Inside Sales Team Lead, Kathy Silkowski, has worked in both purchasing and customer service for over 25 years. Kathy joined MJS Packaging in February 2019 as an Inside Sales Specialist and was promoted to Inside Sales Team Lead in February 2021. As Kathy continues to develop in her role, her knowledge has helped bring efficiencies to the team and has helped streamline processes. Kathy continues to manage accounts as well and is primarily working with customers in the healthcare, beauty, and cosmetics industries.
How Kathy Learned About the Industry
Kathy has had extensive and intensive training. She has learned a lot from her teammates and credits her former manager, Ronni Majewski, with using her extensive knowledge to quickly get Kathy up to speed when she first joined the company. During her training and to help her get more familiarized with the industry, Kathy was responsible for reaching out to customers who hadn’t purchased from MJS Packaging in several years to see if we could once again assist them with their packaging needs. This opportunity to speak directly with customers also helped her learn and develop her inside sales role.
As time went on, it was quite interesting to learn the extensive process and how much is involved for packaging to get to the retail level. To further her knowledge, Kathy has attended the NACD Expo, Silgan Dispensing school and will be attending Silgan Bottle School this May. She has also toured a few manufacturing plants.
Using Compassion and Creativity to Cope with the Covid Crisis
Kathy recognizes the challenges of material and labor shortages we are still navigating through due to the pandemic. She treats her customers with compassion as she knows this is has caused multiple issues. She says, “It’s been a real eye-opener to see just how much packaging impacts everyday life” especially as the Covid crisis resolves.
How Kathy Defines Success
One of the things Kathy likes best about working at MJS Packaging is the variety of daily tasks. She feels that helping source packaging solutions can be both challenging and rewarding. For Kathy, success is measured by how much you learn and grow in a role and has never been afraid to take initiative Being able to assist her team members, streamline processes, and making sure everyone is aligned on goals are important leadership goals for her.
Get to Know More About Kathy Silkowski
One thing people might not know about Kathy is she spends every weekend in the summer at her home in northern Michigan. Kathy and her family enjoy every minute of the twelve weeks of Michigan summer and love boating out on Higgins Lake with friends and family.
Kathy has a few mantras that help sustain her and provide context for her work and play:
- Treat people how you want to be treated.
- Respect is earned, not given.
- If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will.
If you are looking for packaging solutions, contact MJS Packaging to work with one of our qualified packaging specialists like Kathy Silkowski today.
