The following is a list of the speakers for the next 9 meetings. Each speaker has 5 minutes to speak about their business to the group.  (with apologies for spelling names wrong – I did this quickly!)

May 28 – Marco Hernandez and Ian Turner

June 11 – Liz Boydell and Patrick Turgeon

June 25 – Craig Gonsalves and Sona Khanna

July 9 – Ken Arp and Olin Vanek

July 23 – Grace Attard and Sarah Taylor

August 6 – Diana Boudrahem and Kristeen Edwards

August 20 – Cheryl Scoffield and Margareta Foley

September 3 – Daniel Durst and Bruce Manore

September 17 – Boris Mahovac and Hilary Jewer

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.

Although our group has a strong online presence (business blog, Linkedin group, Twitter) we meet regularly at the e-Spot™ to make friends, learn together and exchange referrals.

Our next meeting is on Friday, Aug 6, 2010 at 8:45 am

Our free business networking group invites you to join us and share referrals. Our business blog offers you an opportunity to promote your own web site.

Members, please be advised that your $5 attendance fee is payable at the door.

NEW for VISITORS and PROVISIONAL MEMBERS only: attendance fee is $10 at the door, until you become regular members. To become a member of this group, please fill out this application form.

To make things easier for you and e-Spot staff, please consider paying $10 or $20 in advance. Your credit can then be used to cover your substitute’s fee, or will be carried over to your next meeting. Receipts will be issued by the e-Spot quarterly.

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

Sign up for my next Contacts2Clients Business Seminar

Let's connect:

I came across a rather interesting article in the June 30, 2010 edition of Marketing magazine that I wanted to share with you. The article talks about one of the more challenging tasks many established businesses face – whether or not to rebrand themselves, and if so, for what purpose (i.e. to go after existing clients in a different way or to target an entirely different client segment).

 Oftentimes businesses rebrand for the latter reason in order to go out after a more lucrative or attractive target market. In the case of East Side Mario’s (ESM), this was indeed the case. Having developed a strong brand as a “family friendly” restaurant with a gregarious New York City theme, it symbolized an affordable, convenient and comfortable place for families to eat out.

 However, ESM was eager to move its business model up-market by appealing to a more upscale client. As a result, it removed its Statue of Liberty logo and replaced it with a more traditional Italian symbol – the tomato. It also got rid of its infamous marketing jingle, “Badda Boom Badda Bing” due to its association with NYC.

 What happened next is an age-old problem that occurs when rebranding involves an attempt to enter a new market. By changing its target market through changes to its marketing messages, restaurant appearance and menu, ESM alienated its existing clientele while failing to make significant inroads with the upscale segment it was attempting to go after.

 So what can be learnt from this experience? First of all, rebranding should never be entered into by any business without considerable deliberation and analysis. And while going after a new and perhaps more lucrative client segment is always tempting, it may not necessarily be the best option, particularly when the new market you’re entering is as competitive as the restaurant industry.

 Indeed the competitive landscape should always be a primary consideration in any rebranding exercise. Always ask yourself this question – does the image I’m trying to portray or the market I’m trying to appeal to create any competitive challenges for my business (i.e. are there existing businesses with similar ‘brands’ going after similar or identical customers, and if so how successful are they?).

 The key to rebranding – and the key to developing a sound marketing strategy– is finding a niche in the market you can profitably compete in and exploit, one where your products and services effectively align with the needs and expectations of that particular target market. When you find that niche and are successful in exploiting it, you’ve latched onto the proverbial golden egg. And that’s why going after a new segment may not be the most sound business decision, and in fact can be highly risky. At the least, make sure your rebranding strategy is based on sound business fundamentals, and that these support the objectives of the firm.

Although our group has a strong online presence (business blog, Linkedin group, Twitter) we meet regularly at the e-Spot™ to make friends, learn together and exchange referrals.

Our next meeting is on Friday, July 23, 2010 at 8:45 am

Our free business networking group invites you to join us and share referrals. Our business blog offers you an opportunity to promote your own web site.

Members, please be advised that your $5 attendance fee is payable at the door.

NEW for VISITORS only: attendance fee is $10 at the door, until you become regular members. To become a member of this group, please fill out the application form.

To make things easier for you and e-Spot staff, please consider paying $10 or $20 in advance. Your credit can then be used to cover your substitute’s fee, or will be carried over to your next meeting. Receipts will be issued by the e-Spot quarterly.

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

Sign up for my next Contacts2Clients Business Seminar

Let's connect:

BUSINESS TIPS BREAKFASTS SCHEDULE 2010 –  WOMEN WHO EXCEL INC. Events

Don’t miss out on our next ‘BUSINESS TIPS BREAKFASTS’ at Lezley’s Restaurant, 355 Plains Rd. E., Burlington, L7T 4H8, B-905/333-4431. Brant St. exit from QEW Westbound; Waterdown exit from 403 Eastbound; Fairview St. exit from QEW Niagara. LEARN up to the minute information on business to grow their business.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010   - Follow Up To Maximize Sales Opportunities

80% of sales are won on the 5th to 12th contact - yet 48% of all business people never follow up beyond the first contact.Getting prospects costs money! Implementing a step by step system makes sure every prospect is followed up and your sales opportunities are maximized.  

Cheryl Scoffield, Sales Facilitator at Executive Sales Support. www.executivesalessupport.com

These morning events (for women only) will be the second Tuesday of the month starting at 8:00am and ending at 9:30am.

The cost is $10.00 for WOMEN WHO EXCEL members; $20.00 for one-time only guests — cash only. 

Receipts will be given out at the door. You pick and pay for your own breakfast.

Preregister at 905/547-7135×3 or wwe@hwcn.org.  www.womenwhoexcel.com REGISTER TODAY!