Andover Chamber Events

Upcoming Events-Save The Date

• September 30- “Sorry I’m Late” Time Management – To register call BPG, 218-6118
• September 30- Andover Chamber Board Meeting
  
• October 1, 2 &3- Greater Andover Days- Andover Central Park- Join us in supporting our community

SMALL BUSINESS COUNCIL (SBC) Overview
Leadership (John Parker, Emprise Bank)
Sean Cash from Associated Advertising spoke at our most recent SBC meeting and had a lot of good information and advice for marketing your business.  One of his biggest points was to think of Marketing as the strategy for growing your business and advertising as one of the tactics that your strategy will implement.  Sean encouraged the attendees to think "outside the box" when advertising your product/services.  For example, Kodak doesn't advertise film; they advertise "memories."  Or, instead of advertising a house listing for a real estate agent, you could advertise "quiet moments on the back patio."  He pointed out that the kind of images and connections drawn from this kind of advertising get's your audience's attention and helps them to relate to your product.  Sean also stated that an advertising agency can help with this process by providing an objective view point of your business.  Small business owners are often too close to their products to really see other opportunities that may exist for them.  An objective third party can really help to point out those new opportunities. 

Finally, a good bit of the discussion centered on new media that are available for advertising.  Gone are the days when TV, radio, and newspaper were your main advertising venues.  Many teens, for example, have forgone the TV for their computers or cell phones.  Facebook and Twitter are replacing newspapers.  The good news is these types of media are very cheap to use.  The bad news is that they are very time consuming to use effectively.  Having a blog that hasn't been updated for the past 6 months is worthless.  Digital media are all about constantly updating information.  Try to use these media as a way to become an expert in your business.  Rather than stating that onions are on sale this week, write a brief article about using onions in your recipes or on the health benefits of eating onions.  Don't forget to have a call to action in your digital media and maybe a little mystery, too!  For example, you could Tweet "Text SPECIAL to 54321 to see today's happy hour specials."  This kind of message offers the audience an opportunity to opt-in to your message and gives them a good reason for doing so.  Imagine sending this message at 3:00 to generate traffic! Sean was great and gave a lot of good advice. 

POWER LUNCH OVERVIEW
Expertise (Scott Wilson, Wilson Capital Advisors)
The title of the session was Work-Life Balance and the focus of the hour long session was providing insightful ideas on how to improve that balance.  I am sure none of you business owners spend too much time at work, right.  I mean you are all business owners, you get to pick and choose when you want to work or just have other people do it for you.  Well, as we know that perception is clearly for those who have never owned a business and finding more time in the day or a better way of managing our day is of upmost importance to us. 

At the August Power Lunch we took an assessment to see where we were in regard to balance and then spent the rest of the time discussion specific steps we can take to improve that balance.  We ate frogs, moved big rocks like a Zen Master and learned other ways of getting more time out of our day.  The Butler Business Performance Group conducted an excellent presentation and lunch was also superb.  In summary there are a bunch of things we do that we should not and some really important things we don’t do that we should.  You will have to attend the next session to find out what those are.

I encourage you to attend our next Power Lunch on Wednesday September 30 for “Sorry I’m Late” Does this sound familiar? Wasted time has repercussions in many areas - loss of productivity, lack of control, and increased stress levels - especially in these challenging economic times when businesses and individuals are faced with doing more with less.  Become aware of the time wasters eating up your day, assess your own current time management skills, gain strategies for prioritizing and SMART goal setting, and learn how to beat a favorite form of self-sabotage … procrastination.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACTIONS OF INTEREST TO LOCAL BUSINESS
Advocacy (Mike Thompson, Poe & Associates)
September 14, 2009
This is the beginning of a planned ongoing series to inform Andover Chamber of Commerce members about what is going on with our local governments that might affect our businesses.  I subscribe to the “Ready, Fire, Aim” business model proposed by “In Search of Excellence” author Tom Peters.  Hopefully this series will improve its aim as we go along.
At Andover City Council’s meeting of September 8, the Council approved the contract with Lafarge Construction for the Andover Road reconstruction from south of Harry Street to Cloud Drive south of Kellogg.  The new Portland cement concrete pavement will be 5-lanes with a center two-way continuous left turn lane.  With assistance from the Kansas Department of Transportation and federal stimulus funds, the City’s share of this $4,000,000 project is about $500,000.  Expect the orange barrels to go up in October.  Construction will continue through next summer. The Council approved termination of the current agreement with the Andover Chamber of Commerce, and approved a lease agreement with the Chamber for use of the Central Park Lodge office.

The purchase of 800MHz radios for the City’s Public Works Department was approved.  The 800MHz radios will allow the Public Works staff to communicate with the Emergency Services people when Butler County converts to the 800MHz system.  Butler County is proposing to convert to the 800MHz system for all Emergency Responders in the County at a cost currently estimated at $16,000,000.  The County Commission is considering a countywide sales tax to finance the conversion.  Councilman Clark C.R. Nelson said his solid waste collection/recycling committee, including Council members Sheri Geisler and Caroline Hale, was interested in receiving comments from citizens and Home Owners Associations.  Proposals for exclusive residential collection may or may not affect businesses.