~ Ryan Hildebrand, Senior Vice-President of Books
Earlier this month we had the opportunity to gather our sales team at our head office in Altona, Manitoba. As our team is scattered across North America, it was great to have everyone get together, learn, build connections, and preparing for the year ahead. Our theme for the meeting mirrored that of our Corporate Theme, which is “Change”, and we focused on being agents of change rather than victims of it.

L-R: Tim Hewitt, Ron Such, Fred Cheetham, Elizabeth Cleveland, Gerhard Aichelberger, Carrie Guy, Donovan Bergman, Dominic Papineau, Paul Cibulka, Elise Gochberg, Scott Sinnett, Brandie Herrell, Marc Paquin, Rob Tucci, Ryan Hildebrand, Jorge Rocha
At Friesens we have always believed in the importance of knowledgeable, driven, customer-focused individuals who care about their customers, their books, and being a part of the Friesens team. Our sales representatives are the face of Friesens to our customers. They lead the way for us as we continue to manufacture thousands of book titles each year.
During the meetings, we focused on raising the bar of our product knowledge. Taking advantage of being at our head office allowed our team to learn from and see the changes Friesens has made in technology and automation. It allowed us to share ideas on how to fill our expanded capacity with the addition of inkjet, colour sheetfed, and web presses. We saw the new sprayed edge machine in action. Seeing the processes in action allows us to help and guide customers in making the right decisions for their books.
We discussed improving customer experience, and how we continually strive to improve our quality and processes. Progression is key in meeting the changing demands of today’s print world. In addition to product knowledge, we also focused on our sales process and how we can improve our skills to serve our customers better. We work from a foundation of Integrity Selling which focuses on fulfilling customer needs and not our own. As our founder once said, “We will only be successful, if our customers are successful.”.
The tone of the meetings was very positive. As we continue to reinvest in our company, our people, and grow our production facilities, the Friesens sales team is ready and confident that they can meet the challenges ahead. We thank you for your continued trust and business. I have no doubt our dedicated representatives are ready to serve you this coming year.
How can we help you in 2025? Let’s chat today.
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