A burst of energy, confidence and blond hair maneuvers through the group and makes its way to a customer reading a magazine. She sits down next to the customer, talks to her for about five minutes. No one can hear their private conversation, but the customer can, courtesy of the Beltone products provided by local company President Marsha Mattingly.

Beltone is a Denmark-based company that has sold hearing aid devices since 1940. Last year, Mattingly received the highest honor the multi-billion-dollar company can present -- the President's Cup, which commends exceptional patient care, community involvement and professional business practices.

"It was an honor and a shock," said Mattingly. "As a business owner, often your hard work isn't recognized. When it happens, you are just so excited and happy. I guess everyone wants to be noticed for what they do."

Mattingly is the second-generation owner of the franchise. In 1961, her father, Bill Mattingly, left Michigan and arrived in West Virginia to introduce Beltone to the Huntington area. Mattingly knew at the age of 7 she wanted to join the family business.

"I would get up on Saturday mornings and go to work with my dad," she said. "Because I was one of six kids, I think I saw it as a way to spend some one-one-one time with my father."

In the mid-1970s, at the age of 19, Mattingly approached her father about joining his business. She was turned down.

"I don't think he thought I was serious," she said. "So I went out and got my real estate license. It was then he realized I could sell, and he let me join."

But she never had it easy because she was the daughter of the owner.

"I started at the bottom," she said. "I went out and made house calls and sold the product. He made me work hard, and I am sure if I couldn't do the job, he would have fired me."

Mattingly said it has never been easy to sell hearing aids.

"It's tough because you are selling a product no one wants," she said. "There is a stigma attached to it. Because you need a hearing aid, you are old, and no one thinks they need it."

Bill Mattingly, who won the President's Cup in the 1960s, said his daughter had to overcome the stigma of being a young saleswoman.

"When she first came to work for me, she went out and bought a blue and brown suit," he said. "She also bought a pair of glasses, and she didn't need them. She wanted to look older. It was tough for her because she was so young and a woman."

Mattingly recalls a time when customers refused to speak to her because of her gender.

"A man walked into the office one time and asked to see the person in charge," she said. "I told him I was in charge. He said, 'I want to see the man.' I looked at him and said, 'I am the man.'"

She sold him a hearing aid.

"The customers thought I wouldn't be tough," she said, laughing. "They were wrong."

In the early days of her career, Mattingly said she employed self-taught skills to make the sale.

"I would go up to people's houses and ask for directions," she said. "Then I would introduce myself and tell them I sold Beltone hearing aids. I would make sales that way and sometimes get referrals, too."

Mattingly was quick to explain she has never sold a product to a person who didn't need it.

"This is a business where it is easy to take advantage of people," she said. "I could never do it. I could never sell a hearing aid to someone who didn't need one. I don't know how someone could do that."

By the early 1990s, Mattingly had worked her way through the company and become president. As she has grown as a business owner, so has her business. The company has 13 locations in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky. By 2000, Mattingly had become the full stockholder.

"It is a well-oiled machine," she said. "I try to do the best job I can, not only for the customer but for my employees."

Mattingly's franchises are one of the best in the nation in sales, selling more than 2,000 units in 2004 and making it the third largest in the nation, behind Boston and Detroit.

"When I won the President's Cup, I had people from Beltone come from all over the country to Huntington," she said. "They were shocked how big we were. West Virginia is an aging population, but we are losing people to other states."

Mattingly said she plans to continue growing her business and expanding her territory in the coming years. She lives in Huntington with her son, William, who graduates from high school this year.

"I have never mentioned that he should join the business," she said. "That will be his decision. But he will have to work hard, like I did."

Mattingly said she believes she is privileged to help people who have lost their hearing regain their lives.

"Many people are withdrawn from their families when they lose their hearing," she said. "I feel lucky to be able to help them."

"Helen Keller was asked if she could have her sight or her hearing, which would she want," Mattingly said. "She said, 'My hearing, because when you lose your sight, you lose things. When you lose your hearing, you lose people.'"

Beltone of Huntington
http://www.beltone.com/huntington/home.asp

By Jeff Pullin, The State Journal