Director of Talent Cassi Niekamp sits down with Jeff Rendell, VP of Operations, to learn more about his experience on joining the Cultivate team.
One of Cultivate’s cultural pillars is transparency which we deeply pride ourselves on both internally and externally through our organization. But have you ever wanted a sneak peek into what surprises a new Business Advisor might encounter once joining the team? In other words, the “inside scoop”?!
Jeff Rendell, one of our Vice Presidents based out of Phoenix, started with Cultivate in August of 2018. At that time, the team was one-third of the size it is now. Before joining Cultivate in its startup phase, Jeff worked at a larger franchise system with many established and well-maintained systems and processes.
Transitioning from an established organization to a startup is bound to have its challenges. In this, Director of Talent Cassi Niekamp sits down with Jeff Rendell to talk about his experience on joining the team and some of the things that surprised him about working at Cultivate.
What were his two biggest surprises?
- Sales funnel
- Startup Environment
Let’s start with his #1 surprise, the sales funnel.
At Cultivate, each advisor is asked to play an active role in their business development. Why? This role is something we consider an intrapreneurial role- each advisor has the ability to create their OWN business within the Cultivate structure of support. We ultimately want advisors to be highly bought-in and selective with their clients, and equally important that their clients have high faith in their advisor’s capabilities. It’s a truly symbiotic relationship in that manner. Today, in addition to the advisor, we have a robust referral program & marketing/sales engine that’s driving part of a new advisor’s lead source as well. Whew to all new team members, right!? But now Jeff can have bragging rights and use expressions like “back in my day…”
#2 Surprise – the startup scene.
Cultivate is growing at a fast pace at 600% growth for the past three years, landing us on the Inc. 5000 list the past two years. That type of growth requires a certain level of nimbleness and the ability to make decisions quickly with future growth in mind. Jeff refers to this as requiring a level of “flexibility and growth mindset” throughout the process of joining the team.
Therefore, the secret’s out – we’re a faced paced, hard-driving, goal setting and goal getting culture. If you or someone you know would make a great Business Advisor, learn more about joining the team.
