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Meeting
Minutes:
Friday, March 4, 2005
Volume 12; Issue 9 |
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Table of Contents
Committee Reports
Membership
Report
(Click here
to go to the Membership page)
Barbara Kollman
visited our group today. Barbara is an actuary and pension
consultant. She helps people design their retirement in a
such a way as to maximize benefits given current tax laws.
She has over 30 years experience in this area. If there
are no objections to this applicant, she will be invited to join
the group.
[membersonly/archives/applications/submitted_applications.htm]
Social Report
(Click here to go to the Social Event page)
The signup sheet for the Salt River
Rafting trip was passed around again. Because there
was so much interest, we are going in two groups on different
dates, March 26 & April 23.
Please see the Social Event page
for more details.
Speaker Coordinator Report
(Click here to go to the Speaker Schedule)
- 03/11/05 Joe
Hesch
- 03/18/05 Special
Event
- 03/25/05 No
Meeting
- 04/01/05 Brian
Verbraken
Treasurer Report
Quarterly dues billing went out last week.
We are in good standing.
Leads Report
20-17,
37-38, 23-41, 36-20, 41-38, 12-10, 12-05, 12-18, 12-46, 12-13,
12-06, 12-30, 28-17, 06-10, 47-28, 04-32, 04-23, 04-17, 27-40.
This week's leads focus...
Business Spotlight
Wayne Unruh was today's Business Spotlight.
Wayne has recently expanded his business to include Closet
Organizers. There are quite a few products already out
there, but Wayne likes this product because it is inexpensive
and yet a very nice product to work with. There are many
different configurations and accessories to choose from and you
also have your choice of 3 colors - white, oak and cherry.
You can install this product yourself or have Wayne do it for
$20/ft. This product does not have an option for closets
large enough for islands but Wayne can take care of that for
you.
Next week's Business
Spotlight is Jana Greene.
Notable Mentions
Dave Spiess is now the chair of a new board
position, Mentoring. He would like to meet with the
existing mentoring committee sometime next week.
Members have until March 11th to get their
brochure updates in to Stuart
Schindler. If you won't be at next week's meeting, you
fax or email your changes to him. If you are a new member
and unfamiliar with the process, Stu will be more than happy to
walk you through it.
Last week Stuart Schindler handed out a flyer
on a recent credit card theft trend where store clerks take a
picture of your credit card with their picture cell phones.
This hit close to home for some members. This very thing
happened to Joyce Crissman last week at Sam's Club. Bob
Busch wanted to prosecute when something similar happened to him
but he was told it was the credit card company's problem and
they don't usually prosecute. This is why this crime is so
popular.
The new board positions were announced
this morning. They are:
President: Mark Dreher
Vice President: Brian Verbraken
Mentoring: Dave Spiess
Speaker Coordinator: Jim Bache
Social: Althea Bussert
Treasurer, Membership & Retention: Roman Okonowski
There will be a board meeting
next Wednesday night at 6:30pm at the Landmark.
Our new president, Mark
Dreher, gave members an idea of what to expect over the next 6
months.
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He strongly encourages
members to participate in discussions about challenges we
face our businesses. But if you don't feel comfortable
discussing certain things in front of 47 other people,
contact a board member. There is a wealth of
experience and knowledge in this group that we can all
benefit from.
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We are going to continue
with the business spotlight. But if something new or
interesting is going on in your industry that you would like
to mention, you are encouraged to do so at any time.
Question of the Day
None.
Main Speaker
Lisa
Wolfe
Marketing
Success International LLC
First and foremost...Lisa's husband is a
wonderful guy!
Lisa was born in Illinois but raised in
Indiana. One of her first jobs was as serving drinks to
business executives aboard a river barge. She didn't get
paid for her work. She offered to do it for free just so
she could meet these people. Her plan worked. She
was offered a high paying job as a meeting planner for Bristol
Meyer. She planned 300 meetings and tradeshows each year
for 2 years. But then they notified her that they were
moving their corporate offices out-of-state and she wasn't
invited.
Newly divorced and now unemployed, Lisa had
nothing holding her down. After 30+ years in Indiana, it
was time to move. She had been to Arizona for work and
liked it. She moved here 13 years ago in July and hasn't
regretted it since.
Her first job in Arizona was for a publishing
company. She worked there 8 years. She spent 6 years
as an account executive and the last 2 years as a publisher.
She is proud of the fact that she developed and launched 2 new
magazines. One was for bed & breakfasts and the other for
assisted living facilities. But 8 years was enough to put
up with a job that caused brain damage and a maniac boss.
Lisa began working for a company that offered
cookie-cutter packages for ABC. It was a way for small
businesses to move beyond direct mail and newsletters into
broadcast advertising. She did really well for a year.
But she found that this job was limiting. Many clients
wanted to try advertising on other stations but Lisa couldn't
help them because her deal with ABC was exclusive. Clients
were also coming to her for advise on other ways to advertise.
In 2001 Lisa started her own agency.
Now she can offer the whole package. She has been doing
well for 4 years now. She is different from the
competition in that she doesn't charge a retainer fee. She
basically gives you a lot of free advise...for a time. Her
niche is small to medium size businesses. She has many
different packages available that can help a business on a tight
budget. She will field those nuisance calls from startup
magazines, etc. that want you to advertise with them. And
she doesn't charge a dime for this because it helps her too.
It enables her to stay on top of the newest trends and offers
that are out there. Think of Lisa as an extension of your
marketing team.
Most small business are used to
the direct response
method of
advertising. They need to see people walk through the door
or call. They do this with newsletters, flyers, etc.
It is often used to promote a special event such a sale.
Less aggressive forms of this are yellow page ads and an
internet presence. But with things like a website, you
have to send people to it. She highly recommends that you
put your web address on everything.
Branding
is about image awareness. It is a catchy slogan or logo
that brings you to mind with customers. We are all
familiar with the slogan's of Allstate, Alka Seltzer and
Budweiser. We immediately think of McDonald's when we see
the golden arches or insurance when we see the gecko. We
still say "Where's the beef" even though this phrase hasn't been
advertised in years. Branding is typically very effective.
But most campaigns fail because companies don't have enough
money to keep it up.
Lisa can help you move from
direct response to branding campaigns and she can do it without
breaking your bank. She has put together several packages
that can be very effective for small businesses. She
encourages you to shop her. She can't guarantee that she
is the lowest out there but she will be close. And she has
the advantage of buying power.
Businesses are selling to 3
types of customers.
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Customers that don't know they need you.
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Customers that need you today.
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Customers that you have previously sold to and you now have
to prevent buyers remorse. When you reinforce that
they made the right decision, you are building a referral
base.
Lisa
shared several success stories with the group. She has
helped business turn things around and grow beyond expectations.
She can do the same for you. Just remember, advertising is
not an expense...it is an investment. Invest wisely.
[membersonly/archives/former_members/wolfe.htm]
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