People of GNI: Julie

August 30, 2022

people of great northern insulation
#PeopleOfGNI is a blog series that showcases faces from across our company, from sales reps to installers. Get to know who’s doing the work in your home, the team behind the scenes, why they’re great at what they do, and what makes them tick, both on the job and off.

Our first blog post is an intro to Julie Griffiths, an awesome, high-energy sales rep who joined our Ottawa branch earlier this year. Here’s her story.

Meet Julie “Sales is in my DNA” Griffiths

What have your first few months with GNI been like?

I started this job with zero experience in insulation, but a ton in sales. My background is in real estate and telecom – sales is in my DNA. So it’s been a learning curve, but GNI has supported me as I ramp up on my insulation knowledge. But that’s the nice thing: they don’t just hire insulation specialists, they hire for sales experience, soft skills and the ability to “play well with others” – to collaborate with our customers on what’s being done in their homes. And I think that says a lot about who they are as a company.

Everyone in management is so open-minded. They saw my sales background and how good I am with people…and that’s what they wanted. Everything else can be taught. They’ve really helped me build up my product and industry knowledge – the guidance and support have been amazing. My manager even asked if I’d be interested in a course on reading building plans, and I said “you’d do that?” And he said “Absolutely. If it’s what you need, we’ll get it for you.”

There have been lots of great examples of the support I’ve gotten, but one in particular stands out. A couple of weeks after I started, a big storm hit Ottawa, and a tree fell on my company vehicle, causing a lot of damage. The GNI fleet department sourced another one for me right away – and then our VP of Sales and Operations jumped into the vehicle and drove it here all the way from Woodstock! Just so I could keep up with the site visits I had scheduled. Amazing! What do you say to that? Like, drop the mic, I’m done. That’s the level of support I’m talking about.

It makes me excited for the future, for how I can help customers. I wake up each day and just want to jump out of bed and get at it. I think I sent my first email at 5:45 this morning!

julie from great northern insulation

What do you love most about your job?

The people and the action. From Monday to Friday, I’m the Energizer bunny, all go, go, go. I hate not having enough to do, and love the energy of non-stop appointments and conversations. I really enjoy talking to different people, and I have to admit, I LOVE seeing their homes. I’ve always had a love for homes, whether they’re heritage buildings that are 150 years old or brand-new, super-modern builds. I’ve been privy to seeing some of the most spectacular houses in the Ottawa area – some of them are like what you’d see in a movie.

But most of all, I love going home at night, knowing I’ve helped people that day. And that I have a company behind me that wants to make sure people are happy with the work we’re doing for them.

What do you do when you’re not all “go, go, go?”

I’m so sales-driven and energetic that most people think I go bungee jumping or something on my days off. But believe it or not, I love my quiet time, sitting in the backyard or hanging out at a cottage. I’m a big reader, too. I read a lot of Stephen King and Dean Koontz – I love the escape of fiction.