Business is Slow

Since my last post, nothing much has changed. Sometimes I wonder what real Sales & Marketing people do to drive business to their company. I am only an intern and I am already exhausted with all the networking and promoting Wingteam.

However, I have learned a new program and new tricks to gain exposure. One new program that I am familiarizing myself with is Constant Contact. You pay $15 a month for a service that allows you to create or use templates to e-mail all your contacts a newsletter, message, etc. Constant Contact is great for newsletters! Now, the greatest trick I learned over the last few days and one that may benefit me in the long run are keywords. To know how to effectively research for potential leads means to know what keywords will give you what you are looking for in a minimal amount of time. I have been killing myself with trying to find potential leads on the internet by using the following keywords: Director of Sales, operations, special event manager, and planner. Well, there is an easier way to get to the right contact for the potential lead. As a small business owner there are special programs in place to help the small business owner get business. An advice that was given to us is to look for Management companies, and type in the keywords supplier diversity and procurement. These Management companies work with small businesses and will hire them over companies who make "$$$$x" amount of money. And, typing in the keywords takes you directly to the department or person you need to talk to about doing their next meeting/event or supplying them with transportation services, etc. The purpose of the program is to share the wealth with smaller businesses who may be struggling.


To sum up my experiences over the last weeks, I have found it difficult to drive business to a company when your knowledge and resources are limited. I spent countless hours flipping through magazing pages to find events the company can possibly work for, networking, e-mailing my contacts via LinkedIn about Wingteam, and putting contacts in an Excel spreadsheet. Although I am still doing it, I find it very ineffective to flip through a magazine to find leads, because the event does not have a contact name or person; so, I am stuck with doing more internet research on the event to find out who I need to speak with to let them know about our services. Basically, you can think of what I am doing as cold calls. So, if anyone out there has a better or more creative idea on how to internet prospect or acquire business, please let me know.

So what did I learn about myself these past few weeks. I need to strengthen my internet prospecting skills and research skills. I learned that I am more of a "building relationships" to gain leads rather than cold calls. Cold calls are ineffective, especially in today's market. One last thing, I learned that it takes me a while to express new ideas on how to get the business more in the public eye. I am guessing it has to do with my ideas being shot down.

Until next time...
Diana