Thegonzagabulletin

Best Sales Proposal – Aloha Island Grill In the summer of 2012, a small restaurant operating out of two locations was inherited by Nathan Ikehara, a new account executive for Gonzaga University Student Publications. A new hire and engineering major entering his sophomore year; he was armed only with the semester of training he had received the previous spring. The client had over $700 of bad debt from the prior year, and as such was prohibited from running new advertisements until the bill, which represented three months of unpaid invoices, was made current. By the end of the 2012‐2013 school year, not only had the bad debt been resolved, the new advertising campaign was over 20% larger and all billing was collected on time.

What changed? Everything revolved around a critical meeting that Nathan was able to conduct with the business owner. At this meeting, the miscommunication problems that had led to the bad debt were resolved. Also, the two were able to settle on a advertising budget for the client along with a marketing plan that was customized to the campus environment and the client’s own personal preference.

Research had led Nathan to discover the client’s affinity for spoof’s and parodies when he found some YouTube videos the client had made. This led to the creation of a meme that appeared in the student paper touting the highly successful Gonzaga basketball team and promoting the restaurant. The result was client turned raving fan, and a successful example of relationship orientated, solution based selling.

Attachment: Examples of meme‐based advertisements appearing in the Gonzaga Bulletin