The Tooling U sales staff recently held its annual sales meeting over the span of four days in Scottsdale Arizona. While initially it might appear to make most sense to hold meetings at our Cleveland headquarters, the sales staff unanimously agreed to give up low-30s temperatures, rain/snow mixes, and 2 ½ hours of daylight so that the sales team could focus on 2008 goals in a remote location free of distractions... except for gambling. That distraction was deemed allowable.The location of the sales event was the Radisson Fort McDowell Resort and Casino, which provided comfortable rooms, tasteful dining options, and the adjacent casino for evening entertainment. Greg Herlevi, Director of Content Development, was also relieved to find out that he did not have to share bunk beds with Len Scaffidi, despite the numerous and contradictory reports made earlier from various salespeople.
The series of meetings kicked off on Thursday, January 10th with presentations focusing on updates and projections from both Content and Site Development. James Coufalik, Director of Marketing, also presented his activities for the year and unveiled the company's new logo and color scheme.
Bryan Knaack, Director of Business Development, focused on the new roles of the Government and Education group, as well as training installations for new customers. The remaining meetings addressed standard processes and documentation for sales. Although the meetings were long, the ideas exchanged were very useful and engaging.Friday night consisted of fine dining in the casino's steak house, followed by various scenes of entertainment: Toni Neary dancing, Chad Schron counting cards, and Dan Pruitt losing Mark O'Bryan's money.
Saturday afternoon, after wrapping up the group meeting sections of the agenda, the entire sales team participated in a team-building event that involved a two-hour cattle drive. Each person was paired with an appropriate horse and given the task of guiding cattle through the Arizona landscape. Hamid Farzad was in charge of guiding his horse "Rainbow" in circles, and Dan Pruitt could be viewed proudly riding his horse "Hummer H2." As is true with any team building event, the sales team learned a few key lessons: groin and glute soreness typically lasts three days, and horse droppings are green.
On Saturday night, after numerous appetizers, I presented my individual awards. Dan Sloan received the Diamond Award for Best Sales in 2007, and Cindy Bernosky, Toni Neary, Len Scaffidi, and Dan Sloan all received Star Achievement Awards for their individual contributions and superior efforts during the year. Steve Klein also received a Mediocre Fantasy Team award.In general, the event was a noteworthy success, and the entire sales team looks to even greater successes in 2008. Thanks to all those key people who participated.
Director of Sales
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