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Karen DeTemple Ideas With Impact. Based in San Francisco CA.
Q: How did you start your company and what is your background in the Events Industry?
KD: I started out in the retail industry and moved to brand marketing, with Swatch. I was in retail promotions and sports sponsorships. Then I started working with Creative Event Marketing, a turnkey meeting and event production company. Then CEM was acquired by a large public relations company. With my former company, I started their west coast office and I worked on media and events that were largely in support of key PR incentives. Then in the fall of 2001, I left and started my company: Ideas With Impact.
Q: What are some of the challenges that you faced when starting your company?
KD: When I left my former company in August of 2001, no one expected that September 11th would happen. Many of the relationships that I had made over the years that I was counting on were not happening because many people were not traveling. Events were being seeing as superfluous. So, I went from having a rich clientele and lots of industry contacts to an industry that was declining in business. I would say that my primary challenge was seeking out new companies to stir up business.
Q: Now that you were faced with little work, how did you expose yourself knowing that print media and all the traditional methods of marketing were expensive and not that effective?
KD: Many of the traditional forms of advertising were costly and I don’t feel that you see a return on your investment that would warrant the expense. So, I looked for grass roots and new forms of marketing. I needed a way of including my network and building confidence in my company while exposing it to my target market. Becoming aware of Get It Planet and what you offer our industry became very appealing to me. It is easy and cost effective to market my company in front of hundreds of thousands of businesses looking for my service. I really like that through Get It Planet I can have my background and reference checked, which will build a trust with my potential new clients that advertising just can’t do. Then to find out that Get It Planet also checks out the buyers that I do business with… well I was impressed! Having this information when putting together a proposal saves me so much time and money. Working directly with key decision makers is wonderful. Time is a valuable asset to me and it’s great to know that the Get It Planet system verifies the buyer. I can easily see if the RFQ adds value to my company.
Q: Karen can you speak about how Get It Planet lets you maximize and create new revenue from your current network?
KD: The Get It Planet concept of letting me refer other colleges to the system to get more business is real interesting to me. All I do is network for business. Word of month is a big part of my business. Knowing that service providers and buyers are referred to the system gives me an added feeling of confidence when I buy or sell on the Get It Planet system. And knowing that if I share my years of contacts to the system that also can add revenue to my company. This is a plus and something that I believe will take Get It Planet to the top of the events industry.
Q: Knowing that much of our business in the events industry is made though referrals. What is it about Get It Planet new version 2.0 that helps the buyer feel more confident to buy your company?
KD: Letter of references is important. There are all types of referrals, but the best kind are the when those referrals can come directly from a buyer of your service and your new client knows that my company has not had time to put a marketing spin on the job. Get It Planet poles each buyer after the event is over. The buyer can post directly to my account and give their real feeling of how my company performed for their event. I can respond to the comments and the next buyer can get a real feel for how my company handles their clients. I also like that Get It Planet will not let anyone pay for placement on the site. This allows for a level playing field because anyone can be at the top of a search if they have good reviews and run business through the site.
Q: Can you speak about how Get It Planet saves you time when doing proposals?
KD: At first I was concerned that I would get so many leads that I couldn’t keep up with them. Being able to store my ideas in my account and deploying them quickly is exciting. All of us spend weeks putting together proposals for our clients and some don’t finalize. The ease of deploying my ideas and sourcing new ideas saves a great amount time. Having this online battery of proposals helps me to put my best foot forward and positively impacts my bottom line. I like that if I am looking for a product or service I can post it to the Get It Planet marketplace and if there isn’t a provider the Get It Planet research team will source out a few. The combination of quick turn around, third party verification and all the tools Get It Planet offers is going to win me business.
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