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Have you noticed how fast the summer seems to be going? Hard to believe but, I have starting booking my first fall networking events. WOW. Things seem to move forward faster everyday.

If you are a sales professional, business manager or entrepreneur who attends trade show or a monthly association meeting events as a business development investment you are investing of your resources of both time and money.

You invest your time;

• researching various trade shows and evaluating whether the event will attract the right target market for your business
• your time attending

You invest your money;

• trade show registration/booth fees & staff time
• travelling costs

Attending events helps to raise the visibility of your business in the marketplace and generates prospect leads for your business. These leads come in 2 forms,

1. attendees you met and with whom you started a conversation and
2. the attendance list which includes attendees you did not met and with whom you could start a conversation.

Back at the office, the questions are;

• how do you maximize your attendance investment by following up with the highest number of prospects and driving that traffic into your follow up sales funnel?
• what are the next steps to follow up and
  • continue the conversation with attendees you met?
  • start the conversation with the list of attendees you did not met?

In the past, for trade show follow up marketing, we would mail out sales literature and then try to get prospect on the phone, but follow up methods are changing.

Today, I help my clients utilize the technology they currently have, to build their next follow up steps.

• First, database set up to centralize all of the prospect leads, a CRM Customer Relationship Manager such as ACT, Maximizer or Goldmine.
• Second, set up an email blaster such as Swiftpage with ACT to send out emails.
  (Swiftpage can also work without ACT)

The great thing about this newer methods is that we can collect statistics, for example, about delivery. Depending on your follow up next steps, you may also be able to track the additional traffic your follow up drives to your website.

If you are interested in learning more about how to follow up and maximize your trade show or networking event attendance, I offer several options.

2 hour sessions Follow up – Discover Your Next Step and a session about taking action and implementing the follow up steps in your business Follow Up – Take Action. This session is about database set up, database maintenance and outbound cold calling.

Follow Up Training - Set The Stage For Follow Up and Automate Your Follow Up Process. Attend yourself and bring this business training for your office. You will learn how to build a Follow Up System that maximizes your business development investment and help get you past that 1st contact to the 2nd and beyond to the 5th contact where 80% of sales are made. You will save time, stayed organized and drive more traffic to your business!

Questions? No problem. Contact Cheryl Scoffield, Follow Up Specialist.

Cheryl Scoffield, Follow Up Specialist at Executive Sales Support

Are you attending trade shows, monthly association meetings & networking events to get new prospects? Business Development  costs money.
Do you have a plan in place and implemented, for staying in touch with the new prospects you meet?

If you are interested in learning more about how to follow up and maximize your investment, I offer several options.

2 hour sessions Follow up – Discover Your Next Step  and a session about taking action and implementing the follow up steps in your business Follow Up – Take Action. This session is about database set up, database maintenance and outbound cold calling.

Follow Up Training - Set The Stage For Follow Up and Automate Your Follow Up Process. Attend yourself and bring this business training for your office. You will learn how to build a Follow Up System that maximizes your business development investment and help get you past that 1st contact to the 2nd and beyond to the 5th contact where 80% of sales are made. You will save time, stayed organized and drive more traffic to your business!

Questions? No problem. Contact  Cheryl Scoffield, Follow Up Specialist.

80% of sales are won on the fifth to twelfth contact – yet 48% of all business managers never follow up beyond the first contact.

You attended the networking meeting- Now What? Do you have a plan in place and implemented, for staying in touch with the new prospects you met at the networking event?    You will, after you attend Set The Stage For Follow Up Training Session.

This sales follow up training is best for: Business Managers, Small or Medium Sized Business Owners, Sales Professionals and Entrepreneurs.

The next “SET THE STAGE FOR FOLLOW UP”  Training Sessions  will be Monday night June 21st, and Monday night August 16th.
The training is 2.5 hours from 6 pm – 9 pm and takes place in Oakville, Ontario.

Register for “SET THE STAGE FOR FOLLOW UP”  Training or contact Cheryl at ExecutiveSalesSupport.com to arrange for this training to come to your office.

Learn the 10 Step Follow Up System through 2.5 hours of hands on, skills based training.  $89.00 in Oakville, Ontario.

At the “SET THE STAGE FOR FOLLOW UP”  Training you will discover the 10 step framework and the first 6 steps will be covered in depth. These first 6 follow up steps are critical because they establish your social connection to the people you meet. 

