Understanding Your Sales Cycle

Start-ups often struggle with understanding how to manage the sales cycle in order to achieve their growth objectives. Yet young companies cannot afford to make mistakes in this area: their very survival depends on it.

This webinar will cover a variety of topics that will help you to gain a clearer perspective and control over your company's sales cycle.

Those include:

• How to define the sales cycle for your business
• What are the typical stages of a sales cycle?
• How is the sales cycle influenced by your sales process?
• Defining your sales process to reduce sales cycle times
• Sales cycle reduction examples

Location: Online Date and Time: Thursday, May 14, 10 - 11 AM Cost: Free to OEN Members, $30 for non-members

Speaker: Andrew Rowe

Andrew Rowe has 25+ years of progressive experience in leading growth-oriented businesses in the healthcare, technology and industrial sectors. He is an accomplished builder of high performance teams, providing products and services to Fortune 500/Global 2000 companies. His experience is in building companies from start-up to more than $100 million in annual revenues.

Andrew serves as CEO at AllMed Healthcare Management, a national healthcare service company that works with leading hospital groups and healthcare payer organizations, nationwide. Previously he was Managing Partner at Cube Management, a sales & marketing recruiting and consulting firm. Mr. Rowe served as Executive Vice President of Cascade General, which he and his partner acquired and grew to US market leadership in large-scale ship repair. Prior that, he served at Vice President at Adept Technology, a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of industrial robots, controls and software, which grew to international market leadership. Mr. Rowe's early career was in international sales and marketing management.

OK, you're not a sales person, you're a founder or early employee at a startup. But in the beginning, before you're ready to hire your first sales person, you are the sales force! So at this early stage, and given that you're not a "professional sales person" there are a few things you need to know to improve your effectiveness. At this lunch and learn, you'll learn some effective sales strategies to help you succeed in working with early customers and potential investors.

The Presenter Jeff Schneider is President of Schneider Training Solutions, an authorized agent for Sandler Sales Institute. Sandler is the leader for innovative training solutions for sellers and managers nationwide. Jeff has trained groups of people up and down the West Coast, on topics relating to sales, sales management and personal development.

Prior to starting this company, Jeff spent 18 years in sales and sales management, with most of his experience in media and advertising. Specifically, Jeff managed sales operations for television and radio stations in Spokane, Sacramento, Bend and Portland. He trained and mentored dozens of successful advertising sellers, and earned a reputation as a manager that knew how to take a seller to the next level of their selling career.

Location: OTBC, 12725 SW Millikan Way, Suite 101 Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 Time: Networking starts 11:30am; program from noon to 1:15pm Max: Blue line, Beaverton Central stop (one stop west of the Beaverton Transit Center) Driving directions: http://www.otbc.org/map_and_directions.html Parking: Free parking in the parking garage next door to our building Cost: $15 if paid 24 hours in advance; $20 after that

Use promo code SAODISC for 15% off.

Use SAODISC promo code for 15% discount

Selling your products and services is essential for small business owners. Learn effective and easy to use sale techniques and how to handle sales objections.

Learn practical sales strategies for business. Watch practical real-life sales demonstrations to really learn how to sell. You will learn the following and more:

• Identify customer needs.
• Varied sales approaches that work.
• Creating a Sales Manual.
• Exhibits and documentation.
• Handling sales objections.
• Secrets to closing the sale.

Tom Howe has been a practicing attorney for over 25 years and owns two technology companies. He has written four books (law and software programming) and speaks at legal conferences throughout North America and technology conferences around the world. His practical and entertaining presentation style makes him a highly sought after speaker.

$5 for MCNW clients and $10 for community members. Sign up online on our website or contact Anu ([email protected] or 503-896-5080)to RSVP.

How should your business leverage social media, email and on-site analytics to target customers? And what new analytic tools can you expect to shake up the market in the coming year?

