Business consultant comes to town
Page 4 • Wednesday, June 18, 2014 • The Hammonton Gazette
WILSON, from Page 1
owners ways to connect with their customers.
Wilson has 35 years of experience helping retail, restaurant and tourism-related
small businesses refine and promote their
concepts to the customers. He has held executive positions with retailers such as Circuit City and recently traveled to Dallas to
open the world’s first energy efficiency
store for Current Energy, LLC., a company
funded by Ross Perot Jr.
MainStreet Hammonton sponsored Wilson’s visit, and it was made possible by a
grant awarded by Main Street New Jersey.
Coordinator for Main Street New Jersey, Jef
Buehler, was in attendance at Wilson’s presentation and was pleased to have him speak
at 20 of the Main Street New Jersey communities, including Hammonton.
“We feel he provides actionable, intelligent and cheap or free advice to help businesses raise their game, to retain our
existing businesses and help them grow
without a significant investment in time or
resources. We feel it is important to bring
his national level of expertise into Hammonton and other communities, so our local
Main Street business and the Main Street
districts can get the best from the best. They
don’t have to reinvent the wheel and they
can make their businesses more profitable
in the very near term by taking advantage of
this digital technology,” Buehler said.
More than 20 local business owners came
to the “GAFA” presentation, and asked Wilson questions about ways to get on
the top search on Google and how
to build an appropriate homepage
for their business’ website. Buehler
commended volunteers of MainStreet Hammonton for their hard
work in getting business owners to
come out making the seminar a success.
“It is not just about coming out,
but to then learn and put the knowledge to use,” Buehler said.
MainStreet Hammonton Executive Director Cassie Iacovelli believed Wilson was a good instructor
and his presentation was valuable
for the business community.
“I think some people in that room
are at different levels of expertise
when it comes to technology use.
So, I think for some people it was a
refresher. Maybe they picked up a
couple of new thoughts, and for
others that are beginning to feel
comfortable beyond Facebook, I
think Marc [Wilson] had some important tips to put their businesses
and as well as Hammonton more on
the Google search. I think people
left the presentation knowing they
have to be a little savvier with that,”
Iacovelli said.
Iacovelli said there is room for
businesses to expand their technological horizons, and being on top
of Google search and telling customers to use Trip Advisor to talk
about the business is a good start.
“I am grateful to Main Street
New Jersey for offering training opportunities and when those opportunities are posted I immediately
apply for the grant. I continue to receive the funding. Our town probably had more on-site visits that we
lobbied for than any other town. I
am pleased that closer to 10 businesses will have on-site personal
consultation with Marc also. I think
the more that our small businesses
can be informed and become a little
more competitive and keep that
edge, our hope is it will mean the
more successful they will be. This
is what we do. We try to put businesses in position to win,” Iacovelli
said.
Colleen Mortellite of Berry Tan
Girls Mobile Spray Tan, located on
12th Street, was one of several business owners throughout downtown
Hammonton that received a one-onone consultation with Wilson.
Mortellite said she was impressed
with Wilson’s ability to take into account what type of business he was
dealing with in the consultations.
“With Trip Advisor, you are not
just going to stop into Hammonton
to get a spray tan, so I liked that he sat down
to understand what my business was and my
target was, and gave me advice to spin it for
myself,” Mortellite said.
Mortellite plans on utilizing what she
learned in the presentation and the consultation at her business with Wilson. She said
she also learned how to have businesses
work together.
“He [Wilson] also gave advice on how to
work together in your town, and how to
make two businesses work together to succeed. I am absolutely going to take some of
his tips and put it into use,” Mortellite said.
Jill Wong of Sweet Creations on Bellevue
Avenue also attended Wilson’s presentation
and received a consultation from him during
that same day. Wong said she learned how
to get her business on top of Google search,
and plans to build a website.
“I learned some new Facebook tricks
when I was with him [Wilson]. I have been
meaning to build a website for a long time.
I have just been procrastinating. Facebook
is so easy. All I do is just throw pictures up
there of the items I make. I thought the presentation and the consultation was very helpful though,” Wong said.
During Wilson’s presentation at the Eagle
Theatre on June 9, he provided business
owners with many notable tips, such as
everything should lead to the website, including what is posted on the Facebook
page. He also suggested having businesses
open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., instead of 10
a.m. to 5 p.m. because most money spent in
America is after 5 p.m. and on the weekends. The difference in the hour might not
matter initially, but it will pay off in the
long-term, he said.
Wilson concluded his seminar by telling
business owners that all of his tips, with the
exception of building the website are free,
so there is no reason not to ta