Quad State Small Business Groups Being Led by Jefferson County Initiative

February 25, 2014 By Steve Lanning 

JCDA Hires Jefferson County’s First Business/Entrepreneur Coach

Publisher’s Statement: Although the Quad State Business Journal is finally having other writers than the publisher, this subject is personal. I have been wanting to see a development like this in our Quad State region ever since the QSBJ was published in a newspaper version under my friend Peter Heerwagen’s guidance–over 20 years ago.

While the Quad State region boasts some of the finest county development authority leaders for individual counties, we are indeed blessed to see some of the concepts and initiatives of Jefferson County’s John Reisenweber make it through the default bureaucratic web into fruition.

The following is unedited. As the co-founder of the organization that popularized the term business coaching through the National Association of Business Coaches (quick backgrounder here: http://www.wabccoaches.com/about/history.htm), I and thousands of others have been witness to what sound business coaching can accomplish in a huge ROI for organizations and entrepreneurial start ups alike.

While good business coaches do not have to come with the background of Jefferson’s business coach Tom Halverstadt, it sure does not hurt! The requisite background begins with a passion to want to see businesses succeed in their marketplace and the business coach being able and willing to share their own business battle scars.

Having trained business coaches myself who had backgrounds of small business owners to medical, legal and financial professionals, having the passion and foresight to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with owners and ‘see’ opportunity for businesses where their owners could not is huge.  The good news is that that skill can be trained into a willing heart.

We do know that this terrific Jefferson County business coaching initiative has been attempted by other US counties and for one reason or another, did not make it past the necessary hurdles to be felt in the respective marketplaces. 

We urge Quad State leaders to study what Mr. Reisenweber has accomplished for the three West Virginia counties with an eye to seeing a business coaching initiative take root in their own jurisdiction. May we support this initiative in any way we can and help it spread throughout our region. -Steve Lanning.

(Jefferson County, W. Va.)–The Jefferson County Development Authority (JCDA), through a partnership with the West Virginia Small Business Development Center (WVSBDC), has hired Tom Halverstadt as the county’s first business/entrepreneur coach. 

Funded entirely by the WVSBDC with financial support from local business community partners, this new position will serve Jefferson, Berkeley and Morgan Counties, with no cost to local taxpayers.

Promoting job creation and business viability and expansion, Halverstadt will work with entrepreneurs and small business owners, providing in-depth, one-on-one business consultative services, at no cost, to recently formed companies and established small businesses seeking to expand, diversify, or attract new capital investment.

“The WVSBDC partners with key economic development organizations with an entrepreneurship focus across the state to establish and staff an effective business coaching network throughout West Virginia,” said Kristina Oliver, state director of the WVSBDC. “We seek to partner with organizations that have common goals and missions around growing the economy in their area through small business and entrepreneurial success.  We are very excited to welcome Tom Halverstadt to our network.  He understands and has a passion for this work, and will be a valuable asset to both the WVSBDC and the Jefferson County EDA.”

Halverstadt is an accomplished business leader, having held executive positions as CEO, COO and CFO. He was a CPA for ten years with Deloitte, a Big Four public accounting and professional service firm, working primarily with manufacturing, retail, nonprofit and county governments. Most recently he has provided business advisory services to small and midrange size companies throughout the Eastern Panhandle. He attended the University of Maryland and is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

“Tom has an in-depth understanding of business strategy, financial planning and operations management, all of which are key elements in business growth and expansion,” said John Reisenweber, executive director of the JCDA. “We are confident that his expertise and experience will translate into a significant positive economic impact on the region. We are grateful to the SBDC for recognizing the thriving business community in Jefferson County and for its commitment to serving its needs.”

The WVSBDC is a division of the West Virginia Development Office and promotes economic development through a program of practical, interrelated services, providing assistance to existing small businesses and the emerging entrepreneur. The organization is funded by the State of West Virginia, the United States Small Business Administration, and West Virginia community colleges and Workforce Investment Board partners.

Halverstadt will be the featured speaker at the April 3rd Eastern Panhandle Entrepreneurs Forum, held at the Inn at Charles Town, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Members of the community are invited to attend this free event and learn more about the business coaching process.

