Sales IQ
Money Matters
Topic: Making the Sale
After the Call
Even the best sales person can only make
so many calls in a business day. Paul J.
Moran of Phoenix-based promotional
products company Geiger, Inc.
How often do you leave a sales call and
think, “If only I had said…”? What if
you could leave a billboard hung on the
prospect’s wall, with your information
displayed for all to see?
If you have a billboard in a prospect’s
office, they’ll be thinking about you every
time they see it. They’re more likely to call
if it’s easy to remember you. If the billboard
is something of value, it’s likely to be seen
and considered in the future, by them or by
someone else.
Your billboard is anything of value
displaying your information artfully and
professionally. Think of a calendar hanging
on the lunchroom bulletin board, a journal
for notes, a shirt for casual Fridays, a pen,
a letter opener or computer tool. There are
billboards hanging in every business. Most
are lost opportunities never to be “seen”
again. Those that stand apart, with a real
or perceived value to the user, get noticed,
remembered and relied upon for both their
utility AND the important sales message
you want conveyed.
A “promotional product” is more than
a pen or mug, a golf shirt or wine bottle;
more than a shopping bag, tote, candy
basket or USB. It’s a billboard! It’s a
reminder of a sales call, when a golf shirt,
service award, gift basket, holiday card
and yes, even that old reliable calendar
were given as a thank you, a welcome, a
congratulations or a gesture of support. The
sales message stays behind to retell, resell
and restate the value presented hours, days,
weeks or months ago. Try using billboards
in your prospects’ offices and see how your
relationships - and your sales - increase.
Get Connected
Geiger, Inc.
(602) 327-0181
24
I M PAC T
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S e pt e m b e r 2010
Interns (like the Chamber’s Samantha Waterman and Sean Gholz) can be valuable additions to your staff with
a little planning.
Part-Time Players
Interns Can Provide Bench Strength
By Stacie Garlieb, Successful Impressions, LLC
Especially in today’s economy, where money
is still tight and many staffs are stretched
to the limit, recruiting interns for your
organization can be a win-win that leads
to building a strong “bench” or a future
employee base.
There are some keys to making the
situation a positive one for your company
and the intern:
n Determine what projects and objectives
the intern will work on before you start
recruiting. Students want to know what the
expectations are in advance.
n Create meaningful experiences by having
the intern focus on areas relevant to their
major, or generation specific activities such
as social media networking.
n Find informal mentors in your organization
who would like to work with an intern.
Employees who are interested in mentoring
will create a positive experience for your
intern.
n Establish what the top five skills are that the
intern has to have to be successful.
n Be critical when screening resumes. This
can be a big timesaver. Phone interview the
candidates who have previous experience in
at least three of the five skills.
n Give feedback consistently during the
internship. This will help you see how the
intern handles professional discussions and
changes behavior accordingly.
Near the end of the internship, talk
with your team and evaluate the intern’s
performance. If they have met objectives and
shown exceptional results, you may have
found someone to join your team for another
semester or even full-time.
THINGS TO
REMEMBER
n Most
colleges and universities can
connect employers with students.
Visit sites like students.asu.edu/
career (ASU) or www.career.
arizona.edu (U. of Arizona) to
post opportunities.
n The US Department of Labor
(www.dol.gov) has criteria that must
be met for an intern to be unpaid
under the Fair Labor Standards act.
n Interns who receive college credit
in lieu of pay are covered by the
School-to-Work Opportunities Act
of 1994 and cannot do the work of
a regular employee.
Get Connected
Successful Impressions, LLC
www.successfulimpressions.net
www.phoenixchamber.com