Evantage, Inc. Building Business Relationships

Evantage, Inc. was founded in April of 2006 in Dallas, TX.  Sales and marketing has changed a lot these days, no longer are companies able to get by with telemarketing, direct mail, and advertising alone.  In today's day and age people are connected with personal relationships more than ever.  Word of mouth, and face to face sales has been a key for all companies, large or small to market products and services in this economy.

Many times, people don't know where to go to get the best deals, find about new products, or even who to trust.  When company President, Chris Auwarter founded Evantage, his vision was to provide other companies a professional and innovative way to reach the customer base.  Outsourcing is not a new concept but today it can be a real tool for Fortune 500 companies to quickly hit sales targets and launch new products.

"Since opening our doors we feel that we have been able to make a real difference in the Dallas area with helping several major Dallas based companies hit and exceed their sales goals.  Our team has also been able to market and sell some of the newest and best technology on the market.  We are proud that not only we have been able to help our clients grow, but also been able to be true partners with them in all areas.  The recognition our team has received for customer satisfaction scores says a lot about how in tune our team is to our clients." - Chris Auwarter

Here are several tips to help you build strong business relationships:

1.  Be yourself!  People do business with people they trust.  You can't pretend you are someone you are not. Some people you will hit it off right away and others will take some time, but don't try to be someone you are not.

2.  Approach each contact with the end in mind.  Your goal should be to build a long-term relationship.  Always expect success, and do your part to get there.

3.  Look for the Win-Win.  Relationships are about helping make each party better.  There shouldn't be a winner and a loser, strong relationships should be mutually beneficial.

4.  Show commitment to the other side.  Loyalty and Trust come from a commitment!

5.  Listen and Learn.  Expect to find out new things from the other party.  Keep in mind, 2 ears and 1 mouth, use them!

Focus and Intensity

It's been too long since we have posted a blog...

It has been a busy summer and early fall at Evantage, with expansions to Charlotte, NC and in 2 weeks we expand again to Denver, CO!

Every year it seems like we here all the time about New Years Resolutions, what you want to accomplish this year, then sometime in the Spring it is easy to lose that focus and intensity toward the goals and then they are forgotten.

Our challenge this year is instead of focusing on New Year's Resolutions, set some goals for yourself now at the beginning of November to have focus and intensity on your goals now, so come January you are farther ahead of where you expected to be, which in turn will lead you to even more success in 2012.

Here comes a BIG BANG in July!

It has been a great 1st half of 2011!  We are looking forward to a better 2nd half as well with more growth and expansion.

We have seen some great promotions this year!  Congrats to Collin, Casey, Alex, and Somak!  We look forward to your next promotions into Branch Management later on this year.

In June we had our National Awards Conference where the top manager was awarded a Range Rover Sport!  Congratulations to our Owners that picked up awards, Denise, David, Chad, and Chris.  Also great job to those winning Top Leaders pins, Matt, TA, James, Marcus, Drew, and Daniel.  Great job and all your hard work is paying off.

This year, we are on pace to double to 15 offices and we are exciting on expanding with our existing and new client base.  We are even getting into new industries and sales markets.  We couldn't have accomplished all of this without the help and support of our team...you guys are the best.

We have a charity that we are also focusing on this year.  For the next 3 months we are fundraising for Operation Smile.  You can go to our Facebook to find the donation page.

We also have our R&R Weekend coming up in September, this year Puerto Rico!  It should be fun.

As we focus on the second half of the year, let's keep in mind to keep a focus on the task at hand and continue to push hard to WOW our clients and help each other in our team!

Keeping Success Simple

This is one of my favorite photos I have ever taken.  It was around 5:45am on top of Haleakala Volcano on Maui.  I remember many things about that morning, how we woke up at 3:00 am to make the drive to get there before sunrise, the fact that although in Maui, at 10,000 feet up it was freezing cold, but the biggest thing I remember was how peaceful it was as the sun rose above the clouds that morning.  In Hawaii, it is known as the "House of God."  Hawaiian legend says that it makes a promise to move slowly across the sky so to be enjoyed by all.

