On September 14-19 I went to Connecticut for one of the most intense weeks of my life. Valassis has a very good training program that they require of employees once they hit between 6-9 months on the job. I have been to plenty of sales trainings and meetings in my career, but this was the one that stretched you the most. It was an absolute roller coaster ride!
I would love to show you all the beautiful pictures of scenic Connecticut, but all I really saw the 5 days I was there was the insides of walls.Valassis outsources their training to a company called Vie. Paul and Sue, seen below, founded Vie and I was extremely impressed with their training and organization. They know what they are doing!
Paul and Sue form a great team. Their slogan is that in order to be the best out there you need to be the best in here first. The training was called LEAD, which stands for:
A lot of times during the week EVERYBODY felt like this:
The interaction and preparation was intense and the expected perfection. I look back at it and realize it was really kind of a business and sales boot camp. You had show what you could on your own, in partnership with another person, and in larger groups. They expected perfection.It was pretty much 8am-9pm every day with a lot of preparation and meeting with other business associates after that 9pm slot as well to get ready for the next day's presentation or client scenario. Very interesting stuff!
On the last day we went to the board room to face "Donald Trump" in LEAD Apprentice. It was a little bit more fun and light hearted way to end the week, although that ended up being pretty rigorous itself. It was fun to see Paul in a Trump-like wig, though.
Our task was to introduce and market the new Ben Roethlis"burger" for a Pittsburgh based deli. We had to introduce the logistics and come up with the creative and marketing for it as well. In true Apprentice like style, it was boys v.s. girls
It was a fun week and I met a lot of really great people and learned a lot. I am VERY happy to be home though.
4 comments:
Wow, that does sound like its own sort of boot camp ... but the result of a boot camp is that you come back stronger and better prepared. Sounds like a great experience. Glad you are back, though.
Hey, I was just wondering if I could get your address so that I can send Melinda an invitation to a baby shower that I am having. If you could just email me at misuzturner@yahoo.com that would be great thanks, T.K.
The version I heard of that trip was slightly different;0)! Plus, you are too humble- not mentioning how great you did and how much you impressed everyone! I guess you didn't want to sound like a me-monster! LOL!
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