Retailers: Profits Soar With This Bonus Structure

Your Chamber staff is always on the lookout for new tips & tricks to help your business succeed.  One case study we found suggested a retailer switch from a monthly bonus to a weekly bonus.  Below is a summary of the casestudy.

A weekly payout, rather than a monthly payout, helps keep staff focused on selling every day, not just the last couple of days of the month.  In addition, there are 3 other key benefits of this strategy.

1. It fosters team work.   If your store hits it’s goal for the week, everyone gets a bonus.  This encourages people to work together and help each other out.  No one can earn the bonus alone. 
2. It keeps them selling the whole week.  If you have higher bonus payouts coming from higher weekly sales, everyone stays focused on selling until the very last hour of the week.
    
3. It’s fair. In this casestudy, the bonus was paid on an hourly basis. People who work more hours get more of a bonus and people who’ve worked less get less.

The holiday season is the perfect time to try this out.  If it works for you, you can continue it during the rest of the year.

Why Surveys are Important to Your Business

In the book “Selling the Invisible,” Harry Beckwith states that surveys are important because your customers will appreciate it.  “They’ll see you are trying to improve your service.”  Beckwith suggests having customers score you in different areas and then publicizing your high scores in your marketing materials. 

In the book Beckwith talks about using surveys to tell you what business you’re really in, to keep you from wondering what you’re doing wrong, and to alert you to possible areas. 

People are typically more honest on a survey than they are in person.  So often, I hear people talk about a place where they received poor customer service.  They admit they never told the store manager about their experience or even the cashier/server that asked them about their experience.  They simply never returned.  (Everyone has done this at some point or knows someone who has done this.)

In conversation, they later tell friends about their poor experience.  Had the store/ restaurant offered its customers a way to take a survey (or even better yet an incentive to take the survey), a  pattern might have emerged that would have helped the store/restaurant fix little problems before they became big problems.

So survey your customers.  E-mail them a survey.  Have comment cards available on restaurant tables.  This can be an inexpensive tool to gain valuable insight into the minds of your customers.

July’s President’s Report

President’s Report

It is hard to believe that this year is already more than half over.  Signs of recovery are all around us: Retail sales taxes rose by 5.3% in May from the same month last year, unemployment was down to 7.0% (from 7.3% last month) and existing home sales continue to be stronger than last year as well. Despite losing some members in recent months, our recruitment of new members has kept us at 1,177, fifty-five ahead of the same month last year. We have also seen continued growth in room rentals, including a statewide DPS training program that will generate a significant amount in rental income over the next twelve months.

Business Network Lunch was held today, Tuesday, July 13^th at the Chamber. Our sponsor this month is El Patron, which is also catering the lunch. Co-Hosts Assistant Police Chief Roland Waits and Jerri Jones always do a great job of making these events fast-moving and fun. A large crowd of 142 attended this event, where we celebrated Roland’s promotion. 

The Ambassadors attended numerous ribbon cuttings in June early July to welcome new members and celebrate with those who have expanded their operations.   The Ambassador Luncheon was held at the Chamber on July 7^th at Mel’s Lone Star Lanes and was attended by 35 ambassadors. Ambassador of the Month was Stephanie Blanck (IEP Associates).  We were all excited to learn that Today’s Farm freeze-dried fruits was a featured product on the Today Show on July 4^th.  Rusty Justus (Justus Foods), founder of Today’s Farm and Tom Catlin (Evans, Ewan, and Brady Insurance Agency) are co-chairs for this great group in 2010. 

Lunch and Learn for June was held on the 23rd at the Chamber and featured Georgetown Police Chief Wayne Nero and Fire Chief Robert Fite.  They did a great job of explaining the role and function of their departments and answering questions from the 46 member in attendance about how they can protect their businesses.  The event was catered by Cotton Patch Restaurant.  Our co-chairs for Lunch and Learn are Marilyn Taylor (Home Source Mortgage) and Jacque Smith (Independence Title).  

Breakfast Links was held on Monday, June 21st at the Chamber, and featured guest speaker Bob Kenworthy (Balanced Achievement.)   A crowd of 28 members enjoyed a hardy breakfast catered by Down the Alley Bistro.  Co-Chairs Bob Villarreal (Cici’s Pizza) and Alfredo Rivera (Applebee’s) did a fine job as always.

Face2Face Speed Networking was held at the Chamber on June 18^th and was attended by 26 members, who enjoyed lunch from Craig O’s Pizza and some one-on-one business building time.  This event is co-chaired by John Montgomery (Urban Homes and Land) and Anna Cornett (Mobile Detail and Texas Sweet Tea). 

Business After Hours for June was held at Rowe Valley Event Center and attracted a nice crowd of about 50 people for food from Cole’s Catering, fun, and good networking.

 The Leadership Georgetown and Junior Leadership Georgetown commencement exercise was held at Southwestern University on Wednesday, June 16^th and featured Jake Schrum (President, Southwestern University) and Abbe Boring ( Superintendent, GISD) as our keynote speakers. Stephanie Blanck, Gwen Davis, and Jan Williams were recognized for their great work as co-chairs of the two programs and graduates received their diplomas in front of a supportive crowd of 100 members and guests. This continues to be a vibrant and successful program.

