Combining People and Purpose Deliver Results
Caring for people is the center of Televerde’s values. Our people are our purpose. They’re the reason I’m excited to get out of bed every morning. It’s not often you find a place to work where so many people come in each day truly wanting to be there, and at Televerde we have this in excess. Our employee experience is like no other because everyone who works at Televerde feels deeply connected to our purpose, which drives them to continuously move our company forward.
Delivering Profit with Purpose
Our business model is unique in the way we generate demand and accelerate sales for our clients, with four of our nine call centers located behind the walls of correctional facilities. The first time I visited the prison, I was sold. Seeing for myself how driven the Televerde team is, I knew I wanted to work with them. Because of our employees’ unique situations, nothing is more important to them than coming to work, learning, and developing their skill sets. Their desire to delight our client fuels them each day, and that’s hard to come by in our fast-paced digital world.
My role as Vice President of Inside Sales and Marketing is to ensure that we’re meeting our client’s expectations, but really it’s about exceeding them. While I’m not client facing, I’m responsible for the behind the scenes actions that power our company and deliver results for our clients. What keeps me up at night is whether we are missing, hitting, or achieving all deliverables. I’m constantly thinking of ways we can overachieve, improve our programs, and provide our clients with fresh insight to evolve their businesses.
People Growth Fuels Televerde’s Future
I prioritize agent development because when our agents make the most of every business conversation, email and inmail, we know we’re driving results. Inside Sales and Marketing is the engine that powers our company and moves us forward. Every department is necessary, but Inside Sales and Marketing is at the heart of what we do. If you asked our sales team, “What is it that sells Televerde?”, they’d answer: “The women in Inside Sales and Marketing.” If you asked our client success team, “What is it that keeps our customers coming back year over year?”, their answer would be the same.
People growth fuels me each day. I stay motivated because we have a population of employees who are excited to grow and learn and this spirit is contagious. My vision for every single person who works at our call centers is to develop and coach them so they not only exceed in their current role, but are provided a defined career path for the future. Seeing our employees transform both in the short- and long-term, is the most rewarding part of what I do. Watching someone work in one of our centers at Perryville or Rockville, grow into other roles and eventually transition to work at our corporate location underscores why I am here.
Nothing competes with the feeling I get the first day I see someone not wearing a prison jumpsuit for the first time, and instead see them professionally dressed and beaming with excitement. I tell all our graduates, “Your first week here at corporate, lunch is on me. You find a place and day, we’ll sit down and talk.” To me, this is a defining moment. It’s surreal to see our graduates on the other side of prison walls and experience with them the joy they feel because of that. When it comes to new team members, I look for people who truly want to make a difference in someone else’s life. You have to be in it for the long haul to be able to look back with our graduates and say, “It’s amazing how far you’ve come.”
We Live and Breathe our Values
As a leader, I’m known for energizing my teams, so much so that I’ve been compared to the Energizer Bunny! I’m always there to hoot and holler when someone closes a deal, as well as offer a smile and a high-five to motivate someone having a bad day. I aim to set an example in everything I do. I’m not too bashful to get on the front lines. I’ve taken calls at both Perryville and Rockville because I believe it’s a great motivator when you see a leader who is not beneath getting on the front lines with his/her team.
One of the strongest ways Televerde provides opportunity to our employees is ongoing training and development. Our agents have huddles with leaders twice a week to continuously upskill. At corporate, we have lunch and learns with members of our executive team to not only talk about Televerde’s business, but to also provide professional and personal advice. We send the constant message to our employees that we’re here to help.
Many people have a preconceived notion of what it’s like to work in a prison. The concept seems unreal. But when you come out and meet with the team, you forget where you are. You would think you are on any sales floor in the world – once you get used to the fact that everyone is dressed in orange (except in Indiana where they’re in beige!) When you think of prison, you probably picture Orange is the New Black, but the reality is, it’s an office full of passionate women who want to do whatever it takes to better their lives and become the best version of themselves.
There’s no other company that is going to reward you the way that Televerde does. I’m not the only one who feels this way. Take a look at a recent blog post from our head of Client Success, Taylor Napierski.
We’re on our way to meeting the incredible goal of helping 10,000 disempowered people within the next 10 years. How many people can say that? As we look at every aspect of our business – growth, efficiency, and customer retention – it all comes back to helping and investing in people. Many companies contribute to a social cause, but there are very few that actually enable you to see and feel the impact you’re having. We offer that. If you want to work for a company that lives and breathes their values, while operating as a force for good, Televerde is the perfect place.
