“The main focus is for Regional Managers to work with various departments and gain a better perspective of how everything works in the building as well as get to know the people in each department better,” says National Sales Manager Jarrod Bowren.  This is the first time that any of the current Regional Managers have had the opportunity to spend an extended period of time in any department learning the ins and outs of daily operations at Houston’s.  While the main goal was to help our outside sales staff to learn about routine procedures in the Wilsonville office, Jarrod also wanted to expose the Regional Managers to the upbeat and positive culture that has consumed Houston’s.  “There’s a huge difference,” said Jarrod, noting that employees are up and moving around, and interacting with other people in different departments.  “It’s refreshing.”

Regional Manager Pete Butorac tries out an iSi dispenser with the help of vendor rep Antoinette D’Ambrosio Photo Credit: Christina Graiff

In addition to shadowing the various departments, the Regional Managers also had a day of in-office vendor training in which they met with representatives from National Chemicals, Espresso Supply, Hospitality Glass, International Tableware, Inc (ITI), and iSi North America.  These hour-long sessions provided great insight into vendor product lines, product testing, and allowed time for question that our sales team regularly fields from their customers.

The week wrapped up discussing 2017 goals and how current procedures and processes could be improved upon with key departments such as Purchasing, Inside Sales, and Marketing—the goal being “help us help you” in building sales and revenue, and working toward the ultimate benefit to Houston’s. Communication was one of the largest topics of the day: communication within departments and between departments.  Jarrod wasn’t shy in displaying Outside Sales’ 2017 sales goal for all to see:  $62 million!  It’s a realistic goal, one easily attainable when all departments work together to better serve our customers.

The merchandising team arrived in the office in full force on Friday, ready to learn primarily about the technology that Houston’s has available to assist in offering our clientele supreme service.  Time was spent learning about Salesforce and how to utilize the program to help grow customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as how to navigate the extranet, our internal reporting and information resource.  They also were given the opportunity to get better acquainted with Robin Phillips, the newly promoted National Merchandising Manager.  Robin is excited for “the opportunity to expand my responsibilities…one of my long term goals is business development in other parts of the country…I believe it is an exciting time in our company and see great things for us ahead.”  In addition to Robin’s long term goals, he also looks forward to transitioning some of his day-to-day responsibilities to Jered Bokoskie, and to further working with Bob, Geoff, Lindsay, and everyone in the office.

What a great way to bring 2016 to a close and to begin focusing on how to make next year even better.

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