1-800-Flowers.com Business Gift Services Team Earns Certified Engagement Solution Provider (CESP) Status

The new CEPs are Christine Brooks, Lori DeAngelo and Laura Koumas. There are two more members of the team in the certification process now, according to Earl Hurd, Sales Manager. “After that we’ll look at our internal recognition processes against the ISO standard and identify any gaps.” 

 

“Industry learning and certification are important to us,” Hurd continues. “It’s the third leg of our business gifting expertise. All three of the team members with CEPs came to us with background in markets where gifting is a fundamental practice. Christine from Wall Street, Lori in media and her own events company, and Laura from the hospitality market. They’ve experienced the power of gifting to transform relationships. In addition, they’ve learned the product side, matching audience, goal and budget with product, services and logistics for a one-time campaign, such as customer acquisition, or a strategic program like surprise and delight or employee recognition. The EEA training now adds process discipline and analytic tools needed to ensure the programs consistently deliver expected results.”

 

Hurd explains: “The EEA training allows us to go beyond ‘what, where, how many and when’ into guiding on selection, customization, messaging, measurement, process efficiency, testing, etc. That’s important across our customer set. Smaller customers appreciate the insights on operational issues as they pilot a program. We’ve already seen that with several that had an idea but no resources for program design. Larger customers, and their incentive partners, appreciate that we engage smoothly because we understand their success drivers.” 

 

Concludes Hurd: “The EEA certification is important to our team individually, and they’re proud of it. They appreciate our encouragement and investment in their development. That little logo announces each of them has the professional skills, knowledge and experience to add value at any stage of a program, which is critical because the goal is long-term relationships and value. 

The CESP is equally important to our enterprise. It combines CEP expertise with proven strengths—brands, quality, fulfillment and services—to support programs at any scale.”

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