First Day

(Darn. I don't have my English notebook on me right now and it has my notes on how the blogs should be formatted! Well... Hopefully AP's blogs are the right format.. I followed how they wrote up their blogs.)

Today was the first time I met my mentor in regards to my senior project. Finally! I'm actually getting a move on it! Today only consisted of a meeting. My mentor and his fiance, who also works in the business, gave me a run down on what my task is. And boy, did I feel so overwhelmed. I felt like as if a huge load of information just bursted on my face. My mentor laughed when I said that. 

In our meeting today, my mentor, Sthiv, told me the basics of how their business works. Like a said, a lot of information was basically thrown at me, so I will tell you what they basically told me step by step.

First, Sthiv told me how we approach our clients. We show them this handout of ReViewlutionary Visions that consists of their history, tasks, goals, offers, and reviews. So when we meet with clients, the goal is to make them feel comfortable. Sthiv and Celia, his fiance, made a good point earlier about how it's important to do this. So the way to make them become more comfortable is to get them to ask questions. By doing so, we have to either be really detailed with the topic being discussed or be abrupt, but concise. It keeps the client engaged and the client will feel more inclined to ask questions for a better understanding. Also, I did not mention this before, but it's also important to give them a brief overview of the business and maybe tell like a little history of it. It won't show that you, the "salesperson", isn't just all about business. When clients are engaged and starting to become more familiar, it makes them feel like we, as the business, are a good choice for the event they want to document.

After the client makes a note on the business being a potential candidate for their event, the client should receive your contact. This is where communication plays the key role again. Keep in contact to purposely make them feel comfortable and want to have you for their event. Sthiv even mentioned that if the client texts you, you should keep asking them what they want and if they need a better understanding... My reaction to myself was... "Wait, businesses can text?"

(Oh! I just remembered! When discussing your plans with the client, keep asking them what THEY want. You want them to be satisfied. It's sort of like having them be the director. See? You're making them feel more comfortable by giving them more freedom.)

Of course, when the client chooses your [photo] business, you need to schedule those appointments. I think I am a little bit confused on that part, so I need to contact my mentor again to explain that to me. But I do distinctly remember how if you're giving your client's proofs, make them feel good by over-complimenting them. "Yeah! The wind totally made your hair flow nicely!"

So recap on that, when I'm with a client, I have to present who we are, what we offer, keep them engaged and in contact, sign contracts, schedule appointments, be there at the appointments, and give them their proofs and packages. I think that's basically it.

Also, my mentor actually taught me why sometimes the actual prices do not show up on flyers or something... I think this is something I have to mention LATER...

And that's not just it for now. My first REAL task is to come up with a promotional portrait package for maybe my high school. Have like a "Warrior special" or something. I need to have a basic idea on what this package needs to be based on. With prom and ball coming, maybe I can base it off from those events. I need to design a flyer and have my mentor approve it. From that, we can continue from there. So hopefully sometime during the busy weekend, I will be able to come up with something.

Sthiv personally told me that their goal for me is to get an idea of how their business works (as said before). He really wants me to be independent with this project so that I'm working to benefit myself. This is true, I mean, I can decide to NOT do the flyer and fail this project. I already see that this physical project will call for a lot of independence which is very essential in the "real world". ... Right? This is a little off to the side, but I think my skills from Leadership is really benefiting me for independence. 

'Til again!

Today's hours: 1 hour
Running total: 1 hour (Hooray!)