Virtual Education - Individual Classes

Instructor, Ken Jones, MBA

Understand how to effectively differentiate and develop two key components of your business; sales and marketing. Ken Jones, MBA, Director of Entrepreneurship at the University of Houston will incorporate 25 years of experience forming, building and selling businesses into a strategy-filled two-hour workshop. Jones, whose professional history includes documented successes in entrepreneurial development, turn-around management consulting, software development, e-business creation, and strategic marketing will offer techniques on shortening your sales cycle, increasing marketing effectiveness, reducing the costs associated in landing new business and putting your business back on track.

Instructor: Brian Kraff, Sr. VP of Service Professional Solutions, ServiceMagic

More and more consumers are turning to the Internet to research qualified kitchen and bath professionals. However, they are making their choice based on the website, rather than the professional. Brian Kraff, Senior Vice President of Service Professional Solutions for ServiceMagic, CEO of Market Hardware – one of the nation’s leading providers of websites and web marketing plans for small businesses - will explain how the internet and its impact has changed. Learn exactly what makes for a professional website, pitfalls to avoid, and how to ensure that consumers in your area will find your site when they need it most. Kraff was the founder and former CEO of eStudentLoan, the world’s largest comparison marketplace for student loans, which won numerous “Best of the Web” awards from Forbes, PC Novice Magazine, and Online Banking Report and he feels you don’t have to spend a fortune to properly represent your company on the web and optimize your results through search engines. Come and hear how to do it right, and make it your best year.

Instructor: Mary Jo Peterson, CKD, CBD, CAPS, CAASH

Universal design is now being seen as not only relevant to aging-in-place but also an integral part of any good design. Mary Jo Peterson, CKD, CBD, CAPS, CAASH, President of Connecticut-based Mary Jo Peterson, Inc., author, speaker, respected educator nationally-recognized for her expertise, will offer a fresh look at what universal design looks like today and a perspective for the future.  This course will cover the importance of ageless, functional, beautiful design and the emerging trends in products and technology. Peterson, a member of the Kitchen & Bath Hall of Fame as of 2009, will bring her 25 years of expertise in universal design and show you how best to apply these principles to develop your business in this expanding market.