Consolidated Graphics — Fusing Power. . .and People

Sales and marketing presentations bookend the lunch period, and the 45-minute pause for food is another opportunity for attendees to get to know their CGX colleagues a little better. Dinner is carefully coordinated, with attendees grouped into teams of five or six members who are given a specific sales challenge to solve during the meal.

“People really get a lot out of the small group exercises,” Grohs adds. “They open up more, talk freely. The last thing they want to do is sit in a big conference room with 300 other people and be lectured to all day. They love the dinner groups; the teams solve the challenges, then present their solutions in front of the group. It allows them to get creative and creates camaraderie among all the sales reps.”

Taking the team building concept a step further, the evening’s activities included casino and karaoke night. All the while, CGX expands the knowledge base and shrinks the corporate community.

“We needed to start selling this company as a national player that can work together, sell together and leverage all of the capabilities that we have,” Grohs says. “We’ve spent four years doing that, and I believe the sales meetings have had a major impact on creating that culture. We’ve hired sales reps from other large companies, and they walk out of their first national sales meetings shaking their heads. I’ve heard them say, ‘I had no idea this company was as powerful and dynamic as it is. The people are unbelievable and they work so well together...this stuff doesn’t happen at other companies.’ We get a lot of great feedback.”

Learn and Expand Sales

For Alan Flint, vice president of Automated Graphic Systems in White Plains, MD, the meetings represent an ideal opportunity to learn about potential markets for expanding sales. “As companies push for sales growth, a great avenue for success is to expand your sales efforts into additional vertical markets that can utilize the services you provide,” he points out.