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Being a National Sales Director at Sorenson is different than it would be at most other companies.
Jason Wager explained what he does, his history with Sorenson, why he decided to stay with the company long-term, and the goals for his team.
Transcript:
Steven: Hello everyone. Welcome back to another Employee Spotlight.
As you may recall, we started this last quarter, and hopefully you've all had a chance to watch the videos from the last newsletter.
Today we're joined by Jason Wagner, who is the National Sales Director for Sorenson.
Welcome, Jason.
Jason: Thank you. Glad to be here.
Steven: Can you tell us a little bit more about how and why you started here at Sorenson?
What role did you start in, and how has your role changed over the years with Sorenson?
Jason: When I think back to when I was in college, back in those days, I had no idea about Video Relay Service. And one day, I met a leader from Sorenson who came and talked about VRS, and I was completely inspired.
I thought, “this is something I really wanted to be able to do, to help install video phones,” and I met a lot of Deaf customers. I really enjoyed it, and I loved seeing the way that it allowed people to connect to their hearing family members, children, grandparents, relatives, everyone. And seeing that joy made me decide I wanted to stay with Sorenson.
I was an installer, a team leader, and now I’m a director, and now I see how it's changed people’s lives, and being able to communicate with their family, and it just continues to inspire people, which then inspires me in staying here.
Steven: For those who are not familiar with your job, what do you do as a National Sales Director? What is your role?
Jason: Great question. I work with my team to partner with consumers and making sure that we gather feedback from these consumers — about products, features, things they’re not happy with, things they’re happy with — and then we partner with other departments in Sorenson to make sure that we can see how, and what ways we can improve our features so that it would meet the needs of the consumers. And that's a huge focus of mine.
The other focus is also to help the team to make sure that the customers are satisfied with our products and to continue to get that excitement out there.
Steven: Why is it important for Sorenson to have an Outreach and Sales team that brings a diverse perspective to the company?
Jason: Almost all of the people on my team are Deaf. We are the front line. We're working with the customers. And the most important thing is you have to be able to communicate to them in their language. We use ASL.
We understand what the person is going through. We have that empathy. We share that same experience, and then we're able to take information from them directly and bring it to the company. So, not only do we understand where they're coming from, but we also understand the needs of being able to communicate.
And then, also, our team is able to communicate with their parents, people that they work with, people that are in their environment, and we're able to bring it back to our company.
But again, it's because the critical need is to be able to communicate to our customers in their native language, which is American Sign Language. If we don't have that way to communicate to them directly, then we don't get exactly where they're coming from and what they want.
Steven: What impact do you see Deaf people in leadership positions at Sorenson having?
Jason: Oh, we need to have a balance of both Deaf and hearing people. Having Deaf leaders is very critical for the company because they would understand the culture, the intuitive nature of what needs to happen with Deaf people. It may not be so natural for a hearing person to come up with those same perspectives.
So, it's up to us and these Deaf leaders to be able to explain resources that are needed, support, and ways that we can collaborate together. It's a two way street. We need them and they need us.
So, we need people that are hearing to be our ally, and then, they need to know that we have a lot of experience and what we need to go with as far as what direction we're moving.
Steven: Thank you. It sounds like a great partnership.
Jason: It is. I mean, we need each other for sure.
Steven: As a National Sales Director, do you have any goals that you are trying to accomplish?
Jason: Definitely. First goal is top quality. We want the best of all service, right?
So, we want to make sure that if we're working with customers, we need to make sure that they're getting everything they need. Whether making sure their service is good, knowing how to use it, if they have any questions we want to make sure we can answer those. We want to make sure that we're always there and ready to go. So, we want to give top notch quality service, and that's what we want to be able to stand behind with Sorenson products.
What Jason loves about working at Sorenson
Steven: What is your favorite part of your job?
Jason: Probably two areas: there's the job, and then there's Sorenson.
As far as the job, I really enjoy working closely with the employees that I have. We can communicate directly in sign language. Also, with the leadership and the people in the department who have taken the extra step and learned sign language too, it's great to be able to communicate with them directly. We don't even need to have an interpreter in some of those meetings, and I really am inspired in those moments when I can talk to them directly.
As far as the second part, Sorenson, the fact that they give back to the community and support the Deaf community. Like, for example, they've continued to give money to the Deaf community to help inspire and help lead success in different efforts there, so that's very inspiring.
Steven: Is there anything that we haven't touched on that you'd like to add?
Jason: Yes. I really enjoy seeing the innovation that's coming from Sorenson and the ways that we've grown in different ways and the partnerships they've established — whether it be with businesses, different consumer groups, different hearing people, it's very gratifying to see this continue to grow.
But I also want to put out there, if you have any questions, concerns, or you need any help, please feel free to contact any representative of Sorenson or Customer Care. We are always here and happy to help you with whatever issues you may have.
Steven: Well, thank you Jason.
So, for anyone watching who's not sure how to contact Customer Care, take a look at our website and we have more information posted there with the hours of operation, in addition to the phone number.
Jason: Great. Well, thank you for having me.
Steven: And thank you for joining us for the Employee Spotlight. I really appreciate getting to know more about your job, Jason. Appreciate it.
Jason: Anytime. Thank you, my pleasure.
Missed last quarter’s interview with Wendy Adams, our Chief Relationship Officer? Catch it here.
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