Join four of Portland's top analytics strategists as they discuss what your company should measure, what tools can help you cut through the noise, and why now is a critical time to get your systems into place. If your company is looking to improve its strategy for leveraging advanced analytics and social media to target specific markets, you will not want to miss this event.

Join the SAO's EDGE and Marketing and Sales Forums at Kell's Irish Pub for an excellent discussion, interactive Q & A with the panelists, and a perfectly poured pint of Guinness.

Panelists Adam Ware, Managing Partner, SwellPath (@wheresitworking) Alex Williams, Sales and Strategy, eROI (@alexcwilliams) Justin Garrity, Director of User Experience, Webtrends (@justinogarrity)

Moderated by: Hallie Janssen, Vice President, Anvil Media, Inc. (@Hallie_Janssen)

You can’t escape it, you must sell! Learn practical sales strategies for business. Watch real-life sales demonstrations to really learn how to sell. You will learn the following and more:

• Identify customer needs.
• See benefits
• Varied sales approaches that work.
• Handling sales objections.
• Secrets to closing the sale. Last time we did this class, participants commented that: "So much was helpful - in helping me focus on tools and seeing what I already do well" "I'm not good at marketing or sales so I liked the fact that it covered the basics and offered more"

Mercy Corps Northwest works to assist motivated low-income individuals improve their lives through starting or expanding a small business. We provide funding, matched savings and small business classes that help clients increase their economic self-sufficiency through self-employment.

$5 for MCNW clients and $10 for community members. At the Mercy Corps NW office at 43 SW Naito Pkwy, downtown by the Burnside Bridge.

You can sign up online. Contact Anu ([email protected] or 503-896-5080) with questions. Check our website (www.mercycorpsnw.org) the day of the event for any cancellation notices and mercycorpsnw.wordpress.com for more info about seminars. Ticket Info: $5 for MCNW clients and $10 for community members

SIGN UP ONLINE @ http://www.mercycorpsnw.org/what-we-do/seminars/

Need a better grasp on the art and science of sales to boost your business and increase revenue? Al Nodarse of Olsen Group, Response Capture, Inc. will share his expertise on how to increase your sales with various techniques from articulating your value proposition, cold calling, to populating data bases. Workshops will be held at the Willamette University Portland Center (1120 NW Couch, suite 450) every Tuesday from 3-5pm and every Friday from 4-6pm until Friday, August 27.

Passes for the workshops can be purchased at the door before each workshop. A pass for any single workshop can be purchased for $20, a pass for a series of three workshops can be purchased for $50, and a pass to attend the complete summer series of workshops can be purchased for $200.

Following workshops will be instructed by: Steve Davis - Davis Wright Tremaine LLP Diane Fraiman - Voyager Capital David Uslan - Perkins & Company Jim Mcconnell - Private Forecasting Consultant Pam Abrahamsson - Stephenson Group Al Nodarse - Private Sales Consultant Amy Winkelman - Private Product Management Consultant Kelley Pecis - Herd Freed Hartz Executive Search Partners Todd Hardy - Silicon Valley Bank Jerry Ketel - Leopold Ketel Kathy McAllister - Insider Marketing/Technology Agency

For details about future workshops and other Portland Ten programs please visit: www.portlandten.com. Sincerely, The Portland Ten Staff 45.5236740000 -122.6824180000

Need a better grasp on the art and science of sales to boost your business and increase revenue? Al Nodarse of Olsen Group, Response Capture, Inc. will share his expertise on how to increase your sales with various techniques from articulating your value proposition, cold calling, to populating data bases.

Workshops will be held at the Willamette University Portland Center (1120 NW Couch, suite 450) every Tuesday from 3-5pm and every Friday from 4-6pm until Friday, August 27.

Passes for the workshops go on sale today and can be purchased at the door before each workshop. A pass for any single workshop can be purchased for $20, a pass for a series of three workshops can be purchased for $50, and a pass to attend the complete summer series of workshops can be purchased for $200.

