Melissa Valone knows a good opportunity when she sees one.
Valone, a retail associate at the Brookville, PA, Post Office, recently served a local tourism official who mentioned his organization was looking to beef up its marketing efforts.
She figured the Postal Service could help the bureau achieve its goal, so she submitted a sales lead through Clerks Care, one of the USPS employee lead generation programs.
A postal business development specialist then contacted the bureau, whose leaders decided to use Priority Mail to promote local tourist attractions — a sale expected to generate $97,000 in new estimated annualized revenue for USPS.
“It was really simple,” Valone said. “They were looking for a solution and I just let them know that we might be able to help them.”
Valone is one of many employees across the nation who are participating in Race for a $Billion, a campaign to raise $1 billion in estimated annualized revenue through sales leads from the postal workforce.
Mary Anderson, small-business engagement director at USPS headquarters in Washington, DC, said the organization wants other employees to follow Valone’s example.
“She did her part. She went the extra mile and took down the customer’s information and submitted a lead card to her supervisor,” Anderson said.
In addition to Clerks Care, the Postal Service offers several other programs for employees to submit leads, including Customer Connect (for letter carriers), Mail Handlers (for mail handlers), Rural Reach (for rural carriers) and Submit a Lead (for everyone else, including Executive and Administrative Schedule employees).
The Sales Blue page has more information about each program, as well as an updated ranking of all USPS districts in the Race for a $Billion campaign.
Anderson said she hopes every employee will submit a lead before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.
“Speaking to a customer is great for our business, but don’t be afraid to ask for their business,” she said. “Taking the time to get their information and submitting the lead card can mean the difference in generating new revenue or the customer just thinking about the conversation.”