Step Post-Project Reflection

STEP Post-Project Reflection

Internship at The Calvetta Brothers Floor Show

Maria Neville

 

My STEP signature project was at the Calvetta Brothers Floor Show in Bedford, Ohio. I was hired as a marketing intern, and worked with the Floor Show’s marketing team, on building partnerships with the Cleveland APL, as well as Howard Hanna. I also helped with more day to day tasks such as meeting with contractors in order to repair their new warehouse, assisting on film days for commercials, and meeting with their advertising company in order to get projects done.

This was one of the first times where I was left with a great deal of responsibility, between handling big purchases and working with outside companies, I felt very responsible. I was in charge of finding the right contractor, or company to install and repair new windows, doors, and paint in the new warehouse, and in such a large warehouse, these were upwards of 50,000-100,000 dollar jobs. I also realized that the business world doesn’t have to be so scary—when working with other companies, I got to know people on a personal level that allowed for easy and stress free communication between myself and these other companies. I went in to this experience very nervous about what sort of situations I may be placed in, and by just trusting myself and my abilities, it allowed for the whole experience to be more enjoyable. Having confidence in your abilities makes going in to work every day a much more pleasant experience.

One of the events that occurred was the Floor Show purchased an old, run down warehouse that needed a lot of repairs in order to be functional. A task that I was assigned, that was really nerve racking for me at first, was to contact contractors, painters, janitors and so on to help fix up the warehouse. I would meet with multiple contractors a day sometimes, giving them tours of the warehouse, having them price out estimates for me, checking their review and making sure they’re reliable, and at the end of it all, I may have spent upwards of 200,000 dollars, between new paint all over. New windows, new garage doors and man doors, refinishing of the cement floors and parking lot, tearing down walls etc. Austin, my supervisor and owner of the Floor show, trusted me to make these decisions and to find the best deal and best guy for the job. I have never been trusted with so much financial responsibility and after seeing the results of the warehouse, and how happy Austin was with the job, I finally learned to trust my abilities when it comes to making important decisions.

Another event I took place in was establishing a partnership with many different Howard Hanna offices.  I reached out to the managers of these offices, and set up times and slots for Floor Show sales people to come and speak at these meetings, getting coffee and donuts for them to bring to these meetings, and in the end establishing a partnership, where we mention them for business, and they mention us, when the situation applies. This was something that was really important to Austin that he wanted me to do this summer, so when I finally saw it all work out and work out better than intended (originally we were just mentioning it to them at the meetings, but they reached out and asked if we’d be willing to partner up), and that he was very appreciate of me, It showed that I really could do a lot as long as I remained professional, and actually saw myself as an adult who is capable of working in the real world!

Another thing I was responsible for was creating a customer experience survey. The Calvetta’s value their reputation and quality of work very highly, which is why Austin gave me this task this summer. They always put emphasis on how they treat their customers, and tell their employees the level of respect they should give people when going in their homes, and they always drill in to everyone how important that is, but they realized they hadn’t actually been following up with customers, unless they had a reason to (complaint of some sort, price issues). So I created a survey that I sent to all customers in the past 2 years, and that was supposed to go to everyone 1 month after their project was completed. I got so many responses, some complaining or praising certain installers, some about certain sales people, some about the product in general. The results were very helpful and the response rate was also high, so with my results I put together a report of my survey, and Austin was so appreciative and shocked sometimes at the findings, and was able to use the info from my survey to make some really helpful changes at the Floor Show. This allowed me to really see my full ability and to feel useful. I was able to see the difference I made first hand at a company, and to see my work so appreciated was a great feeling.

My professional goals are to work in marketing and the business world. I would love to work for a big company, in a big city, doing hard, creative work. In order to do that, I can’t let my doubts in myself hold me back, or else I probably won’t be able to achieve my goals. This summer at my internship showed me my true potential, and gave me the confidence to trust my own work and to not nit-pick every little detail as much. I think I now have the confidence to push myself towards my professional goals, while also probably helping my personal and everyday life too. I feel like this comes with becoming a self-sufficient adult. You can’t be worried about everything and doubt everything in work and life, otherwise you won’t be able to accomplish anything.

Behind the scenes at a commercial!

Photo I took for a blog post