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Holiday Inn Club Vacations - Sales Representative of the Year

 

Gold Stevie Award Winner 2019, Click to Enter The 2020 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service

Company: Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Orlando, FL
Company Description: Orange Lake Resorts, a leader within the vacation ownership industry with more than three decades of proven success, operates Holiday Inn Club®. The Holiday Inn Club Vacations® brand was created in 2008 through a strategic alliance with IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group), one of the world’s leading hotel companies. The Holiday Inn Club Vacations flagship property in Orlando, Fl.
Nomination Category: Sales Awards Individual Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Sales Representative of the Year - All Other Industries

Nomination Title: Kathleen Holder

Tell the story about what this nominee achieved since the beginning of July 2017 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Holiday Inn Club Vacations® resorts, is a leading timeshare brand dedicated to creating unforgettable experiences with a sense of fun and family. Kathleen Holder is a top sales representative at Holiday Inn Club Vacation who is committed, competitive, and charitable. Each year, she relentlessly displays her adeptness and mastery of sales while challenging her leaders and peers to become better every day.

The level of commitment she maintains year over year is impressive. From her aptness to consistently win, and not at all costs, to her ability to exceed every budgeted number the company establishes, this individual sets the standard of what it means to be a successful, loyal representative of the company. Year over year, the remarkable results continue. From July 2017-July 2018 her sales volume was over $6.2 million. A year prior for the same time period her sales volume was $4,863,032 this is a 29% increase year over year.

Her unwavering competitiveness is evident as she has been awarded the top Owner Line Sales Consultant each year since joining the company. It is said that the rising tide lifts all ships and this individual’s consistent competitiveness flows through the site as her performance is often a catalyst for her peers to crash through their own self-constructed caps or limits and achieve new levels.

While the results clearly communicate the effort and energy exerted each day, it doesn’t even begin to quantify this nominee’s impact to the department as a whole. Promoting company initiatives, mentoring new hires and veteran Sales Consultants or assisting the training department through a ride along or selling strategies, the unselfishness of Kathleen is invaluable.
Kathleen balances her extraordinary success in the workplace with her charitable contributions outside of it. Give Kids the World Village is a nonprofit resort in Kissimmee, Florida for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. In addition to encouraging team members to donate to the cause, this nominee donated the largest amount of money by an employee back-to-back years and physically provided the check to the foundation. Salespeople can easily get caught up in the recognition only for themselves; this nominee is amongst a special few that genuinely care about bettering the lives of the owners they meet with each day and the lives of others outside of the workplace in need.

This nominee’s philosophy can be easily observed each and every day. She believes in treating the owners like a best friend instead of only a friend. She is willing to delve into difficult conversations for owners because she cares enough about them to do it. Her directness and unique ability to experience empathy and relate, is unmatched in our industry. The response from the owners has been overwhelmingly positive as they consistently request her assistance during their updates. This nominee’s ability to build rapport while speaking in a straight-forward manner is special and certain specific phrases that are a part of her vernacular with each owner prove this. As she greets each owner, she smiles and confidently says, “We’re going to a million points today, let’s get started” and then she informs them, “There are three things in life I know are true. You can never be too healthy, you can never be too rich and you can never have too many points.” This nominee is also extremely well-traveled and can excite each owner with detailed descriptions of the dream vacations they could now finally experience. She is viewed by owners as a valuable resource, trusted consultant, vacation expert and most importantly, caring advisor. Kathleen continues to break the industry mold of a slick salesperson and simply achieves her success by understanding the needs and desires of the owner. This philosophy is what makes Kathleen Holder a great candidate as Sales Representative of the Year.