Dan Kutsch, 
UNK Employee of the Month
July 2008
The UNK Staff Senate is pleased to recognize Dan Kutsch, Supply Control Supervisor, as the July 2008 UNK Employee of the Month. For the past academic year Dan has agreed to work with the ITEC-451 Manufacturing/Distribution Relationships class. Students in this class conduct a technical sales exercise where they put into practice the technical sales skills they have been learning in the Industrial Distribution program. These students represent themselves as a local distributor of industrial products. Their objective is to get to the right people inside a company and obtain their business.
Students have worked with companies such as Chief Industries and Baldwin Filters. This past year students were assigned to try to make inroads into the UNK procurement system and obtain contracts for electrical and/or custodial products. The UNK buyer for such products, Mr. Dan Kutsch, was the prime contact for students to develop a relationship with. Their objective was to convince Dan to do business with them by determining the needs UNK might have in the electrical and custodial area, uncover opportunities to gain a “foothold” for some of UNK’s business, negotiate price, and terms and conditions for sale. This technical sales exercise required Dan to meet with approximately 40 students over the past year – taking time from his regular duties – to help train them to become better technical sales representatives.
Dan went well beyond the call of duty to assist the students in their exercise. One student said, “I thought this was going to be easy. But Dan made it just as hard on us to gain his business as he would on any new sales representative who would likewise try to gain UNK business. It was a great experience to deal with a seasoned procurement official.”
For the many hours he spent, and the effort he expended in helping students refine their sales and negotiating skills the UNK Staff Senate would like to recognize Dan Kutsch as the July 2008 UNK Employee of the Month.
The Employee of the Month is sponsored by: UNK Athletics, UNK Theater, Campus Cuts, Chartwells and the Antelope Bookstore.