Thank you for your continued support and participation, and please help us welcome our new members:

Berry’s Catering & Floral
Mr. Cal Berry
520 Reynolds Street
Augusta, GA 30901
(706) 724-2121 0r
berryscatering@att.net
www.berryscatering.com

West Avenue Barber Shop
Ms. Debra Paradis
512 West Avenue
(803) 278-0099 or
jparadis11@aol.com

Forrest McKie & Company
Ms. JoAnn McKie
919 Georgia Avenue
(803) 278-1523 or
formckie919@hotmail.com
www.forrestmckie.com

You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.”  Steuart Henderson Britt

I love that quote!  Its one of my all time favorites.  It creates a mental image that really helps capture the importance of proper advertising.

Marketing is a very broad term that includes research, branding, advertising, public relations, and more.  Developing a Marketing Plan is crucial to the success of any business-large or small.

The series is !!FREE!!for members($25 for non-members).  Chick-fil-A will provide lunch for anyone interested.  At a cost of $7.00, Chick-fil-A will bring in a Chick-fil-A sandwich box lunch.  You are welcomed to bring your own.

Please let us know if you would like for us to order you a lunch or if you plan to bring your own when making your reservation.

Please use the link below to register for the event.  Also, please let us know if you plan to bring your own lunch or if you would like us to bring in your Chick-fil-A lunch for only $7.00
Please let us know if you would like for us to order you a lunch or if you plan to bring your own when making your reservation.

(YES, YOU MUST RSVP FOR THESE WORKSHOPS!)
Register Now!

Thanks, and I’ll close with my 2nd favorite marketing quote:

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”  John Wanamaker

Come join us as we figure out which half is working for you.

Join your fellow business leaders to discuss legislative issues that need to be addressed by the General Assembly.  The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce’s 2010 Grassroots Regional Meeting, set for August 31st  at the North Augusta Municipal Building from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.

There is no charge for this meeting, but you do need to register.

The Grassroots meetings are held in conjunction with local chambers of commerce across the state.  These meetings are considered to be the first step in forming the 2011 Competitiveness Agenda, the business community’s annual list of legislative priorities. During each meeting, attendees are invited to share their business concerns and provide feedback on what pro-business legislation needs to be passed to improve South Carolina’s business climate.

Register online today!

or

RSVP to me via email – brian@northaugustachamber.org

Thank you all very much for your loyalty and support.

There is definite strength in numbers!

Small Businesses are normally just that…Small. Small Businesses are not normally able to negotiate significant savings because of their limited size.  The North Augusta Chamber has joined forces with Office Depot to offer better pricing for our members.  The current program includes a number of everyday office products at a significant discount.

Please follow the link below to review a list of items included in the discount program.  You can also register for the program by following the links below.

For more information, contact us at the Chamber office at (803) 279-2323.

To download list of items included in the Discount Program with Office Depot click below.

Core Discount List

To register to begin receiving your Chamber Discount with Office Depot click below.

Register for Discount Program

For a copy of the application, please click here.

Our Business Expo is quickly approaching.   In fact, we have already gotten calls from some of you that missed out on last years’ expo.  Six of the 50 tables have already been reserved-even before the information was mailed out.

Last year we sold out very quickly, and by the looks of things, we could do so again this year.  Please don’t miss this opportunity to network or re-connect with other area businesses and the North Augusta Community.  Space is limited to the first 50 members to respond.  Please complete the forms linked below and submit them back to the Chamber office by fax, email or, if you wish, feel free to drop by.

For Sponsorship Information and to reserve a table, click here.

This is our premier networking function of the year.  The event is free and open to the entire CSRA.

At 6:00 p.m. we will kick off the Business After Hours portion of the event by announcing the 2010 Small Business Person of the Year!!!  (If you would like to make a nomination, please complete the nomination form linked below.)

To download  the Small Business Person of the Year nomination form, click here.

The remainder of the night will be a celebration of small business in the CSRA with Great Music along with Great Food and Drink.

PLEASE DO NOT MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY TO NETWORK, INTERACT AND CELEBRATE WITH OUR MEMBERS!!!

Thank you AT&T for sponsoring our  A.M. Connection, and Darrell Scott from the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce for providing our Post-Legislative Session Update.

Were you spotted?

http://spotted.augusta.com/display.html?event=92011806

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.”

Actually, this quote is my favorite – Steuart Henderson Britt: “Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.”

Based on comments from our Greater North Augusta Chamber of Commerce members, I am sure that there are readers continually frustrated and perplexed with the how, when and where questions that arise when marketing and advertising conversations start.

Wanamaker was a very successful businessman, the owner of Wanamaker’s Department Store, which is believed to have been the first department store in Philadelphia. He is also considered the father of modern advertising, and, yes, he still had trouble grasping all the variables involved.

We struggle with the how, when and where, but the why is very simple. It is possible to have the best product or service in the world and have it priced perfectly, but if no one knows about it, it’s worthless.

