Friday, July 13, 2012

Now I can stop brain freeze

Another successful week has been completed here at Equity Trust.  It was jam-packed with meetings, new projects, and Dairy Queen!  Since my parents always told me to save my dessert for last I will hold off on the DQ until I tell you what I have been working on. 

After our Evergreen meeting last week I began researching some of the program's competitors.  Wes provided me with over ten different programs that provide webinar automation services.  I went on their websites and documented what features they offer and how they compare to those offered by EBS.  I threw out the majority of the programs on the list but flagged about three that are somewhat comparable to Evergreen for further research. 

We have been brainstorming how best to handle any complaints that are posted on our Facebook page.  Since we recently upgraded our systems we have been having a few issues handling our customers accounts.  We have had one particularly unruly customer who continues to post negative feedback on our page.  Although we follow up, and eventually resolve, each issue this client is still not satisfied.  We got together and decided we would contact him again with an opportunity that should assuage him. 

On Wednesday Brendan assigned me a new project.  In the past several marketing interns have conducted a competitor analysis that looks into the website content, fee schedules, and sales procedure of the top firms in the self-directed IRA industry.  Since it has been a few years since the last analysis I am going to update our information.  I am excited for this project because it allows me to play detective.  We have agreed on a client profile that includes my age, occupation, investments I am interested in, and how much I have to invest.  I will then utilize this profile to contact our competitors and learn how they pitch their products.  I hope to compile an extensive comparison and help our company to continue to improve.  I had to leave a little early Wednesday because I had my 2 month check up for my elbow surgery.  It is extremely valuable that ETC allows me the flexibility to leave a little early for my appointments.  The doctor gave me great news!  I am finally cleared to begin strengthening my arm in the weight room for the first time in over six months.  To say I am excited would be an understatement, even if it is just to curl five pound weights! 

In addition, I had another meeting with Rich Desich and Kent to discuss how we would like to continue with our Evergreen Webinar program.  We are planning on utilizing one of the 2,600 Homevestor franchises.  We hope to produce an educational webinar that will run continuously.  We will use Homevestor to help drive traffic to the webinar and thus tap into their leads.  Rich did a great job explaining the thought process that was put into each slide.  It was amazing to learn more about the psychological component of marketing.  Every word, every topic, and every slide has a specific response it should provoke.  Rich encouraged our team that this program should help revolutionize how we produce webinars and generate leads from them.  Like I've mentioned before, this is an opportunity most interns do not have.  I am lucky to be in the position that I am and I have no doubt I am learning more than many of my peers.   

Is all this work making your hungry?  Me too.  Once again the marketing department infused fun and food into the work week.  Brendan decided it was time to treat the department to Dairy Queen to celebrate Kelly registering over 100 people for our Tax Free Wealth Seminar in San Francisco.  She has been doing great work with TFWS and I was more than happy to "help her celebrate."  I got an Oreo Blizzard, which unlocked an extremely useful piece of information.  KT informed me that you can stop brain freeze by pressing your thumb against the roof of your mouth.  I figured there was only one way to test this statement.  I began to shovel copious amounts of Oreo Blizzard into my mouth until I felt that familiar pain in my head.  Sure enough it worked!  I will no longer live in fear of the dreaded brain freeze thanks to KT.  I guess it just proves my theory that interning with ETC will teach you more than the rest!

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