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Reserve Recruiting earns business 'Oscar'

  • Published
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga --  On the heels of meeting its goal for the seventh consecutive year, Air Force Reserve Command Recruiting Service also earned a nationally recognized sales award Dec. 6.

Judges handed a "Stevie" award to recruiting for "Recruitment/Staffing Sales Organization of the Year," a new award for 2007, at a ceremony in Las Vegas. The award is given in the category of "Best Run Sales Organization" along with 23 other awards. The Stevies have been called "the business world's own Oscar Awards."

"It's exciting and we're honored," said Colonel Francis M. Mungavin, AFRC Recruiting Service commander. "It proves once again that we have the best recruiters in DOD putting people in boots every single day."

The AFRC Recruiting Service nomination was judged by 29 business professionals from across the United States, including chief executive officers, vice presidents and other executives.

 Twenty senior recruiters were certified to lead specialized selling-training programs as part of the Air Force Reserve's current focus on "owning" the selling philosophy and approach, called IMPACT, organization-wide

 Better than 90 percent of Air Force Reserve recruiters made their individual assigned goals for fiscal year 2007

 The Reserve improved its approach to finding qualified full-time recruiting staff, using specialized assessments to screen more than 400 individuals, out of which 37 were offered the opportunity to attend recruiting school in 2007. Of the 37, 28 accepted the invitation, and all 28 graduated. This is a significant improvement over pre-assessment graduation rates, which ranged from 50-80 percent.

Much of the success, according to Colonel Mungavin, came from AFRC Recruiting Service's ability to learn throughout the year.

"In today's military recruiting environment, there is a growing intensity of competition for a smaller group of prospects," the colonel noted in the nomination package. "The key is to successfully differentiate the Air Force Reserve in this increasingly competitive marketplace."

He added, "Alignment of prospecting and recruiting strategy is vital if you are to achieve any level of success."

Colonel Mungavin said what distinguishes Recruiting Service from its competition is the method with which it does business.

"What sets the Air Force Reserve apart from other branches of the military is its understanding that recruiting requires a systematic, non-manipulative sales approach, and we've continually been impressed at how rapidly the recruiting team has taken responsibility for the IMPACT Selling process," he said. "They have taken a sales system and truly made it their own."

IMPACT is an acronym that stands for investigate, meet, probe, apply, convince and tie-it-up. The process was created by The Brooks Group, a sales and sales management training company, headquartered in Greensboro, N.C. The group has been the primary training advisor to Air Force Reserve Command Recruiting Service since 2000.

"The unparalleled accomplishments of Air Force Reserve Command Recruiting Service over the last seven years is a direct reflection on the outstanding leadership and dedication of Colonel Mike Mungavin and the more than 400 men and women who make up the organization," said Kevin L. Reinert, director of military affairs for The Brooks Group. "They have trained hard and stayed true to the principles of IMPACT Selling. Their selection as a Stevie Award winner is richly deserved, and we couldn't be any prouder of this magnificent achievement."

The Stevie Awards were created in 2002 to honor and generate public recognition of the efforts, accomplishments, and positive contributions of companies and business people worldwide. Beginning with The American Business Awards in 2002, and The International Business Awards in 2003, and The Stevie Awards for Women in Business in 2004, the mission of the Awards is to raise the profile of exemplary companies and individuals among the press, the business community, and the general public. Stevie is taken from the name Stephen, which is derived from the Greek for "crowned."