Following workshops will be instructed by: Steve Davis - Davis Wright Tremaine LLP Diane Fraiman - Voyager Capital David Uslan - Perkins & Company Jim Mcconnell - Private Forecasting Consultant Pam Abrahamsson - Stephenson Group Al Nodarse - Private Sales Consultant Amy Winkelman - Private Product Management Consultant Kelley Pecis - Herd Freed Hartz Executive Search Partners Todd Hardy - Silicon Valley Bank Jerry Ketel - Leopold Ketel Kathy McAllister - Insider Marketing/Technology Agency

For details about future workshops and other Portland Ten programs please visit: www.portlandten.com. Sincerely, The Portland Ten Staff

Portland's Longest-Running Coworking Space Celebrates 4 Years in Business

souk turns 4 this month!

Jan 18th Tues is free work day all day (starting 9am). Wifi, workdesks, espresso... work on your own thing in the same space as other people.

3pm: open house, meet, network.

Press release: http://bit.ly/i3QyGd

Please share with your PDX networks! and

RSVP: 503 517-6900 or [email protected]

You've got a great product but how do you sell it? This workshop will show you the foundations that you need to know, to move your product or service.

In this workshop, participants will learn:

•How to create and exchange value through building and fostering relationships. •Why and how customers choose to buy. •How to plan, prepare, and jump start an effective sales strategy. •How to successfully start and manage your own sales, even if you've never done it before. The first steps towards building a sales team and/or 3rd party sales networks.

People that will benefit from this workshop are:

•Entrepreneurs who are new to sales or are seeking to raise capital (there are some very similar principles that apply) •Business owners and leaders who may not be familiar with sales and want to improve their existing sales efforts. •Individuals that want to become more involved in their company's sales activities •Individuals wishing to start a career in sales or development.

Presenter: Robin Wang

You've got a great product but how do you sell it? This workshop will show you the foundations that you need to know, to move your product or service.

In this workshop, participants will learn:

How to create and exchange value through building and fostering relationships. Why and how customers choose to buy. How to plan, prepare, and jump start an effective sales strategy. How to successfully start and manage your own sales, even if you've never done it before. The first steps towards building a sales team and/or 3rd party sales networks.

People that will benefit from this workshop are:

Entrepreneurs who are new to sales or are seeking to raise capital (there are some very similar principles that apply) Business owners and leaders who may not be familiar with sales and want to improve their existing sales efforts. Individuals that want to become more involved in their company's sales activities Individuals wishing to start a career in sales or development.

Presentor: Robin Wang Robin Wang is the Co-Publisher of the ReDirect Guide, a media company focusing on promoting sustainable lifestyles in Portland, Salt Lake City, and Denver/Boulder. Robin began his career as an Engineer and at that time never envisioned pursuing a career in sales. Since then, Robin has spent the vast majority of his career performing and managing sales across a wide spectrum of industries including telecommunications, software, professional and consulting services, advertising, events, media, real estate and even an occasional used car.

CRM: "He Who Has the Data Wins" presented by Rusty Lee

Each of these questions will be presented from both the perspective of you as a business owner, and also as a consultant helping your clients make decisions.

What is CRM?
Why from a business perspective is CRM important?
How can it benefit my business?
What will it cost me?
What's the payback?
How can a small business have an effective CRM program that works?

Agenda: 6:00--6:20 Networking 6:20--7:00 No-host dinner 7:00--7:30 Introductions and announcements 7:30--8:30 Main Presentation (followed by Q&A):

Presented by: Rusty Lee lives in the Battle Ground area and has been supporting the IT needs of Small Business for the last 10 years as CEO for CallMyPcDr.com . He has presented to audiences large and small on a wide range of topics. In a previous life he was Director of Marketing for a manufacturing firm in Portland, responsible for sales and marketing worldwide.

