20 Bikes in 2 Days

Five girls from our sales team will be attending the PLRB conference in March in Seattle, WA. We were in a meeting three weeks ago brainstorming ideas of how to get adjusters to our booth. We wanted a creative activity or eye catching display that would bring out more adjusters to our booth versus our competitor's booths.

We are celebrating 20 years of service and thought a great theme for this year's booth would be "Celebrating 20 Years of Service" and we decided this would be the year that we gave back. During the two days at the conference, the 5 girls from our sales team will be building 20 bikes to symbolize each of the years we have been a company. We will draw adjusters to our booth by simply asking them to stop over and help us build a bike.

We sent out a mass email to our adjusters with the subject line: Will you be there? And the body of the email simply stated: "Will you be at the PLRB conference in Seattle, WA on March 23rd & March 24th. If so, stop by our booth and help us with our heart warming activity." Right away we had many responses from people saying they were coming, but more so, they were curious to know what our "heart warming" activity was going to be. This planted the seed and helps Market our booth!

At the end of the two days we will be donating the 20 bikes to local underprivileged children. The day following the close of the conference we wanted some sort of bike give away ceremony where we present the bikes to the children. This is where I stepped in. It was my job to source the children we would be donating the bikes to and to plan some sort of short give away ceremony on Wed. March 25th.

I searched high and low and left many un-returned voice mails and finally got in touch with M.W. at the downtown Seattle Boys and Girls Club. After communicating for over a week we came up with the 20 kids from two nearby Clubs that we will be building the bikes for.

Boys 13-16 yrs: 6 bikes total
Girls 13-16 yrs: 4 bikes total
Boy 12-13 yrs: 1 bike total
Girl 12-13 yrs: 1 bike total
Boy 10 yrs: 1 bike total
Girl 10 yrs: 1 bike total
Boy 8 yrs: 1 bike total
Girl 8 yrs: 1 bike total
Boy 6 yrs: 2 bikes total
Girl 6 yrs: 2 bikes total

Total bikes: 20

Next, using the ages and gender of the children I had to source the bikes. We wanted to be sure that the bikes we purchased we not already assembled and we needed to figure out how to get 20 un-assembled bikes to the conference. Unfortunately, we cannot have them delivered to the meeting space because there are very specific rules and fees when it comes to booth supplies. So instead we purchased the bikes from Wal-Mart.com and ordered them "site to store" which means we basically bought them online and we are having them delivered to the Wal-Mart closest to our hotel in Seattle. We can then arrive at the "site to store" area in the Wal-Mart and pick up our already purchased bikes. :)

Next I had to source a place to hold the bike give away ceremony. I could not do it where the PLRB conference is taking place, so I called the Catering and Event Planning Department at the Seattle Sheraton where we will be staying in Seattle. M.W. from Boys and Girls Club will be bringing ten of the twenty children to the ceremony so our sales girls can present them with the bikes.

I have been a busy busy BUSY girl these past few weeks playing phone tag and researching and requesting permission for purchase along the way, but as of Monday everything has fallen into place and I am SUPER EXCITED!!!

I cannot wait to see pictures of the event (since I will not be able to attend) and of course I will be posting pictures upon their return from Seattle!

Sample Collateral

Here is a picture of the sample table set-up for one of our Unit Meetings. This is standard collateral that the Sales team requests from me and brings with them to a typical unit meeting.
Red/Silver pen, Mouse pad, & magnet placed on top of a Presentation Packet. Going green mailer, No-Foreclosure Mailer, & laminated team flyer all paper cliped together with a CRS paper clip.

I'll post more pictures soon of our new collateral! :)

Companies to Watch

CRS Temporary Housing Recognized as One of Arizona’s Companies to Watch in 2008

Phoenix, Ariz.- Temporary Housing leaders, CRS Temporary Housing was recognized November 11 by Comerica Bank and the Arizona Small Business Association as one of Arizona’s 50 companies to watch in 2008. CRS Temporary Housing was honored with the Customer Service award for excellence and was featured in the November/December issue of bizAZ Magazine and The Arizona Republic.

