IMPACT conducted a pilot seminar entitled The Ironworker as Salesman on May 26thin Orlando, Florida. In attendance were ten Business Managers and Agents who engaged in various group and individual exercises designed to raise their awareness of the issues that they will face when they make contact with contractors and owners. The seminar, facilitated by IMPACT’s Dr. Rick Sullivan, also provided the group with important techniques on how best to approach a busy contractor, both over the phone and in person.
The material presented did not appear overnight. The basis was a seminar, filmed by IMPACT, that was conducted at the direction of Joe Standley, President of the Ironworkers District Council of California and featured widely acclaimed union construction advocate, Mark Breslin. The raw footage was reviewed on a number of occasions and edited. It was then integrated into a power point presentation that lends itself to a facilitated class. The entire process, from original filming to a product suitable for the seminar took over a year.
Larry Brown, President of the Ironworkers District Council of Southeastern States, commented that we need to harness the manpower, brainpower and passion of Business Managers in a unique way: sales agents. “We can and have printed the slick marketing materials, and we continue to advertise on a regular basis. But, this is a face-to-face business, and I firmly believe that we need to meet with our current and potential customers and personally explain how we add value to their operations,” Brown said.
When asked, in the seminar evaluation for frank and unvarnished feedback, this comment was typical: “Excellent, if this is a pilot program and we were the guinea pigs, please know I have attended many seminars over my career and this hit a home run. Thanks and spread this everywhere.”
Minor revisions to this seminar are currently being made. This material will be available, upon request, to all Ironworker district councils in the near future. For more information or to schedule a seminar please contact the IMPACT office.
For more information, contact us at (800) 545-4921 or info@impact-net.org.