During his over 20 years of Sales and Marketing experience he learned the old fashioned way about the importance of customer data. Back then it was called database marketing. He's kept in touch with his Marketing Roots and now can add the Technology Perspective to the equation of CRM.

Do you need to be more effective at doing sales?

Whether your revenue is shy of goals or doing sales creates unease for you, for many entrepreneurs, "sales" is a 4 letter word.

In my upcoming class, "Ninja Sales Techniques", I help entrepreneurs become more effective at doing sales by demystifying it, breaking it down into manageable steps, and offering techniques and tips on how non-salespeople can be successful at doing sales. At the end of the course, you'll leave with a much better understanding of sales, be able to create an effective sales plan, and increase your confidence in doing sales.

This 4-week class begins on 2/3, meets at the PCC Climb Center (by OMSI) for 2 hours each week and is part of the SBDC's Entrepreneur's Skill Series. For more information and to register please visit:

• http://www.bizcenter.org/small-business-development-centers/portland

• Click onto the "EVENTS" tab

• Look for "Ninja Sales Techniques" under the "Business Basics" section.

If you have little or no experience in doing sales but are responsible for bringing in the revenue, then this class is for you!

Over the past few years, Planar has been rapidly transforming into a leader in the digital signage product marketplace. A large part of this success has been the strong partnership built between their Marketing and Sales teams from product concept all the way to product launch.

Join us on June 9th for the next Marketing Leadership Exchange. Jennifer Davis, VP of Marketing, Planar will discuss how Planar’s marketing and sales teams worked together to grow gross profit and decrease operating expenses. She'll discuss how this transformation propelled innovative tactics used to generate demand, expand vertical market appeal, broaden the sales channels, recruit and on-board new partners and more! Most importantly how without great alignment on strategy and execution, these activities wouldn't have been possible.

In addition to the valuable content exchange, the Marketing Leadership Exchange is a great way to network with your peers in a safe environment where the top marketing professional at technology companies can openly discuss business issues.

This event is reserved for the top marketing professionals from TAO member technology companies.

Don't ignore the power of outbound. Whether you're looking to validate your idea, get your first paying customers, or grow to the next level of revenue, an outbound approach can help you get there. And it can be done efficiently. I'll show you how we did it for CartHook to get our first customers, and how we still use it today to grow. Then we'll dig into how you can use it for your situation right away.

Bio: Jordan Gal is the co-founder and CEO of CartHook.com @carthook, an abandoned cart email app for ecommerce shops. He also hosts the BootstrappedWeb podcast and the CartHook podcast.

Clover is the fastest-growing POS platform, and has the largest App Market for small and medium size businesses (SMBs).

At this event, you'll have a chance to:

Check out Clover hardware: Station, Mini, and Mobile

Learn about the Clover platform

Meet the Clover App Market team

Participate in a Q&A panel with Clover Sales Reps

What is a sales pipeline? Why do I need a sales pipeline? How do I use my sales pipeline?

One of the things I hate about some of the workshops or seminars I have attended over the years is that I walk out with great intentions to use everything I learned but then I do not implement the thing or things I had learned. Why? My theory is that while in the workshops I just sat and listened, take notes and participate but I did not ‘leave’ with something that fit me. Once I got home I had to make the program work for me and personalize it for me.

With this in mind I have designed my workshops to be hands-on, small and intimate. We work together as a team to design what you need not what the masses need. So my challenge to you is to walk out of my workshop with the framework for your ready-to-use personal sales pipeline.

Sales pipelines are not just a visual representation of your sales prospects…it is the bible of your business. Your pipeline should be personal and represent you and your business. At any time, you should be able to it pull up your pipeline and speak clearly and intelligently to where you are at in your business.

My one-hour brown bag lunch workshop is designed to help you understand the importance to having a pipeline, how to manage your pipeline and design a quickie pipeline that is fits your personality and your personal needs.

Please remember to bring your laptop and a lunch!