Comerica Bank Arizona Companies to Watch honors 50 high-performing second-stage companies from across the state of Arizona for their achievements and contributions to the region’s economy. The selection process was based upon second-stage Arizona-based companies that generate new jobs and sustain business growth through company culture, customer service, community involvement, change and innovation as well as commerce.
For more information visit www.crstemphousing.com or call 800.968.0848.

The girl third from the left is Meagan my Supervisor! :)

Compassion Mailer

Check out our newest promotional mailer. This is the compassion mailer that we sent out to our adjusters last week. They are printed on 5 x 8 card stock & placed in envelopes & mailed out. The pictures are all family members of people that work with CRS. I thought you would enjoy seeing this! :)

Manic Monday

Today things are finally back to normal, my emails have all been answered, I have checked off all the boxes on my "To-Do" List, & I have FINALLY caught up on the work I missed while I was out with Pneumonia from the 5th to the 10th. I only missed three work days, but the work sure piled up while I was out. I am pleased to say that as of this moment, I am completely caught up!!! Yippie!!

First thing today I had to assemble the final items for the collateral request for the upcoming trip to FL for a conference. This was one of the largest collateral requests I have had since working here:
1. 10 Presentation Pkts
2. 40 Laminated Team Flyers w/ 24 hour flyer on back (cut to fit in manila envelope)
3. 50 pens
4. 50 Magnets
5. 100 Business Cards (Rachel & Stephanie)
6. 25 Chap sticks
7. 50 Notepads
8. 25 Office Cubicle Clips
9. 10 New Notebooks
10. 10 CRS Mint Tins
11. 20 Rest Easy Pkts
12. 20 Blank Manila Envelopes
13. 40 CRS 20th Anniversary Stickers
14. 30 CRS Thank you Notes w/ envelopes
15. 10 Red CRS Bags (for gifts for drop bys)
16. Fliers (30 of each)
-one pager, hotel, commercial, ADJ Brochure, PH Brochure
17. Promotional Mailers (20 of each)
-CRS goes green, No-Foreclosure, & Compassion Mailer
18. 100 laminated special Allstate Fliers
19. 20 Rest Easy Pkts
20. 5 CRS Mouse Pads with CRS Family Picture
21. 5 Large CRS Pencils

Whistle While You Work

This week has been a busy week in the Marketing Communications Pod. Shannon was out on Monday in Florida for the Super Bowl and Meagan is still in Housing Coordinator Training this week so that left Diana & I alone Monday.

I was busy playing catch up yesterday with my regular daily tasks, as well as sales support in place of Shannon while she was out. My typical day is busy, but Monday also included gathering travel collateral for two of Shannon's travelers and an excess amount of Salesforce Lit. Requests.

Salesforce is an online website that I log-in to each day and view the Lit. Requests assigned to me by the Sales team. A typical request comprises of sending an adjuster a Presentation Packet with our Marketing Materials; such as fliers about CRS's Services, Pens, Magnets, Chap stick, Business Cards, Team Fliers, and brochures. I assemble these Presentation Packets to send to new adjusters to inform them about CRS. On average, I will assemble & send out about 10 Presentation Packets a day. Another Lit. Request that is frequently assigned to me is Thank you notes. These are hand-written thank you notes on CRS Cards that are sent to new adjuster's thanking them for allowing the Sales Team to meet with them and explain CRS Services, to thank an adjuster for sending us a new housing request, and to thank new adjusters the Sales Team meets at various trade shows, conferences, & golf tournaments or events. On average, I will hand-write about 10-12 thank you notes an any given day. The Sales Manager writes what they would like the thank you note to say in the comment section of the Lit. Request and then I hand-write it and hand-stamp it and send it out.

Today was another story, two Ladies from our Sales Team just returned from the Windstorm conference in Orlando, FL last week and had the wonderful opportunity to connect with a bunch of potential new clients. This is exciting news for our company and we are really looking forward to the new sales! The only down side is I am now forming a callus on my finger from all the thank you notes I have been writing the past few days. I wrote 26 today alone! :)

Sample Thank you Note:

Teresa,
It was great to meet you at Windstorm! I have included my card since I did not have any at the conference, as well as my partner Rachel's card. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call or email anytime!

We look forward to working with you soon!
Sincerely,
Stephanie


I've been a busy little bee...but hey, the positive thing is that I am keeping busy during my internship!