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Resources linked: http://www.wabccoaches.com/about/history.htm

Construction Industry Goal: Hire 100,000 Vets by 2019!

 

In an announcement that may be old-hat to pros in the construction industry, the National Symposium on Veterans Employment in Construction (say that three times quickly) announced the Department of Labor initiative.

The DOL and Joining Forces (a political group) announced that it was joining forces with more than 100 construction industry companies for the 100,000 five year new-hires goal. An additional 80 other firms have also pledged to help veterans into construction jobs with their existing training and employment programs.  

The February 10, 2014 symposium held in Washington, DC and was designed to bring awareness to a skilled labor shortage. The DC venue included Joining Forces, a political initiative headed by the wives of President Obama and Vice President Biden.

For Quad State and U.S. Veterans in general including active-duty personnel this initiative will provide men and women transitioning to civilian life more opportunities to join a growing industry with a diverse range of careers in good-paying jobs with many pathways for career advancement.

The Washington, D.C. Symposium included a series of roundtable discussions that focused on the details of ideas and concepts of how the initiative’s goal to hire over 100,000 veterans can be actually accomplished.

 

Topics discussed included how veterans can get credentials and licensed for specialty trade work, identifying training programs and included apprenticeships that veterans can apply their G.I. Bills toward and how construction companies and veterans can connect and discuss job opportunities.

Two current programs, Helmets to Hardhats and the American Job Centers were also mentioned. The construction industry has a hurdle in getting to the 100,000 new hires first in the developing and advertising the availability of the new jobs.

 

Newspapers will like this opportunity for increased revenue, of course, but also other media that reaches potential veteran markets such as radio. They must develop sound strategy to not just make the positions attractive, but to make construction careers attractive as well.

There will be other industries vying for the qualities of returning vets as they translate to business so making construction careers from architects to engineers and estimators to site management and others towards that 2019 goal. One of questions that needs to be asked and answered by construction marketing personnel is “What makes the construction industry more viable than other fields.”

Another obstacles the US construction industry faces is developing best practices in identifying the skills and experience gained through military service matching them up with careers in construction. Now, with over 180 companies and organizations committed to training and hiring veterans for construction industry jobs should make this a fairly easy task...maybe.

As of this date the Quad State Business Journal attempted to gain a complete list of participating companies but we were told that it is not yet available. We will bring the list to you as it is release—if indeed a list will be released. The Journal finds this strange as the Symposium must have already counted at least 180 of the companies.

 

The companies and organizations mentioned in the announcement include Jacobs Engineering, Bechtel Corporation, Cianbro Construction, the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER), the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and the Home Builders Institute (HBI) which is the workforce development arm of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

QSBJ applauds the commitment to hire 'over 100,000' veterans. The actual work-out of the goal is yet to be realized, but we welcome any QSBJ reader adds to this story—especially if you are in the construction industry or are tied to the Helments to Hardhats or other related programs. 

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First published in Quad State Business Journal: www.QuadStateBusinessJournal.com

Business Resources: www.TheBusinessSolutionNetwork.com

New Franchise Owner Finds Customer Acquisition Success in Mobile

Quad State Business Marketing Insider: New Franchise Owner Finds Customer Acquisition Success In Mobile

Actual Case Studies from Real Businesses

--From the QSBJ What's Working Now for Local Strategies

A new franchise owner connected with a consultant to see what could be done to grow their business beyond what the franchisor gave.

It was a new concept, especially in the Quad State region, and the new owner was following things 'by the book' as recommended by the franchisor when they wanted to think outside the proverbial box without breaking their agreement.

The Old Standby of Coupons Was Raised for the Food Franchisee

The new franchisee would be the first one to confess that they new virtually nothing about creating, growing and maintaining a constant contact with their customer base as they were a first-time business owner.

The consultant was amazed that a fairly new and up and coming food franchisor would think that new buyers of the franchise, especially if they have never owned a business could, by seeming osmosis, develop that information without guidelines.

The new owner was on a fairly tight budget and told the consultant so.

