- Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Hi, I am Jennifer Falagrady Katona, Director of Sales Development for TTS. I started with TTS in June 1998 as Proposal Coordinator right out of my graduate program, working with our Sales and Engineering teams to develop our commercial proposals. I have a BSc in Physical Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Biophysical Chemistry. The company found me through an employment agency and was intrigued that I had just spent 3 months in a post-graduate program in Hungary after graduate school. As it turned out, TTS had recently done some work relocating gas turbines from Hungary, which made my first interview very interesting.
- What does the Director of Sales Development at TTS?
A little of everything, actually; proposal generation, contract negotiation, and managing our combustion tuning program constitute the majority of my daily workload. Additionally, I am responsible for completing customer prequalification documents, customer commercial registrations, maintaining our registrations on numerous bidding websites, and our SAM registration with the federal government.
Callers who reach out to us on our main phone line for general product and services questions are often routed to my attention so that I can gather additional information and help discern the nature of their question to ensure we get them in touch with someone who can provide the help that they require.
As a member of management, I am also involved in our general quality processes and work with the management team to streamline and improve those processes for a better customer experience.
One of the unique aspects of my job is it gives me exposure to all of our projects, whether they are small or large. TTS has many legacy customers whose projects I have been involved with over the years. This historical perspective is very helpful in crafting the right proposal for the Customer’s requirements.
As I am involved in writing the proposal, it makes a great deal of sense that when it is time to negotiate a contract or general terms and conditions for the execution of the work, I am working directly with the Customer with full and complete knowledge of the project.
For many years I have also managed the scheduling and coordination of our combustion tuning program. I have gotten to know our customers and their units, which makes things so much easier for a product line that is notorious for last-minute schedule changes and emergencies. To get a call at any time of the day or night from someone I have worked with for years puts us both at ease in working through the normal chaos of outage services.
- What are the three most important parts of your job?
The devil is in the details, as the saying goes. The work I do requires me to always be working with the minutia of the proposal or contract, which means that the most important aspects of my job are my interactions with my teammates, managing deadliness, and my ability to clearly and concisely communicate with the team to ensure the best product is produced. My job can really be summed up as a great exercise in effective communication. Great communication equals a project well done.
- Is there anything particularly challenging you deal with in today’s business environment?
I just discussed communication in the previous question. That, to me, is the greatest challenge in business today. So much of what is done is through text, email, bidding websites, and online platforms that there is a loss in human interaction. Negotiations, whether it be regarding the proposal or contract, are easier when done personally.
We have evolved (or maybe I should say devolved) and rely on so many screens and tools that phone calls are a rarity. Many of my customers don’t even put their phone numbers on their emails. I find that reaching out and talking resolves a point much faster than a dozen texts. Many times, there is little disagreement, but simply context is missing, which is given when there is a voice on the other end of the line.
- What do you enjoy most about your job?
Writing proposals and negotiating contracts are the largest part of my job and my favorite part. There is a lot of satisfaction in getting it right where the customer is pleased with the proposal or the contract and, ultimately, the outcome of the project. I derive a great deal of personal satisfaction from working with our engineering team and our customers who had a problem but, through our company, found a solution.
- What do you enjoy most about working at TTS?
I am very proud to have worked the majority (all but 3.5 years) of the last 25 years for one company: TTS. There is great value in growing with a company through good times and bad (9/11, financial crisis, and pandemics). Many of my colleagues have been here for more than a decade as well. To see them grow in their knowledge and responsibilities has been one of the great highlights of my career.
For me, the most important part of my job is that I am always learning something new, getting better at what I do, and being able to feel that my contribution is valued here at TTS. This company truly invests in its employees and never holds us back from learning new skills and advancing ourselves. Companies are only as good as their personnel and management. TTS believes this to the core and always has; management is not sitting in lofty towers. They are right there day in and day out, working with us as one company, one project at a time.
About TTS
TTS Energy Services (TTS) is the corporate parent for TTS Power and TTS Midstream. TTS provides engineering and construction expertise for the energy industry worldwide. The company’s long history and experience in providing technical solutions to global energy entities make it a leader in its field. TTS has successfully managed numerous power and compressor station modernization projects and supplied innovative and unique engineering solutions to challenging problems for our energy customers. Since 1983, their leadership and engineering teams have provided innovative technologies and engineered high-value solutions to over 450 clients worldwide.
