Week 3 in Review

In my third week I continued the testing process with Evergreen.  I am corresponding with their technical support staff on a daily basis answering questions, gaining a better understanding of the software, and making suggestions.  Kent, our business development manager, informed me that our CEO’s Jeff and Rich Desich were interested in hearing about EBS.  Kent said he would include me in his meeting with the two next Tuesday.  I then created a third test webinar that will run Monday and Tuesday of next week.  This way the Desichs can see the system work for itself.  I also told Kent that I would be willing to give a presentation about the software.  Talking about throwing my hat in the ring!  I am now working on that presentation.  I typed up an overview progress report that summarizes the findings and issues that have shown themselves in the first three tests.  I am also beginning my PowerPoint presentation, which I will finalize and practice next week. 

            My other main project that I am monitoring is BiggerPockets.com.  BP is an online blog, forum, and social network of people interested in real estate.  Equity Trust Company had worked with Bigger Pockets at a recent conference in Denver so that is how BP got on our radar.  My goal is to get online and educate the members about self-directed IRAs while also increasing our brand awareness.  If they can see my posts as worthwhile and informative then it should hopefully generate leads for us.  In my first day I posted in a forum about the Private Bank Concept to help clarify how you can borrow from other people’s IRAs to fund your investments.  I also had my first colleague request accepted, and it turned out the guy was already a lead in Salesforce.  I hope we can convert him to a client through the help of my posting. 

            I attended two of the webinars I mentioned in last week’s blog and took notes for the department.  KT and I learned about the possibilities and functions of RegOnline mobile.  This is an app that we can use at the Networking Conference that should really connect us with the attendees.  I also sat in on a webinar meeting with the entire marketing department along with some of the executives to get the report from a company called Wider Funnels.  Wider Funnels took a look at our landing pages and presented the changes they would like to make and the results of the changes they tried.  This was an extremely informative meeting where I was able to learn more about how we generate leads from our websites.  In school you hear so much about the use of the internet for marketing, but it was not until I began this internship, and especially sat in on this meeting, that I began to truly learn about it. 

            Some other minor tasks I have been working on this week include contacting GroupOn and registering to become a member of the site.  We would like to use GroupOn to advertise for our Tax Free Wealth Seminars in San Diego, San Francisco, Nashville, and Memphis.  I also helped Kelly to send out a newsletter in the mail to our Gold Level Service Members.  I also attended a three hour training session for the Salesforce program with the Equity Institutional department.  Finally, we had some fun on Tuesday for Brendan’s birthday.  KT made a delicious fudge Oreo brownie cake that was out of this world!  Our whole department also went out to Maya for lunch and embarrassed Brendan with a sombrero and a beautiful rendition of the Happy Birthday song.  He later told us that that was the one thing he hates the most, whoops!  It was just another example of the fun that we have here at ETC and a nice break during what has been a busy week.