The Enterprise Mountaineer
Wednesday, May 30, 2001

Enthusiasm key to marketing, speaker tells business owners
by Vicki Hyatt
Staff writer

Enthusiasm sells.  

That was the main message of motivational speaker Denise Ryan, who recently conducted a three-hour small business seminar on marketing a business for Haywood Community College small business center.  

Ryan used the seminar to steer about a dozen small business owners away from the pitfalls of marketing and toward a sure-fire plan for success. Ryan is the principal in FireStar; a Fayetteville firm "specializing in enthusiasm" according to her business card.  

Marketing, Ryan explained, is everything you do to create awareness about your business, while selling is an encounter with a person who can make a buying decision. It takes an average of seven contacts to make a sale, Ryan said. These contacts can be in the form of a face-to-face meeting, a telephone call, a personal note or an informal encounter during a community event."  

Eighty percent of the buying decisions are made on emotion and are made because people like the person they're buying from," she said. That’s why it is important to build a relationship with the buyer, she said. Ryan said myths that those in sales need to be wary of include:

• Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.
• They have my literature.
• They will call when they're ready to buy.
• People in my field don't solicit by phone.
• I can rely on referrals.
• I’m so busy I can put off marketing this month.

Instead, those in sales should work on ways to effectively promote themselves and their business." The only person who will toot your horn in this cold world is you," Ryan said.

Establishing credibility in the marketplace is important. This can be done through community involvement, speaking at events or meetings, creating positive publicity or offering your prospective clients testimonials from other satisfied customers. 

Perhaps most important is delivering what is promised, she said." On average, people will tell nine to 12 others if they get good service. If they get bad service, they will tell 20" she said.  

One of the best marketing and selling tools available is a smile, Ryan said, because people want to do business with the living. Two essential tools are a nice business card you are really proud of and a thank you card which sports your business name, she said. The cards are for hand-written follow-up or thank you notes to be sent to clients.  These are attention-grabbers; she said, because there are so few personal notes written anymore.

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