Cost: FREE

Please sign up at Eventbrite website seating is very limited...for more info on me visit, annieweller.com

It’s All About Traction – Sell – Sell – Sell!

After months, or maybe even years of finding product/market fit, you’re ready to take your product to market! You’re excited to have people all over the world enjoy the benefits your product can provide. So why is it that one of the biggest hurdles for a startup is gaining initial traction?
Join us on October 10th as we hear from successful entrepreneurs, from an array of backgrounds, talk about how selling is and will always be the biggest key to your company’s success. They will share how they’re companies flourished because of the time and effort they put into being good sales reps and how they passed this knowledge to all their employees no matter what role they played in the organization – everyone selling, all the time!

Topics will Include: • Developing yourself as a salesperson • The right time to hire a sales person/team and how to do it successfully • Developing a pipeline/demand generation • Sales conversion • Selling into international markets • Sales Management Applications

Panelists: • Chanin Ballance, Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer, Veelo • David Eddy, Vice President, Head of Content & Business Development, GuideSpark • Scott Campbell, Chief Revenue Officer, Lytics • Sce Pike, Chief Executive Officer & President, IOTAS

Moderator: Tom O'Keefe, President & Chief Executive Officer, 4-Tell

Details: When: Tuesday, October 10th Time: 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM Cost: TiE Oregon and TAO Members $5 / Nonmembers $25

After months, or maybe even years of finding product/market fit, you’re ready to take your product to market!  You’re excited to have people all over the world enjoy the benefits your product can provide. So why is it that one of the biggest hurdles for a startup is gaining initial traction?

Join us on October 10th as we hear from successful entrepreneurs, from an array of backgrounds, talk about how selling is and will always be the biggest key to your company’s success. They will share how they’re companies flourished because of the time and effort they put into being good sales reps and how they passed this knowledge to all their employees no matter what role they played in the organization – everyone selling, all the time!

Topics will Include: - Developing yourself as a salesperson - The right time to hire a sales person/team and how to do it successfully - Developing a pipeline/demand generation - Sales conversion - Selling into international markets - Sales Management Applications

PANELISTS: - Chanin Ballance, Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer, Veelo - Scott Campbell, Chief Revenue Officer, Lytics - Leah Daniels, Vice President Business Development, Galois - Sce Pike, Chief Executive Officer & President, IOTAS

Moderator: - Tom O’Keefe, President & Chief Executive Officer, 4-Tell

EVENT DETAILS: When:  Tuesday, October 10th Where:  JLL, 1120 NW Couch St #500, Portland, OR 97209 Time:  5:00 PM – 7:00 PM (light appetizers and beverages will be served)      5:00 PM – Check-in and networking      6:00 PM – Panel discussion and Q&A      7:00 PM – More networking

COST TO ATTEND: $5 TiE and TAO Members $25 Nonmembers

REGISTER HERE – https://hub.tie.org/e/evolve-your-startup

ABOUT THE SERIES: TiE Oregon, in partnership with the Technology Association of Oregon introduces the “Evolve Your Start-up” series. This new series of events will explore topics relevant to a variety of roles and functions within startups. The goal is to have seasoned professionals in growth-phase companies share their stories and strategies with entrepreneurs just starting out.

PASCAL is hosting a swap meet free to anyone at Portland's new Hackerspace located at 2410 N Mississippi Ave on Oct 14 from noon to 10:00pm. This event is for people who like to swap cool tech and electronics!

This event will have space for 15 booths with tables and nice comfy seats. There will be onsite snacks, a food truck outside with covered seating and smoking area, and a local DJ. Parking is available street side close to Widmer Brewery and McMenamins.

We are here to make connections with our community and collaborate with our neighbors- and have an opportunity to sell and trade!

We all know that the secret to generating long-term revenue growth relies on your ability to deliver outstanding customer value.

