Our People and Our Products

To celebrate our 25^th anniversary, we asked our department managers to tell us how their department makes a difference for Listen Tech’s partners and customers. Here’s what they said.

SALES

Sam Nord, Vice President, Global Channel Sales:

Extreme Responsiveness

One of my greatest pleasures is seeing the surprised customer reaction to how quickly they received a deliverable from a member of our sales team (sometimes before we’ve left their parking lot after a customer visit).

Credibility and Integrity

While we are a sales team and are, of course, always focused on hitting our sales goals, our sales team never does so at the expense of selling a customer something they don’t need or pushing a technology that isn’t right for their application. Our low return rate exemplifies our desire to provide customers with the tools they need to fit their applications.

Dedicated to Improving the Lives of Others

Working at Listen differs from other sales jobs in that our core essence is about improving the hearing experience. Every sales team member is dedicated to our core philosophy that everyone deserves the same listening experience and has focused their professional lives on this important cause.   

Kevin Jewkes, Senior Director of Revenue Operations:

The Listen Sales Operations team processes every order that comes in and customers constantly praise them for being great to work with and getting things processed in a timely manner. Customer Service provides speedy responses to questions, working with shipping companies, and answering any questions or concerns. Combined, this team has more than 25 years of experience working at Listen and are incredibly consistent and reliable.

MARKETING

Kim Franklin, VP Global Marketing

Deliver an Awesome Experience

The marketing team serves our partners, customers, and internal departments. Whether it’s a request for swag, a change to the website, or supporting a major or regional tradeshow, we strive to deliver an awesome experience. That means quickly and thoroughly responding to requests with a smile and a great attitude. The marketing team works with every other department at Listen Tech and we love that everyone knows we’re happy to help. Additionally, I’m really proud of my departments ability to change direction quickly based on channel needs and requests from other departments.

Be Curious and Aspire Higher

We’re constantly asking, “How can we do better?” That curiosity helps us achieve more and consistently improve what and how we deliver. For example, a few years ago we struggled to secure and promote case studies. We looked closely at the process and what was and wasn’t working to find ways to increase the number of case studies and how we could expand the reach of case studies we published. Case studies are great sales tools and since reviewing the process and implementing some critical changes, we’re now producing more than twelve case studies a year and furthering each case studies’ reach.

Keep it Simple

The marketing team is great at keeping it simple! We know that if things get too complicated, people check out. That’s the last thing we want. We’re always working to simplify our processes, messages, and deliverables.

Play Well with Others

In addition to playing well with all other departments at Listen Tech, we’re especially invested in a great partnership with sales. A lot of organizations struggle to have their sales and marketing teams aligned. At Listen, we work to ensure that sales and marketing work harmoniously to achieve the ultimate goal of best serving our customers and powering connected experiences.

IT

Paul Tagge, Director of IT:

We primarily work in the background to ensure our employees have the technical tools and environment to do their jobs effectively, and we are always looking for ways to improve. We pride ourselves on making sure the systems needed to do your job are always available and working correctly. 

When an IT or Facility system isn’t working correctly due to an error (human or otherwise), we quickly fix the issue without judgment, talking down, or pointing fingers. We love finding ways to train employees on how to avoid the problem in the future.

Operations

Brian Godfrey, Controller

Proven Track Record of Successful Audits

Over the years, our accounting department has consistently achieved remarkable results in field examination audits. We have successfully passed multiple audits with flying colors by meticulously maintaining accurate records, preparing comprehensive documentation, and proactively addressing potential issues. These achievements are a testament to our meticulous attention to detail and commitment to excellence.

Strong Customer Relationships

Our emphasis on building strong relationships with our customers has fostered a culture of timely payments and responsible financial behavior, contributing to our remarkably low bad debt ratio. We work hard at nurturing good relationships with suppliers by making sure suppliers’ information is accurate and up to date in our system. Paying our suppliers on time boosts our supplier relationships. Accurate books ensure cash forecasts are accurate and working capital can be optimized.

Additionally, our department works well with the CFO, controller and others to help prevent mistakes and identify potential fraud. We understand that an accurate and timely monthly, quarterly and yearly close is crucial for planning, budgeting, and forecasting. We work diligently to ensure that happens each time.

Ryan Paxman, Director of Operations

Product availability: Listen Tech maintained close to 100% product availability throughout the global supply chain disruption that began in 2020.

Same day shipping: Most orders ship the same day the order is received.

Do whatever it takes attitude: We help the customer in any way possible.

Technical Services, Applications Testing, and Repair Services

Norm Shumway, Manager of Technical Services and Applications:

Tech Services

Our customers enjoy first call resolution with knowledgeable real-time live support. When a customer calls Listen, they get a live, knowledgeable tech. We don’t use annoying call automation, support levels, or have long wait times. All calls are handled by a knowledgeable live tech with average wait times of less than 30 seconds, the majority of emails are responded to within an hour and live, real-time, chat support is always available during business hours.

Applications Test Department

A reputation of reliable and pragmatic products resulting in part from continuous real world applications testing of all product features, components and the system / solution as a whole. We use a practical approach to testing that focuses on the customer’s perspective.

Repair Services

The repair services team minimizes customer down time when issues occur with an average warranty repair time of less than three business days. 

Engineering and Product Development

Tracy Bathurst, Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer:

Passion

The product group shares a common passion for developing innovative products that help people.  The team is a unique combination of energetic new developers, seasoned team members, and industry veterans, some of whom have worked together for over 25 years. They all share a passion for making a difference and creating great products.

Knowledge

Listen Engineering has a very broad knowledge base for such a small team. Due to the complexities of product engineering, it is common for individuals to specialize in one area. Listen is fortunate to have many team members with in-depth knowledge in several areas. Listen’s product team has a broad set of detailed expertise, including RF, signal processing, networking, injection molding, high-speed design, embedded computing, firmware architectures, and regulatory compliance, to name a few. 

Cooking

In addition to the development expertise, the team has considerable expertise in the culinary arts. Team members have sat on panels to judge cookoffs, created award-winning dishes, and can be called upon to cook for events such as Thanksgiving meals or an outdoor Dutch oven barbeque.