Forest Products - An overview of the industry-its products, manufacturing practices, and current resource issues affecting the industry.

What is Marketing? - This section reviews the marketing concept and how it applies to the small forest products industry.

Marketing Basics - The 4 P's of Marketing:

1. Products: This section discusses the process of product development, the product lifecycle and the total product concept.
2. Pricing: How to set prices and what is actually done in the forest products industry.
3. Promotion: How to successfully promote the company and its products.
4. Distribution: How distribution works and the distribution chain in the forest products industry.

Marketing Strategy - Your competitive position, understanding your competitors and gaining an advantage by using the value chain of the manufacturer. This section will cover different strategies and demonstrate how a SWOT analysis can assist the small manufacturer

Easy Market Research Methods for Forest Products Companies - This section will cover where the small manufacturer can find information on potential customers for their products. Prospecting for new customers is a primary function of the small business owner. This section will provide them with ideas on how to locate new customers. You will learn how to locate the customer as well as retain the ones you currently have. It will also describe how to identify your competitive advantage to use as a sales tool.

Making a Successful Sales Presentation - This section describes how to present yourself and sales material to new or existing customers. This must be a well thought out process to get the new sale or retain the current customer. The section describes the "Funnel Approach" to the sales process. It starts with how to find information about the company/person and how to present yourself and your information.

Successful Personal Selling for the Small Forest Products Company - Strategies have been developed that can improve the effectiveness of most sales people. Learn which strategies are right for your selling style. To understand your role as a salesperson you must evaluate what you were hired to do and how to identify the strategies that can improve your performance.

Goal Setting - Setting goals is the primary method that separates good marketing organizations from the great marketing organizations. This session will demonstrate the importance of goal setting and how to apply it to your company.

Trends in the Industry - It is important for the sales person to recognize those factors outside his/her control that may have an impact on their sales. This session will focus on the important trends such as increased imports, forest certification and e-commerce that are affecting the wood products industry and how the salesperson can gather this information on a regular basis.