In just over two years with CQ Partners, Customer Success Specialist, Aaron Sturgill, has become a great asset to hearing healthcare practices across the country. Through data integrity and working with practices to implement best practices, he’s helped many achieve their growth goals. Keep reading our latest employee spotlight to learn more about former education professional, Aaron, and his drive to help practices make sure they get to help more patients hear better!
Employee Spotlight Q&A:
1. What is your role at CQ Partners?
I am a Customer Success Specialist. What that means is I help people maintain data integrity within their office management systems and then I also work with practices to effectively use myScorecard, our KPI tracker. Overall, I just support people however I can with trainings, problem solving, and a lot of data.
2. Tell us a little about your background!
Prior to CQ, I was a middle school teacher. I’m still pretty green in the grand scheme of things. I graduated from college in 2019, and with everything that happened in 2020, it was a tumultuous time for work. During that time, I did construction, I was a paraeducator, I did Uber, I did all sorts of stuff. I ended up here after teaching middle school and high school for a few years. I primarily worked in behavior intervention and special education and supported students going through things like substance abuse and addiction. I also did data management for the school and managed all of the student profiles.
During that time, I received a call from Dom Spadaro, who I had previously work for during an internship with a different company, and it was great. I see so many parallels from teaching to what I do here in trainings, behavior changes, and working different systems. It is a bit less stressful!
3. What is your favorite part of your job?
My favorite part of the job changes day-to-day. I like supporting our members and their practices. I also like the flexibility it gives me, but more than anything, I would say I’ve really enjoyed getting to go to our Reconnect and National Sales Meetings. I’ve learned so much from being both a facilitator and getting to sit in different classes. These meetings have blown away misconceptions I had when I first joined the company by showing me the true culture here, especially among our members. I feel like I’m starting to make real friends who I trust and would want to maintain relationships with outside of work.
Being new to the hearing healthcare industry, I started out feeling quite nervous. Now, I look forward to hopping on calls, monthly touch-bases, and meeting with people from across the country. As a Washington native, I had never been to Florida or met someone from Alabama before joining CQ.
It’s been so great for me that the first eight months on the job, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. But it never did. It’s great to be somewhere I feel valued and have my skillset be appreciated. I don’t feel I’ve had this at other workplaces.
4. What are some of the values that drive your work?
When working with Dom Spadaro, we talked about our “why” very often. It’s one of the first things he worked on me with when I first joined the company. Why do I do this? Why do I like doing this? Of course, I love data, problem solving, helping people, providing support, but everybody’s going to have a day when they’ve been painfully staring at an excel sheet for six hours in a row. For me, the motivating factor was when I learned about the landmark study around how utilizing hearing aid technology can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s and dementia quite significantly. On a personal note, every male member of my family ended up getting diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, so it’s extremely personal to me.
I’m also a musician and I teach private percussion lessons. I studied classical music in college, and I play in bands now. To me, hearing and sound are the most joyous things in life. As I get older, I want to know I’ve protect my hearing. I also grew up seeing my grandparents, who served in the military, lose their hearing and deal with the impacts. When I have the privilege of helping practices organize their datasets, it is not lost on me that each patient name is a person with a family. They are not just numbers, and this isn’t just data. It’s incredible to me that I have a small part in that greater formula of distributing life-changing technology.
5. Tell us about a memorable experience or opportunity you’ve had while working for CQ Partners.
There have been a lot of positive experiences, but the one thing that sticks out to me the most is my first National Sales Meeting. It was my first corporate meeting ever and my first time meeting most of the people at this event. One of my single favorite memories was a scavenger hunt game where we were placed on different teams and tasked with finding different things and accomplishing different activities. It was a really fun evening running around, doing challenges, poking fun at each other, and building camaraderie. Scott Berger and I competed in what amounted to a staring contest, and I’d like to let him know that I’m ready for a rematch whenever he is.
6. How do you stay motivated in and out of work?
I have a lot of musical passion projects and I play with a couple groups here in Seattle. I also have a wonderful wife and I’ve got a dog. I just make sure that I’m taking time to recover every weekend and that includes getting outside. I live in a beautiful area of the country, so I try to do things like snowboard and hike as often as I can. As long as I’m keeping a good balance of those things, I really don’t find it hard to keep it going.
7. What’s something you love to do outside of work?
In addition to playing bass and drums, I have a Shiba Inu who we like to hang out with and I’ve started playing basketball again.
