Laura Guse

Hello Everybody!

Last week I attended Essity’s National Sales Meeting which happened to be in Houston, TX, where I live!  I enjoy attending the National Sales Meeting every year because it gives me a chance to see and catch up with colleagues from across the country.   We always learn about the latest innovations the company is launching and our leadership team gets the opportunity to set the tone and their expectations for the year.

This year, we spent several days being trained in SPIN Selling.  What is SPIN Selling?  SPIN stands for Situation – Problem – Implication – Needs-Payoff.  It is a sequence of questioning that can be particularly helpful in major sales calls.  Neil Rackham is the author of SPIN SELLING as well as the founder of Huthwaite, Inc., who conducted our training.  I had the privilege of reading this book previously before a SPIN training several years ago.  I enjoyed the book because it elaborates on all of the research and findings that were used to develop SPIN.

 

In addition to our SPIN selling training, we had speeches from the North American leadership team and breakout trainings that were focused on some of our most recent product launches.   Each member of our leadership team focused on our 4 beliefs and behaviors (Care, Committed, Collaborate and Courage) during their talks.  If you read my first blog post, then you know I like quotes and there were 2 in particular that I really liked.

The first came from Joe Russo, our Vice President of Sales and Marketing.  He said, “Impossible is not a declaration, it is a dare.”

The second was from Matt Urmanski, our Vice President of Strategic Market Development.  He mentioned a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson.  “What lies behind us and what lies in front of us are small matters to what lies within us.”

I always feel inspired and motivated to achieve my goals when I leave a National Sales Meeting.  Another inspiring part of the week was during our Awards Ceremony.  Essity honored 5 colleagues who are retiring from the company.  Each of these individuals have worked for Essity for over 25 years…1 worked for the company for 37 years!!!  Each was honored with a video that had messages from colleagues and customers and each was able to give a short thank you speech.  It shows how much Essity cares and they went above and beyond in honoring these 5 amazing individuals.

A major highlight from the week that emphasized we care was on Thursday afternoon.  Essity worked with the charity Blessing in a Backpack and the entire sales team worked to put together 10,000 meals!! Blessings in a Backpack mobilizes communities, individuals, and resources to provide food on the weekends for elementary school children across America who might otherwise go hungry.  It was a truly moving experience!

To sum it up, it was a great week!  As I said at the beginning, one of my favorite parts of the week is getting to see colleagues who I don’t usually see again until the next sales meeting.  Below are some pictures from a photo booth that was set up for us to take pictures with silly props.  Another favorite highlight!

Everyone have a great week!

~Laura

 

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