But how to do you create a growth strategy that consistently improves customer experience and converts leads into evangelists?

Join us for an informal candid discussion where we'll uncover how successful startup founders and leaders employ a customer-centric mindset to power and scale their revenue growth.

This event is hosted by RevDev, a collective of startup growth advisors, as part of their Portland company launch and kick-off. The RevDev founders will walk us through their take on Success Marketing - a strategy that integrates Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success to deliver bigtime customer value and generate sustainable revenue growth.

RevDev will then be joined by three leaders of thriving Portland startups for a panel discussion about how customer-centricity can supercharge your growth strategy. Hear first hand the challenges they've faced, their lessons learned, and their secrets for growing revenue and customer loyalty. The topics will be selected from audience suggestions beforehand, and you'll walk away with actionable, field-tested, bottom-line-driving growth strategies and tactics in the disciplines that actually matter.

Join us and tell us what matters most to you, your team, and your business so that we can help you kick ass in 2018! Agenda: 5:30 - Mingling, networking, food and drinks!

6:00 - Success Marketing introduction by Aaron Thompson, David Connors, and Kasey Jones from RevDev

6:20 - Panel discussion on how to use a customer-centric approach to fuel early growth

7:20 - More networking!

Meet our panel: Aaron Ward, CEO of AskNicely. Aaron is a serial entrepreneur, with 20+ years of experience designing and launching disruptive, new-to-market products, channels, and businesses.

Julia Alena, President and CEO of ReelDx. Julia's career is marked by her dedication to the unrelenting pursuit of scalable and profitable paths to rapid growth while delivering an exceptional customer experience.

Nick Hill, VP of Product for Lithium Technologies. Nick is a product leader with a passion for creating well-designed, innovative products that lead their market. Nick has experience growing a company from a 10 person startup to a 700+ person publicly traded company.

This event is proudly sponsored by StarveUps!

Starve Ups was Oregon’s first startup accelerator, and is its only scalerator, which is defined as an end-to-end accelerator. Starve Ups was founded by founders and is solely made up of a community of startup founders and their membership companies.

We'll be hosting a talk and social hour, with a featured guest - local founder and content creation mastermind, Joel Barker on June 27th!

Martech is a merger of two critical aspect of every business - Marketing and Technology. This event covers how to optimize your content in the multi-channel digital landscape.

Joel will be discussing how to manage the delicate balance of content quality and quantity varies in different marketing channels, covering social, email, blogs, websites, and more.

As usual, we will be hosting food and beverages and invite marketing tech enthusiasts of all types and skill levels. This week's event is sponsored by Act-On Software.

Agenda:

6:00 pm - Food, beverage, and networking

6:30 pm - Welcome message from Vinay Rao and Alex Mighion

6:35 pm - Speaker 1: Joel Barker, Founder of Lion's Way Content

7:15 pm - Group discussion, Future Meetup Ideas, Cross Promotion

8:00 pm - End.

This year’s Marketing Loves Sales event will focus on the pivotal role Social Media plays for marketing and sales. For the first time, the event will have tracks dedicated to the nuances of social media for each of these teams. From planned marketing programs to social selling, our speaker lineup is packed with industry experts and practitioners who will deliver fresh ideas and innovative case studies.

Join more than 300 sales and marketing and sales professionals for a day focused on upping your social media game!

Kasey is a startup growth strategist, community builder, event organizer, and people connecter. She is founder of A Better Jones a demand generation marketing agency that helps startups accelerate growth, sales teams fill pipeline, and leaders expand their influence as industry thought leaders. And co-founder and co-host of The Other Side of Sales, a podcast, Bravado community, and resource on a mission to make B2B sales culture more inclusive by celebrating the stories of underrepresented sales professionals.

Her latest endeavor is Our Galaxy, a community, resource, and coaching platform designed to diversify thought leadership, by helping founders, leaders, and business pros on the rise build authentic personal brands and expand their industry influence.