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Packback’s mission is to help students get the best value when buying, renting, and selling their textbooks.
The company was founded by students for students. Kasey Gandham, Mike Shannon, Jessica Tenuta and Nick Currier created Packback in 2012 at Illinois State University. This groundbreaking site gives students the opportunity to rent textbooks on-demand for $5 a day.
Students can also compare textbook prices, and sell textbooks back by comparing buy-back prices from various online retailers.
Packback was featured on ABC’s “Shark Tank” in March. The Packback Brand Ambassador program took off after world-renowned mogul Mark Cuban invested. The Packback Brand Ambassador program has become a key part of our start-up company. There are about 200 Ambassadors across 50 college campuses that are spreading the word about Packback and student affordability.
Our Challenge:
As one of four marketing team members in the company, I wanted to work with the team to figure out how to control the chaos. This past summer, we had 2,000 impressive applications flood our website from students who wanted to promote Packback on their campuses in the fall.
After we carefully went through the resumes it was time interview 1,500 remote students who were extremely motivated to get involved with our startup. This meant we had to set up over a thousand phone interviews in the span of a month while coordinating the interviews with our work schedules.
Our Solution:
The Packback team came across Calendly and took advantage of what the company offers. Calendly offers simple and quick scheduling for various events. The site enabled the applicants to view my available time slots, making the interview process hassle free.
Before Calendly, our team was scheduling interviews via email or over the phone. Calendly is much more efficient and makes it easy to cancel or reschedule meeting times. It’s also linked to your Google Calendar account so you’re reminded when you have a meeting.
After we implemented Calendly into our program, the employees and founders began creating their own Calendly links for “Office Hours,” so Brand Ambassadors could set up a time to discuss their entrepreneurial thoughts with an employee. Additionally, the founders used Calendly have their own calls with each Ambassador to welcome them into the company.
I can’t imagine where the Brand Ambassador program would be without the help of Calendly. As a team member, I’m able to focus on critical projects instead of scheduling interviews and onboarding calls.
Every employee at Packback is extremely passionate about our vision and mission, and now we are able to focus on achieving our goals.
If you're interested in learning more about the Packback Brand Ambassador program, read our Orientation Packet here!
