the MDP program. The past 5 months have primarily involved me transitioning into my sales part of my training. Preparation for outside sales has involved a lot of prospecting, working on customer quotes, identifying new potential accounts, etc. Inside sales has definitely prepared me for dealing with challenges that may arise when servicing customers.

The people here at my new profit center in Sarasota have welcomed me with open arms and my new mentor is an incredible PCM (definitely one of my heroes). Mark Boyer has been a PCM for 25 years and has experienced incredible success and I’ve already started picking his brain. He’s always said the key to his success has been his people; everyone here is extremely customer focused. Mark is definitely one of the PCM’s that believes in engaging his people and interacting with customers on a daily basis. He always says “You can’t run a business from behind a desk!”

In August, I attended my second MDP seminar in Ardmore, PA. This past year we had over 50 trainees in the program and it was incredible! So many new faces and the atmosphere was a lot of fun. We played a ton of icebreakers that Kate, Noe, and Haley came up with which really helped us get to know each other a little bit. My partner, Raj Ram, and I worked very hard on our group presentation and received very positive feedback. Our project was focused on improving our people at the counter through customer service training and reorganizing the counter area. We measured our success by customer surveys/feedback and GP% growth. Our project was definitely a success! Over the course of the 3 days we also had the opportunity to visit our corporate office and interact with the people that provide support to all of the profit centers for our company. We also had the opportunity to attend a Phillies game and watch from a suite with free food and drinks!

In November, I attended the Dale Carnegie Sales Success Training in Fort Lauderdale, FL for a week. This training provided me with some sales tools and solutions that will be useful when I go into outside sales. This past month we had a pool, well, and septic sales meeting. This meeting included a lot of our partnered vendors and salespeople from across the state of Florida. We were introduced to new products for 2015, discussed 2014 performance, and came up with solutions for continued sales growth in 2015. For me personally, this was my first exposure to pool products. I’ve primarily been exposed to plumbing and well/septic products; I have quite a bit to learn on the pool side of the business and I’m very excited. Stay tuned for next quarter’s update!