1) My domain contact is Emillie, who is a Training Director for Chick-fil-A
My market contact is Jeff, who also runs a customer service training business.
My supplier contact is Kenzie, who is a representative for a training software company.
2) Emillie fills the domain slot as she is actively working in the customer service training industry with Chick-fil-A.
Jeff fills the market slot as he is running a similar business, and is an expert on the industry.
Kenzie fills the supplier slot as she provides training software to companies such as mine and Jeff's and Emillie's.
3) I found Emillie through my job at Chick-fil-A. I contacted her through our personnel system. I found Jeff and Kenzie through LinkedIn, and reached out through LinkedIn messages and emails.
4) Emillie told me about her training processes and we had great conversations about training in each of our Chick-fil-A's as well as my business. She gave me her opinion and said she'd be willing to recommend me if needed.
Jeff gave me information about the industry and told me what to expect. He would like to keep in contact if I do start the business, so that we can use each other as needed, to build our client bases.
Kenzie told me about the industry from her view, and gave me great information. She wants to keep in contact, and sell me software if and when I start this business.
5) Including these people can really help, if I can use them to create even more contacts. Through recommendations and general word of mouth marketing, these contacts can greatly help me if they pass the word to potential clients that they know. Also having a good relationship with a competitor like Jeff can help, as we can help each other instead of strictly competing. Kenzie can help me get setup with the software that I need and help me get started. These contacts can greatly help me as I get started.
This experience helped me get a taste of how to network and make connections. This was very different than networking events I have been to where you just walk around and shake hands and exchange business cards. This was more personal and up front. This can help me, as I get used to different networking methods as I start and grow my business.
Hello Robert, great post. I enjoyed reading your post and thought it was interesting. I like that you took advantage of your work place and used a personnel system to connect you with the individual you needed to contact for this assignment. Using LinkedIn to find someone who is experienced in software development as well as someone who has the knowledge about your particular market was also a good idea. Overall, good job!
ReplyDeleteHi Brandon, you did a great job with the interviews you have gave about growing your social capital. I believe Emillie was a great contact for this specific interview because she is the training director for one of the biggest fast food restaurants where customer service is very important. It was important that she was able to explain this in bigger detail to help you get an idea of what your own business would entail. Overall great job!
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