“We’re definitely going for the three-peat,” said National Sales Network St. Louis Chapter President Larry Blue. “And we need everybody in our community to help us do it.”
With a bitter chill in the air, the members of the St. Louis Chapter of the NSN had a warm feeling as they planned for their upcoming year of activities back in January.
They were still riding high on achieving their long-term goal of being named chapter of the year during the organization’s national conference five months earlier.
They talked about initiatives for 2010 and how to capitalize on the honor of the nation’s best NSN chapter to serve the people in St. Louis. The group of a dozen sales and business professionals talked of a golf scrambler to raise funds for a scholarship and discussed how to help the next generation of sales leaders.
The subject of a repeat never came up. So, when they were once again earned the distinguished honor of being named chapter of the year again last month – beating out larger market chapters like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles for the second time in a row – they were even more surprised than anyone else.
“This one was even sweeter, because we didn’t expect it” said Blue, who co-founded the local chapter.
“Last year we had an idea we were in the running. This year we were shocked. When our name was called, we just started jumping and shouting. It took us four to five minutes to compose ourselves and make it to the stage.”
More than 50 representatives attended on behalf of the St. Louis Chapter for NSN’s 14th Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida on August 7. More than 1,000 were in attendance overall.
“A lot of the credit goes to our city for participating and supporting us in what we do,” Blue said.
As the baby of the NSN bunch, the St. Louis Chapter went into 2009 with something to prove to the larger cities.
“We were working towards our goal with a variety of things,” said Blue, “like leading the way in new membership and innovative programming.”
For 2010, they were pursuing something else. Their reputation as a powerhouse within NSN was established, so the group made a conscious decision to implement the same brand-building initiatives to inform, encourage and empower St. Louis through programs and services.
“We thought, ‘Why not merge the community-service component with pursuing sales careers?'” Blue said. “Our mission is to offer professional development to people in their current roles and to encourage sales careers as a possible avenue for success.”
Reaching out to college students was the perfect platform to reach, teach and serve. In addition to their regular programming, NSN-St. Louis developed an aggressive “Backpack to Briefcase” boot camp-style mentoring program.
“It encompassed everything,” Blue said, “from how to create a resume that stands out, how to dress for an interview.”
In the “Classroom to Boardroom” conclusion to the series, NSN members conducted mock interviews and a $1,000 scholarship was given to the best candidate.
The two runners up were given an opportunity to attend the NSN national conference.
“We’ve been in constant contact with all of the participants since April,” Blue said. “We now have these students wanting to start the first ever NSN college chapter, which is the probably the biggest compliment we could have received.”
All the while they were working with the future of NSN, the interest from the current sales leaders and other professionals in the area was spreading.
The St. Louis Chapter grew to more than 140 members, bypassing a target goal for 2010 of 130 members, a 30 percent increase from June 2009 and a 1000 percent increase since chapter inception in 2007.
With the skyrocketing membership and the programming to engage students with respect to considering sales as a profession, the national powers that be once again took notice.
Not only were they receive top honors among the 16 chapters around the country for the second year in a row, but once again St. Louis members received individual awards for their commitment to the organization – Debbie Fleming for 2009 and Blue for 2010.
“We beat cities like New York, D.C. and L.A. It shows that if we put our minds to it, we can have everything those cities have and more,” Blue said.
“And hopefully through NSN they can see beyond just networking and partying and be a part of something that can affect people’s lives professionally and personally.”
For more information on the St. Louis Chapter of the National Sales Network, visit www.nsnstlouis.org.
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