Hi, I’m Page, Legrand | AV’s marketing Intern. I recently graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Advertising.

That's me!

Although I am new to everything ProAV, working at Legrand seemed exciting to me because of the technological advancements that happen day to day. Along with those advancements, I had the opportunity to witness the former brands of Milestone AV Technologies integrating with Legrand brands to form Legrand | AV. It was interesting to see how a company transitions during a big acquisition like this one.

Thanks to Karen Smidt, Director of Commercial Marketing at Legrand | AV, and a tour with Kelly Perkins at the NSCA (National Systems Contractors Association), I was able to learn firsthand about everything that goes into the AV industry. Okay almost everything.

Karen not only set up meetings for me to shadow other areas of the company, she trusted me with important projects and let me sit in and collaborate in meetings. Kelly from NSCA showed me and some other interns around AVI Systems, which was a great way to learn about Legrand’s integrators and how they differ. Here are some other ways I got the most out of my internship with Legrand.

I Job Shadowed and Then I Job Shadowed Again 

I found the best way to get to know this industry was job shadowing various areas. I had the opportunity to shadow Finance with Kari Rivers, Product Development with Greg Rupp, Product Management with Kathryn Gaskell, Customer Care with Teresa Strong, and Sales with Kristen Dacey. I learned these departments are closely interconnected, and each plays a vital role in the success of Legrand.

• Customer care is often the first point of contact for customers. They are the voice of Legrand and must know how to problem solve and get each customer and dealer the help they need.
• We would be nowhere without finance. If there is no money or budget there is no product let alone marketing.
• Without the work of product management and development, the products produced may not work efficiently enough for the installers, or the customers’ needs won’t be met, and they will start using different brands.
• It’s important to have people like Kristen Dacey building relationships with customers. Both meetings we went to felt like reunions. Every customer knew who she was and knew that she had answers to any of their questions. It was fun to see her live and in action. 

I Crashed Every Event Possible

Attending every meeting, conference and summit open to me is a great way to see how teams operate.

Every marketing meeting I had the chance to go to was a learning experience. I got the chance to collaborate with the marketing team on creative videos and communication strategies.

I also attended the August Sales Meeting where sales managers flew in to Eden Prairie, MN, from across the United States to learn all the new brands and structures. Our Sales organization was restructured as “One Team” to better support customers who are looking for a single point of contact to purchase all Legrand brands. I learned that it takes a lot of patience, flexibility and hard work across each department for an event like this to be successful.

Kathryn Gaskell was one of the many people I had the chance to interview during the sales meeting

Another event I attended was the Modus Summit. During this meeting I learned new ways to utilize Legrand’s new digital sales platform. Modus Communicate is a mobile tool that is meant to aid sales teams. It is used to present content, videos, sell-sheets and more. It ensures that sales reps always have the right information in their hands during a meeting in the field.

Orrin Broberg, the CEO of Modus, speaking at the Modus Summit. (Pic from Modus on LinkedIn)

I Did the Little Things

I was lucky to be trusted with a lot of bigger projects, and I learned a lot from them. Of course, there were smaller tasks like loading USBs for a trade show or working on an Excel spreadsheet. I found that these tasks were important for the big picture. The little things count.

One thing I will carry with me for the rest of my career was said to me while I was printing stuff out for the sales meeting. We had a day to get 120 binders filled with reading materials and tools so that the sales managers had something to reference. As I was hole punching papers Beth Torgerson, Senior Marketing Manager, asked me if I needed help filling the binders. I must’ve looked surprised when she asked me because she then said, “It doesn’t matter if you are an intern or a VP. When it comes to being successful it is important for everyone to collate.” The small stuff counts in the end. It takes less time for a bunch of people to work together than for one person to get a task done. My time at Legrand really showed how important it is to be “One Team.”