You will learn how to; 

1. Improve you ‘first contact’ conversation
2. Set the stage for future contacts
3. Increase the number of prospects you are in conversation with
4. Develop win win relationship building connections
5. Discover the ‘giving piece’ that pulls you forward from that first contact to the second and beyond

Register for “SET THE STAGE FOR FOLLOW UP”  Training  or contact Cheryl at ExecutiveSalesSupport.com to arrange for this training to come to your office.

Hear what attendees are saying about this skills based Follow Up Training; 

Cheryl is definitely the Follow Up Specialist! After taking her “Follow Up System” workshop and being introduced to the “10 Step Follow Up System,” I have a template to follow that will save time and increase my business.   Sue Lacher, Business Coach 

Cheryl is energentic and inspiring. In her “Set the Stage” training, Cheryl underscores the importance of following up with prospects and gives valuable input and ready-to-use strategies for overcoming that inherent reluctance to follow up past the first meeting. She also presents a very useful system for keeping track of your network.   Camilla Nielsen, Intellectual Property Consultant 

CIM – The Canadian Institute of Management presents  
“Lunch and Learn Webinar” -  “How to Follow Up More Effectively”   
with Cheryl Scoffield, Follow Up Specialist at Executive Sales Support

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 from Noon – 12:45 PM EST. 

Did you know that 80% of sales are won on the fifth to twelfth contact – yet 48% of all business managers never follow up with prospects beyond the first?

To improve those numbers, Cheryl Scoffield, Follow Up Specialist, has developed a 10 Step Follow Up System that manages and maximizes your follow up activities. This system will save you time, keep you organized and drive more traffic to your business!

In this complimentary 45-minute webinar, Cheryl will give us a preview of some tips she teaches at her half-day “Set The Stage For Follow Up” workshop. By the end of this session, you will have new ideas on how to follow up more effectively with your contacts.

Pick up your Complimentary Registration, the normal $27 webinar fee is waived for members and guests. But attendance is limited, so register now!

This webinar will be viwed through your web browser on the Go To Meeting platform. You will receive the attendance link when you register.

Do you have a plan to follow up the people you meet?
Learn How To Maximize Follow Up & Grow Your Business Building The Know You – Like You -  Trust You Factor

Follow Up – The Bridge Connecting Prospects To Sales.
Follow Up Training that puts your business in front of more prospects.

Join me and a small group of Entrepreneurs, Professional Service Providers and Business Owners for 2.5 hours of hands on training at Set The Stage Follow Up Training - Learn strategies guaranteed to connect you with your prospects beyond the 5th contact where 80% of sales are made.  Check out what others are saying about Follow Up

Set The Stage For Follow Up  -  2.5 hours of hands on training includes an overview of the 10 Step Follow Up System. 

Training will be in Oakville ON. Reserve your seat early, this training is limited to 10 participates in each session.
Email Cheryl at ExecutiveSalesSupport.com

2 sessions for  ’Set The Stage For Follow Up’          Cost  $89.00 per session

Session #1        Saturday  April 10,      9 am – 12 Noon  
Session #2       Monday    April 26,       6 pm -  9 pm

Reserve early – Seating is limited.

Women As Career Coaches – Celebrating women, their goals, pathways and accomplishments.

Organized by The Halton Industry Education Council - HIEC - Women as Career Coaches is an annual event.
This year the event will be March 25, at Burlington Convention Centre.
For more information about Women As Career Coaches visit HIEC website.

Young women need access to adult role models who are willing to share their career pathways and encourage the goals and dreams of youth. Since its inception in 2005, attendance at WACC has increased nearly 50% with over 580 female mentors and youth in attendance at the last event.

I attended last year as a Career Coach and I can tell you – it was nothing short of inspirational!
Join me, Cheryl Scoffield and register for Women As Career Coaches.

Good News! There is also a Men As Career Coaches because young men need access to adult role models too!

The next Essential Message Teleseminar - Wednesday, March 25th, 2010 - 3 pm EST

As I have mentioned Michel Neray of The Essential Message before, many of you probably already know that he is my business coach. I love attending his teleseminars because I always pick up a nugget I can use.

As an affiliate member of The Essential Message, I would like to invite you to join me for the next teleseminar,
Coaching The Corner Office – Increase your fees 500% by helping Fortune 500 Executives Keep Their Job.

Michel will be speaking with Marie Guthrie, Founder of Career & Life Tracks Coaching and I am interested to find out how she was able to increase her fees 500%!

