NAWBO SEVA
“THE Resource for Growth-Oriented Women Business Owners”

GREETINGS FROM THE PRESIDENT

It’s been a wonderful year, but it sure went fast! I have learned so much in this last year, about myself and others. I’ve learned that if you’re surrounded by creative, dedicated women, being President is easy! I have been fortunate to have on my board both experienced and new members. The experienced members provided the framework and knowledge of our processes and history. The new board members contributed new ideas and fresh perspectives. I’ve been blessed with a wonderful board of directors. I would encourage you to get involved, read the newsletters, attend the meetings, present new ideas with the commitment to bring them to fruition. A chapter is only as strong as the commitment of it’s members, and if everyone is involved, it’s less work for just a few. Don’t let your sisters carry the load and get burnt out, offer to help. If your time is really tight, just offer to do a one time task, and do it well! Come to the meetings with a goal in mind, share that goal and watch what happens. It’s up to you to make your membership valuable, you’re a business owner, you can do this!!!

I had the pleasure of attending the Board Retreat for the incoming board. The ideas for growing member businesses, the commitment to make this a win/win for everyone was powerful. They have created initiatives that are so exciting!! Stay tuned, and think MEMBERS ONLY.

We have B J Taylor, of Taylor and Associates speaking to us about leadership at the June meeting. We are leaders in our businesses, but are we as effective as we could be? Come hear what B J has to say.

Vivian Honeycutt

PRE REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Remember that starting with our July guided networking social, pre registration is required. Please make sure your friends in the chapter are aware of this. Due to time limitations of our volunteers, and the fact that we must pay for any dinners we contract for, it has become a necessity to be able to accurately plan for our meetings. I would really hate for someone to show up and not be able to accommodate them.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Michael Mendelssohn of the Persuasion Group talked at our last meeting on Marketing Strategies. You can check out his newsletter and sign up here www.persuasiongroup.com . Also see the article below from the Persuasion Group.

IN THE NEWS

Barbara Waller of B Waller Designs just got her Class B contractor’s license. This is quite an achievement, Congratulations Barbara!

Sue Cunningham of Senior Resources Group was selected as a break out speaker at the National NAWBO Conference in Atlanta. There were 20 speakers chosen from 200 to 250 applications, so this was an outstanding achievement! Sue’s topic was “How the Aging Market Impacts Your Business” and provided information on marketing to seniors. Sue is a member of the National Speakers Bureau.

Carla Mackie of The Full Cup was recently featured on WVEC, she did a dynamite job showing how we can all accentuate the positive in bathing suits as well as undergarments. Check out the report on the link below. http://www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/VideoPlayer/videoPlayer.php?s=y&vidId=145980&catId=44

Doña A. P. Storey, President and CEO of Quality Technical Services, Inc., of Virginia Beach, has received two significant awards in recognition of her longstanding involvement in minority and women’s interests in the small business community and the government contracting arena. Dona was selected early in the year as “One of 25 Powerful Minority Women in Business” by the Minority Enterprise Executive Council (MEEC), a Washington, DC-based minority advocacy group and, the second, “Virginia’s 2007 Women in Business Champion of the Year,” was awarded to Ms. Storey by the US Small Business Administration (SBA) in early March to acknowledge her “hard work and dedication” as “just two of the ingredients” that have contributed to her success as a woman business owner. This honor also recognizes Ms. Storey as being “a strong advocate for women” Congratulations Dona, you are truly a LEADER!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Leadership: Are you making a difference?
June 20th, 2007; 5:30pm - 8:00pm
Location: Town Point Club
Speaker: A Call to Leadership: Have you answered it? BJ Taylor of Taylor and Associates, a Management Consulting Company, will discuss how we as women are leaders, sometimes not realizing to what extent. Step out and see the impact you make. YOU ARE THE DIFFERENCE. Don't miss out on hearing about the new initiatives to generate more business for our members. We will be installing the new officers for the coming year.
Reservation Policy: Prepaid reservations must be received by 3:00 pm, 06/15. For questions you can contact Carrie Sterling at 757-361-5003

July Dinner Meeting
July 18th, 2007; 5:30pm - 8:00pm
Location : Town Point Club
Speaker: Join us for Guided Networking. Enjoy appetizers and enjoy the view from the Town Point balcony while you create contacts to help you build your business. Please come prepared with a specific networking goal, such as finding a potential strategic partner, getting a referral or introduction to a potential client, or finding support and resources to build your business. Members - please bring marketing material about your business. All attendees should bring plenty of business cards and be prepared to mix it up with guided networking.
Reservation Policy: Prepaid reservations must be received by 3:00 pm, 06/15. For questions you can contact Carrie Sterling at 757-361-5003

