John Dinkel Interviews Lisa First-Willis, Co-Founder & CEO of Truvelop

Lisa is a career HR executive with more than 25 years of experience working with established companies and start-ups in the airline, gaming, hospitality, healthcare, technology and manufacturing industries in the U.S. and globally, in HR strategy development, technology, employee engagement and labor relations.

She received a B.A. in International Relations from the College of Wooster in Ohio and studied at Johns Hopkins University and the University Stendhal in Grenoble, France. In 2017, Lisa was appointed by Governor Larry Hogan to Chair the Maryland General Assembly Compensation Commission. Lisa is a long-time Baltimore City resident and served for many years on the Parent Community Advisory Board (PCAB) of Baltimore City Schools.

John Dinkel is the Founder & CEO of Dinkel Business Development., a business development strategic advisory based in Baltimore City. DBD, LLC helps companies with business development planning, training & execution, relationship marketing lead generation, content strategy & creation as well as company-wide BD culture planning. Before starting DBD, LLC., John was the president and publisher of the Baltimore Business Journal (BBJ) for 11 years and VP of Sales for 5 years.

John has over 25 years of experience in business development, sales leadership and operations, and has worked in sales leadership roles at numerous organizations around the Mid-Atlantic. John also serves as an advisor for Truvelop, a local HR technology startup based in Baltimore City. He is also the host of iHeart Radio’s (Baltimore) CEO’s You Should Know weekly podcast.

John strongly believes in giving back to the community and is a board member of Business Volunteers Maryland. He is a member of the President’s Advisory Council for Stevenson University and the Greater Baltimore Committee. He was also appointed to the Bay Restoration Fund Advisory Committee by Governor Larry Hogan in 2017. John resides in Columbia, Maryland with his wife Nuala.

Connect with Lisa and John on LinkedIn

Follow Lisa on Twitter @first_willis for insights and thought leadership around talent

Interview questions:

Q1: Please take a couple of minutes to tell us about Truvelop, your role there and your background.

Q2: What has been your greatest strategy around the growth of your company?

Q3: What are your three inhibitors to growth?

Q4: What’s more important to a company’s growth…inbound or outbound lead generation

Q5: How important is relationship building in today’s sales environment?

Q6: What’s one thing you’ve learned recently about sales/marketing that has impacted your growth positively?

Q7: What technology are you using to enhance your inbound and outbound lead generation?

Q8: What do you feel has been your number one technique of getting in new business?

Founded in 2019, Truvelop’s “performance coaching for the next generation workforce” technology provides real-time, instant and continuous feedback to team members at all levels of remote and distributed organizations. Its proprietary coaching insights develop managers into leaders by providing actionable recommendations that increase employee engagement, performance and retention. For more information, visit www.truvelop.com.