True Tales from Kirsten Voege

It all started with a 3 day business trip. As many know, I worked in NYC advertising agencies for the beginning of my career. At one time, in order to provide the best customer service a business trip to the West Coast needed to be extended. Yep, my business trip went from three days to a week to six months. YES. I moved to Los Angeles, California. I lived in LA for six months.

How did that happen? Let me tell you. In my role as the NYC based project manager for a West Coast based client, there were daily and weekly conference calls. Every so often the LA team would travel to WA and have in person meetings. I would join the conference calls from NY. These meetings took place either in the client offices in Washington state or the Los Angeles office at the Pacific Design Center.

The client company in Washington State hired a new manager.

In order to welcome this new manager they invited the whole team to attend onboarding and status meetings in person at the WA office.

I planned on being in LA & WA for a 3 day business trip. That was the plan. One prep day in LA and two client days in WA. In order to prepare as an LA based team, we had one day of pre-meetings for the internal team. We wanted to gel and practice our presentations. Our presentation was basically a status meeting, sharing updates on results, recommendations for strategy, and how our contributions and expertise would to move the business forward.

There was status meeting at the clients office to onboard a new manager…not a big deal (or so we thought)….

We were presenting to the entire marketing team and company leadership. The group included the new leadership team, including CEO, CMO and CFO. In addition to our daily contacts in the marketing department. We had two days of in person meetings in Washington, that were mostly client led. We were told the leadership planned on going public that year. This was BIG news. They told us they were also considering changing the company name. Also big news.

But wait, there was more big news.

It was at one of these meetings that the client CEO told our team that we were “on notice”. Because the company was planning on going public that year, the CFO was very concerned. The CEO & CFO were also both new. They told us we were at a great risk of losing the business. This was unexpected info. It was not a great message to receive. The intense two days of meetings became an escalating situation. It was all hands on deck. Clients gave us briefings on the business challenges, and product leads shared data and a projections. We ended up building a SWOT, and doing deep dives with different groups, in addition to team building.

We could see that continuing to service *and retain* this client would necessitate in person meetings. Meetings needed to be in both the LA office and WA. We would need to schedule regular meeting. Both ongoing & regular briefings. The clients demanded to be more involved in the process. They felt like they were not. We agreed to arrange update meetings where potential and current vendors could share their capabilities and pitch new offerings. The clients asked for all current partners to be invited to capabilities meetings also. The way I saw it? Basically, everyone was “on notice”. Yikes.

Say what? Nope, not a 3 day business trip. All of this lasted more than a week. It was intense.

So, not a 3 day business trip. After about a week and a half, the groundwork was laid. We had a reset. We had established an understanding. The strong collaboration and communication, the intense meetings…it was going to be a game changer. Set the course for a stronger partnership.

At that point I had already pushed back my return to NYC twice. Everyone in WA indicated the situation was favorably handled enough. It was time to return home. Our team returned to LA and me to NYC. I met with NY leadership. The LA team was on the conference call. Together we shared details about the meetings. We thought the situation was not over. Just temporarily handled. Not a message anyone in NYC wanted to hear. We brainstormed. We worked through scenarios. After a bit of contemplation, we came to an agreement. We needed to do more. A week long on-site in WA or LA wasn’t going to cut it.

It needed to be more. The client wanted more.

There was a need for change. The client business was at risk. There was too much revenue at stake. We should test out a new option. Have a NYC product manager in the LA office to service this client. I would need to move. Move to LA? What, I had to leave my NYC apartment and get temporary housing in LA. I became fully integrated with the LA team. We flew to WA every month to have in person meetings. The client/s came to LA on alternating months. When the clients were in town, our vendors and partners traveled to LA to present proposals and provide in person updates.

That is how my three day business trip turned into a 6 month temporary relocation to Los Angeles.

I was now an LA based Product Manager, overseeing my project leads in the NYC office, coordinating with the LA team and building the WA clients business results.

Essentially, I became the NYC project/product manager based out of the LA office. In addition to weekly meetings in WA, I was responsible for communications with the NY based team members. This entailed filtering client requests and coordinating deliverables, providing updates and outlining everything for the team in NY to implement. I worked closely with the LA team. We partnered. Together we shared feedback and built and presented performance reports.

While based out of the LA office in West Hollywood, I had an apartment on La Brea. Even though I could see my apartment from the Pacific Design Center office in WeHo, it was LA. So, I also had a long term rental car. I will share more on that later.

What an experience!

Learn more about the ways I can help your business at: Kirated.Co

Learn more about my story at my personal website, KirstenVoege.com