Small Business Training
Ten 60 - 90 min workshops once a week.
Try the first session for free | $100 + GST for members and $200 + GST for non-members for the full series
Start-up Training
Statistics show that of Canadian start-up businesses:
- 42% fail because there is no market demand for their products and services.
- 29% fail because of insufficient funding.
- 14% fail because of poor marketing strategies
Designed for those new to small business concepts, this course will provide simple and concise hands-on training for entrepreneurs looking to start – or recently have started (1 year or less) - a small business. The training will take place over 10 weekly sessions; each lasting 60 to 90 minutes. Attendees will be expected to participate by class interaction and completing “homework” assignments.
- Goal setting
- Creating your business model
- Budgeting
- Staff management
- Pricing for profitability
- Competitive analysis
- Financing
- Introduction to sales and marketing
The sessions will be led by Dave White, a local entrepreneur with more than 45 years of experience starting, building, and managing small businesses.
Sessions are weekly on Tuesday's at 7PM in the GPR Chamber Boardroom
By registering for the first free session, there is no commitment to continue with the rest of the workshop. If you register for the workshop in it's entirety, that will include the first session.
Corporate goals (10, 5, 3, and 1 year).
Without clearly defined goals, your new business venture will be rudderless, which can erode customer and supplier confidence and lead to frustration on the part of staff and business colleagues. Worse, it can lead to a business that just survives or ultimately fails. This session will focus on your corporate goals by starting at the end - what you are ultimately trying to achieve – and progressively working backwards through shorter time frames. This session will also discuss Mission, Vision, and Values, which are essential to keeping your business growth on track.
Sales Training
As a small business owner, have you ever struggled with growing your business due to a lack of sales? Statistics show that of Canadian start-up businesses:
- 42% fail because there is no market demand for their products and services.
- 14% fail because of poor marketing strategies
Designed for new or established small businesses, this course will provide simple and concise hands-on training for entrepreneurs, managers, or sales staff looking to improve their sales techniques and close ratios. The training will take place over 10 weekly sessions; each lasting 60 to 90 minutes. Attendees will be expected to participate by class interaction and completing “homework” assignments.
- Understanding basic sales concepts
- Discovering what you are REALLY selling
- Effective techniques for B2C and B2B sales
- Defining your sales process
- How sales and marketing complement each other
- Secrets to building a return customer base
The sessions will be led by Dave White, a local entrepreneur with more than 45 years of experience starting, building, and managing small businesses. He specializes in Sales and Marketing and has taught numerous sales sessions to a wide variety of small business owners and sales staff.
Sessions are weekly on Wednesday's at 7PM in the GPR Chamber Boardroom
By registering for the first free session, there is no commitment to continue with the rest of the workshop. If you register for the workshop in it's entirety, that will include the first session.
What are you really selling?
Most small business sales staff think in terms of the products and services they offer to their end users. But the essence of a successful sale is to know what you are really selling. This session will teach a simple formula that will change the way you approach a customer by fully understanding what you are really selling.
Out-of-Scope Note: This course does not cover setting sales targets, tracking sales metrics, or managing a sales team. Those topics would be the subject of a different course or provided through a consultant.
About Dave White
Dave started his entrepreneurial career in 1975 when he turned a passion for high performance automotives into a thriving business that eventually employed 35 staff. From automotive engineer to machinist to race car driver, Dave pioneered many innovations that allowed his success to spread to the western United States and Canada. But through a series of poor business decisions, the automotive business was forced to close in the early nineties.
Undeterred, Dave returned to his original passion for electronics just as the personal computer revolution was gaining ground in the mid nineties. Working from a home office and shop, he started a small computer business focused on serving friends and local businesses with new technology. In 1997, he joined forces with two other partners to start Trinus Technologies. Today, TRINUS is the preeminent provider of Managed IT Services to municipalities in Alberta and have a growing contingent of professional and industrial business clients. TRINUS currently employes about 30 staff in their Stony Plain location that serve the business and technology needs of clients all over Alberta.
Recently retired from active operations, Dave’s 47-year career as a small business owner and entrepreneur has seen him travel the world. From the jungles of Papua New Guinea to Dublin, from Hong Kong to Cape Town, Dave has used his passion for serving clients with a whatever-it-takes attitude to solve their business and technology problems. But most importantly, Dave has learned the lessons of what it takes to successfully start, operate, and grow a thriving small business through the pitfalls and peaks of today’s challenging business environment.