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  4. Allen Battle

The Dean's Executive Speaker Series

Allen Battle

Entrepreneur

A student stands and talks to a professor who sits behind a podium in front of a whiteboard.

Allen Battle is a native of Columbus, Ohio, and a 40-year resident of Spokane. Battle has a passion for the greater Spokane community, previously serving in a volunteer capacity with organizations such as Communities in Schools, YMCA, Leadership Spokane, Community Minded Enterprises, the Act Six Scholarship Program and, for the past 13 years, Unity in the Community. From a community business perspective, he has sat on numerous nonprofit boards such as the WSU School of Education Advocacy Board. He also served as chair of the Leadership Spokane Alumni Association and as president of AHANA, and he is currently board chair for St Luke’s Rehabilitation Hospital and the Whitworth School of Business Advisory Board.

Throughout each year, Battle is an avid chaser of Steelhead salmon and golf balls.

He has been self-employed for the past 25 years and currently consults small business in the area of customer acquisition and retention.

Battle raised two wonderful children and has begun a second family. He has three-year-old and 16-month-old daughters – and grandchildren who are 13, 15 and 19.

Tips for Success:

  • It is important not to judge a person on sight. You might not know where s/he comes from.
  • Always keep your eyes open for opportunities.
  • What is your distraction? (Xbox, Facebook, cell phones, etc.) Get rid of it.
  • To be successful, you have to be willing to make a sacrifice.
  • Success and failure are personal terms.
  • Failure is when you don’t give 100 percent and do your due diligence.
  • It’s not about price, but quality.
  • It’s all about relationships.
  • There is a strategy for everything.
  • It’s not about who you know, but about who knows, trusts, and likes you. Build those relationships.
  • You sell, before you sell.
  • It takes 7-10 touches before you make a sale.
  • You have to sell you. They have to buy you.
  • People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
  • You can find out about potential clients on LinkedIn; never walk in cold.
  • To be an entrepreneur, you have to have passion for it.
  • Wear your nametag on the right side.
  • Have a good handshake and make eye contact.
  • Listening is the most important thing; it is critical.
  • Be the first to ask what a person does. If you do a good job, s/he will ask you what you do.
  • Follow up!
  • Always provide something of value.
  • People hate to be sold, but they like to buy.
  • Look for win/win situations.
  • Look at trends.
  • Network before you need it.
  • Ninety percent of jobs are found in the hidden job market.

Tips for Networking:

  • Ninety percent of people who get a business card never follow up. Follow up to be in the other 10 percent.
  • You have to be different.
  • Networking is about building relationships.
  • You are always networking.
  • Be cognizant of your actions all the time.
  • Invest in looking sharp.
  • The first impression is sometimes the only one you are going to leave.
  • Little things help your client focus on you.
  • It is critical to have a business card so people can reach you.