In this issue
	Kutztown SBDC News The Risk Taker - Reyna Villalva Success Story The Selling Process by Dr. Roger Hibbs Closing the Sale by Dan Goldberg New Feature - Insights to Success

The Risk Taker - Reyna Villalva Success Story

Born and raised in Mexico, Reyna Villalva had a dream to come to the United States where she eventually could have a comfortable life. Reyna first lived in California before moving to West Chester five years ago. She had jobs working for other people until she came up with an idea. West Chester had a major Latino Community sector, but it had no Latino specialty stores. Reyna was traveling for forty minutes each way to Kennett Square to purchase her favorite Mexican groceries. While driving to Kennett Square one day, everything came together for Reyna, and she decided to start her own grocery business in West Chester targeting the growing, Latino community. She had no experience running a business, but she got help from a friend who also owned a specialty grocery store. He taught her how to find suppliers, where to look for funds, how to find additional products to sell, and other keys to success in the grocery business. Click here for the complete article about Reyna and more pictures. »

The Selling Process by Dr. Roger Hibbs

Selling is not simply asking for the order, is it a process that one must go through that naturally results in the salesperson asking for the order. In going through this process, the seller is preparing the customer to say yes. However, one cannot just jump right into this process; it requires the seller to do some homework first. This includes research about the company you are selling to and what you perceive that its needs are. Another important aspect of this is how the seller can utilize the products and services of his or her company to satisfy the needs of the customer. The next step is to have a game plan ready before the meeting with the buyer actually takes place. Once this is complete, an appointment with the customer is made. During this time, the seller is reminded to always focus on the needs of the customer and not those of their own. However, many times during the appointment, no actual selling will take place. Instead, the seller uses this time to gather more information about the buyer so that he or she can better market their product. At the beginning of the appointment, the seller usually starts off with a "Meet & Greet" session, where he or she introduces themselves and their company. This is commonly followed by the "Listen Five," where the seller spends about five minutes doing nothing but listening to the customer's needs. This is also referred to as a needs assessment. Click here for the complete story and a picture of Dr. Hibbs. »

Closing the Sale by Dan Goldberg

All Sales meeting fall into two categories, a one call close or a more than one call close. Closing can be in steps. You can close by agreeing to go to the next step, or you can close the first time and leave with the sale. Either way there are certain key elements that go into closing. Knowing a client or a prospect's budget and the person who ultimately decides whether or not it gets spent on your product or service is essential to getting a sale. Whenever possible, one of the best way to speed up a final closing is to ask your prospect what budget has been set aside for your product or service. It does you absolutely no good to go through all the other steps in your sales process simply to find out that their budget is only twenty-five percent of what your product or service sells for. When the disparity is that great, it may be best to say goodbye and move on. However, if the prospect's distress/need level is so high that the gap can be closed, then you know that you have a real opportunity to close a sale. Click here for the complete article and info about Dan. »

New Feature - Insights to Success

Insights to Success will be a monthly article sharing challenges/learning opportunities encountered by our clients every month relative to their day-to-day business activities. All Insights to Success articles will come from our clients' submittals. The format for the piece will consist of a brief introduction, the respective challenge, and the solution. Insight to Success - Three things every day by Shannon Cassidy We work in a wonderfully chaotic business. The Cable and Telecommunications field is known for its fast pace and constant change, where high expectations make decisive action essential. How do you decide what to do first? The decision itself is the key. Peak performance is determined by the combination of decisions that we make each day. We feel either satisfied or frustrated, depending on the quality of our decision-making. The sum of these decisions equals our performance that day. It's not enough to know that we have a lot to do. We need to create a way to stay focused on what is important. Click here for the complete insight and info about Shannon. WE ARE REQUESTING INSIGHTS TO SUCCESS ARTICLES OF 200 WORDS FROM OUR READERS. WE WILL SELECT ONE ARTICLE EACH MONTH AND SEND A GIFT TO THE AUTHOR. Please Email your Insight for Success articles to the Success Connection Editor Thomas Skiba at skib0124@kutztown.edu.