Sign up before March 17th for the Early Bird rate $17.77

Before 2009, Marie Guthrie earned a decent living from a combination of corporate consulting, leadership & team coaching, and private executive clients in career crisis. Like most coaches, all of her business came from referrals of highly satisfied clients.  But with more coaches entering the market, she found that even corporate paid work was becoming commoditized.

Marie has over 20 years experience as a senior executive in the very exclusive world of the Fortune 50. (That’s not a typo!) She is an innovative business leader, professional coach and productivity consultant known for building employee capabilities needed to achieve personal and business goals. 

Please join me, Cheryl Scoffield, Executive Sales Support, for this Essential Message teleseminar on March 25th.

View the complete 2010 Essential Message teleseminar calendar.

Previously on this blog I mentioned that my business Executive Sales Support  was mentioned in The Toronto Star within a business section article titled “Self Employment: The do it yourself recovery” . The article highlighted the rise in the number of entrepreneurs since January 2009. 

To build on that momentum I followed through with Wendy Peters of The Business Executive, a great business information publication in Mississauga, Ontario. Wendy and Tom Peters do a great job of publishing this long standing newspaper that promotes business in Mississauga and the surrounding area. The circulation is 30,000 – from Mississauga to Windsor.

As a result of my follow through another of my articles “Build Your Business With Networking In An Economic Downturn” was included on Page 16 of the July-August 2009 issue and also on the website of The Business Executive newspaper. Tom mentioned that The Business Executive website is averaging 100,000 requests per month which is excellent for a B2B publication.

This issue had a special feature on Southern Ontario’s Mayors Speak Out and was sent to the Prime Minister and the Ontario Premier’s Offices as well as to all the MP’s and MPP’s located in the distribution area of Southern/South-western Ontario.

Thank you Wendy and Tom Peters, for including me in this special edition!

If you are interested in advertising in The Business Executive for October 18 – 24, 2009, which by the way is Small Business Week, please contact Tom Peters, t.peters at busexec.com. 

Do you need to get in front of more prospects to increase sales? Contact me Cheryl at Executive Sales Support.com for follow through sales support.

Cheryl Scoffield of Executive Sales Support, networks a lot, just ask my fellow entrepreneurs and small business owners.  : )

I came across this free to attend event and thought it would be great for other entrepreneurs and small business owners to attend. You can get an exhibitor table for $149.00 + GST.

Here is an excerpt from their website:

Third-annual Small Business Showcase: A Bridges to Better Business Event. Taking place at the Waterloo Inn Hotel on Wednesday October 7th, from 2pm—9pm, the Small Business Showcase features small businesses from Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph and beyond!

FREE, sounds like a great deal to me! See you there!

I network a lot. I attend meetings both within groups and over coffee with individuals. I look for business development opportunities for my own business Executive Sales Support and also for opportunities to help my network through my expertise, or passing along opportunities I think might be a fit for others.

One of my network groups is HAPPEN in Mississauga, Halton and Peel Professional Executive Network. There are many wonderful professionals “in transition” in HAPPEN. They are a great group that offers help while they are looking themselves and also after they land. One member, in particular, who helped me through his public relations efforts, is Hugh Black from HMB Communications Group. Contact hughblack at cogeco.ca.

Within HAPPEN, conversations are around finding full time employment and within my business networking groups, the conversations are around finding new business development opportunities. Over the past months, I have noticed a difference emerging between the two groups. On one hand full time traditional employment seems to be going the way of the dinosaur and on the other hand, the members of the small business group are as busy or busier than before Christmas.

Yesterday, all the random pieces of networking came together. I had been networking with Hugh Black, putting forward my point of view that people were choosing self employment,  then the new Canadian statistics for unemployment in April 2009 showed that unemployment stayed the same and there was an increase in the self employed numbers.

As a result of Hugh Black’s efforts; I was interviewed as an example of someone who had successfully transferred their skills and started their own business,  Executive Sales Support. My business helps sales and business professionals get out of the office to see more clients and close deals. As a result of this interview, I was mentioned in an article on the front page of The Toronto Star’s Business section on Saturday May 9, 2009.

Yahoo, networking pays off for business development!

If you want to network with me I have a linked in profile. I look forward to helping you.

Here is the link to the article “Self-employment: The ‘do-it-yourself recovery’ Jobs increased last month, largely through people embracing self employment. The Toronto Star’s Business section on Saturday May 9, 2009.