5 Simple Steps to Small Biz Sales Success

I recently had the pleasure of facilitating a half-day workshop, Simple Steps for Sales Success, in Squamish, BC with 13 up and coming entrepreneurs. And contrary to Dilbert's sentiment here, small businesses typically either does both sales and marketing among their many hats (so they avoid this rivalry) or at a certain scale, they may bring in some expert help.

In fact, after leading many sessions like this, I was very impressed by the Howe Sound participants innovation and drive for their ventures which spanned organic farming, graphic design, art, daycare, accupunture, photography and a few others.

The workshop was sponsored by Community Futures Howe Sound and firstly, I have to say that the CF team - Nicole, Megan and Sandra - was outstanding in terms of their program development, support and resources made available for the participants. Great to see this type of support for small business.

Simple Steps To Sales Success Step 1 Bret Conkin Rii Play.Tv July 2009

View more presentations from Bret Conkin.

The topic was on Sales for Small Business and I presented our 5 Step Cycle for Sales Success. Step 1 is all about the foundation including a clear definition of your USP, or Unique Selling Proposition. Based on request, I am sharing excerpts of it on our blog and on Slideshare, to benefit a wider audience. You can see the Introduction and Step 1 by clicking above. Enjoy and please feel free to comment.

The 3 little pigs, Rodney Dangerfield and Squamish's Chief all weigh in on how to best create a plan and strategy for your small business. What can you learn from Rodney? No, not the pigs with the brick house....

I will be doing a second session on July 31st and will cover Step 1 including measurement, goal-setting, the difference between marketing and sales (as explained by Dilbert and others!) and riiPlay.tv's Selling Success Cycle.

If you would like to find out more, hold a workshop for your Chamber of Commerce or small business members or you are a small business wanting to improve your sales, please contact me via info@riiplay.tv!

3 Keys to Hiring Top People - Success Snack with Robin Chakrabarti of Boston Pizza

One of the true keys to small business success is hiring top people. This applies to partners, suppliers, staff and anyone else that supports you.

Tune into this Success Snack with Robin Chakrabarti, former VP with Boston Pizza, as he shares 3 keys to Hiring Top People. The second in our series of Success Snacks produced for fundfindr.tv.

Success Snack: What Entrepreneurs have in Common

The quest for self-employment's rewards and control of one's own destiny are a key driver for many who take the bold leap into entrepreneurship. The opportunity for rewards and satisfaction compel many to achieve new found success in operating a small business.

How do you know this path is right for you? Tune into this Success Snack featuring expert consultant Mike Desjardins of Virtus to learn what traits all successful entrepreneurs have in common. Traits like passion and persistence and a few surprises on what traits you may have thought you needed but don't require to be a successful entrepreneur like experience!

Success snacks are a series of short videos produced by us for fundfindr.tv to provide small business resources that are easy to digest, tasty and good for you. Stay tuned for more in future posts.