For more information on either of these events please contact: Carrie.r.sterling@wellsfargo.com

Click Here to Register for either of these events

OTHER EVENTS OF NOTE

City of Virginia Beach Minority Business Council and Small Business Incubator and Resource Center of Empowerment 2010, Inc. Presents Summer Business Refreshers Avoiding Business Killers and Other Common Mistakes – Thursday, June 7, 2007
The average business owner is engrossed in the development and management of their business. Busy schedules, new challenges, and new opportunities consume the daily routine of business owners which causes risk management issues to be neglected. This workshop will focus on “business killers”, the six common mistakes business owners often make.

Hot Markets and Cool Strategies – Thursday, June 14, 2007
No matter how great the product(s) or service(s), if it is not being marketed to the right target market, your business will not be successful. Learn time-tested marketing and branding strategies that will promote your business and keep your customers satisfied. Get answers to the critical marketing questions: How do I reach my target market? And how do I compete with my competition
For registration information click here.

Virginia Department of Business Assistance Presents Business on the Beach - June 22nd from 7:30 am until 2:00 pm. An on-going resource fair will include over 35 state, local, and federal resource providers or agencies seeking small, woman and minority-owned (SWAM) vendors. Click here for more information and to register.

WHAT'S HOLDING YOUR BUSINESS BACK?

If I were to ask you what's limiting your growth, you'd likely tell me, "Traffic. If we had more traffic, we'd make more sales. What we need is more traffic."

But traffic is rarely the problem. It's simply the byproduct of a problem you haven't been able to see.

These are the Four Most Common invisible problems that limit your selling opportunities:

Problem 1: Your ads aren't convincing.
SOLUTION: Write Better Ads

Do your ads speak to what the customer actually cares about, or do they speak only to what the customer ought to care about? Let's face it: you're an expert in your business category. You can't think like your customer thinks because frankly, you know too much.

Have you given your ad writer explicit permission to push you beyond your comfort zone? A good ad writer will always ask questions that you feel are irrelevant. "You don't understand," you'll say, "That's not what matters. THIS is what matters." And thus you'll steer your ad writer into writing irrelevant ads.

When it comes to ad writing, naiveté is a virtue. The best ad writers don't know any more than the customer knows.

Problem 2: Your ads aren't reaching your prospects with sufficient repetition.
SOLUTION: Focus your ad budget.

Most business owners sprinkle their ad budgets across a wide variety of opportunities because they "don't want to leave anyone out." The result of this strategy is that they reach too many people with too little repetition.

"Would you rather reach 100 percent of the people and convince them 10 percent of the way, or 10 percent of the people and convince them 100 percent of the way?"

The longer your product purchase cycle, the more repetition is required to drive traffic. How often does the public buy what you sell? An ad for groceries will generate traffic with less repetition than an ad for refrigerators because we buy groceries more often than we buy refrigerators. Do you sell jewelry, appliances, dentistry, or provide an in-home service? Focus relentlessly on a smaller group of people and make yours the name that pops into their head when they finally need what you sell.

Problem 3: You're already selling everyone who likes to buy what you sell in the way you like to sell it.
SOLUTION: Expand your business model to appeal to a new category of customers, or begin selling your current customers an additional product or service.

It's often the most successful businesses that complain the loudest about low traffic because they're no longer growing like they used to grow. If you focused your business on a niche market, has the same focus that created your initial success now got you bumping your head against a glass ceiling? You know there are more customers in your product category; you just can't seem to get them in your door.

You're going to have to expand your definition of "your customer." There's not an infinite supply of the customer profile you've been targeting. It's likely that you're going to have to sell products - or customer profiles - you would have preferred not to sell.

4. Your reputation has slipped, or your product is no longer in demand.
SOLUTION: Reinvent yourself. Become relevant to the customer again.

Would better advertising have saved 8-track tapes, or was it simply a technology whose time had passed?

The marriage rate is declining in America. So why are jewelers surprised that engagement ring sales have declined by a similar percentage?

Customized online news aggregators gather only those stories that each of us likes to read. So is anyone surprised that newspaper readership is waning?

Now let's talk about your business: Is your marketplace changing beneath your feet? Move with it.

Or risk falling down.

Roy Williams
Wizard of Ads
www.persuasiongroup.com

Our Sponsors