It is a spectacular sight, and if you haven't seen it yet, I hope you will get the chance soon.  So many times, we can get caught up in the rush of finding success that we forget to enjoy the journey.  Many of us find success, and there are many ways people find their success, but all in all, the journey is to be enjoyed.  As you find your journey to your success remember to take a step back and enjoy the journey as well.

Find what you are passionate about, and enjoy the ride...if you feel high or low at this time in your career, keep in mind the journey is what matters.  Things change quickly and usually when you feel like you aren't making the progress you like, you are much closer to the finish line than you thought.  If you keep things simple, work hard, have integrity, always look to do the right thing, and be positive you will find your success.

Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashed | Video on TED.com

Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashed Video on TED.com

Quote of the Day!

"You don't know what you don't know

Because if you knew but knew

You would have it

Because to know and not to have

Is really not to know!"

 

When you think about this quote, take a step back to think about your goals, life vision, career path, family, etc. It is a deep thought, but very simple and powerful at the same time.

Everyone is chasing something in life, a good family, happiness, freedom, more money, and many times we just say, keep working at it and you will get it. When you think about this quote, it also tends to show that you need to focuse on specific tasks and personal development to learn to be better at the things you currently aren't strong at.

Find a good mentor, surround yourself with people who are great at what you struggle to do. By focusing on what things are holding you back from your goals and taking the time to be honest with yourself about personal development, you will find that you can accomplish more.

Evantage, Inc. in an outsourced sales firm that specializes in helping Fortune 500 companies increase their market share through face to face sales. Since opening our doors in April 2006, we have expanded to 7 offices throughout 3 states.

For more information visit us online: www.evantageinc.net

Make 2011 Your Best Year Yet!

Have you ever stopped to think about what you have accomplished? So often with Today's economic hard times, we hear people talk about fustrations, fears, and worries. Because of this it can be hard believing that 2011 can become a great success. People don't realize that many millionaires are created during a recession. If you search online, you will find that companies such as Burger King Corp., Microsoft Corp., and MTV Networks to name a few were created during a economic downturn.

Take a few minutes or so to think about that, before you worry about how bad you think 2011 may be for you. To be successful in any time it takes a lot of dedication to your goals, hard work and vision. Keep in mind a few key principles to make this year your best.

1. Have a positive lookout on each and every day. Some days this might be harder, but a positive attitude can make you more attractive to customers you sell to, co-workers, and family and friends that you interact with on a daily basis.

2. Write down your goals daily. We all need a reminder now and then of what we want to accomplish. Keep your goals visible as a reminder of what you have set out to accomplish. Remember to make your goals as detailed as possible so they are easy to track.

3. Have a mentor. This should be someone whom you trust, who has great character and integrity. A person who will help you raise the bar and become better.

4. Lastly, make sure to reflect on your successes, even small ones. Sometimes we need to give ourselves a break and remember to feel good about all the hard work and things we have accomplished. Don't celebrate too early though, if you want to make 2011 Your Best Year Yet, it will take dedication and ambition to attain your goals.

Expansion and Growth!

Evantage, Inc. just celebrated our 5th year of successful business in Dallas back in April. Over the last 5 years we have helped our clients gain over 40,000 new customers in Dallas alone.

It was an exciting year in 2010, with expansion into 3 new markets.  And we expect to double that in 2011.

There has been several key elements to the growth:

• Teamwork: In a successful company, it is vital to know each others goals and help each other achieve them.
• Integrity: Have consistant actions, values, principles and methods. Make sure you a sense of accountability in your work habits and what you tell others. Always follow through.
• Passion: There are always elements of someones job that are more desireable than others, but the excitement and positive attitude you put toward your job will help you find happiness and success in it. Look to WIN daily!
• Innovative: Being willing to change and adapt new ideas. Some of our best ideas have came from some of our newest team members.
• Fun: Having a positive work enviroment, where people enjoy coming to work daily. The happier our team is, the happier our customers are as well.

