ClassE March 25 - March 29, 2013

Greetings!

Don't the students look great in their new ClassE shirts? We enjoyed taking a group picture at the EIU Security Analysis Center and taking individual portraits to use on LinkedIn a few weeks back. Thanks to CEO Alum and EIU student Keith Sutterfield for his time and expertise in photography.

Please remember that the deadline to apply to be a part of next year's ClassE 2013-2014 has been extended. Click here for the student application. Please feel free to forward this e-blast to students who may be interested in joining us next year!

Save the Date: - ClassE Tradeshow and Millennial Entrepreneurs Presentation with Jack Schultz and Craig Lindvahl, Tuesday, May 7th from 5-7pm at the Lifespan Center.

This is what we learning next week.

Monday, March 25th - Giving Back to the Community

with Joe Dively

First Mid- Illinois Bank & Trust Corporate office 1421 Charleston Ave., Mattoon

Tuesday, March 26th - Stadium Grill Tour

with Jerry Myerscough

102 Dettro Drive, Mattoon

Wednesday, March 27th - Promotional Materials Work Day

at First Mid-Illinois Bank and Trust

Thursday, March 28th- No Class - Spring Break

Friday, March 29th- No Class - Spring Break

Working on the Business Plans

The students many times help each other out by sharing good templates or websites with each other to make their plans better. Rhydon showed everyone the SCORE business plan template that he used when writing his plan.

Howell Paving Company

with Holly Bailey

Tuesday, we met with Holly Bailey, at the Howell Paving Company's main office. Holly gave us the details about running an asphalt construction company and then took us out to look at where they devise what ingredients to put into the asphalt. We learned about the different quality control and pricing requirements that the government imposes.

When we finished with the tour, Holly supplied us with a wealth of information about unions and all of the regulations that must be followed to be compliant with various union contracts. We discussed the pros and cons of union employees and the students asked many questions.

Ronchetti Distributing Company

with Bob Ronchetti

We had a pleasant visit with Bob Ronchetti on Thursday and he told us about the legacy of Ronchettie Distributing Company that was established in 1906 and delivered beverages with horses and wagons. Ronchetti's is the second part of a part of the three-tier beverage industry that includes manufacturing, distributing, and retail.

Bob also touched on business consolidation as a means for growing the business and emphasized analyzing your sales and break even points on each customer. Bob also said, "51% of business has to be on the product", so if you don't have a good product you won't have a successful business.

Customer Service Training

We had a healthy discussion on customer service and how the customer is always right. Student discussed customer service training that they have received with their numerous jobs and we discussed the steps to take to satisfy an upset customer.

Did you know that:

In the average business, for every customer who bothers to complain, there are 26 other who remain silent.

The average "wronged" customer will tell 8 to 16 people.

91 percent of unhappy customers will never purchase goods or services from you again.

If you make an effort to remedy customers' compliants, 82 to 95 percent of them will stay with you.

It costs about 5 times as much to attract a new customer as it does to keep an existing one.

*According to /Carolyn K. Caniglia, Tailered Automation, Inc.

Class Investors

Adams Memorials

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Bella Vein Laser Center Medical Spa