The Real Learning Company Wins Spotlight Award from ``Arizona Companies to Watch'' Organizers; Fast-Growing Sales Leadership and Management Training Firm Singled Out for Unparalleled Customer Service and Supportive Employee Culture.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Real Learning Company (RLC), a premier innovator in the development of breakthrough, high-impact sales leadership and management training, has won a spotlight award from the Arizona Small Business Association (ASBA). Singled out for outstanding company culture, The Real Learning Company was selected as one of five spotlight winners from a pool of 50 companies designated by the ASBA as "Arizona Companies to Watch" in its debut competition.

Since 2002, RLC has tripled their workforce and client list and built a custom company headquarters in Scottsdale. This year, founder Richard Hodge and colleague Lou Schachter wrote The Mind of the Customer (McGraw Hill), a best-selling book that puts their company's beliefs about sales and leadership into print, and which leverages expertise from clients including Nokia, Lexus, UPS, and Avery Dennison.

"The Real Learning Company impressed all of us," said ASBA Communications Director Sherry Azzarella. "Out of the 50 winning companies, they most embodied our vision of the 'Cognitive Company Culture' category: a progressive, healthy, happy workplace where employees want to work and where they are enabled to excel through company support."

RLC distinguishes themselves with a customer-centric model and strong team support as well as creative and effective sales leadership simulations and training products. Five years ago, RLC relocated from San Francisco, California to Scottsdale, Arizona to provide a higher standard of living for their employees and to create a destination headquarters showcasing their dedication to customer success. In 2004, they opened their headquarters, on 9455 East Ironwood Square Drive.

Visitors to RLC's headquarters get the red-carpet treatment including their company logo on water bottles and on the menu at a local restaurant (courtesy of RLC's in-house printing and graphics department) and a specialized environment with beautiful art incorporating RLC's value statements, a sleek, "no corners" building design, RLC product curriculum maps and conference rooms without traditional whiteboards: most rooms in the building have one writeable wall intended for sharing concepts. The experience is so different from traditionally bland site visits that fully 98% of prospective clients who visit become clients.

"Since founding the company, we've emphasized our four values of being customer driven, being team oriented, striving for continuous growth, and developing brand awareness," said The Real Learning Company's Founder Richard Hodge. "Our intense focus on these values combined with our content development methodology and amazingly creative team members, has allowed us to help companies across the country achieve major successes in their workforce initiatives. We're thrilled to win this award, and to note that the state of Arizona has given us a great location to provide these high levels of service and employee satisfaction profitably."

RLC's team focus is evident throughout their work and their processes; the company takes employee development seriously, using many of the training programs and simulations it develops for clients - such as their "Mentoring" program, which pairs senior managers with more recent employees. A family-oriented company, RLC allows a great deal of flexibility for employees, many of whom are part-timers or telecommuters, while it simultaneously expects and receives a great deal of productivity.

RLC creativity drives performance on a level that belies the company's small size. The company has developed training like Symphony, Driving Business Results and Building Value for over 300 corporate clients. Because of their customer focus and desire to be highly responsive, RLC installed their own in-house graphics and production department to produce small-run training materials rapidly. RLC also produced their own video short through a non-profit film production company, Sky Hop, and podcasts and a website to accompany the "Mind of the Customer" book release (www.mindofthecustomer.com).

About The Real Learning Company

Since 1993, The Real Learning Company has produced and helped deliver truly creative, innovative and effective approaches to business training based on extensive research from the best thinkers in the industry. Their product lines for leaders, managers and sales teams transform learning from an activity into behavioral change and help over 300 clients, including UPS, Nokia, and Toyota, implement strategy to increase customer satisfaction and improve revenues The Real Learning Company can be reached at www.reallearning.com.