As a business owner, one must know what the customer wants and how to connect with these customers.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as “the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.”

This is the most concise, comprehensive definition of marketing that I have found, but what does it mean? Read the definition again. Nowhere in the definition does it mention advertising, ad placement or ad design. Very often people use the terms “advertising” and “marketing” interchangeably, when in fact, advertising is only one aspect of marketing. Other components include market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy and community involvement.

I did find another definition of marketing — it is the process of determining that there is a group of potential customers who have a specific need or want, developing a strategy to effectively reach these potential customers and convincing them that a particular product or service will best fill their need at the best price and is the most convenient. Oh, yeah, all of this must be done while maintaining a sustainable profit. That’s a mouthful, and tends to be very overwhelming.

With this in mind, we have asked several chamber members with years of actual marketing experience to create a series of workshops that will cover all the marketing basics, from the research questions that need to be answered to ways to track a successful campaign.

The format will follow the primary topics included in a formal marketing plan and will allow members to put together a basic marketing plan for their businesses. As always, there will be plenty of time to cover specific questions.

These workshops will begin in July, and we will provide more information as the individual classes take shape. Please contact the chamber at (803) 279-2323 if you have any specific requests or suggestions.

For complete information visit http://www.colonialtimes.us/artisans.html

Olde Towne and its friends and supporters are planning a high quality art festival in this beautiful park. The site is green and shady with a lovely central lawn and a gurgling stream. A colonial tavern, outdoor beehive oven, blacksmith shop, smoke house, and eighteenth century meeting house contribute to the serene atmosphere of the park. The park is a gem and a perfect site for an arts festival.

The purpose of this The Artisans’ Fair is to highlight a wide array of Fine Artists and Skilled Artisans. In addition to booths displaying items for sale, several sites throughout the park will have craftsmen demonstrating their skills. The park with its greenery, stream, footbridge, and eighteenth century buildings is a wonderful backdrop for a top-notch festival.

Our goal, as always, is to produce a top tier event that is profitable, enjoyable for the artists, and exciting for the visitors; a place where each artist is made to feel at home and will look forward to coming back each year. We want this to be the one event each year that you will put on your calendar in ink rather than pencil.

The Festival will start on Friday night with a preview Gala. Again this year the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce will join us in hosting this Gala. Visitors who attend this special—and free—preview will be able to meet the artists, partake of music, wine, cheese, and hors d’oeuvres, and be the first to see and purchase the fine arts and crafts.

Looking at these numbers, it’s easy to see that customer service does matter.

- 96 percent of dissatisfied customers do not complain directly

- 90 percent will not return

- One unhappy customer will tell nine others

- 13 percent will tell at least 20 other people

- 10 percent tell 20 to 30 people about poor service

- 54 to 70 percent return if complaints are resolved

- 95 percent return if the problem is resolved quickly

In many respects customer service can be the most important aspect of your business. A business can have a great product and bad customer service, and that business will eventually fail. It can have an average product with great customer service and be very successful. In many cases, if not most, customer service will make or break a business.

While researching customer service, I found a great Web site providing examples of the best and worst. As I read through several stories, I noticed a common theme; the employees in the examples were all working in entry-level positions and had the most direct contact with customers. Here are two examples:

Worst: Circuit City

“I chose a laptop because the salesman gave it high marks, and there was $150 in rebates, which brought the cost in line with an HP I was looking at. … I did a presentation that afternoon, but the computer kept freezing up, and I was having to reboot during the presentation. I went back to Circuit City and asked to replace it with another computer. They wanted $200 to restock the item even though it had only been three days. … They pointed out that I had only 15 days to return it, and I showed them the receipt only being three days old. They would not do anything about it.”

Best: Circuit City

“I purchased a laptop that included a rebate for the laptop, security software and a printer. Although the paperwork is a little confusing I submitted the receipts and bar codes to the address listed and dutifully waited six weeks. They were great at providing updates on the status of my rebate and when one rebate was rejected because of the wrong rebate code listed on the receipt, they rectified the situation at my word and sent me the rebate check. It’s a shame this company is having financial difficulties — I will miss them.”

Like Circuit City, many of the companies mentioned on the Web site are large concerns that spend a ton of money defining and refining their image, and marketing that image to their targeted base of customers. But, also like Circuit City, employees who have direct contact with the customers will ultimately decide the fate of a company.

I’m sure Circuit City has — scratch that, had — a policy of providing first-class customer service, and I bet that employees were given some level of instruction and training on how to provide quality service. But at some level Circuit City failed to get the message — that customers matter — across to enough of its employees.

All of the resources invested on market research, advertising, product placement, etc. are wasted if the front-line folks are not concerned with providing good customer service. Every person in a company has to be committed to serving customers. This attitude has to be ingrained in every employee at every level.

In 2009, Circuit City filed bankruptcy, liquidated its assets and closed its doors. So, yes, customer service does matter.