I have recently finished my Year in Industry and have had some time to reflect on what I would call my first ‘real’ job.
I say that because I found myself working in Marketing, the area of business that I want to be a part of following my brilliant year at Salts Healthcare. We all know how important experience is in the job market and the Year in Industry is a perfect opportunity to experience the world of work and gain an understanding of how a business operates, and in my case has given me direction for my career.
I would like to open up my Tick Marketing account by sharing something with you from my time at Salts Healthcare, so here goes…
In two weeks’ time I will be presenting at the quarterly Sales Meeting of my former employers, who have invited me back to launch a new App I worked on whilst with the company. When you hear “Sales Meeting” you may be picturing sitting around a desk being bombarded by endless spread sheets, graphs and numbers, but I see something very different. I see an opportunity to celebrate and promote new launches, to update people on what is actually going on at the company, and to keep everyone who makes the company what it is motivated and happy. That’s what I experienced whilst on my placement year. Salts Healthcare is a 300+ year-old company committed to taking care of its employees and ensuring they enjoy working there. There is no doubting the importance that is placed on their Sales Meetings, but they also see it as an opportunity to hold a thoroughly enjoyable event. That sense of enjoyment and desire to keep everyone happy runs throughout the whole organisation and makes it a fantastic place to work.
The meetings are held over tw
o days and provide an opportunity for the people at the company to catch up with each other, which no doubt improves employee communications. “Brian from Accounts” is no longer just a voice on the end of the phone he’s the guy you met at the Sales Meeting (apologies to any accountants called Brian). That may be a clichéd and simple example but those little things can make a difference in the way employees work and interact with each other, and that can make a surprisingly important difference when they come to work with your external customers. If you create a welcoming and friendly environment in your own workplace, it is more than likely that attitude will be transmitted to those outside of your company.
For me the best things about these Sales Meetings were the new product launches. Partly because being in the Marketing team meant I was involved in launching them, but also because you could see people getting excited about whatever the launch may be! If you make a big deal of your latest product you will find it creates a buzz amongst your employees, and importantly in our case motivated the Sales Team to go out and sell it! The whole excitable and important feeling that surrounds the Sales Meeting at Salts leaves a hugely positive impression of the new product, and this will be replicated when talking to potential customers.
I have only briefly touched on the way Salts Healthcare runs a Sales Meeting but the exact itinerary of the event, where to hold it and what to have for dinner are unsurprisingly not the important points. The crucial idea is how you look at and treat your employees. Salts puts on a two-day event every quarter to launch any new products, update employees on sales, to generally talk about what is happening at the company, and to give people a chance to unwind and enjoy themselves. In return they get a group of people who enjoy working for the company, enjoy working together, and are driven to make the company succeed.
So if you want people to enjoy working at your company and have the motivation to perform in their job then you may just have to go that famous extra mile.
You’ll be surprised how many miles they give you back.
Pete Harris
Business Management Student at the University of Birmingham
Tick Marketing 