Cheyanne Garrison
Women are bound to receive the short straw in the everyday workplace, whether it be sexual harassment or the mere fact of being the only woman in the room. If companies were to continue their hiring habits the number of women in management will only increase by one percent over the next ten years. After sitting down with Cathy Jenner, she explains how she goes from a Business Administration and Management graduate to the Regional Sales Manager for Destination XL Men’s Appeal.
Along with the milestones she crossed, Cathy Jenner gives an inside look at the skills which helped her climb the ladder to become a Vice President. She explains how tangible skills are just as important as teachable skills. Some of Jenner’s skills include;
*Sales focused and result oriented
*Ability to perform under stress
*Customer focused
*Ability to turnaround poor performance
*Identify opportunities
*Works Independent
*Excellent communication skills
1. What is your professional history (include your timeline and roles)?
After graduating from Northern Kentucky University Jenner became the District Sales Manager for Lane Bryant from 1989-2000. While working at Lane Bryant she helped her corporate district rank in the top ten for nine years and was also part of the floor set execution and company directives.
From Lane Bryant Jenner then moved on to be the Senior District Manager for David’s Bridal. While employed with David’s Bridal Jenner ranked in the top five districts every year. She helped supervise three underperforming districts and within 1 year, each district ranked among the top five. Some of her responsibilities while at David’s Bridal were to focus on sales and results, scheduling, day to day retail operations along with recruiting and hiring top talent.
Following her 5 years at David’s Bridal, Jenner became the Regional Vice President of Alfred Angelo. While working with Alfred Angelo, she developed training programs for managers and wedding consultants. She also opened ten new stores in new markets throughout the southeast resulting in a 5% growth through the recession. Jenner worked with Alfred Angelo between 2005 and 2007 facilitating payroll along with training and development of district managers.
After two years, Jenner found herself working back at David’s Bridal but this time it was as a Regional Vice President from 2007-2013. While employed at David’s Bridal, for a second time, as the Vice President she promoted two district managers to senior managers. She made her way to the top performing region for 3 years and top performing region in customer service for 2012 and 2013. Jenner’s job duties consisted of managing 8 districts with 70 stores combined, drove sales, and had the top 4 districts inside the company for 2012 and 2013. She also recruited, hired, trained, and motivated.
Jenner is now the regional sales manager for Destination XL, beginning in 2013. She is now in the top volume district within the company.
2. What writing advice do you have for professional communicators?
“Be highly aware of current events and the world of media, they have strong public speaking and presentation skills and they know how to write well and craft convincing arguments. These “soft skills” will make you valuable to many employers, as will the “hard skills” you may pick up over your four years in college.”
3. What is your one pet peeve (or multiple pet peeves) when it comes to professional writing?
- “Emails too long or too short
- Inappropriate tone
- Lack of a clear question
- Lack of next step
- Lack of proofreading”
4. What type of business reports do you read and/or compose regularly?
“Daily sales reporting in all aspects of selling”
5. What are your writing suggestions to make that type of report successful?
Focus on the why. Understand why you are writing the report
- “Decide what information to include and be sure to gather all information before starting, this will help the process go smoother
- Decide how to present the report and give it a title
- Add an executive summary
- Format the report
- Check and proofread”
6. What speaking advice do you have for professional communicators?
- “Have value
- Be prepared
- Be concise”
Speaking is about building a relationship
7. Name something you wish you had known about business communication before starting your professional career?
“How important it is to have the correct details.”
8. After assessing the Burning Glass list of Baseline Skills (2016), which skills not in the top 5 would you move into the top 5…and why?
“Leadership and Teambuilding”
9. What team skills do you feel young professionals need the most?
Key Takeaways:
Cathy gives great advice any communicators can gain from. Honesty and consistency are the two main points which should be present if trying to communicate information. There is a sense of pride when learning from someone who started as a student, held positions as Vice President, to now the Region Sales Manager of Destination XL. There is a better sense of what it takes to climb the ladder of sales management.
Biography of Cheyanne Garrison:
Cheyanne Garrison is a Graphic Design major at the University of Southern Indiana. Garrison is a senior at USI and plans to graduate this year, 2019. She aspires to be an advertisement designer. Garrison works at Destination XL in Evansville IN. as a General Sales Associates, where Cathy Jenner is the Regional Sales Manager residing in Ohio. Find Cheyanne on LinkedIn.
