Managers Gail Matzke, Mistine Thomson, Deb Cumming, Natalia Jackson, Lisa Sment and Amber Frantz are ready for action.
North Shore Bank has kicked off a new sales season loud and proud, and with a mission to discover just how much we can achieve.
Managers Andrea Tadych, Natalia Jackson, Joline Hendren and Suzanne Thomas enjoy their lunch.
Our sales theme for the upcoming year is “Roaring 2013: Discovering What’s Possible.” At the sales kickoff on Sept. 25 at the Milwaukee County Zoo, branches were asked to take a look beyond their assumptions and see what it’s possible to accomplish, VP Sue Doyle says.
The Sales Kickoff Planning Committee — Cristen Baumann, Carol Bergen, Becky Reinhardt, Margie Brusa, Patty Muehl, Gloria Rosenberg, Michael Ebbensgard and Joline Hendren — pose with some faux furry friends at the zoo.
She cites an example: In 2011, our branches averaged 3,900 proactive contacts with customers each month. The bank set a goal to improve on those numbers, and in 2012, our average monthly contacts had more than doubled, to 9,600.
Mistine Thomson, Kim Koehler-Foltman, Margie Brusa, Maria Mortimer and Gloria Rosenberg get ready to discover what’s possible.
“How far can you go when you have a team that’s engaged?” Sue asks.
Two guest speakers addressed the crowd at the kickoff. In the morning, Judy Filek of Impact Communications talked about how to build trust and create relationships with customers, so that over time you become a trusted adviser. She discussed specific communication styles, words and actions to use.
Branch Relationship Managers Amber Frantz, Larry Homberger, Jeremy Behrens, Becky Reinhardt, Cheri Cicona and Ron Knaus smile for the camera.
In the afternoon, motivational speaker Barbara Bartlein talked about how successful people can become even more successful and what it takes to change a habit. She also led a “feedforward” exercise. In the exercise, instead of sharing their thoughts about another person’s past performance (i.e., instead of giving feedback), the participant asked the other person what they wanted to accomplish and then offered suggestions on what to do to get there. “That was pretty powerful,” Sue says.
North Region managers work on their wolf totem, which they named “CLIC,” an acronym to represent their goals: checking, loans, investments and credit cards. Front row: Gail Matzke, Becky Kolstad, Mickey Adams and Deb Cummings. Back row: Kerri Collins (North Region DM), Mistine Thomson, Heather Starr and Sharon Hack.
The managers also divided up by region, and each group chose an animal totem to represent its district. For example, the North Region team chose the wolf because it represents intuition, learning and spirit. “The wolf teaches us to learn about our inner self and find our power and strength, and to achieve this, we must face our deepest fears,” AVP and Branch Manager Mistine Thomson says of the choice. “This was a perfect match for our mission!”