FuelNet presents a case study on how one growing business boosted sales lead generation by recharging employees’ creative batteries.

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PROBLEM: Employees of PrivateCommunities.com are on their computers and phones for much of the day. The Vero Beach, Fla.–based business, which connects prospective buyers with developers of specialty communities, was founded in 1996. “We were early on the Internet and grew quickly,” says co-founder Elisabeth Miller-Fox. “We work remotely with large-scale developers, so sometimes it’s hard to stay in touch with our creative selves.” When she realized that her staff would benefit from a chance to refocus from their intense, detailed jobs, Miller-Fox looked for a nontraditional corporate retreat that would offer her staff an experience with lasting positive effects — both for themselves and for the business’ lead generation efforts.

SOLUTION: Miller-Fox invited a group of professional presenters to facilitate the retreat, among them Leslie McGuirk, creative director of the Alexis Agency, also of Vero Beach. “I was intrigued by how Leslie can get high-powered people to participate in what she’s asking them to do,” Miller-Fox says. “What Leslie gets out of people is discovery.”

McGuirk says her approach, which the agency markets under the brand MindSpa, is not about fostering creativity in the sense of drawing or writing. “I’m breaking patterns that are typically highly tuned to what the business wants,” she points out. “I’m using the opposite side of the brain from what they’re used to, and that break allows creative thoughts.”

Miller-Fox discovered that in addition to offering her employees an enjoyable experience that recharged their creative batteries, the retreat mobilized her own staff as a resource for generating leads and new business ideas. “Our revenue is up 35 percent,” she says. “And Leslie is part of this really good year. For me as a business owner, the data that comes from an experience like that is priceless.” Now Miller-Fox is considering using the same strategy to help her clients get a fresh perspective on their businesses — and their relationship with PrivateCommunities.com.

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