Ardent Begins Personal Development Program for Employees

HIGHLAND Utah. – Last year, Ardent Pest Control’s Personal Development Program was created to encourage employees to set and achieve goals in four categories: professional, physical, spiritual and social.

Each sales representative meets with a team lead to set and revisit individual goals in the four categories. A mentorship program was added this year where new sales representatives are guided by and obtain feedback from employees with more experience.

Ardent does weekly “shout outs” for employees who are actively working toward reaching their goals. When an employee makes a great accomplishment, Ardent makes a donation in the employee’s name to a homeless shelter. There will be a ceremony held to recognize excellence within the company in September.

Jake Loveland, Ardent’s VP of sales, designed the program to make employees feel fulfilled and become more well-rounded individuals. He worked with Ardent CEO Preston Peterson, to establish the goal categories based on their joint experience with sales.

Ardent found that recognizing individual accomplishments makes employees feel happier and more motivated. Their goal is to give employees the tools to grow and develop leadership qualities wherever they go in life.

Brenton Clark, an equity partner with Ardent in Virginia, is a mentor and uses the program with his team. He provides feedback by teaching his team members what to prioritize and in what areas they can improve. Clark said, “After years of selling, you begin to value the job in different ways. The biggest joy of being in this job is seeing the young guns progress, by becoming an overall better individual.”

Jake Creason, an Ardent sales agent in Missouri, sets professional and personal goals with the program. His main professional goal involves the number of sales he wants to reach. On the other hand, his personal goals are to spend more time with his wife over the summer and wake up at the same time each day to go to the gym. Creason said, “Setting these goals has made me a more rounded individual.”

Ardent says it wants to expand the program to be available to technicians, office personnel and customer service representatives in the future.