We look forward to continued growth throughout the rest of the year. Great job team, and keep up the great work.
For more information about us: www.evantageinc.net

3 Keys to Public Speaking!

People always talk about the biggest fear people have is Public Speaking. Mastering the skill of public speaking can help you gain confidence in the workforce, make you a more valuable asset to the company you work for, and even help you become a better leader.

When it comes down to it, public speaking can be very simple, and here is 3 main keys to help you improve your skills. Each time you have to make a speech, or get up in from of a group keep in mind the 3 E's to public speaking. We teach all employees at Evantage, Inc. these keys.

1. Entertain: Have fun with it, make people laugh, tell a story. You want to start off by engaging your audience with something interesting. We have all been in a meeting or class when the person presenting their topic had no energy or enthusiam for their topic. How difficult was that to sit through. Take time to think about what you want to get across and then make it enjoyable and memorable for your audience.

2. Educate: Explain the who, what, where, and WHY! People want to know why it is important that they are learning something. Give real life purpose to your topic, and explain how it is used on a daily basis. You are the expert for the topic you are speaking about, and that is how people will remember you. This should be the middle of your speech, the basics of what you want to get across to the audience.

3. Empower: Before every New Orleans Saints game, you see Drew Brees in the huddle getting his team excited to go out and give it their all on the football field. When you end your speech, drive your point home. Recap the importance of what you were talking about, and be excited about what you covered. Have a strong finishing statement that your audience will remember. In Vince Lombardi's speech "What It Takes To Be Number 1." he closes with this line. "I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious."

Evantage, Inc. is a Dallas based sales/marketing firm. For more information: www.evantageinc.net

Key to Successful Communication

There are many key aspects to leadership. One big one is communication!

3 main keys to effective communication as a leader are: Engage, Encourage, and Energize. Let's look into each of those.

Engage:
Do you have an open door policy as a leader? Do you let others know that you want to be approached when they need something? Will you approach others when needed?
A key to being engaging with others, is to listen and let others know you care about their input. So many times, as leaders, we want to control the situation, and instruct what needs to be done. Instead, encourage new ideas, find people looking outside the box, share thoughts with others. "Coming together, working together, sharing together, succeeding together." - Author Unknown

Encourage:
"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill
Look to praise others and build others up. Catch someone doing something right. Make a big deal of it. Look to lift others up, encourage others when they least expect it. Use many forms, meeting, social media, email, etc. People will believe in and follow others who believe in them.

Energize:
Inspire others! When Sean Payton took over the New Orleans Saints, he had to get other coaches and players excited about what they could accomplish. The year before the Saints had to play all their home games outside the city of New Orleans. He had a huge task in front of him, but wasn't scared of it...his energy was able to bring in top players like Drew Brees who believed not only that they could win a championship, but also make a difference in a community. Even when you face daily struggles, strong leaders motivate others around them.

Quote of the Day!

You don't know what you don't know

Because if you knew but knew

You would have it

Because to know and not to have

Is really not to know!

When you think about this quote, take a step back to think about your goals, life vision, career path, family, etc. It is a deep thought, but very simple and powerful at the same time.

Everyone is chasing something in life, a good family, happiness, freedom, more money, and many times we just say, keep working at it and you will get it. When you think about this quote, it also tends to show that you need to focuse on specific tasks and personal development to learn to be better at the things you currently aren't strong at.

Find a good mentor, surround yourself with people who are great at what you struggle to do. By focusing on what things are holding you back from your goals and taking the time to be honest with yourself about personal development, you will find that you can accomplish more.

Evantage, Inc. in an outsourced sales firm that specializes in helping Fortune 500 companies increase their market share through face to face sales. Since opening our doors in April 2006, we have expanded to 7 offices throughout 4 states.

For more information visit us online: www.evantageinc.net

LISTEN, LEARN, LEAD

These 3 words: Listen, Learn, Lead were a center of our work this week.