On June 30^th, a new member orientation was held at the Chamber to better acquaint 61 new members with the many benefits of Chamber membership and the numerous programs, activities, and resources offered by the Chamber to help encourage effective networking and business building.

Membership Vice-Chair Marcy Urban emceed the event, which featured volunteer leaders who discussed Business Network Lunch, Lunch and Learn, Face2Face, Ambassadors, Breakfast Links, Business after Hours, Silver Screen Seminars, free counseling from SCORE and SBDC, Leadership Georgetown, public policy initiatives, economic development efforts, marketing and advertising opportunities discounted room rentals, member-to-member discounts and incentives,  and other important aspects of Chamber membership. Catering for this event was by Wildfire.

The first troops from Task Force Mustang deployed in Afghanistan in June and will be followed by a larger contingent in July and August. We are proud of our ongoing relationship with the brave men and women of Task Force Mustang, and wish them Godspeed on their journey to Afghanistan and a safe return home.  If you don’t have a tee shirt, they are available at the Chamber for $10 each, with all proceeds going to pay for our support effort.  Karen Sheldon is working closely with Task Force Mustang representatives, Adopt a Unit Chair Ray Barron (Chisholm Trail Financial) and representatives from the City of Georgetown to coordinate goody bags for all of our troops to enjoy during their deployment.  

The Winery Initiative Petition Drive was a complete success, collecting almost 1,000 more verified signatures than were required to place the item on the November election ballot.  We are planning a new event on November 6^th to celebrate voter approval of this measure which will make all levels of licensing available for local restaurants to serve alcoholic beverages in their businesses.  This will also make it possible for wineries to locate downtown without deriving 51% of their revenue from food service or using 51% Texas grown grapes in the wine they are allowed to sell.

Don’t forget to purchase your half-price tickets to Georgetown Chamber Night at Dell Diamond on July 22^nd. The deadline for this offer is July 16^th, and we are hoping to have another great turnout this year.  We have had the largest crowd of any Chamber every year that the Express has been in existence, so let’s keep the record alive.

Respectfully,
Mel Pendland

Georgetown Winery Initiative Update

According to organizer Charles Carter, about 5,800 signatures have been collected & verified - roughly 1,000 signatures more than required to get the issue on November’s ballot.  It took less than a month to collect these signatures.  The petitions now go to the County Board of Elections to be certified.

About the Winery Initiative. The Winery Initiative is a ballot initiative to give citizens a chance to vote in next May’s general election on leveling the rules for all of Georgetown when it comes to existing liquor laws.  Currently, businesses downtown and in certain other parts of town have to purchase a much more expensive license than other parts of town.  Thus, this has become an important economic development issue that is supported by the Downtown Georgetown Association, the Chamber, and the Restaurant Association.  The Ministerial Alliance sees it as an economic development and does not object.

According to the blog about the Winery Initiatve, New 8 on Time Warner did a great story about the initiative.  This initiative simply allows beer and wine ONLY permits for eateries and allows Wineries to avoid the grape juice requirement imposed by Texas on Dry Areas.
http://news8austin.com/content/271325/alcohol-initiative-could-appear-on-ballot-in-georgetown

Georgetown Winery Initiative Update

According to organizer Charles Carter, about 50% of the roughly 5,000 signatures needed had been collected as of this morning.  The rest of the signatures need to be collected within the next 44 days.

Want to help?  Volunteers have the option of getting paid $1/ signature OR collecting 50 signatures to attend a special happy hour celebration.  Many volunteers are making at least $15/hr. 

Volunteers canvass neighborhoods every evening from 5:30pm to dusk and on Saturday mornings from 9am to noon.  Volunteers must be 18 or older, do not need to be Georgetown resident, can canvass a variety of locations (potentially including your neighborhood), and can volunteer for any length of time.

If you want to volunteer, be at the Chamber parking lot at 6:30 pm each day thru june to canvass.  Instructions, petitions, and walk lists will be provided.  Questions? Please call Charles Carter 512-217-7508.

About the Winery Initiative. The Winery Initiative is a ballot initiative to give citizens a chance to vote in next May’s general election on leveling the rules for all of Georgetown when it comes to existing liquor laws.  Currently, businesses downtown and in certain other parts of town have to purchase a much more expensive license than other parts of town.  Thus, this has become an important economic development issue that is supported by the Downtown Georgetown Association, the Chamber, and the Restaurant Association.  The Ministerial Alliance sees it as an economic development and does not object.

For more information: http://georgetownwineryinitiative.blogspot.com/.

Website Goal Setting Using Google Analytics

In today’s digital age, websites are becoming an increasingly important marketing tool for your business.  That said, it can be useful to set goals for your website. Google Analytics is a free program that can help you track your progress.

Some good website goals include: Viewers reaching a specific place on your website; Viewers spending a certain amount of time on your site; or the number of page views.

Super goals may be something more directly linked to revenue such as filling out a form or making a purchase.

