Insight from Rafael Caamano
Written by Saidah Hicks
Many businesses are created from passion, determination, and love. Every founder and CEO considers their business to be their baby, and because of that, they also consider their baby to be the prettiest in the world and know that everyone is going to love it. The business is then taken out into the world and the founder or CEO realizes it’s going to be a little harder than they anticipated, and they need help. Rafael has found that nine out of the ten businesses that he works with struggle with their marketing strategy and sales process.
Upon acceptance into the UCF Business Incubation Program, an assessment is conducted to see how we can help you grow and achieve your goals. While some more established businesses that are likely a part of the growth program may score better in the sales process category, newer businesses in our traction program tend to score lower as they are finding their footing. Business owners often feel the next step is to hire a salesperson to facilitate their sales process. Why hire a salesperson with a lot of experience when you don’t know how to manage that person? A certain amount of knowledge is required so that you can understand what is going on with your business on a weekly or monthly basis.
Another section of the assessment where Rafael found that most clients score low, regardless of which program they are in is marketing. Many businesses don’t put as much emphasis on marketing and most budgets are very little and are not prioritized amongst other goals. It is important to remember if you aren’t marketing your brand, no one is going to know who you are. Here at the UCF Business Incubation Program, we give our clients the tools to create and execute successful marketing strategies resulting in more confidence moving forward when engaging with marketing professionals or bringing on others to support you in achieving your marketing goals.
What’s the best way to establish or improve your sales process and marketing strategy? There are plenty of resources to support you in these efforts such as the UCF Business Incubation Program, operating throughout the Central Florida region. Beyond Central Florida, there is the Service Corps of Retired Executives and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