The consultant came with a background in direct marketing as well as advertising and website marketing as well. It was only after a period of analyzing the new franchisee's market that coupons came up as a very real gambit. The franchisor also mentioned coupons, but it was via expensive to hook up with the national coupon brand that the franchisor recommended.

Coupons, Yes, But With a Few Partners to Cost-Share

The consultant recommended that they develop a strategic alliance with other non-competitive food marketers in their end of town. The initial offering had three coupons on an oversize postcard rather than an envelope.

The new strategic 'partners' in the mailing, all approved by the new owner, were excited to combine their advertising dollars. It did remind some to check with their own suppliers to see if they had some co-op ad dollars they could spend.

The project was delayed somewhat due to one of the new postcard partners not wanting to give as deep of a discount as the other two participants. The consultant for the new franchisee insisted on the coupon discount from the other participants being fairly deep so as to attract the greatest amount of response from people.

While the consultant showed the reluctant participant how to capture their customers so that upsells to higher margin food treats could be made, the third participant was finally ready to go. They used a recommended method by a Quad State participating consultant in the Business Solution Network (www.TheBusinessSolutionNetwork.com).

Added to the 'Anchor' Advertiser: Mobile Text Marketing

The franchisee took a great trend in retail couponing to add text marketing to the mix. This texting idea was very exciting for the new business owner and he wanted to do it every week 'in order to keep the new customers excited about his offers.'

The actual campaign was more manageable with an every other week push text as to the franchisee's back-office responsibilities in getting offers and employees ready for each new message.

Table tents inside the business and a 'club' concept evolved with employees getting extra 'points' (dollars, prizes) each time they signed up a new customer for the push texts. The every other week text push was much better on the customers' attitudes also.

Quad State businesses will want to be careful to not be too swayed by other businesses using push text messaging as some business owners report that push text is losing its 'newness' and novelty among customers in some markets.

The Bottom Line Was Benefited By a Joint Effort

In any integrated campaign, owners must first look at both their product, market and staff as coupon campaigns that include other media works best by shared involvment.

The result was that not only that the employees gave out printed flyers to those picking up to-go orders as well as eat-in customers. Employees were also incentivized to take extra flyers home with them to spread out in their own neighborhoods.

With as much work that went into the campaigns it may have benefited the new owners to spend the time to build an app for their business. Yet many business owners and even many marketing consultants are not aware what an app can accomplish for both businesses and clients.

Much of the Graphics for the Promotion Gained Free or at Greatly Reduced Costs

The owner had use of a resource very similar to the Quad State's new Business Solution Network. More money could have been saved if the owner and the consultant could have utilized the resources in the Business Solution Network (URL at end of article).

Many times the graphics a national franchisor sends a new franchisee will have to be either greatly edited or ordered anew to fit local situations. That is why a resource such as the Business Solution Network will eventually be worth its weight in gold as local businesses get to know local business suppliers.

Gross Receipts Were Increased 'At Least' 4 Percent Over the Last Promotion

Whether or not a business uses the USPS' EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail) program or develops their own mailing list, attention to the aggressiveness of each subsequent offer must be given. Careful records must be kept in addition.

In the first promotion, results were reported as 'too high to be reasonable' by the owner. Yet each promotion produced an ROI way over individual costs. In this case the average gross receipts were measured. As each subsequent promotion dropped in its 'newness' to the customer base, no promotion measured less than 4 percent.

Whether or not one works with a consultant, the bottom line to marketing in virtually all cases is: What gets measured gets improved.

There is a verse in Proverbs that states “There is safety in many counselors...” That goes double for Quad State businesses. While some businesses can afford it and love to have their different advisors get together to advise them, the Quad State region offers many no-cost options such as SBDC and SCORE offices as well as non-competitive friends in business.

