The COVID-19 pandemic has and will continue to radically shift the workplace. An increasing percentage of the workforce desires flexible working options and, as such, firms are likely to require less office space going forward. Additionally, the economic downturn caused by the pandemic provides an opportunity for companies to secure favorable rent rates on new lease agreements. This project aims to evaluate and measure Company X’s potential cost savings from terminating current leases and downsizing office space in five selected cities. Along with city-specific real estate market research and forecasts, we employ a four-stage model of Company X’s real estate negotiation process to analyze whether existing lease agreements in these cities should be renewed or terminated.

The insurance industry consists of financial advisors planning for individual’s financial future through defensive investments that will payout in case of something happening to a person’s greatest asset—themselves. Each financial advisor is mandated to pass a professional exam to receive their license in order to take in clients in each state. There is a process in which clients are serviced and sold on different products of insurance. Advisors need to consider client needs and service them with products are in their best interest and within financial reason. <br/> To sell a product you must have clients, and the way that financial advisor receive clients are generally through two ways: company provided or their own connections. At the end of the day, the goal is to get in front of more people and expand you circle. In that sense, there are two common way people address this expansion of circles and that is build relationships versus networking. The goal of this paper is to dive deep in the insurance industry and analyze the sales process when comparing the difference in selling through building relationships versus selling through networking.<br/> The research plan I have in mind start from researching background and history, to current practices environment, to method process solutions. In the initial stages of my research, I will focus on background and history of the financial services industry in terms of sales and insurance. This will address insurance sales processes in the financial services industry and its features as well as benefits. After explaining the step by step process and potential results of the sales process in the insurance industry, I will start researching current environments of the industry. This will explain the history, key theoretical elements, and significant events of the industry. <br/> The history of the background will set stage for me to address situational challenges in the business based on my own experience to which I will do research to find plausible sales process solutions when comparing relationship sales to networking sales. This research will then be synthesized with my own experimental solutions as I work in the industry, which will help me complete chapter 4 and 5 of my theses – Methods and Execution of Results.

The COVID-19 pandemic has and will continue to radically shift the workplace. An increasing percentage of the workforce desires flexible working options and, as such, firms are likely to require less office space going forward. Additionally, the economic downturn caused by the pandemic provides an opportunity for companies to secure favorable rent rates on new lease agreements. This project aims to evaluate and measure Company X’s potential cost savings from terminating current leases and downsizing office space in five selected cities. Along with city-specific real estate market research and forecasts, we employ a four-stage model of Company X’s real estate negotiation process to analyze whether existing lease agreements in these cities should be renewed or terminated.

Micro influencers have become extremely powerful in terms of swaying buying patterns among consumers. This thesis examines the greater impact that micro influencers have on brand marketing. This was completed through a literature review that highlights the evolution of marketing, influencer marketing, discussing reach, relevance, and resonance, and Generation Z’s purchasing decisions. In addition, we conducted an online survey through Qualtrics that allowed us to analyze the impact social media influencers have. The results of our research indicate that TikTok is used most frequently, but Instagram is where social media influencers are followed most. From our data, we concluded that Generation Z is most influenced by authentic, genuine content created by influencers regardless of follower count. We recommend that a brand interested in reaching Generation Z (we refer to the brand as “Brand X”) use micro influencers, as our research shows that genuine relationships are valued among this generation. We believe that micro influencers are the most valuable to use as they are able to create meaningful relationships with consumers due to their reach, relevance, and resonance with the individuals their content reaches.