Another Successful Sales Meeting!

The 7th Annual Tooling U golf outing took place on Friday, July 24th at Big Met Golf Course in Ohio's Rocky River Reservation. The culmination of our annual sales meeting, the golf outing is our chance to catch up and interact with team members we may not necessarily see on a regular basis. The day and night were exceptional, even if the golf skills were not.

The gorgeous-weather day began with lunch at the award-winning Rocky River Brewing Company. Granted that waiting on a large party is not easy, the food and service at RRBC were outstanding. The foursomes then assembled at the golf course for a series of tee times beginning at 1:30 PM. Despite a shortage of carts (Big Met is, after all, the busiest course in Ohio…allegedly) the Tooling U golfers managed to tee off and subsequently grind the pace of play to a near-halt. Special thanks to the starter at Big Met for his patience, cordiality, and lightness of mood.

Shooting a scorching 1-over-par, Wes Howard, Dan Pruitt, and Tom Torres managed the best score of the day. The winning team had the right combination of power drives and precise approach shots, which gave the biggest competitive advantage.

The team with the lowest number of putts consisted of Michelle Robinson, Hamid Farzad, Carlos Sarmiento, and Chad Schron. Last and certainly least, Cindy May, James Vickers, Chris Pinner, and Gretchen Schultz managed to shoot an amazing 8-over-par in this scramble. That is no easy feat. Nice job guys!

After a long day on the links, the group headed to the home of James Vickers for dinner and to claim their prizes. Individual prizes went to Tony Keating (longest putt), James Vickers (longest drive), and Tim Cunningham (closest to the pin). Bryan Knaack, Chris Petty, Carlos Sarmiento, and Aleah Kapusi took away some pretty nifty door prizes.

Once again the golf outing proved to be a great way to foster camaraderie here at Tooling U. I would like to thank everyone for their participation and enthusiasm. Lastly, special thanks to Greg Herlevi for his efforts in organizing the event.

Ben Johnson
Senior Content Developer

Tooling U Expands Presence into Mexico

Tooling U is pleased to welcome Carlos Sarmiento to its sales team. Carlos joined the company in mid-January and has been assigned to the newly created Mexico/Latin America region.

Tooling U has been experiencing a large number of requests for training in the Latin America region. In an attempt to respond better to our regional customers there, we have expanded sales and support to the region.

Carlos joined the team in Cleveland for our annual sales meeting, and was immediately treated to “American Mexican” food at Zocalo. Carlos claims to be a very good dancer and singer, so hopefully he will be showing off those skills at our semi-annual meeting in July!

Welcome to the team, Carlos.

James Vickers

Director of Sales

Sales Team Goes Home Chalupa-less

Tooling U wrapped up its annual sales meeting in January. On January 8th and 9th, the entire sales team flew in from around the country to meet at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Cleveland. We accomplished a lot in the two days we were there—we worked on developing our sales strategies and projecting how we think Tooling U will react to the turbulent market and economy. Our main focus was on how we can improve our products to enhance our customers' experience with the products.

On Thursday, January 8th, we looked at historical sales data and worked on our marketing plans for 2009. Friday, we discussed best sales practices, contract negotiation best practices and goal setting.

The highlight of these meetings is always the food (and drink!), and this year proved no different! Thursday night we had a fantastic dinner at The Bistro on Lincoln Park in Tremont. Friday we enjoyed a Mexican feast at Zocala on East 4th.

Without a doubt, the most memorable event was our team bonding event. At dinner, we were surprised with the news that we were going to be attending the Cavaliers/Celtics game. We had great seats, right behind the basket. Dan Sloan’s height proved a worthy asset during the game – he reached far above the crowd and managed to snatch a lottery ticket parachute floating from the catwalk.

LeBron James made us proud, leading the Cavs to a 98-83 win. I must say, though, that we did feel a bit cheated in the end. Had the Cavs scored 100 points, everyone in the crowd would have won a free Chalupa from Taco Bell. I've never had a chalupa and was looking forward to trying one! But, with 12 seconds left in the game, the Cavs opted not to attempt the 100th point. So no Taco Bell Chalupas for us!

Sarah Wering
Marketing Manager

6th Annual Tooling U Golf Outing

The 6th Annual Tooling U Golf Outing and Sales Meeting was held Thursday and Friday, July 24 and 25, 2008. The event was kicked off by 12 straight hours of “Sales Meeting” at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Cleveland, complete with stimulating presentations by the Content, Marketing and Sales teams. The highlight of the day was the lack of flowcharts and PowerPoint presentations – thank you James Vickers!After the meeting, the sales team headed to Ohio City for some fine dining and muchas margaritas at Mamocho Mexican restaurant. The staff would again like to thank Mr. Vickers for moving the Friday morning meetings from 7:00 to 8:00 am. That extra hour allowed time for more margaritas, er…sleeping!

Friday morning found the sales team back at the Hilton Garden Inn for a few more hours of business before moving on to Thunder Hill Golf Club and Fish Hatchery in Madison, OH. Team Daniel Cremieux made an appearance for the second year in a row, but found some stiff competition from Team Roundtree & Yorke. Hats off to both for their team spirit and inspiring a new award category for next year’s event – “Ugliest Team Shirt”. There are not many people who can pull off bright red shirts adorned with various fishing apparatus, or wear pink and teal palm trees with such unabashed pride.

The teams teed off to begin an arduous 18 holes of golf on a course with arguably more water than green. It is still up for debate what is more dangerous – the sand traps, the water hazards or the people driving the golf carts. Some drivers needed to be reminded that they were not on the tea-cup ride at the state fair, nor are “donuts” appropriate on a golf course. Once again it was proven that golf balls don’t float, ugly shirts improve your game, Chris “Seth Rogen” Pinner should never have been given a drivers’ license and golf scores don’t improve as the day goes on. Most important however, is the obligatory injured team member whose sole responsibility is to keep the golfers hydrated. Many thanks to Gary Hill. You’re the best beer man Thunder Hill has ever seen!

After an exhausting 5 hours of trash-talk and poor sportsmanship, the group moved on to the Grand River Cellars Winery and Restaurant for dinner, the post-golf party and awards ceremony. The following awards were announced: Best Score was awarded to Tim Cunningham, Dan Pruitt and Toni Neary who all received Gift Certificates to McCormick & Schmick; Greg Herlevi, Cindy Bernosky and Len Scaffidi were awarded Gift Cards to P.F. Changs and an assortment of golf instruction books for Lowest Putts AND Worst Score; The Longest Drive prize went to Jeremy Sobeck who took home a Ping Craz-e Anser Putter; Dan Sloan took home a Nike Tour Sand Wedge for Closest to the Pin; and Tim Cunningham was awarded a Ping G12 Hybrid Club for the Longest Putt. An assortment of door prizes were also awarded: A pair of much-needed noise-cancelling headphones went to Michelle Robinson; a $50.00 Gift Certificate to the spa of his (wife’s) choice went to Wes Howard; I won a $20.00 Chipotle Burrito Card; Katie Strand and Gary Hill each took home golf instruction books; and Chris Pinner received a $75.00 Gift Certificate to McCormick & Schmick.

Many thanks to the Golf Outing Committee for putting this event together, and to all participants for providing such an enjoyable day, despite the general lack of skill.

Chad Schron

VP Operations

2008 Annual Sales Meeting

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.

James Vickers

Director of Sales