Scholarship helps Chamber members hone sales skills
Ryan Alexeev and Fernando Beltran Lupi didn't expect to be business owners.
After graduating from Gonzaga University School of Law, Alexeev worked two part time legal jobs that did not feel like a cohesive career. In 2009 she founded North County Legal, a practice specializing in immigration and estate planning law, because she realized she could be more selective about her clientele and a group of law school friends who started a firm after graduation encouraged her to venture out on her own.
"I never planned on owning my own business, but the way that the economy was at the time, it was very hard to find one full-time job," Alexeev said. "I figured I could do this."
Beltran Lupi worked for nearly 20 years developing new business for Ericsson. When the company moved all of its operations out of the United States, he had to decide whether to uproot his family and leave Carlsbad for another country or turn his hobby of printing T-shirts for family and friends into a business. That was the beginning of Believe in Signs, the promotional products company he started in 2007, which primarily serves small businesses.
"I didn't have a clue how to start," he said. "I was coming from working with companies that were doing $50 million deals and small companies have a completely different structure and way of doing business. It was a big switch. I had to learn how to operate in a small business environment."
When they were starting their business, both turned to the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce for help. They became active members, filled leadership roles in committees and participated in other professional development activities the Chamber offered. Their businesses thrived, even though they launched their careers during a tough economic climate.
When Rob and Teri Swette of Sales Growth Associates, LLC (SGA) a licensed training center for Sandler Training approached the Chamber with the intent of establishing a scholarship program to help members hone their sales skills, Alexeev and Beltran Lupi were among the Chamber members who were nominated to apply for the scholarship, and the ones who were selected.
SGA provides sales and management training and consulting services for small- to medium-sized businesses as well as corporate training for Fortune 1000 companies. Their specialized tools equip trainees with the skills necessary to improve both their business and bottom line.
In Alexeev's and Beltran Lupi's case, the scholarship came at an opportune time.
Alexeev said that two weeks before she was invited to apply for the scholarship, she and her husband discussed the possibility of her enrolling in a management program or going back to school.
"I told him, 'Ok. I've grown my business as much as I can grow it at this time. I need tools to grow it further,'" said Alexeev. "I could still grow my business, but it wasn't growing exponentially and I had used the tools that I knew, I just needed new ones."
Beltran Lupi, for his part, said he was finding it challenging to get a constant flow of sales, and he needed help growing his customer base to help him move from a home-based to a front door company.
"Growth has been small, and thank God that my business and my customer base continues to grow, but it has not been easy," he said. "The promotional items market is tough."
Through the scholarship, Alexeev and Beltran Lupi participated in Sandler's President's Club, a 48-week professional development program that teaches and reinforces advanced sales strategies and tactics that enable sales professionals in a wide variety of industries, both selling tangible products and intangible services, to sell more and sell more easily.
"What SGA offered was essentially an MBA in sales," said Rob Swette. "Often, business owners are so busy running day-to-day operations, they lack the sales skills necessary to take their business to the next level. Building a business takes constant prospecting, networking, planning and accountability."
Beltran Lupi and Alexeev participated in exercises, including role-playing and specialized training to refine their sales development plan and practiced advanced sales strategies and techniques to help develop their skills.
The small group sessions included other President's Club members from other industries, which allowed everyone to learn from their collected experience.
"One of the biggest benefits is that Sandler is an established process that you can replicate and if you use it, you can have more success in closing a deal," Beltran Lupi said. "Another advantage is having other people in the class to share their experience. It is important to see what other people face in their day-to-day lives of running a business."
Alexeev said the training allowed her to take inventory of how she conducted her business and forced her to examine her operations from a more well-rounded perspective.
"It made me evaluate my process and ask: am I doing things right, or am I doing things wrong or should I tweak something?" she said. "It was nice because it reaffirmed some of the things I was doing right and it highlighted some of the things I could definitely improve on or some of the things I wasn't doing at all."
Alexeev added that one of the most important things she learned came from discussions centered around different personality styles and how to do businesses with different types of people.
For example, she noted, some people want direct answers to their questions up front so they can make a quick decision, while others need more hand-holding through the process to develop trust.
"Before, my approach was more 'one size fits all' and I would walk them through my process," Alexeev said. "I can still do that, but I can tweak my approach depending on the personality."
Beltran Lupi said that participants also spent time looking at their own personalities and learning how to adapt them to fit into a more effective style.
"I am more reserved and don't tend to call people to look for clients," he said. "They recommended that it's very important to set up time to make calls … Even if you don't like it, you have to adapt. That is something I have been working on."
Teri Swette said both scholarship recipients were excellent students, and they were both offered a lifetime membership to the President's Club.
"Ryan and Fernando were absolute '10s' and I am confident we have given them the tools necessary to grow and build their businesses," she said.
Alexeev said the training has already helped close more deals.
"I have been getting more complicated cases and I can close those deals and close them a lot quicker than I used to," she said. "I think that really, it's more training than luck."
She will soon be able to apply these techniques in a new setting, Alexeev recently formed a partnership with fellow attorneys Eric Hanscom and Ian McDaniel.
Hanscom Alexeev & McDaniel LLP will provide services in corporations, securities, mergers and acquisitions, formations, general counsel business law, litigation, intellectual property; estate planning; trust administration; and immigration.
