ENT3003_Brianna Gregorio

I feel the most formative experience for me throughout ENT3003 was the first assignment where we had to conduct interviews. I believe this experience to be the most formative because it allowed me to understand that completing my venture was going to take commitment, energy, courage, and passion. The first time I went out and tried to find people who would take part in an interview I felt intimidated. I felt that not many people wanted to participate. From that point forward, I realized that producing a solution to an unmet need was going to come with ample obstacles and connecting with people was just one of them. Being forced to create connections and a network became simpler throughout the semester and now I have a great group of people interested in my product. I do believe that I have moved closer to an entrepreneurial mindset. I find myself being able to identify more unmet needs than ever. It is like this class has made problems more visible to me. I also feel like the...

Opportunity Approximately 90% of American customers will share their customer service experiences with others. Of those American customers, those who are angry will share their negative experience with and give anti referrals to about 15 people. In other words, negative experiences within a store can be easily spread and cause a stores attendance rate and sales rate to decrease. In addition, 60% of American will not desire to connect with a sales associate until they have browsed, completed extensive research, and made up their mind about the product or products they would like to purchase. It is also important to note that 30% of American customers leave a store empty-handed because of poor customer service.  Now, picture that you have a grueling week at work. Each day dragged on and you felt it was never going to end. As a form of therapy, you decide that when your work week is over you are going to go shopping. You walk into stores and you are approached by pushy emp...

1.        At the moment I am not quite sure which exit strategy I would choose. I believe this is mostly because I am currently focused on completing my bachelor’s degree and a business is not my priority. If I had to choose one though, I would probably choose to continue my business until retirement. 2.        I have selected this strategy because I feel it could be a a good side job to have. It will bring in extra money and provide me cushion for when I am older. Also, I am not sure how much this business can grow and am not sure if it will be worth enough to sell off to someone else. 3.        I think my exit strategy has influenced the way I went about my business throughout the class in that I was not completely dedicated to it. Like I mentioned above I am a college student and I am balancing my workload, with a job, and extracurriculars. Knowing that I was only going to use this ext...

Shoe Dog , Phil Knight 1.        I was most surprised by the fact that Nike only made 8000 dollars in sales in the first year. This was so surprising to me because it is now one of the most popular athletic brands out there. Being a sales associate at Orangetheory Fitness, I am surrounded by gym clothes all the time and Nike is by far the most popular brand I see on members. I most admired that Phil created the product based on his own needs. I think it is really nice to see an entrepreneur bringing a passion of theirs into the product. In his case, he was a runner and wanted supportive shoes. I least admired that he started out by hiring just people he knew. I think it is more beneficial to hire people outside of your inner circle because they will have differing mindsets and views than you. Phil did encounter adversity, especially in the beginning of Nike. 2.        I noticed that Phil was a very strong delegator....

1.        I failed in the beginning of the semester when I identified the wrong customer for my unmet need. I was so focused on the fact that pushy employees affect shoppers, that I choose the incorrect customer for the product. I had initially said that the shoppers would be my customer, but that made no sense because the system I want to implement is for stores and stores would have to purchase it therefore, stores are my customer. 2.        I learned that even though I am meeting an unmet need of someone else, I can still sell to the people that serve the customer who is experiencing the unmet need. I also realized that my system not only helps the shopper, but it helps the stores. My system well allows for more sales in the long run and it will cause less shoppers to walk out of a store “empty-handed.” 3.        I believe that failure is necessary for an individual to grow. Without fa...

Existing Market I believe the next steps for my venture is to identify which stores I can implement my system in, that I have not already. My focus has been personal care stores, apparel stores, shoe stores, and grocery stores. There is an array of store types and I am sure there is some that are suffering from a drop in sales because of customers walking out empty handed due to pushy service. The customers that I focused on throughout my venture was managers at stores like Bath and Body Works. I interviewed these types of people because this is a store that I find pushiness can be very present. If I were to ask them what I should be doing that I am not currently with my venture, I feel it would be to make my product the style of their store. For instance, my venture just consists of providing different colored bags to stores like Bath and Body Works, but maybe I need to make them certain colors that match the stores theme or have them decorated in a way that they blend in with...

Opportunity Approximately 90% of American customers will share their customer service experiences with others. Of those American customers, those who are angry will share their negative experience with and give anti referrals to about 15 people. In other words, negative experiences within a store can be easily spread and cause a stores attendance rate and sales rate to decrease. In addition, 60% of American will not desire to connect with a sales associate until they have browsed, completed extensive research, and made up their mind about the product or products they would like to purchase. Now, picture that you have a grueling week at work. Each day dragged on and you felt it was never going to end. As a form of therapy, you decide that when your work week is over you are going to go shopping. You walk into stores and you are approached by pushy employees that just want you to buy something. Instead of this being a relaxing time, you end up getting frustrated and give up on ...