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Courtesy: Quad State Business Journal: www.QuadStateBusinessJournal.com

Resource mentioned, The Business Solution Network: www.TheBusinessSolutionNetwork.com

What's Working Now In Selling and Marketing Strategies For Local Quad State Businesses

Business Talk Column

First of an Eyes-Only Series

[The Quad State Business Journal in cooperation with several regional marketing pros, is putting a series of tested and proven strategies in which small businesses—of many stripes—are acquiring customers in 2014. If you have a story to tell, favorite person you are working with, or a marketing problem we could put before our panel of experts, please send it in! Send it to the author of the article or QSBJ's publisher, Steve Lanning at Steve@QSBJ.org. We will get your question answered.]

By Jill Sommers

It never fails. Some marketing consultant puts a bug in your ear about using this or that strategy to build your specific business's customer acquisition (CA) pipeline and it all sounds so good.

If they are a marketing consultant with an Internet marketing flare, they will recommend all sorts of great SEO and keyword strategies, maybe an adwords campaign, re-targeting campaign and more. It sounds, in fact, very logical. You've got to build your customer list.

Then you are attending an industry conference. In the marketing breakout session you hear how the 'only' way you can truly build your list is via Facebook Fan Pages. It all sounds very logical. After all, isn't Facebook 'the' big 800-pound gorilla in the marketing room?

Then one day at lunch with a few of your business owner peers, one of them tells you of the 'fantastic' way they are building their business via telephone marketing. You are told that SEO and Facebook, while indeed good, are passe' in this new 2014 world of marketing and we need to get back to old school marketing ways.

An other owner disagrees. She has tried telemarketing—in fact several times—in her business and it never worked that well at all. What she has found in her business is that postcard direct mail is helping her close more business than she knows what to do with. More specifically, she tells about the terrific EDDM (Every Door Direct Marketing) program that the post office has and it has been extremely successful—beyond all her expectations. It all sounds so logical. She urges you to 'give EDDM a try' in your business.

Still an other owner at the table disagrees with the 'kind' of direct marketing approach—he says he tried EDDM and postcard marketing and it was a miserable failure. What he tried and won with was 'true' direct marketing—where he had a personal letter, an offer and a reply envelop or card or number to call. He said that 'true' direct marketing—with a direct mail sales letter to the prospect—while more expensive, creates the kind of ROI that you need in your business. It does seem so logical.

Yet still another owner at your lunch table comes up with the fact that he uses a couple of the methods—but only to garner leads—people raising their hands. The real breakthrough for him was when he hired a sales pro who taught his reps to close business inside people's homes. No other way works, he said. He doesn't know how to build his customer base without being able to go directly into people's home to close the business. He does make good points...yes, it does sound logical.

What Kind of Marketing Would Work Best for Your Business?

After lunch you head back to your computer...your head is spinning. Indeed what 'kind' of marketing would work best with your product and service offerings? These people you know personally, have their own businesses and have each met with success with different forms of marketing.

What's the first step in making the best decision? You cannot take chances with your bank account. And you are not going to.

Start with your customers. If you are just starting out, check with your potential customers.

A few phone calls could do you wonders. Or personal visits...gasp! Yep, good old intelligence gathering the old-fashioned way still works like a charm.

What and how are they currently buying from your competitors? If you can add the answer as to 'why' they buy, give yourself a huge bonus.

If you feel like, for the sake of your time, you want to hire a consultant to do competitor research, don't give the assignment form them to do competitor intelligence. Do product intelligence instead.

At this point you are not concerned with competitors—for the most part. You just want to get your products, goods and services out the door—and keep them sold.

Quick Note About The Coming 'What's Working Now' Series

We are going to be going over Quad State markets for Quad State businesses in this series. Granted, it may work for businesses in other parts of America, but our Quad State Area is who we are going to serve.

The thing about marketing consultants...and heaven knows I am one...is that we all tend to dance with the type of technology and skill sets that brought our client's success. Therefore we disagree.

If a marketing pro is an expert at direct marketing, they are going to focus on getting your goods and services sold via direct marketing. If they are webmasters or Internet Marketing pros, they will steer you towards SEO and keywords.

The exercise above—whether you do it yourself or you hire it done—if done correctly, will tell you HOW your SPECIFIC product is being sold—now.

