Webber Workshop - Marketing You!

When the phrase, "Every time we speak, one way or the other we are selling ourselves," is used in a promo, I am ready to give it a shot. Webber International University on March 5 hosted a workshop on selling yourself in the modern business world.

Ron Weber, Assistant Professor & Chair for Marketing, was the speaker for this seminar. Director of Admissions Bobbi Andrews introduced Weber and opened the evening with the institution's desire to deliver great content to the community. There was a 30-minute social before the event with light snacks and drinks. I thoroughly enjoyed the cheese and meat platter with my Cherry Coke Zero.

Promptly at 6 p.m. the event began. As I scanned the room, I recognized a few local business people, some local entrepreneurs, multiple faculty from the institution, and many students. The most positive sign to me was the amount of faculty, staff, and students who came out on a Tuesday night to listen to a professor speak about something they have all probably heard.

Professor Weber started off the conversation by asking us all to think about our true talents. He then stated that if you give far more value then you will ever get in return and do that repetitively, you will be successful.

Ron is fabulously animated and very comfortable in the spotlight. His presentation is far from stodgy and meets the modern student where they are today. Oh yeah, us older folk didn't seem to mind him either.

The main focus of the presentation was to get all of us to think about what we have to offer and how to maximize the return on investing in ourselves. There were examples of former students and personal friends who have realized that talents they have had for years can be turned into businesses. Not only could they monetize something they love, they also learned that believing in your worth was necessary to gain the economic value that was perceived from the clients with their talents.

As the presentation moved along there were some great stories to keep the attention, and then professor Weber would just drop the knowledge.

When we think about ourselves, we often don't think about the talents we possess. Why do people want to do business with us? They like us, trust us, and enjoy the process of working with us. To further that point, Weber discussed how to determine our target market. How do you use geography? It is necessary to determine where your talent is needed. What are the demographic characteristics? This might be the age, gender, income, and education of the particular customers you are wanting to attack.

Also, the psychographic characteristics are important. These are the lifestyles, beliefs, values, and attitudes of your clients. Lastly, is there a perfect fit through the behavioristics of the desired client? All of this is important because it is imperative to figure out what makes your talent unique. This uniqueness is what is going to sell.

As the evening wrapped up, Weber really hammered home the importance on the personal selling process and how important it is to show people you like them. He delved into the 12 steps of the selling process and gaining rapport was prominent in four of the steps.

With the evening session ending he touched on one last topic. How well do you build rapport? His answer was with matching and mirroring. Meet people where they are and then build them up from there.

After we were done for the evening, I had a chance to speak with professor Weber and two entrepreneurs who came to see what it was all about. Ron stated that is was great to see the community involvement and if there were some suggestions, the university would love to host more. One of them was Mikey Beasley, owner and producer at Mikey B Beats, and he was pumped to listen to the evening. He is heavily involved in the music industry, has a podcast, and is constantly selling himself. Getting the proper price for the work he produces allows him to expand his efforts and go deeper into the industry.

Webber International University has been known for many years as a business school and is working hard to provide the proper education for those who want to head into the business world. The school is working hard to get the community involved and to provide content relevant to the local business community. The last thing they asked during the evening was what we would like to see next. If there is anything you would like to know, reach out to me and maybe we can all learn from the topic.