West Seneca Bee: Gallivan hosts small-business summit

Sen. Patrick Gallivan addresses an audience of about 40 during the Small Business Summit, which was held Thursday, Feb. 12, at the Southside Municipal Center in East Aurora. The summit was held in conjunction with the Greater East Aurora Chamber of Commerce.Sen. Patrick Gallivan, R-C-I, Elma, hosted a small-business summit in conjunction with the Greater East Aurora Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 12, at the Southside Municipal Center in East Aurora.

During the summit, Gallivan spoke about some of his goals for 2015 that pertain to small businesses.

“We hear all the time, and it’s proven with study after study, thatNew York is either at or near the bottom in rankings when it comes to the size and cost of government and government regulations,” he said.

“Trying to deal with the size and cost of government, the cutting of taxes, cutting of the costs that’s passed on not just to small businesses but to consumers, those have been my goals, and I think we’re making some small gains on it.”

As far as regulations for businesses in New York, Gallivan said he wants to continue to cut down on unnecessary or outdated regulations.

He cited burdensome regulations, many of which are duplicative, many where the costs greatly exceed the benefits and many that are outdated.

“A good number of our regulations that deal with restaurants and bars date back to Prohibition, after the end of Prohibition, and some things just aren’t relevant anymore, and then there’s other regulations that haven’t taken into account or haven’t kept up with technology, where things could change.”

Gallivan said one way small-business owners can engage themselves is to speak up and advocate on their own behalf.

“In addition to their hard work every day, I think among the things that they can do to help effect change is to make their voices heard,” Gallivan said. “If they have something that’s particularly troublesome or something that affects their business … I think it’s very helpful if they speak up, whether through their Chamber or they reach out to their legislators directly.”

After Gallivan spoke, Fred Swiatek addressed the audience. Swiatek is Gallivan’s senior adviser for small business and also serves as a consultant.

Swiatek gave tips on how business owners and employees can be better salespeople. One piece of advice that Swiatek told the audience is that salespeople should deploy an “ask-listen” not a “tell-sell” approach when dealing with customers.

“You connect your product or service with their dilemmas or problems,” he said.

While it may seem obvious, Swiatek also told the audience that salespeople and business people should maintain an optimistic attitude and not be pessimistic.

“They are optimistic in their focus, what they focus on every day, and how they react to it,” Swiatek said of successful salespeople. “Optimistic managers, I find, focus on the best side of people and bring out the best side.”

In addition, Swiatek emphasized that good salespeople must also be genuine in their dealings with customers.

“People want to know how much you care before they care how much they know,” he said. “How much you care about the problem. How much you care about the issues.”

Swiatek also touched on what types of things influence sales today. He highlighted neuroscience, accounting, systems thinking and journalism. On the journalism front, he encouraged businesses to use striking words and phrases on websites, landing pages and materials.

“Words have octane,” he said. “I find a lot of websites are not compelling. They don’t use compelling words. They don’t use compelling phrases, and as a result, it’s just a postcard.”

For more information or to contact Gallivan, visit www.nysenate.gov/senator/pat-gallivan or call 656-8544.

For more information on the Greater East Aurora Chamber of Commerce, visit www.eanycc.com or call 652-8444.

email: klindahl@beenews.com

http://www.westsenecabee.com/news/2015-02-19/Business/Gallivan_hosts_smallbusiness_summit.html