Summit Features Selling Techniques, Tips to Boost your Brand

Posted November 19, 2021 at 11:28 am



Thirty-three TRSA operators and suppliers convened in Plano, Texas, for TRSA’s Fourth Annual Marketing & Sales Summit. The summit was attended by marketing and sales executives from linen, uniform and facility services operations nationwide, with 85% of the attendees meeting in-person at the Renaissance Dallas at Plano Legacy West Hotel.

Shawn Rhodes, a business systems engineer, author and speaker, kicked off the Nov. 16 Summit with his keynote address, Bullet Proof Selling: Systemizing Sales for the Future of Textile Rental. As a former combat correspondent, one of the few people commissioned by the U.S. government to study high-performing teams in combat zones, Rhodes uses his experience to relate to common sales techniques, such as how the military combat debrief can be applied to a sales call. He said that after a sales meeting, one must debrief the salesperson, the prospect and the company to gain as much information as possible for both successes and failures. After the keynote, Rhodes provided a free signed copy of his book, Bullet Proof Selling, to all attendees.

Dennis Yu, a business coach and digital marketing specialist, presented a high energy and dynamic tour of digital marketing trends. He reiterated the need to build and develop a content library and demonstrated tools as simple as taking video and translating the video into text for instant blog content. Yu also offered attendees a second session at the close of the conference that delved further into web apps that makes content building easy. He walked attendees through specific examples of web apps and how reposting content will build your network. He closed by offering each attendee access to his 1,200-page e-book on digital marketing.

Ben Fox, Alsco Inc.; Sean Michot, Prudential Overall Supply; John Witschy, Spindle; and Sarah Ross, Huebsch Services, participated in a panel discussion on how to make and keep your customers happy. Emily Hauber, CITY Laundering, who also serves as chair of TRSA’s Marketing Committee, moderated the discussion. The panel summarized that building relationships between the company and the client was the key to keeping your customers happy. “The two favorite people of our clients are the route driver and the salesperson,” Fox said. Further confirming how to retain happy customers, Michot added that, “It’s got to be seamless between sales and service.”

Jay Rasmussen, vice president of sales for Balfurd Linen Service, presented a session on training your route personnel to be brand ambassadors. He talked about the importance of clearly defining the brand, both what it is perceived in the industry and what you want it to be. Rasmussen discussed three ways to demonstrate the brand including: improving lives through laundry; being caring, coachable and committed; and supporting the team. He expanded on how to achieve strong ambassadors by using a coaching system that includes route rides with supervisors, weekly huddles with route reps, monthly meetings with management, cross-functional training and supporting customer events.

Yes &, a branding and communications agency that TRSA has retained, shared highlights from consumer research, where 1,000 people were surveyed, and B2B industry research, which surveyed 20 industry decision makers. The agency presented findings that revealed demographic, psychographic and behavioral data that will be used to help build personas. Yes& shared the first of four industry personas, a healthcare persona, based on collected data from the findings. The personas will help develop messaging platforms to guide the industry’s marketing. Conference attendees were asked to help rank the insights and opportunities that were gathered, allowing TRSA and YES& to focus on the opportunities most important to the industry.

During two of the networking breaks, marketing executives from six different companies used the time to share their bright ideas and new concepts that were successful marketing projects. These included WSI’s unique packaging of a mailed invitation to the Clean Show with free gifts for their customers, CITY Laundering’s Customer Spotlight section of their website and Spindle’s 5 Tips to Save 10% landing page and e-book download on best practices. Infinite Laundry shared their development and promotion of International Linen and Laundry Day to bring public awareness to the profession. Landau presented MyFit, a custom app that allowed virtual, no contact fitting for ordering scrubs and uniforms. TRSA shared the social media success of its year-long Recovery Tour, with its executive leadership team traveling nearly 7,000 miles through 28 states to meet with more than 70 members.

The Marketing & Sales Summit wrapped up with a reception for summit attendees, who were joined by TRSA Healthcare Conference attendees, whose event got underway the following day. Thanks to Kannegiesser ETECH, JENSEN, Lavatec and Pellerin Milnor for sponsoring the Fourth Annual Marketing & Sales Summit.

124