LISTEN: As you communicate, sell, or lead people, a critial aspect of business is to listen. Be willing to ask questions, and then take the time to Listen, not Hear, the responses. Clients, customers and co-workers around you will let you know what they need from you, all you need to do is Listen.

LEARN: After listening to others around you take another step and Learn from it. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. We can learn so much about each other that helps us become better leaders. Also, we can learn how we need to help each other, and in turn help them reach their goals.

LEAD: Leadership can be defined as the ability to influence others to reach their goals. Once you have learned what others need, make sure you take that information and use it to lead in a more effective way. Each night, look at yourself in the mirror and make sure you did everything you could that day to lead people toward their goals!

Take these 3 words and use them each day!!!

What does Evantage do?

We get this question asked quite often from prospective clients and employees? What makes Evantage a leader in DFW in the outsourced sales and marketing industry. Let's take a look!

Here is Webster's Dictionary Definition:
mar-ket-ing, noun
Definition of MARKETING
1. a: the act or process of selling or purchasing in a market
b: the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service
2. an aggregate of funtions involved in moving goods from producer to consumer

I don't think that can tell the enitire story, so here are our thoughts.

How we define ourselves to our prospecitve clients:
Evantage, Inc. is a company who represents your brand as we would represent our parents company. We are not afraid of a market to sell to, new or existing small business, consumer, retail, or mid-large business. If you need to increase your marketshare through face to face sales, we are the company to hire. We will increase your bottom line through our professionally trained sales and marketing team, and give you the edge over your competition. No longer do you have to rely on telemarketing and direct mail, which has lost it's luster to reach prospective customers. We can do it with a smile and a handshake. Don't just take our word for it, our results have helped make DFW a leader in new customer sales for our biggest client already. We have done that by doing that having the industry's best customer satisfaction rankings as well.

How we define ourselves to new employees:
Evantage, Inc. is a growth oriented sales and marketing firm, who believes in doing business with a handshake and a smile. While our clients go and spend millions on TV, Radio, Telemarketing, and Direct Mail to be fustrated with end of month results that show they spend more than they gain. We go back to the way business used to be done, face to face (that's right, no sitting behind a phone all day, real customer interaction face to face and we are PROUD of it). Our results have given our clients better results with a 100% ROI. We look for people that enjoy not sitting in a cubical processing TPS reports, but would rather work with energetic employees who want to love what they do. We believe that the best companies have the best employees, and we want to work with the best of the best. We pride ourselves in the industry's best training program and many of our managers had zero to little sales and marketing experience starting off.

What is our company culture like:
Every business starts with sales, and by bringing our clients better customers than they can get through other methods has allowed us to expand despite the recession. In the last 2 years we have grown to 8 offices throughout 4 states alone. This is because our team is motivated by the future. As our clients demands keep growing so do we, and that is something to be excited about. We also are very goal oriented, and believe others should be too. Competition makes people better and we want to be the best. Also, we like new ideas, and are open to change. As our business has evolved through the last 5+ years, we have had to adapt to clients needs, and by being open to change, we believe we have become a better company.

We hope this helps those of you who are interested in our company as a prospective new client, employee, or otherwise. Lastly, we believe that when people are motivated about what they do, they work harder. That is why we promote 100% from within our company, and that rewards the go-getters. If you want to better yourself personally and professionally through hard work and take your career to another level, that happens here.

You can also follow us on twitter www.twitter.com/evantageinc
Facebook: www.facebook.com/evantageinc
Or our website: http://www.evantageinc.net/

Welcome to our new Blog

Welcome to our new blog for Evantage, Inc. and thank you for taking the time to follow our blog.  We look for this to be an informative blog about company events, non-profit work, as well as some overall business advice for entreprenuers, and up and coming business executives. 
Since I founded Evantage, Inc. in April 2006 we have expanded to 8 offices in 4 states.  We pride ourselves on personal development of individuals and we hire, as well as a commitment to our clients toprovide a professional and energetic team to help market and sell their products.

You can also follow us on:

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Thanks again for your interest in our company...