Katie Werner, Enterprise Sales & Distributor Excellence Leader at nVent, is dedicated to pursuing her passion for people and process transformation. “I thrive in roles where I can help people be more successful at what they do,” she explains. “I always say, ‘If we’re not helping you succeed, then we’re doing the wrong thing!’”
During her last year-and-a-half at nVent, Werner’s been doing just that! Her career with the company has included a heavy dose of collaboration, problem-solving, coaching, and training. This includes uplifting her powerful team, which is made up of two direct reports and cross-segment partners who are heavily invested in the company’s success. With her team at her side, Werner’s day-to-day is chock full of meetings to strategize, plan, and build. Change management is consistently at the top of her list, followed by facilitating creative problem-solving amongst individuals from sales, sales operations, channel management and marketing, as well as digital partners and leaders across the company.
All of this collaborative work results in Werner being at the forefront of innovative projects that utilize her passion for elevating people and processes. Here, we’ll take a look at one of these exciting projects: nVent’s Sales Excellence initiative!
Exploring an innovative sales initiative.
When asked about nVent’s Sales Excellence initiative, Werner describes it as a “truly innovative” program that is focused on how her team sells and manages sales. And, for those who would say that sales excellence has been done before, Werner responds that “each organization has a different go-to-market, team structure, history, culture, toolset, and skillset that makes each implementation unique.” As such, nVent’s Sales Excellence initiative is “all about people, process, and technology working together harmoniously to meet our customer and team needs,” she elaborates. “This means that we need to take the time to deeply understand why we are where we are, set a vision for where we need to be, and help the team get there — step by step.”
What were the steps to creating this initiative?
Step 1: Gather Feedback
To gain understanding and set a vision, we needed to draw feedback from different areas throughout our team. Werner achieved this by starting the initiative with a survey, which asked the question: “Where does the organization believe that we are and, where do we believe that we need to go?” From there, her team drafted a vision and built an alignment across the broader team.
Step 2: Create a Solid, but Flexible, Picture of Success
A key element in this process, Werner says, is having a solid picture of success with a flexible model of how to get there — and that requires taking an innovative approach. But how did Werner manage to develop such an innovative approach? Well, “as a woman in the organization, I notice that my superpowers of listening and empathy are make-or-break for this effort,” she tells us. “I work incredibly hard to learn deeply from all of those around me — especially those who challenge the direction.”
This is because diversity of thought is essential to success. Werner and her team work together, side-by-side across the organization and around the world, to build and iterate upon nVent’s model. They work to solve local problems while building a strong international team, being sure to consider the various languages, diverse cultural business norms, and varying customer demands at play.
Step 3: Lean into Culture
The initiative’s success was also reliant on nVent’s inclusive and supportive culture. “What this type of initiative requires is a culture that is focused not just on business needs, but also on people,” Werner explains. “nVent’s leaders fully understand that to innovate, we need to take risks and work together collaboratively to solve problems. We need to support each other and have fun while we do it. We need to empower our teams to make changes. Working this way feels great — and has great results!”
Today’s success is shaping a bright future.
nVent has seen great success from the Sales Excellence initiative. The systems that Werner and her team members are putting in place provide the support people need to succeed from a tools, process, and coaching perspective. They also implement concrete planning and feedback systems that provide insight into the planning cycle, data-driven tools to self-monitor, and coaching feedback for continuous growth.
“I surveyed a number of people impacted by a new management process, and 100% of them exclaimed that, if they were the manager, they would absolutely use the process as well,” she tells Fairygodboss. “With recent promotions, that is proving to be true. Having a system in place helps them glide into managerial roles and immediately foster success within their teams. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”
After implementing the program, Werner says that another manager also saw an improvement in “manager trust” on engagement surveys and an uptick in business results in an incredibly challenging market condition.
“I am incredibly proud of the teams who help us implement these localized processes,” Werner says. “It’s challenging to take time out of the day to get creative together, set a concrete plan, and iterate on the plan many times over as we learn valuable lessons along the way. I am so thankful to those who work beside me, and I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together this coming year!”
While Werner says that nVent is only at the beginning of its journey, her team will continue to build toward their vision year over year. Due to the success this program has found at nVent, Werner recommends that any sales organization of scale can benefit from having a similar robust management model that delivers specific, actionable insight and coaching.