If you have an e-commerce site:
You can assign a value to each of your goals to help you determine the likely monetary value for each goal.  Appropriate goals might be: Category level page, Product level page, Shopping cart, and Thank you page.  For example, you might assign the thank you page twice as much value as the product level page.  Google Analytics will give you a tool to see how well you are achieving each goal.

If you don’t have an e-commerce site:
Your goals might be: Viewing two pages on your site, Number of pages visited, and/or length of time on your site.  Since you’re setting a goal, you would set your target above your current average.  You can then use Google Analytics to measure your progress.

Website goals are a great way to help you determine what’s ahead as well as what’s already occurred.

Upcoming Changes at the Chamber

Social Media.
NEW!  Check out videos of Chamber events: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjGgtlv4Bb0

See photographs of ribbon cuttings on Flickr:http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgetowncoc/sets/

Get Chamber updates on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/georgetownchamber
Thanks to Sproull ! Taylor Creative for managing our Facebook account. 

Newsletter. 
Wish the newsletter contained more City info?  The City puts out a weekly newseltter with this information.  To subscribe go to http://lists.georgetown.org/?p=subscribe.

Wish the weekly newsletter was e-mailed out without having to click on a link to get to it?  With our current technical set-up, that really isn’t doable because  it would be extremely difficult to make the newsletter look more or less the same for everyone.  We’re in the process of making some changes though.  As early as next week, we will be able to send the newsletter out as part of an e-mail. 

Think the newsletter should be shorter?  Chamber membership includes being able to promote your events and your company news.  That can easily lead to a long newsletter.  As a compromise, we are shifting to including a sentence or two about each event/ press release along with a link for more information.

Website.
The Chamber is exploring ways to enhance our online membership directory and website.  Part of our goal is to make it easier to find information on members and on the Chamber by making the site more searchable.  This is all still very much in the preliminary stages, but if you have a suggestion for what to add or what to change you can reply to this post or e-mail Allison at admin@georgetownchamber.org.

Get Summer Help Paid for By Workforce Solutions

For the second summer in a row, Workforce Solutions has a program that allows business to have a summer intern without the expense of paying for someone. 

The Chamber took part in this program last year.  We loved it.  Hiring an intern wasn’t in our budget.  Non-paid interns generally aren’t able to work very many hours.  This was perfect.  It allowed us to have an intern work full-time for the duration of the program.  It helped our intern by giving her much needed work experience and networking opportunities.

Ready for the details?  

Workforce Solutions is looking for businesses to train entry level youth participating in a summer work program. Workforce Solutions will provide entry level wages to youth based on individual jobsite positions.  They will also pay the cost of Worker’s Compensation Insurance.   

Business will provide job training and supervision based on entry level job description.  They will maintain time and attendance records for youth’s wage payments.  They will communicate with Workforce Solutions on youth’s progress.

 For additional information contact: J.R. Alavrez at 512-244-2207 x1027 or claro.alavrez@ruralcapital.net.

Make Your Business Easier to Find with Google Places

Once you are set up in Google Places and your customer types into Google what they are looking for, say “meeting rooms Georgetown TX” your business comes up as a highlighted local business listing with a red dot on a map – like the Chamber’s meeting room does in the example below.

One of the best parts about this is that you can take control over what Google is showing your customers when they click the “more info” button. You can add useful business information to your Google Places listing, like store hours, additional phone numbers, email addresses, plus pictures of your products or videos you have created.

You can even add printable coupons or gift certificates to entice searchers to come into your store!

Want a little more information?  This short video created by Google explains provides details about what Google Places is and how you can use it in your business. Click the image or the link below to watch…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpZan96KHOM&feature=player_embedded

Ready to get started?  Go to www.google.com/places and click the blue “Sign Up Now” button.

If you want/need help doing this, the Chamber has a variety of members that would be happy to help you with this project.  Sproull ! Taylor Creative initially tipped us off about this and got us set-up.  For a list of members that would be happy to help you, go to http://www.georgetownchamber.org/membership/marketing.internet.asp.

Texas Life-Sciences Collaboration Center (TLCC) Outreach Event

For many Georgetown residents, TLCC is as a relatively unknown success story.  On May 4th from 3-5pm at the Sun City Ballroom, you will have a chance to learn a little more about this success story in a town hall setting.  Admission is free and open to the public.  No RSVP required.  Light refreshments will be served.

About TLCC:  The TLCC is a non-profit post-incubation biotechnology acceleration center located in the Georgetown South Commercial Park. It was established in 2007 as a partnership among the City, The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, and Southwestern University.  The TLCC exists to create jobs, educational opportunities and community economic growth by promoting the transition of biotechnology, life-sciences and emerging technology companies from late-stage incubation through the commercialization stage.

About the Event:  “In addition to an overview of economic development in Georgetown and the TLCC itself, the event will highlight some of the TLCC member companies and their disruptive emerging technologies”, said Russ Peterman, the TLCC Executive Director.

Citizens throughout the greater Georgetown region are encouraged to attend and participate and to learn more about these advances in healthcare and biotechnology.

Spread the word about this exciting event!