Merri Mai Williamson, founder and president of Application Researchers, is featured in the March issue of Inc. Magazine.
In a piece called “Are You Sales Phobic?” the local businesswoman and community leader discloses that despite early success selling her employee background-check service to prospective clients, she had a strong aversion to calling on people.
“It’s not that I wasn’t confident or that I thought I wasn’t capable,” she said in the article. “Some people feel comfortable with sales. I’m not one of them.”
The article, which notes the stigma sometimes attached to selling (sellers are considered “slick,” for example), suggests that sales aversion may reflect a temporary anxiety, poor sellers can become better and that people can learn to like to sell.
Ms. Williamson tells Inc. she resolved her own issue with selling by letting Application Researchers sell itself. She sent out 1,000 letters, offering a free trial of her background-checking service. “Every single company that took Williamson up on that first offer signed on as a client,” Inc. reports.
Ms. Williamson said she is pleased with how she was portrayed in the magazine story. “I have no doubt that the national exposure will lend credibility to our marketing efforts and expand our name recognition,” she said. “Capitalizing on this exposure will certainly be our primary focus during the coming weeks; and we have the Chattanooga Area Chamber to thank for quickly responding to the writer's request and introducing the interview opportunity to several Chattanooga entrepreneurs.”
Founded in 1979, Inc. Magazine targets CEOs of small-to-midsize, fast-growing companies and provides them with what they need to know to succeed in today’s business economy. Inc. has a circulation of 703,088.
To read the Inc. article, go to the Chamber’s website at www.chattanoogachamber.com. Click on “News, Press and Video” and then click on “Major Announcements.”