Women in Industry: Jennifer Fox

 width=Company: Gregory Poole Lift Systems
Title: Marketing & Business Development Manager
Years on Job: 1.5 years

I’m responsible for marketing and new business development for Gregory Poole Lift Systems. My mission is to integrate comprehensive traditional and online marketing strategies with our business development efforts to drive a steady stream of new business through to sales and operations. My talented team of business development reps not only qualifies all inbound marketing leads, they also proactively prospect in their respective territories in support of the sales teams. With an executable and repeatable process in place for lead generation, management, tracking and measurement, we are able to track every opportunity cradle to grave and measure revenue generated from the leads.

Understanding Customers
Product knowledge is certainly important, but understanding our customers, the industries we serve, and the applications for our equipment and warehouse solutions is more important. Our material handling experts will get down to the nuts and bolts with a customer, but from a marketing perspective, understanding a customer’s pain points and delivering compelling messages and offerings that address these needs is a crucial part of reaching the right audience with the right products and services.

Communication
Communication is THE single most important element of my day-to-day job. First, crafting and communicating compelling messages to our audience on a consistent basis is critical for a successful marketing program. Second, the business development team is customer-facing, communicating daily via phone and email with our most valuable stakeholders. The ability to share our vision, mission, products and services with our customers and gain their trust is a critical part of our success.

Advice for Women
Believe in yourself, believe in your talents, don’t be afraid to speak your mind, and find a company who is looking for the best PERSON for the job. Standing out in this crowd is an advantage and provides you the opportunity to showcase your talents and put your skills and ideas to work.

Most Important Traits
Tenacity, drive and the ability to develop strategy and also execute the tactics necessary to make it happen. Understanding our business goals, communicating with management and developing a process to achieve our corporate objectives has made me successful. Marketing in this industry isn’t glamorous, but it’s a lot of fun for the right person – someone willing to turn over rocks to uncover business, track and measure every opportunity for success, manage a team of driven individuals and get creative in order to find new ways to market our solutions.