Jenniffer Breitenstein, a 25-year veteran marketing, operations and CX executive, has demonstrated success in driving growth and execution for global service industry companies like ServicePower, GE, Service Net and Accent Marketing.

Jenniffer is a certified 6 Sigma Green Belt, GE MDC graduate, former board member of the GE Louisville Area Education Advisory Committee and Elfun Chapter, co- chair of the GE Women’s Network Community Service Committee and was named one of the 30 Most Inspiring Women In Business in November 2017 by Insight Success Magazine.  She was named a 2019 Powerful Woman in CT by Dealerscope and was a 2019 Stevie Award Woman in Business Bronze winner.

Kellie Harrison is a senior entrepreneurial executive with over 25+ years of experience in strategic business development, account management, and team development. as VP of Client Services at Stone Clinical Labs and Gulfstream Diagnostics, she optimized operational efficiencies, increased productivity, and exceeded target sales goals.  At OnPoint, Kellie combines lead-by-example management with intuitive sales strategies to maximize operational efforts, with an eye always on CX, while driving the business towards profitability, and value to clients.

Q: What inspired you to join OnPoint Warranty Solutions and what were the main challenges you faced?

• OnPoint gave us each an opportunity to build a business from the ground up. In the third-party administration space, the industry has stagnated. Competitors are by and large owned by large insurance companies focused on profit and claim avoidance, not on driving revenue for clients, nor good service experiences for consumers. They are hamstrung by old administration technology, risk adverse underwriting teams and a lack of innovations. 
• OnPoint’s focus is entirely on product innovation and consumer experience. Building on the team’s experience managing service for the largest global brands in the world, we’ve created a business that has deployed the latest administration and consumer-facing technologies, built a network of skilled, CX-oriented service providers and an ecosystem of global, innovative underwriting partners. Relying on this foundation, we are driving innovative protection and service products to market that increase service interactions with consumers, delivered with a focus on satisfaction, that drives brand loyalty and revenue for our customers.
  

Q: In your opinion, what are some key opportunities in the warranty space going forward?

• Key opportunities in this market are numerous. As we said, the industry has stagnated, particularly in the home warranty sector. By working with our clients and underwriters to create innovative protection and service products, such as connected home plans which provide installation, home health checks and repairs for home products, even for smart home and connectivity devices, we are increasing the opportunities for our team and our clients to be the ‘go to service company’ for every consumer need. Couple that with our focus on delivering great service, we are building repeat retail business and increased aftermarket revenue for our clients. 

Q: What is your business model, and how have you grown your revenue?

• Our busines model is different than the industry. We are focus on the B2B market. We offer manufacturers, retailers and dealers, service providers, large insurance companies and other commercial entities warranty administration, service contract, extended and home warranty products which drive point-of-sale revenue.  
• However, we also focus on the B2C market, by offer the same service contract and home warranty products directly to consumers, in addition to other, connect home solutions such as installation, repair and even home health checks, and filters subscriptions. Our goal is to own the consumer relationship and become the ‘go to service companies’ for them. We endeavor to keep consumers ‘in market’ through protection and service plans for every product they own.

Q: Do you think luck played a role in the success of OnPoint Warranty Solutions?

• Luck has nothing to do with our success. We are blessed to have been able to assemble a team that’s known well in the industry and recognized as service and insurance leaders. We have worked hard on our business, both from a product as well as a cultural perspective. We even refer to our team as ‘Service Avengers’. They are empowered with technology and latitude to solve problems for consumers at every touch point. 

Q: What are your goals for the future?

• Our goals for the future include continuing to build our business but build it in a such as way as to optimize our B2B business, while growing our B2C business based on innovation and CX.

Q: If you had to start over, what would you do differently?

• If we had to start over, the only thing we had done differently is push our technology deployments faster. Today, consumers are so connected to technology, to be the best partner for them, one needs to be as connected as they are. 

Q: Can you talk about one woman who has impacted your life?

• For us, we have seen the progression of women in business at different points. In both our pasts, in service and for Kellie, in the medical field, women were sparse. It is still common today to be the only female around the table.
• For Kellie specifically, her very first manager was the biggest influence on her career. She taught her to work through a problem as far as possible before reaching out for help. Her tenacity was immense. 
• For Jenniffer, the story is similar. Her first boss was in fact a woman. This woman was from far Eastern Kentucky, in Appalachia, and grew up during the women’s movement. She had worked in the offices of coal companies where, like other industries at the time, women with sexualized and harassed in ways that today are illegal. She learned to stand up to men, and eventually moved and began her own business. Along the way, she had brain cancer and put herself through experimental treatments to conquer it. She did a lot wrong, but her will to succeed and to do so on her own terms is a lesson that has been helpful over the years. 

Q: What are your favorite books?

• Kellie’s favorite books is Tom Peters, In Search of Excellence. For Jenniffer, as a marketing professional writing and reading business content is a daily task, so her reading choices focus on fiction as an escape. 

Q: What is your advice for female founders who are just starting out?

• Women in the workforce today continue to fight the good fight. Though we are not dealing with lecherous bosses in a coal town back office, we still are unrepresented in business at the highest level, in government, and other areas. We are often still the only set of heels at a table. For women entrepreneurs today, we offer the following: 

1. Collaborate with your teams. No woman is an island of her own. Every experience at the table counts and can be used to some degree to succeed.
2. Tenacity is necessary. Fight to the end. Learn what you can. Teach what you should so that the entire business succeeds. ‘Business’ has no ‘I’. It has ‘us’.
3. Tackle the challenges head on. Do not retreat from the unknown, or the difficult. Do your best to understand what the need is and use the group to determine the solution.
4. Use logic and data, not emotions to make decisions. 6 Sigma, which to a marketing mind was totally alien, really can impact action and decision making. By focusing on facts and data, as a discipline like this teach, as is also used in the medical research fields, the solution is stronger and given to last over the long term.
5. We are not enemies. With small female ranks, there is sometimes a competitiveness between us that is unnecessary and even harmful. Business is made of teams. Our likenesses and differences make us better.