September 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 29

Member to Member
The " Other " Audit

How a new sales approach helped the Bloomingdale Park District change their
company culture and achieve the highest revenues seen in years
By Alli Meyer

ith a passion for her work and drive to improve the community
around her, Carrie Fullerton, executive director of the Bloomingdale Park District, knew a good opportunity when she saw one. Last
year, she partnered with Jill Slupe, CEO of Verde Martin, to perform a sales
audit for the Bloomingdale Park District. The result: implementation of new
processes for the agency and an increase in sales of 25 percent, leading to the
highest revenues the recreation department had seen in years.
Bloomingdale Park District has a
long history of providing community
members with fun away from home.
The district manages 14 parks, runs
more than 1,200 programs a year and
has more than 20 full-time employees.
Despite the organization's success,
Fullerton knew there was room to improve recreation revenues. When she
heard about Slupe and Verde Martin's
sales audit, she thought, " That process
is what I need at the park district. " In
order to sustain the industry, one of

the agency's main goals was to sell
more recreation programs. The district was also striving to add more value to existing programs and increase
revenues by approximately $400,000.
Fullerton approached Slupe and the
two embarked on what would prove
to be a great partnership. " Jill outlined
the entire audit process and told me all
about how I could be a part of it, " Fullerton says. Convinced that the sales
audit would help Bloomingdale Park
District, Fullerton gave the green light

A view of the new Bloomingdale Park District Oasis Water Park. Executive Director
Carrie Fullerton and her team were able to increase revenues and attendance at
their district's parks through a thoughtful audit in partnership with Verde Martin.
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for Verde Martin to move forward
with the process.
Slupe first visited the facility and
began to learn about the district. She
met with the staff and did everything
from sitting at the front desk to reading
over brochures. She studied the roles of
each staff member within the agency
and looked at how they interacted with
clients. After learning about the agency
and meeting employees, Slupe walked
the management team through modules that examined different aspects
of the business. Next, she developed a
list of key performance indicators that
were important for accelerating sales.
Lastly, the Bloomingdale Park District
took a strategic approach in order to
make its culture more sales oriented.
Collaboration was an important aspect of the sales audit, with everyone
working to reach the common goal of
improving the agency as a whole. " The
park district staff came together as a
team to change their culture, become
a sales organization and offer a better customer experience, " Slupe says.
Because of this, they increased attendance and revenues.
The results of the sales audit were
monumental. Says Fullerton, " Jill really helped us reach a great outcome because she helped us change the culture
of our organization. " The team developed a plan to drive users to register online, generated targeted strategies based
on demographic information for their
top 20 programs and created a " We've
Missed You " campaign, which con-

September 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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