Born and raised in north Alabama, Amy is a Veteran, wife, mom and entrepreneur. With more than 30 years in sales and leadership experience, she brings extensive knowledge of the sales process (from getting the lead to happy, long-term customers who regularly refer people to her). She graduated from the University of South Alabama with bachelors degrees in Biology, Chemistry and Military Science. Her strength in leadership came hard-earned through her military experience, church and volunteer work. She is a sales, leadership and life coach and loves being outside, spending time with her family, reading and journaling.
An Indiana native, Laura moved to Madison, Ala. in 2017 and decided it was the ideal time to start her own business, and nothing is sweeter in the south than sweet tea, hence, Sweet Tea Communications, LLC was born.
Laura brings more than 20 years of integrated communications knowledge to the table, with experience in public relations, media relations (both business-to-business and business-to-consumer), newsletter production, email marketing, writing, graphic design, political campaigns, strategic planning and nonprofit management. Her background includes working with Fortune 500 companies, all sizes of nonprofit organizations (501c3 and 501c6), and small to medium-sized businesses.
In addition to years of valuable work experience, Laura earned her bachelor’s in journalism and master’s in public relations from Indiana University. She maintains her membership and accreditation in public relations (APR) with the Public Relations Council of North Alabama.
When she’s not working, Laura enjoys reading and exploring northern Alabama sights with her family.
The 8-week Business Fundamental Focus Group (BFF) workshop touches on all of your most important business skills and hones in on the bottom line of each one so you take away what you need to have a solid start in your new business, or a quantum leap in your current business. Rich in resources and individual time with our coaches, this is your opportunity to expand and develop your business plan for growth and gain more confidence as a business owner, partner or leader. We suggest going through this course not only for yourself but to bring someone vested in your business to attend with you.
This class will cover avenues of income and financing resources for your business. We will touch on bookkeeping to make tax time easier, budgeting for the things that are important, and tracking systems.
Week 2: Vision, Goals and Strategic Planning
This week we will dive into the vision you have for your business, breaking it down and making a plan of execution. We will spend time clarifying your strategy and manageable, trackable steps to reach your goals to see your vision come to fruition. This is an incredibly exciting class and will re-sell yourself on your purpose.
Week 3: Solidify Your Audience and Message
Who is your target market? This class will help you to narrow down your vision, even more, to ensure you are reaching and attracting your intended clients. This will set you apart from your competition and make life super simple.
Week 4: Lead Generation
Attracting your clients is the goal of this class - you will identify exactly who and how and what you do to lead the prospect into your space so that you can fill their needs.
Week 5: Basic Advertising and Marketing Tactics
A continuation of Week 4, this class hones in on the best ways to attract your clientele depending on your type of business. We will cover both "free" and monetized ways of advertising, work on branding and present your product and business as the one they want.
Week 6: Sales and Calls to Action
This is the week when the magic starts to happen! You will learn how to take the lead from being an interested party to becoming a happy customer. You will practice the art of asking questions, active listening and then showing them how your product or service can fill their need. And then the hard part (eek!) ...asking for the sale in a non-pushy way.
Week 7: Taking a happy customer to a long-term regular who refers business to you
This week is a continuation from week 6. Customer service and retention is the bottom line to a long-term, healthy and thriving business, and great word-of-mouth advertising means exponential growth. How d What do you want your customers to say about you? We help you strategize ways to keep your hard-earned customers and reputation.
Week 8: HR basics - Recruiting, Training and Retention of your employees
This last week we will help you determine what you need for bringing on great people to help you in your business, how to onboard and train them and then keep them on your team. Systems are the key to running your business the same day in day out so that it can just about run itself, so that will be our focus to close out the workshop.
What else is included:
Weekly homework assignments to reinforce what you learn and take steps toward your vision
Other assignments for self-assessment and self-awareness for personal and professional growth.
Numerous community and online resources to help you continue to move towards your vision
Thank you for your interest in joining our group of BFFs (Business Fundamental Focus Group). During our eight-week workshop, you will join the ranks of those who understand how to maximize their business growth by learning how to tap into sales leads, identify which forms of marketing communications are right for your business, and find new financing avenues. Let Amy and Laura help you take your company’s success to new heights! Space is limited to only 10 participants. To reserve your spot, please fill out the form below. The cost only $400, which is only $50/week. That’s an excellent value to invest in the strategic planning and coaching for your business.