Marketing should be a multifaceted part of your business. The 'ideal' customer that may not respond to direct mail, to SEO and Internet marketing or Facebook marketing, may respond to press releases. The kind that will not respond to press releases, may indeed be the best customer for postcard marketing.

What we want to focus on is what works for you...period...as a Quad State marketer. I would love to get your feedback.

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First Published: www.QuadStateBusinessJournal.com

Article taken from Independent sources at www.TheBusinessSolutionNetwork.com

Five Breakthroughs Available to Quad State Construction Pros from AR Technology

Construction pros in the Quad State region are starting to learn about breakthrough technology that is already impacting their industry and can impact, positively, the bottom lines of all players in the field.

The technology, augmented reality, in case you are not familiar with it you have already observed if you watch football on TV, is here to stay. You are looking at augmented reality (AR) each time you see the line of scrimmage or the first-down marker ‘augmented’ for the viewing audience.

And it is going to get even better in the months and years just ahead as AR impacts a whole covey of industries.

In brief, AR is enhancing real-world environments by overlaying virtual data, images and so forth onto a physical space. Maybe you can call it the flip side or extended version of having a realtor take you on a virtual tour of a house for sale.

To a degree, each time you see a QR (Quick Response) code, you are looking at a member of the AR family. It is applied to architectural drawings and construction images coming from/to the cameras smartphones and tablets.

Those in the AR field see the technology eventually eliminating the need for markers in GPS technology in areas such as radio frequency identification devices (RFID)

AR technology is just now getting started with the first reporting on expanded and practical uses in the construction trade press in 2011. But now with AR impacting more fields (such as education for example) the construction trade press came alive in 2013.

Door Jamb Technologies Coming Alive?

As with its ‘Star Trek’ cousin technology of 3-D printing coming onto the scene, construction firms are using QR codes as markers on door jambs so as to allow on-site users up-to-the-minute 3D Building Information Modeling to easily keep up with such things as those pesky change orders.

In fact, the watershed construction project for AR was The Institute for Systems Biology headquarters in 2011 where construction professionals, through Building Information Modeling (BIM) were able to ‘look’ at the completed building and change or modify building components before they were built or even installed.

In fact one can now look at the AR markers on a door jamb and see how a new piece of equipment or other change order would impact the final look. And then the project manager could ten video record the AR walk-through and get it back to the construction design team as issues come up.

The Entire AR Technology is Just Getting Started, But Give Us Five Benefits of the Technology Right Now

The full scope of AR capabilities and applications are still ahead. The entire construction industry is changing before our eyes. Those firms who jump on and learn what the technology can do for them will be miles ahead of their competitors.

First, Projects Can Be Real-Time Visualized

Think of an architect, contractor or building owner being able to walk onto a project site with their smartphone or tablet. Now with the device’s camera pointed at the location of the proposed building, they can see a full-scale model of the building before the first wheelbarrow comes on site!

This represents a quantum leap from 2D drawings and even the current technology of BIM.

Next, Vastly Improved Communication and Alliances

Virtually every one of the Quad State’s construction professionals can give you their own construction war stories of the movie line, “What we have here is a failure to communicate!”

Collaboration and communication are the two peas in a pod that go into any successful construction project. Take the same scenario as in #1 above and have a project manager overlay a BIM model ON TOP OF as-built construction and compare the two views—all the time accessing change orders as they come through.

Third, Safety is Augmented

One’s imagination can be brought into reality right now. Think of a safety manager being able to walk into a specific area of current construction with their safety checklist—just made in the morning’s safety meeting. Everyone can see how the morning’s checklist meets reality almost instantly.

Fourth, Building Information Modeling Takes a Giant Leap Forward

Granted, with over 70% of the firms using BIM in some way right now, AR has the very real potential to up BIM deployment to 100% of the firms throughout the construction industry. The back and forth capabilities of current model overlaid on the actual built environment without ever having to look away, brings a new game into town.

As one wonk mentioned, “Augmented reality will do for BIM what BIM did for CAD and 2D architectural drawing.”

Lastly, the Phrase ‘On Time and Within Budget’ Really Can Mean Something Now

Integration of AR with BIM is already augmenting the under budget aspects of what BIM did in its current form to CAD and 2D. Now for the kicking BIM up a few notches for the customer.

