PPB September 2021

Kaylee Shields, CAS Age 25 Business Development Specialist Image Masters Merced, California K aylee Shields, CAS, was a client-turned-intern who went to work for Image Masters in October 2016 during her senior year at University of the Pacific. There, she was completing her degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing and working as the marketing manager for the school’s New Student and Family Programs. In that role, she had ordered some promotional products from Image Masters’ owner, Tim O’Neill, MAS. When she heard the company was looking for an intern to work with the university upon graduation, she applied and was accepted. “Thankfully, Tim saw potential in me, and chose me for the internship and offered me a full-time role after graduating in 2017,” Shields says. For O’Neill, hiring a college intern was part of his personal project to earn his MAS (Master Advertising Specialist). “I had designed a two-semester curriculum for a college senior who had an interest in the promotional products world,” he says. “Kaylee applied and was selected as that intern in the fall of 2016.” The internship covered important industry knowledge and coaching on being a sales professional in the industry. “Kaylee is the consummate sales professional,” says O’Neill, who nominated her for this honor. “She prospects aggressively, both on the phone and at trade shows, and has shown steady sales growth. In 2018, her first full year of sales, she booked over $400,000, rising to over $600,000 in 2019 and, despite COVID, grew her sales to over $1 million in 2020. This year she’s already up by more than 60 percent.” Kaylee, like all Image Masters reps, is Product Safety Aware and she completed her CAS in 2018. She is also a graduate of the Facilis 360 Program and a regular participant with the Facilis Women’s Empower group. Biggest challenge in the past year: Like most people, navigating the COVID-19 pandemic was my biggest hurdle. I went into 2020 so excited for everything that I had planned and all the opportunities for new business development. Then in March, when everything shut down, including most of the clients I work with, I thought it was going to be my worst sales year since starting in the industry. Nevertheless, I worked harder than ever before. I continuously prospected for new clients, engaged with existing clients, educated myself on personal protective equipment (PPE) and what my clients would need, and provided outstanding service so that I could sell an entirely new product category. It may have been a lot of work, but it was so rewarding in the end as it was my best year since starting in the industry. Proudest career accomplishment: Despite COVID-19 shutting down so many businesses, with the support from the Image Masters team and my boss, I had my best year to date in the industry and became a Facilis [industry business service provider Facilisgroup] achiever for selling at least $1 million worth of products. I was hopeful I would become an achiever when 2020 started; however, as the world quickly changed with COVID-19, I did not think it would be realistic. Making that goal come to fruition felt incredible. Most optimistic about for the industry’s future: The promo industry does an amazing job at adapting, and I am very optimistic that as the world continues to change, the promo industry will evolve to match it, just as it did in 2020 when we started selling PPE. I love seeing the new products that come out to match trends and social movements, and the focus on becoming more inclusive. No matter what happens, I think we can continue to grow and develop the industry. Biggest concern for the industry’s future: As AI becomes more Continued on page 31 FEATURE | Rising Stars 26 | SEPTEMBER 2021 |