Employee Spotlight – Tina Brooks
In this edition of the Employee Spotlight, we talk with Tina Brooks, newly promoted Director of Inside Sales.
We caught up with Tina to discuss her unexpected path to Cisco-Eagle, what it means to lead a team she wants to think of itself as a resource, and why this place still feels like home after all these years.
What was your journey to Cisco-Eagle?
Before I came to Cisco-Eagle, I worked for a company that refurbished old dot matrix printers. It was a very small team, a very fast-paced environment, but there was nowhere for me to go.
One of my favorite coworkers there happened to be the sister of a salesperson here at Cisco-Eagle. He had posted on social media that they were looking to fill a position, and she thought, “This will be great for Tina.” She cared about me more than she cared about her own work environment.
Describe a typical day within the inside sales group
It’s interactions with a ton of people: customers, vendors, salespeople, and accounting. The primary function of inside sales is communication. Communicating with all parties involved creates good experiences for the customer. Typically, we’re entering orders, answering phone calls, answering emails, and trying to squeeze in some education along the way.
Yesterday, for instance, I was able to speak with a manufacturer and get some education on how one of their products is assembled. I love those little pockets of the day where I get to take in information I didn’t have before.
Every leader wants to set a tempo for their team. When you think about the inside sales group, what kind of energy or rhythm do you want to cultivate?
I really want inside sales to view themselves as a resource. It’s not just sitting and entering data all day. We are typically the first people the customer contacts when there’s an issue with an order, and I want us to own that.
I want to move away from “This is how it’s always been done” and move toward “Let’s collaborate.” I want us to take ownership of our work and view each other as teammates, and to dig deeper into what’s in front of us.
Your job is highly active, with great detail. When you aren’t at your desk, where do you go mentally or physically to find what you need to relax, recharge, and regroup for the next day?
My garden. To really recharge, it’s typically my backyard with my chickens and my garden.
You work at a company full of people who are all owners, just like you. Can you feel the difference in the energy of the room when you’re all chasing a goal together?
Absolutely. We’re not making decisions so executives can drive a fancy car; we’re making decisions to secure our own future within this company. When I’m weighing an important call, I’m thinking about what’s going to benefit the company, because that benefits me too.
It changes how you interact with customers. You’re not some big-box retailer where it doesn’t matter if the customer is happy, because they’ll come back regardless. You must carry the mindset that this is your personal customer. If this were your own business, where you paid the bills, how would you handle the situation? That’s the kind of mentality I like to be around.
Who is Cisco-Eagle?
For me personally, Cisco-Eagle is life-changing. I knew when I came here that this was home, that this was where I wanted to finish out my working years and retire. This was never just a job for me. I have made so many extremely valuable relationships in my life here, and my life would be so different without those relationships that I’ve met and built from working here. So to me, Cisco-Eagle has become my family.
Even with all the changes we’ve experienced, it is still my safe place, my steadiness. There are a multitude of people within Cisco-Eagle I can go to for support. Again, to me personally, Cisco-Eagle is family.
Evan Fleishacker is a Marketing Strategist at Cisco-Eagle. You can find him on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/evanfleishacker