An IBVI Salesperson Sets the Record Straight
At IBVI, our two most important goals as a business are to employ and empower people who are blind or visually impaired, and also to produce and provide quality products to our customers. It sounds simple enough, but there’s so much more to these two pillars of the organization.
We recently talked with one of our Channel Account Specialists, William Vaughn, whose role is to spread the word about IBVI, and he shared that quite a few people have an incomplete view of who we are, and maybe you do too!
William is based in Charlottesville, Virginia, and travels around to different military bases, trade shows, and other events to connect with potential customers. He answers their questions about the business and shows them why our mission matters. Let’s dig into some of these misconceptions and clear some things up.
Misconception #1: Blind people can’t be truly productive and efficient
We know this is false, as so many of our employees show every day. William himself is visually impaired, and he shared that it’s not even about the training and tools that he received from IBVI that make him productive.
“Before IBVI, I leased apartments, sold cars, and worked at grocery stores,” he said. “I learned how to do the jobs without extra resources because I didn’t want to ask for more than the person next to me.”
William was able to work around many aspects of his impairment—which certainly shows resilience—but what if he had all the resources he needed to do the job?
“If you level the playing field, you’ll be surprised at what people can do,” he added. “If they have the tools and training they need, you’re going to see people succeed.”
At IBVI, we pride ourselves on giving our employees the individual resources they need to do their job at a high level. That supports both parts of our business. It empowers them, and it helps us provide for our customers.
Misconception #2: The “mission” doesn’t matter, it’s just about the products
This may take a bit of context. We work as a part of the AbilityOne® Program, which is a government mandate that a portion of the budget of a government agency needs to be spent through an AbilityOne provider. Some might say that, since they are required to use an AbilityOne organization, the mission of employing people who are blind or visually impaired doesn’t matter to them. William confirms that this is false.
“A lot of people don’t know about the mission of blind employment, and when I share it with them, it’s a lightbulb moment,” he said. “No one likes to be told what to do [through a mandate] but it starts to hit home when they know they’re making a difference.”
In his role of working with customers every day, he confirms that customers care about the mission, and the story behind the products matters to them.
Misconception #3: Everybody on base knows about Base Supply Centers
A base supply center (BSC) is a brick-and-mortar store on military bases across the country that sells office supplies and other items. At IBVI, we operate more than a dozen of them to sell our products to government agencies and branches of the military.
“When I talk to some people at bases, some of them don’t know that the BSCs exist”, William shared. “I sometimes take them in and show them all the things they can get, and they’re surprised that they have it all available to them.”
The BSCs are a unique way that we can provide for our customers in their day-to-day operations!
Misconception #4: All the AbilityOne organizations make the same products
There are many AbilityOne organizations that government agencies can work with, but contrary to some beliefs, they’re not all the same. In fact, William explains that all organizations have products that are unique to them. This is helpful in making sure the AbilityOne providers all get supported in their missions.
“One company makes one product another company makes another, that way we’re not competing with each other, we’re actually working together,” he said.
And the AbilityOne providers definitely support each other, as many of them share the same mission of employing people with disabilities.
Misconception #5: Getting additional resources is a burden to the organization
It’s not just about employment at IBVI, it’s about fulfilling work that empowers and lifts up the people who work here. The mission is what drives the organization forward. It can be natural, however, to think that more resources needed for an employee means that the organization needs more from them to make it worth it.
William dispels that clearly, saying that each person is a valued member of the team: “We’re all cogs in a machine, but the machine is valued, and we’re all valued. If they don’t have me, the machine doesn’t run well.”
That goes for every person on the team. Going back to the previous myth about productivity, it’s not the tools doing the job, it’s the person. And the person learns to thrive in their role, and they can’t easily be replaced. But far beyond productivity is the mission and the community that we foster at IBVI.
“This mission changes lives, that’s why I support it,” William concludes. “It isn’t a sales tactic, I want you to understand where it comes from and why it matters.” And that’s what he does every day when he works with customers around the country.
For more information on IBVI, connect with our team or visit our website to learn more.
