Plant Seeds Now For Fall Harvest: Understanding Seasons & Cycles in Business

One reason small business owners get discouraged is because they expect instant results in their business. The reality is, there are seasons in your business: there’s a time for planting, a time for cultivating and a time for harvesting.

In gardens, a harvest rarely happens overnight and the same is true for your business. It’s important to understand and plan for the delays that are often part of your marketing and sales cycle. A contact made today could become a client tomorrow, or sometime next year. The important thing is to consistently cultivate your business by building a solid pipeline and nurturing it properly.

Your garden needs water and sunlight; your business needs relationships and cash flow. Cash flow won’t happen unless you’re cultivating relationships.

What do seeds to you want to plant now that will bloom in the fall? This workshop will help you understand the seasons of your business so you can reap what you sow.

AND....because follow-up is SUCH an important part of cultivating a steady client pipeline, we have a special guest speaker who is going to share some follow up best practices with us. Elizabeth Case of Yellow Dog Consulting is going to share some of her best systems to help you grow your business with consistent follow up.

Creating a follow up system that is consistent is a challenge for many small business owners. You follow up, get the client then get busy and forget that you need to keep networking and keep following up to keep your sales pipeline healthy and active.

TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS MEETING INCLUDE:

• Understand your sales cycle and plan for variations.

• Learn how to build a slow and steady pipeline so that no matter what the season, your business can thrive.

• Why managing your expectations with sales cycles can make or break your business.

• Ways to follow up and cultivate business all year long.

• What a good follow up schedule looks like.

• Why you need a CRM.

• How to LOVE your calendar.

• What to say when you do the follow up.

Join us for this hands-on workshop and set yourself up for business success in 2017!

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About the Presenters

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MaryAnn McNulty, MBA (http://maryannmcnulty.com/) is a sought-after speaker, trainer and coach, founder of Portland Conscious Women Entrepreneurs and Coaching Professionals of Portland (https://www.meetup.com/Coaching-Professionals-of-Portland/), and a business instructor at Mercy Corps Northwest.

Combining her coaching experience and business expertise, MaryAnn’s speciality is demystifying business strategy for heart-centered solopreneurs. She empowers her clients to get out of perpetual marketing mode so they can thrive financially, serve more clients, and share their superpowers with the world.

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Elizabeth Case (http://www.YellowDogConsulting.com) brings more than 17 years of business development and sales experience, with a variety of companies from retail to nonprofit management. She is passionate about relationship development, consistent communication and follow-up.

In 2011 Elizabeth “drank the kool-aid” of entrepreneurship and started Yellow Dog Consulting. A marketing and sales consulting firm focused on the small business owner. Yellow Dog Consulting is designed to help growing businesses setup the foundation and building blocks of their marketing and sales efforts.

Elizabeth is also a huge pop culture fan, which you may have noticed from her monthly pop culture round up on the Yellow Dog Blog. Elizabeth lives in Hillsboro, Oregon with her husband, and the world’s greatest Yellow Dog, Norm.

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What to Expect at Our Meetings
During this intensive workshop you will have the opportunity to meet and build relationships with other women entrepreneurs (without the free-for-all pressure of an open networking event), and take steps forward on your path of personal and professional development.

Registration & Payment
Please RSVP and register online via this Meetup page. Online registration is $25 and is available until 8pm the day before the event. Walk-ins are welcome: the walk-in registration fee is $35 (cash or card) the day of the event.

Refreshments
There will be water, coffee and light refreshments served at our meeting, but feel free to bring your lunch if you want something more substantial.

Parking
Please arrive a little early to allow yourself time to find parking. There is street parking and a Smart Park a few blocks away. The meeting will last two hours, so plan accordingly (though if you have to step out to feed the meter, that's ok with us.) Or you can take the Max to the Skidmore Fountain Station, which is right next to the building.

Proudly Presented in Collaboration with the Women's Business Center of Mercy Corps Northwest
**We are honored to present this meeting in partnership with the Women's Business Center of Mercy Corps Northwest -- one of Portland's top resource centers for entrepreneurs on the rise. If you know about MCNW - then I don't have to tell you how fabulous they are. If you don't know about MCNW - come to the meeting and learn about the incredible resources available to small business owners like you. Read more about them here: www.mercycorpsnw.org (http://www.mercycorpsnw.org/)