On May 3rd, The Globe & Mail – Canada’s leading newspaper, hosted a Small Business Summit in Toronto at the Intercontinental Hotel. The day was filled with inspirational talks and key lessons valuable for any small business. Here are some takeaways:
Opening Keynote: Harley Finkelstein, COO of Shopify
Transforming a small business into a global giant
Harley went from being a DJ to starting a t-shirt company to studying law and earning an MBA. His involvement with Shopify began in its infant years; he connected with to one of Shopify’s founders Tobias Lutke at a Meet-up like setting.
Have you read our Creative Culture Series on Shopify? At Globe’s Small Business Summit, Harley discusses the importance of building a great culture in order to achieve success. Here are a few highlights from his presentation:
- Shopify’s hiring motto is “hire for potential not experience”
- Ottawa offices have a strong and positive work culture, and in the early days of expansion they tried to impose that essence to the new locations (Toronto, Waterloo, and Montreal). They now know that it was a mistake; they quickly learned that the other offices would develop their own version of strong culture in time.
- Every Friday, they host ‘Ask Me Anything’ town hall where staff submits questions to the executive team. This practice is to build transparency within the company.
- On “Hack Days,” employees are assigned to work with people they’ve never worked with before. The aim is for the teams to think big, gain full autonomy, and be fearless. The company picks the best ideas and on the following Monday, they start building it into reality. One idea that prospered from Hack Days is the courier service offered for Shopify customers, hence the partnership with UBER Rush.
Sonya Meloff, founding partner of Sales Talent Agency
Session: The DNA of a Salesperson | 3 qualities of every great salesperson
DNA for Successful Sales Person: Drive, Nature and Acumen
Goal Setting + Work Ethic + Resilience = Drive
Don’t mistake ambition for drive; It’s easy to set big goals but it’s more important to follow through.
Emotional Intelligence + Integrity = Nature
A salesperson must be able to recognize their own and the emotions of others. This needs to be coupled with integrity to build long-lasting relationships.
Intelligence + Curiosity + Application = Acumen
In the first interview, ask candidates how they discovered the role and information on the position. Look for creative ways they researched the company.
Some other key points:
- Hire based on relevance. Sometimes people hire sales people with strong performance in another industry but it might be transferable/relatable in your field.
- Give candidates an assignment. Sonya provides a three-part assignment to potential hires which includes having the candidate discover the following questions:
– Identify 10 companies that they’d outreach
– Identify 10 key leaders and decision makers within the company
– Identify the key value proposition. - Sonya’s staff provides feedback and recommendations on the assignment to help support potential candidates. It’s also a great opportunity to see how the candidate handles receiving feedback.
Speaker: Tod Maffin
Session: Digital Marketing Secrets that will Grow your Business
“What’s the #1 Mistake Brands Make on Facebook Ads?” Tod discusses that brands do not use ‘retargeting’ and Facebook Pixel. Facebook Pixel combines conversion pixel and the Custom Audience pixel into a single pixel. You can now use the Facebook pixel to measure, optimize and build audiences for your ad campaign.
Here’s a video of Tod explaining what it all means and how to utilize it for your business. : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGHGq…
Media Pitch Session:
A number of companies pitched to a few media publications such as the Globe & Mail, Global News, and BlogTO. Each got individual feedback.
- If you want to pitch the media, you need to know their pet peeves:
- Generic greetings
- Wrong name
- Industry jargon (Make it easy to explain, even to your mom)
- Know the deadlines for the publications
- Being pestered
Closing Keynote: Bruce Poon Tip, Founder of G Adventures
An entrepreneur’s journey
Bruce spoke about his fearless journey of turning G Adventures into a successful social enterprise. His focus is on building a strong workplace culture.
What drives people? It’s culture and happiness. And happy people drive to success. He also says there are Four Pillars to Happiness:
- Ability to Grow
- Being connected (whether it’s to the teams or products)
- Being part of something greater than yourself
- Freedom
Did you attend the Small Business Summit? What were some of your takeaways? We’d like to hear from you! Leave your comments in the section below.