November BS&T Meets Goals, Exceeds Expectations

by Barbara E. Cohen

Irvington Writers Studio

The second Business Strategy & Technology Seminar met on Friday, November 8th, at the Columbia Club in Indianapolis. Participants included a cross-section of business people from Indianapolis and surrounding communities, from as far away as south of Columbus, Indiana. 

Assembling over breakfast, attendees spent the morning listening to four presentations about business communications, organization and marketing. The program ended at about noon following a stimulating keynote address by Joe Newman.  The seminar began with general introductions and a welcome message from event founder Blake Justice. He thanked everyone for coming and spoke briefly about the day’s program.  He also encouraged everyone to ask questions, network with tablemates and provide feedback for improving future events.  

Starting off the presentations, Holly Halsell of WorkSmart Systems spoke about the value of “Team Outsourcing”.   She defined outsourcing as “hiring expertise you don’t have” for maximizing valuable workday hours.  Business development hours lost due to administrative issues was a topic that seemed to resonate with the audience.  She highlighted the cost-effectiveness of redirecting time and energy from administrative tasks to revenue-generating activities.  Holly said, “When you outsource your HR functions, you create more hours to do what you went into business to do.”  Her handouts included an excellent chart outlining the various responsibilities that the PEO industry typically coordinates for a small-business owner.

The next presenter Bill Wolfe, of Wolfe Developments, discussed “Business Technologies” with the participants by offering important pointers for businesses online.  He highlighted that while E-commerce campaigns typically rely on websites, they also includes e-marketing activities that drive customers to the website and track the success of the online marketing campaign. Bill recommended hiring a marketing consultant, emphasizing that you should carefully plan the scope of the project you want to implement, interview several communications consultants to find the best working relationship and review proposals carefully to match your marketing theme with your business style.  Finally, Bill suggested that small-business owners should “hire good listeners to write your marketing plan.” His handout on the “10 Deadly Sins of Business Online” covered all the major problems of unprofessional websites, making it a convenient checklist for eliminating some easily remedied errors of business websites.

Sandi Ballard-Groth spoke next on “Business Marketing,” by reviewing the major elements of a successful business marketing plan. She relayed how word-of-mouth marketing works for many small businesses, but that at some point during business growth, owners begin searching for new strategies.  For leaders desiring to take business to the next level, she stressed the importance of understanding your customer audience. She offered a series of questions to help: “Who are your customers? What do you want to say (What is your message?) and  how much you can afford to spend to drive new customers to your business (What is your budget?).  She also emphasized the importance of continuous campaign evaluation:  Is it working? Can you identify measurable results? What is the best marketing method to generate the results you want?  She mentioned an advantage of the Internet for small businesses is that customers can’t see your bricks-and-mortar operations; a professional website helps a small business look bigger than it really is. Sandi’s final advice: “Develop a marketing plan and work within your budget.” Sandi’s handouts covered the management of marketing campaigns and advertising on vehicles.

Between the panel and keynote, the event host shared with the audience a brief, but informative video about the up and coming industry of voice-recognition technologies. Focused on voice-activated unified communication systems, it highlighted how companies can increase productivity by eliminating multiple messaging snafus, improve customer service by decreasing call-back time and save money compared to multiple messaging resources.  Voice recognition is significantly cheaper than hiring a personal assistant’s salary and well within the reach of most small-business owners.

Finally, Joe Newman took the floor for the keynote address, “Today, You Are Your Competition.” Joe’s quick wit and lively manner energized everyone as he began speaking about the “myth of indispensability” that governs advertising today. Joe’s point is that great advertising, no matter how memorable, can’t overcome bad production, bad distribution or a bad product. What happens at the point of sale is more important than what kind of advertising you do.

After a lengthy introduction about business profitability and business development strategies, Joe focused on the “nugget” of his presentation: “Your competition is out there while you are here at this seminar.” Joe admonished us to think like our competitors in order to be better than them. “Where do you fit compared to your competition?”  Joe’s advice focused on the idea that what you know about your competition will fuel your own growth. Customer retention is the easiest way to maintain your business, but have you planned for how to retain your customers? Focus on the proper target audience for your advertising messages, and don’t waste time selling to people who aren’t interested. Sell to a person by solving his or her problem, making sure to point out how your product or service is of value to them.

The seminar ended too quickly, as there were many questions stimulated by Joe’s great advice and amusing, but informative anecdotes. Luckily, each participant received a booklet containing useful handouts prepared by the speakers. An information table also contained brochures and how-to literature from many participating companies. In addition, there were door prizes of business books and t-shirts, mouse-pads and notepads, and pens (donated by Blaze Communications, Melsernet, and Recognize U, Inc., respectively).

The seminar was developed and organized by Blaze Communications, sponsored by Melsernet and hosted by WorkSmart Systems. Donated materials and volunteer efforts by the seminar’s team members kept the cost low. Blake ended the session by thanking sponsors and speakers for their efforts and noted that feedback received would be useful in the further refinement of the BS&T seminar format.