Join Mitch Slater, Managing Principal of Visible Innovations, for a workshop that will untangle the sales and marketing challenge that innovators face when taking their product or service to market. Marketing and Sales 101 for Innovators is scheduled for Thursday morning at 10:15 AM at the COSE Small Business Conference 2011 being held at the IX Center near Cleveland Hopkins Airport.
The Workshop will cover the following:
Marketing and Sales Techniques for Technologists, Engineers, Inventors and IT Pros
You’ve done it! You have created the next big thing that every business or person needs. You’ve written blockbuster software. You’ve built the better mousetrap. You offer cutting edge services that save like none other. BUT, no one knows you exist. Worse, you aren’t even selling enough products or services to make ends meet. When the market is not well defined, usually the case for high tech innovators, the problem is significantly amplified. How do you define the market so that your value proposition makes sense? How do you educate the prospect about a need that they didn’t know they had? How do you instill urgency and calls to action in the face of disruptive change? This session will teach you the essential tips, tricks and approaches that will help you effectively marketing and sell your technology to your desired market. More often than not, buyers don’t even know they have a need for your product or services let alone that you exist. Entrepreneurial innovators have a unique challenge when entering the market, especially if they are creating a market that didn’t previously exist. You know your business inside and out but prospects and customers don’t! Learn how to enlighten your prospects helping them discover and articulate the hidden needs that only you can address. Frame your marketing with the right words and dialogue that brings customers to you. Build their trust and confidence ad you help them feel and act upon that previously unmet demand—driving them to buy from you. Engage them on their terms as you walk them through the sales steps, handle objections and close the deal. This seminar will consider real life examples that innovators encounter as they ply their trade.
After this session, you will:
- Identify your target market and learn to speak their language and build your market.
- Learn how to engage and educate your audience rather than confuse them and create demand.
- Establish trust and build customer relationships based on your expertise and as a business peer.
- Refine the art of asking questions relevant to your products and their needs.
- Describe your product or service in terms that are understandable and appreciated by your audience.
- Discover the motivating benefits and rationales that compel your prospects to buy from you.
- Find the best way to present your product or service that builds consensus and leads to an order.
- Embrace the steps necessary to educate, qualify and close customers consistently and confidently.
