Small Entrepreneurs from Castro Improve Management and Win Customers Through Training

Improve management, increase profitability and win new customers are among the results reported by participants of Desenvolve Castro, in the Campos Gerais do Paraná. On Thursday (15), 20 entrepreneurs completed the program, which offered free training in management, sales, marketing and innovation over 23 meetings.

One of the participants, biomedical researcher Lorrice Sfredo, reports a 10% increase in the acquisition of new customers after improving the presentation of products and services and the positioning on social networks.

Created by the City of Castro, through the Municipal Secretariat of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, the program has the partnership of Sebrae / PR, the Trade Union Retail of Castro and Region (Secom) and the Commercial and Business Association of Castro (Acecastro).

Francieli Zadra works in the area of beauty in Castro and also completed the program. For her, participating in Desenvolve Castro brought learning, exchange of experiences with other entrepreneurs and improvements in business management.

One of the main changes perceived by Francieli was the way of seeing the business itself. Throughout the program, she identified points that needed improvement, especially in organization and management.

“Finance classes, for example, taught me a lot about cash, revenue and profitability. I was able to figure out where I was losing money and make a pricing that was more in line with my costs.”

It also highlights the content related to artificial intelligence and the reorganization of business activities, which led to the hiring of an intern.

“From the diagnosis, I realized that it was time to hire an intern to help in the day to day of the execution of the tasks, in addition to working better the social networks, which ended up providing more profit,” he says.

Pricing was also one of the main learnings for biomedical Lorrice Sfredo, who works in the area of aesthetics. With the training, she began to consider the costs in defining the prices of services.

“Before classes, I priced thinking about the customer’s purchasing power and not my costs. For the first time after the course, I was able to sell service combos. This has greatly improved my profitability. In addition, I greatly improved my positioning on social networks and I had an increase of 10% in new customers”, he celebrates.

Sebrae/PR consultant, Thaise Amaral, explains that the initiative, funded by the Municipal Secretariat of Industry, Trade and Tourism, offered a year of free follow-up to entrepreneurs. The program began with diagnostics and evaluations through hidden client. Afterwards, modules were carried out on leadership, sales, humanized and digital service, business management, digital marketing, innovation and competitiveness. The final stage addressed finance, cost management and multi-channel service.

“All 20 companies that completed the training received certificates and trophies. It was a free development opportunity for entrepreneurs, with the potential to generate expressive results for both business and the growth of the city”, comments Thaise.

After the 23 meetings of the first edition, Desenvolve Castro already has a new stage in planning. According to the municipal secretary of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Kasciano Morais, the forecast is to keep the weekly meetings to empower entrepreneurs and improve business management.

Morais points out that the program was developed in a scenario of challenges for street commerce, marked by changes in consumer behavior after the pandemic and the advancement of online sales.

“The challenges that came after the pandemic were many, especially with regard to the need to stand out from the competition. Therefore, the training, especially in the area of communication and marketing, were very well received by entrepreneurs. This was one of the most praised and requested topics, including requests for new training. The City Council hired trainings and consulting just to meet the needs of traders in practice. The objective is to help entrepreneurs face these new challenges and strengthen their business,” the secretary assesses.

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