Background:  Small Commercial team is made up of 7 representatives and 1 supervisor.  At the time of our journey half of the team was made up of new team members.‍

Objective:  To build a strong foundation within our new and existing team members.  Establish spirit of teamwork and trust, identify new and effective communication tools for both co-workers and customers and learn how to become an inspirational leader.‍

Implementation: The manager and representatives that make up the Small Commercial team attended a 3 day Leadership Journey Program.  The meeting was off site allowing us to obtain a more relaxed and informal setting for employees to open up be engaged during the meeting.‍

Results: The small business team experienced improvement in employee engagement and delivered exemplary business results.  We attended our Leadership class the first week in May 2012.  Our sales for May grew 14% over the previous month of April.  They have only kept going up from there. In June of the same quarter they grew 7% over May.  These steady increases are attributing to us staying ahead of our current Annual Sales Goal for 2012.

These results are driven by the sales team asking the right questions though the push/pull method as well as insights they gain by looking at the stimulus/response model.  The team now takes the time to take a step back and think things through prior to responding in a negative way ending a response to an email that may have upset them and/or give a elevated response to a customer who may be upset at a situation but taking it out on the representative on the phone.

The small changes implemented on how we speak to customers and each other (co-workers) drives our success.  We continue to proactively use the tools learned from the modules during our journey not only about oneself but each other as individuals allowing us to stand strong together and grow closer not only as a team but as a family.

Employees Speak Out – Small Commercial Team

“I feel that the push and pull model and stimulus response model have helped me in my home life communicate better with friends and family. It has helped me professionally, allowing me the tools to perform better and help me personally to better understand myself which in return help me to improve my sales numbers.”

“On a personal note, I did learn to communicate better with my family, people on a day to day basis, as well as my customers. Prior to the journey I was quick to “shut people out” and talk over them but recently I catch myself and slow my pace and allow people the opportunity to express themselves. I also practice the Stimulus Response method daily, which has prevented many verbal altercations with those closest to me. In conclusion it was a great experience and it taught me a lot of necessary information to become a better individual.”

“The Leadership Journey was a life changing experience that has had such an impact on not only my coworkers and myself, but also my friends and family. Having the tools to communicate with each other and keep a conversation moving and productive has helped me so much. Using this tool not only am I able to learn more about others, I am also able to confidently give my opinions in order to build upon any discussion. I appreciate being able to take this journey with my team, with each day we are growing closer as a group.”

“The journey has given me a better understanding of myself and my co workers.  It has really made me think about the struggles we all go through on a daily basis and gave us all a different way to approach each other. It was a definite life changing experience for me.”

“I feel the leadership journey helped me not only professionally, but personally as well from the standpoint that I am more attentive to what people are saying to me, and also, I truly believe it has enabled me to handle stress factors more appropriately”

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have gone through such an enlightening class. I have learned so much about my team/co-workers that allow me to better appreciate their daily struggles but also how to better assist them through difficult times.  I have also learned how to engage my customers, team and employees to gather information from the push/pull method.”

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