Ryan Alexeev and Fernando Beltran Lupi didn't expect to be business owners.
After graduating from Gonzaga University School of Law, Alexeev worked two part time legal jobs that did not feel like a cohesive career. In 2009 she founded North County Legal, a practice specializing in immigration and estate planning law, because she realized she could be more selective about her clientele and a group of law school friends who started a firm after graduation encouraged her to venture out on her own.
"I never planned on owning my own business, but the way that the economy was at the time, it was very hard to find one full-time job," Alexeev said. "I figured I could do this."
Beltran Lupi worked for nearly 20 years developing new business for Ericsson. When the company moved all of its operations out of the United States, he had to decide whether to uproot his family and leave Carlsbad for another country or turn his hobby of printing T-shirts for family and friends into a business. That was the beginning of Believe in Signs, the promotional products company he started in 2007, which primarily serves small businesses.
"I didn't have a clue how to start," he said. "I was coming from working with companies that were doing $50 million deals and small companies have a completely different structure and way of doing business. It was a big switch. I had to learn how to operate in a small business environment."
When they were starting their business, both turned to the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce for help. They became active members, filled leadership roles in committees and participated in other professional development activities the Chamber offered. Their businesses thrived, even though they launched their careers during a tough economic climate.
When Rob and Teri Swette of Sales Growth Associates, LLC (SGA) a licensed training center for Sandler Training approached the Chamber with the intent of establishing a scholarship program to help members hone their sales skills, Alexeev and Beltran Lupi were among the Chamber members who were nominated to apply for the scholarship, and the ones who were selected.
SGA provides sales and management training and consulting services for small- to medium-sized businesses as well as corporate training for Fortune 1000 companies. Their specialized tools equip trainees with the skills necessary to improve both their business and bottom line.
In Alexeev's and Beltran Lupi's case, the scholarship came at an opportune time.
Alexeev said that two weeks before she was invited to apply for the scholarship, she and her husband discussed the possibility of her enrolling in a management program or going back to school.
"I told him, 'Ok. I've grown my business as much as I can grow it at this time. I need tools to grow it further,'" said Alexeev. "I could still grow my business, but it wasn't growing exponentially and I had used the tools that I knew, I just needed new ones."
Beltran Lupi, for his part, said he was finding it challenging to get a constant flow of sales, and he needed help growing his customer base to help him move from a home-based to a front door company.
"Growth has been small, and thank God that my business and my customer base continues to grow, but it has not been easy," he said. "The promotional items market is tough."
Through the scholarship, Alexeev and Beltran Lupi participated in Sandler's President's Club, a 48-week professional development program that teaches and reinforces advanced sales strategies and tactics that enable sales professionals in a wide variety of industries, both selling tangible products and intangible services, to sell more and sell more easily.
"What SGA offered was essentially an MBA in sales," said Rob Swette. "Often, business owners are so busy running day-to-day operations, they lack the sales skills necessary to take their business to the next level. Building a business takes constant prospecting, networking, planning and accountability."
Beltran Lupi and Alexeev participated in exercises, including role-playing and specialized training to refine their sales development plan and practiced advanced sales strategies and techniques to help develop their skills.
The small group sessions included other President's Club members from other industries, which allowed everyone to learn from their collected experience.
"One of the biggest benefits is that Sandler is an established process that you can replicate and if you use it, you can have more success in closing a deal," Beltran Lupi said. "Another advantage is having other people in the class to share their experience. It is important to see what other people face in their day-to-day lives of running a business."
Alexeev said the training allowed her to take inventory of how she conducted her business and forced her to examine her operations from a more well-rounded perspective.
"It made me evaluate my process and ask: am I doing things right, or am I doing things wrong or should I tweak something?" she said. "It was nice because it reaffirmed some of the things I was doing right and it highlighted some of the things I could definitely improve on or some of the things I wasn't doing at all."
Alexeev added that one of the most important things she learned came from discussions centered around different personality styles and how to do businesses with different types of people.
For example, she noted, some people want direct answers to their questions up front so they can make a quick decision, while others need more hand-holding through the process to develop trust.
"Before, my approach was more 'one size fits all' and I would walk them through my process," Alexeev said. "I can still do that, but I can tweak my approach depending on the personality."
Beltran Lupi said that participants also spent time looking at their own personalities and learning how to adapt them to fit into a more effective style.
"I am more reserved and don't tend to call people to look for clients," he said. "They recommended that it's very important to set up time to make calls … Even if you don't like it, you have to adapt. That is something I have been working on."
Teri Swette said both scholarship recipients were excellent students, and they were both offered a lifetime membership to the President's Club.
"Ryan and Fernando were absolute '10s' and I am confident we have given them the tools necessary to grow and build their businesses," she said.
Alexeev said the training has already helped close more deals.
"I have been getting more complicated cases and I can close those deals and close them a lot quicker than I used to," she said. "I think that really, it's more training than luck."
She will soon be able to apply these techniques in a new setting, Alexeev recently formed a partnership with fellow attorneys Eric Hanscom and Ian McDaniel.
Hanscom Alexeev & McDaniel LLP will provide services in corporations, securities, mergers and acquisitions, formations, general counsel business law, litigation, intellectual property; estate planning; trust administration; and immigration.