1.         Experience in a sales environment Valuable: I have been in sales for about a year and a half and have dealt with customers who want help and those who just want to explore the product on their. I am able to have the viewpoint of a customer and an employee, therefore I know how my product can benefit both sides of the business. Rare: A lot of people may have been in retail, but what makes me rare is that I sell OrangeTheory gym memberships. Selling this product is not easy because it takes a lot of persuasion for someone to sign up for something that they are held accountable for and for something that costs them a good amount of money. Inimitable: It is not simple to imitate my experience in a sales environment because no one person is like another therefore someone can benefit from the environment differently than me. Non-substitutable: Other customer service skills can provide similar benefits, but a gym environment is different than ...

Elevator Pitch 3: https://youtu.be/VvENPEyFwDA Reflection: A piece of feedback that I found very helpful on elevator pitch number two was to shorten my opening. Someone had suggested that I spent too long on the hook and did not allot much time to explaining the product. Additionally, I was told to try to use less hand gestures since it could become distracting. Most of the feedback was positive and encouraging rather than constructive. Change: I decided to take out some of the statistical evidence I originally had. I decided to shorten it to just two pieces of statistical evidence, so it didn’t seem like I was throwing out a ton of numbers. It allowed me to spend more time explaining the product I have come up with to minimize the annoyances customers receive from pushy employees. Also, I minimized my hand movement throughout the pitch so that I do not distract the viewer. Overall, I found this pitch to be the easiest. I feel it was the easiest because it has become second n...

1)       In my opinion, the theme of this book is to stay professional, provide relevant content, and utilize more than one platform when building your social media present. The main focus of this book was to provide people who are looking to make their business more present on social media with tips and tricks. Guy Kawasaki offers guidance through a bottom-up approach that he believes will attract consumers to your product. 2)       I feel that this book connects with ENT3003 in that it touches on professional branding for a company. Throughout ENT3003 we have all been tasked with creating a business idea for an unmet need. Creating a business idea will eventually lead to needing to promote that business idea. In other words, a professional brand is a crucial part of a businesses marketing plan, which is something we have covered in class. I feel like this book does a great job of explaining the proper way to jump start your busin...

Domain expert: John F. John is a manager at R.W. Rogers Company Inc. This company specializes in making accessories for stores, including display accessories and accessories for customers of the stores to use. R.W. started out as just a company that created different shopping carts for the Midwest and has expanded greatly since it opened. It was a bit hard to find John. I first had to google “shopping cart producers”, the company came up and then I had to explore through their website. The contact tab on the website was not very helpful, so I checked to see if the company had a Facebook. Through the Facebook, I was able to find a post that featured John. I contacted him by going through the websites contact form and requested for my note to be sent to him. I expect for him to be able to give me some insight on how to be innovative with shopping carts and accessories for stores. Having John in my network will allow for me to build a better understanding of cart and accessory manufac...

1.         I am a finance student that enjoys dancing and being a part of student organizations. I am a Sales Associate at OrangeTheory Fitness, where I am tasked to promote a healthy lifestyle and help increase studio membership sales. As an employee, I am told to always “close the sale, no matter how much bugging it takes,” holding this job and having to bug people has really opened my eyes to how annoyed potential members can get. Because I have been exposed to sales, I know what the employees deal with when customers get irritated. Also, I know exactly what it is to be annoyed by an employee because during my spare time I enjoy going shopping. I aspire to create a product that provides customers with the option of whether or not they want attention while in a store. This business would make my job less stressful as a sales associate and would allow me to enjoy myself while shopping. 2.         I will provide c...

Deanna Jones Bath and Body Works Store Manager Deanna is a 32-year-old and married to a man named John. Her and John have two children and a labradoodle. She says when she is not at the store she manages, she is chauffeuring her children to their sports after school. They have been playing soccer for two years. She hopes they play it throughout elementary, middle, and high school. Deanna drives a Ford Explorer because it is most convenient and comfortable for her family. She mentioned most of her family does not live in Gainesville, so having a comfy car for the family is important for road trips. Deanna’s hobbies consist of finding new self-care routines to follow, cleaning her house, shopping, and spending time with her family outside. She also elaborated on the fact that she is always reading books and articles on how to lead because she has many employees who look up to her in her store. Comparison: My avatar and I are very si...