With the customer, you can walk through a full-scale BIM model and show the customer the most efficient construction schedule possible. Then develop a logistics plan for the site complete with materials and delivery staging areas.

What if you could quickly calculate remaining building materials with how much will be needed to complete the rest of a project? That’s the kind of real-time savings with the enhanced BIM gives you. If a sudden need for materials arises, not only could you even quickly calculate the amount needed, you can see where the closest distributors are for even same-day delivery if needed.

If You Haven’t Yet Experienced AR There Are Several Beta Examples

You can Google for examples of course, but there is an app by J.B Knowledge Technologies, Inc., that you may play around on—at no fee. The app is available on iOS and Androud mobile devices and is free to download once you register. The link is at the end below.

Another option that is as cheap as dinner for two is to chat with one of the Quad State professionals at The Business Solutions Network site. We’ve also included below. Basically, as it is a new technology, you would have to call the BSN office and chat with staff to determine whom to chat with.

 

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 First published: www.QuadStateBusinessJournal.com

 

Free Download of an AR App for Construction:

http://smartreality.co/

 

Talk to a local Quad State Expert: www.TheBusinessSolutionNetwork.com

(Call the BSN office to be safe. Number on the site.)

 

Six Reasons Quad State Business Are Missing Out on Revenue In the Mobile Revolution that Is Eclipsing Desktop

Six Reasons Quad State Business Are Missing Out on Revenue In the Mobile Revolution that Is Eclipsing Desktop

At first mobile was just the younger generations 'fad' many of us thought. I've got to confess, I was there, too.

A few years ago when our son in Florida decided that his parents should have a 'super' Scrabble board, he sent us a surprise gift card. When our son in California visited us, he thought the super-duper Deluxe Scrabble was indeed cool.

In trying to be helpful, I magnanimously offered to research the information the next time I was in my office. He just looked at me, smiled and whipped out his hand-held and took a picure of the UPC code. “That's ok, Mom,” he quipped, “I've got all the information right here.”

Our son's Washington County school teacher friend told us he was just amazed by all the people doing Christmas shopping. “I did all my Christmas shopping in 30 minutes with this, so that I could spend more time playing with my son,” as he held up his I-phone.

Savvy Advertisers Have the Wheel Again

A well-placed ad on either hand held device above could be as little as 17 cents with the digital options available to marketers today.

The re-targeting of ads (digital ads for products you show and interest in and follow you around the Web) is something local merchants are just now getting a handle on.

“The pendulum has swung back in the favor of small business this time, if we can figure it out,” said Chris Grable a college professor and business owner.

The Quad State Business Journal has discover six (at least) key societal movements in which the local business would be wise to jump on.

The fascinating stat according to Forrester Research and other followers of Internet trends is that desktop advertising will peak THIS YEAR in 2014. Then it will start declining. Why the decline?

One word: mobile. The mobile hand held advertising is already at 20% of all web spending and will start to increase rapidly after 2014.

The key is for merchants and all marketers to be a player in both worlds, desktop AND mobile. Here are the six trends we found. These are trends taken from 782 sources, so we can be sure they are pretty firmed up.

1. Smartphone and tablet penetration is really starting to catch hold in the US and the world. Some say tablets are the device of the future;
2. As to the plethora of selections for the consumer, mobile devices are at the top of the communication food chain;
3. Mobile is now at least 20 percent of all web traffic and search volume.
4. The trend for mobile commerce is growing exponentially;
5. Savvy marketers from local to national are ready for the action;
6. Social media is known more and more as a mobile activity.

While total media spending shrank in the recent years because of our ongoing recession, it IS expected to return soon.

The number one issue that remains for businesses is making their websites mobile readable. One figure that continues to stand out is that fully 86% of all businesses have yet to have their site mobile-ready.

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Find an inexpensive solution to make your site mobile readable:

http://thebusinesssolutionsnetwork.com/mobile-app-preview.html

Originally published:

http://QuadStateBusinessJournal.com