Meet Our Award-Winning Sales and Support Team
Darnell
Darnell is the rock-solid, unflappable force that keeps things humming for the sales organization at BEST. An engineer by trade, he made the switch from BEST’s engineering department to the sales support team about two years ago into a newly created position. As an Implementation Consultant for larger scale-product and client engagements, Darnell acts as a liaison among the sales and engineering functions at BEST and the client. His important contribution to the process is as a bridge or translator, ensuring that clients consistently achieve the intended outcomes of their implementations.
Darnell is the proud dad of two young children. He came to fatherhood late in life and is relishing the role. Darnell told you he still wants to contribute meaningfully to BEST’s goals while maintaining a work-life balance that allows him to focus on his personal life. He and his partner fully share parenting responsibilities and he wants to keep it that way.
Earlier in his career, Darnell made a name for himself applying green technologies to air filtrations systems. During his engineering days, he was named on three different patents for products that put BEST on the map for their commitment to sustainability. Now that’s he’s a new dad, he’s even more committed to ensuring that future generations experience a cleaner world.
Nicole
Nicole handles all marketing and communication functions for the Sales Support team, which includes coordinating key messaging strategies with the Sales group, as well as overseeing all elements of media management (social, PR, print and digital brochures, and website copy.) She is a gifted storyteller, getting to the nub of the situation and crafting it to the company’s best advantage. You often seek her counsel when tackling thorny messaging issues, such as communicating via a company-wide email.
Nicole is a driven, mid-career employee who recently finished up her MBA. Although she hasn’t directly said this to you, it wouldn’t surprise you if Nicole is looking for more challenges and broader responsibilities. Of all three of your team members, you view her as the biggest flight risk and her departure would represent a significant loss. You also wonder if she feels like she “fits” at BEST. There’s a lot of nerdy tech-talk that gets bantered around; you’ve overhead conversations between Nicole and the engineering department that have a patronizing edge to them. She stands up to the engineers, giving as good as she gets, but you wonder if she sometimes feels like she’s sitting “at the kids’ table.”
Joshua
Joshua is the team’s technical writer, whose main responsibilities include translating client specifications into product documentation, designing installation and product user training for clients/end users and providing technical support for salespeople who are writing proposals for new business.
He is in his early 30’s, whip-smart and knows details about the air filtration industry that even the engineering team envies. (His colleagues call him “The Filtration Whisperer.”) Joshua joined BEST about six months ago, having moved to the area from outside the state. During that time, BEST was experiencing a huge hiring push. The onboarding process was virtual, which led to less interaction with fellow new employees. Additionally, Joshua didn’t get the full benefit of BEST’s peer mentoring program because he had to jump right into a hot project.
Joshua is a confident and active contributor during your team meetings. So, it came as a surprise to you to receive feedback that he’s more restrained when attending meetings outside of the Sales Support pod. You know he has the technical chops to share important information and wonder why he hesitates to speak up. You have also observed that he’s most comfortable communicating via writing (emails, Slack, texts), which makes sense given his role. Yet you do wonder if there’s more to his reticence: is it because he’s still getting his legs under him as a relative newbie at BEST or is there something else at play?