MANSFIELD, Ohio — What do you do with an idea that might completely change the marketing and sales landscape?
If you’re Steve Oleen, you mull it over for eight years until the business is fool-proof and exactly what you want.
“As a salesman, I’m always looking for ways of identifying who’s in the market for my products,” Oleen said.
Oleen owns Performance Telephone Services Inc., a telecommunications distributor and IT service provider.
“So I’ve always been thinking of how can I find out when someone is looking to make a purchase of a telephone system,” he said.
He figured out how make that quest into a viable business that he calls What’s In It For Me?
Oleen, along with a team of designers and web-code writers, created a website designed to help sales people — whether they are selling insurance, homes, telephone systems or cars — find prospective buyers before other sales people.
But the website also caters to “information partners.” When hearing of a prospective buyer, or lead, the information partner logs on to the website and inputs the buyer’s information.
“Now what we do with that information is what makes us unique,” Oleen said. “We don’t just gather the information and sell it to sales people. We actually contact the potential buyer and we create incentives and a reward system so that the buyer wants to take part in the process.”
As long as that lead ends in a sale, the information partner, who can stay anonymous, is rewarded with a small financial payment to their account. The account is set up by becoming a member of whatsinitforme.com, with no sign-up fee.
Of course, if you’re a buyer looking for the best value, you win too, according to Oleen.
“It’s a win-win-win for all parties,” he said.
If you are a sales person, signing up to be a member of the website costs $3 annually. This is a promotional price, however, Oleen said. The subscription fee will increase to $40 annually.
“So that’s a good deal for your first year if you’re a salesman,” Oleen said.
Oleen recognizes the business’s complexity. He said, in part, that is why the business has taken eight years to develop. He said he’s even gone through six code writers.
“We finally found one that could actually make it work online,” Oleen said. “It (whatsinitforme.com) just sort of grew into this massive, complicated, very busy, back-office type website.”
The website is live — buyers, sellers and information partners can use it today. The site offers 10 product categories, from telephone systems to office furniture to roofing contractors.
Oleen hopes to grow the website’s product categories in the future so he can help sellers find buyers of different services and goods like insurance and cars.
“Anytime anyone anywhere contemplates the purchase of anything, we’re going to know about it. Whether the purchaser wants us to know about it or not, we’re going to know about it,” Oleen said. “It’s a pretty big deal to know when someone’s looking to buy something. So that’s what this is. The website is a culmination of that kind of thinking.”
Oleen’s office is located at 109 N. Main St., next to Relax, It’s Just Coffee. For more information about the business, click here.
