Chamber Executive Ongoing Education Weekly New Idea: "Worth Every Penny - Build a Business That Thrills Your Customers and Still Charge What You're Worth" by Erin Verbeck and Sarah Petty; Kentucky Business Summit: Powerpoint Slides: Presentations from the 9th Annual Business Summit and Annual Meeting; Chamber News: New Report Shows MNU Adds Nearly $45 Million Annually To Kansas Economy; Tim Roche to lead Lakeville Minnesota Chamber; St. Clair Chamber Awaits State Approval for New Director; Chamber issue: Voters Resoundingly Approve Proposal 1 to Reform Michigan’s Personal Property Tax; State Chamber of Oklahoma President & CEO Fred Morgan recently released the following statement about the Quality Jobs program; Famous Chamber of Commerce Quotation (Leadership): Rosalynn Carter

Chamber Executive Ongoing Education Weekly New Idea: "Worth Every Penny - Build a Business That Thrills Your Customers and Still Charge What You're Worth" by Erin Verbeck and Sarah Petty

A revelation for small business owners: creating a profitable business is possible without getting into a slash-and-burn price war with your competitors. Many small business owners feel pressure to discount their products and services, especially when times are tough. After all, how else will they keep up with the low prices offered by their discounting competitors? What they don't realize is that discounting is the last thing they should be doing if they want to win big. Sarah Petty and Erin Verbeck are here to show you that there's a radically different way to run a small business-- one in which the owners focus on creating specialized offerings and an over-the-top customer experience, not on matching the prices of their competition. Worth Every Penny encourages you to explore and use this model, which is designed to maximize your advantages over the big-box stores and other discounting competitors.

You'll learn how to:

--Build a brand that lays the foundation for you to charge what your offerings are worth.

--Create products, services and high-touch customer experiences to achieve healthy margins and an outspokenly happy and loyal client base.

--Understand how to use a pricing strategy that allows you to create demand and attract the right customers instead of discounting.

--Throw traditional advertising to the wind and implement a boutique way of marketing to excel in this competitive business environment.

--Learn the relationship-based sales skills needed to close every sale and have your clients clamoring for more.

The authors' strategies are enhanced by real-life business experiences and vivid anecdotes from all types of business owners--restaurateurs to contractors to professional service providers and photographers. With the advice in Worth Every Penny, you will be inspired to live your passion and pass your enthusiasm on to your customers. The result: a profitable business that avoids succumbing to the pressure to discount.

Source: Barnes & Noble 

Kentucky Business Summit: Powerpoint Slides: Presentations 

from the 9th Annual Business Summit and Annual Meeting. 

Click the links below to download.

DAY 1
Focusing on a Rapidly Changing Future: Kentucky's Path to Economic and Workforce Competitiveness 
Ted Abernathy, Managing Partner, Economic Leadership LLC

DAY 2

The Future of Toyota, the Auto Industry and Kentucky’s Economy
Wil James, Jr., President, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc.

 

The Future of Coal and Kentucky’s Economy 
Robert M. “Mike” Duncan, President and CEO, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity

The Future of the Nine Economic Regions of Kentucky 
Dr. Paul Coomes, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Louisville and Senior Economic Advisor, Kentucky Chamber 

Top Issues Facing Kentucky's Next Governor
Dave Adkisson, President & CEO, Kentucky Chamber

Chamber news: New Report Shows MNU Adds Nearly $45 Million Annually To Kansas Economy

According to a new study, MidAmerica Nazarene University generates $44.6 million in new income each year for the Kansas economy. Based on 2012-2013 data, the economic impact of the university’s payroll and operations alone was $28.7 million in added regional income. And MNU generates $9.4 million in social benefits to the state through increased business output and improvements in health and public safety that accrue from the graduates of MNU that stay in Kansas.

Visitors to MNU from outside the MNU Service Area impacted the economy through their off-campus expenditures at hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses, adding approximately $4.3 million in income to the regional economy. The study did not research the effect on Missouri’s economy meaning that MNU’s impact to the local Metro economy is even greater than shown in this data.

“MidAmerica Nazarene University is an invaluable part of the Olathe community, and the greater Kansas City region as a whole,” said Tim McKee, Olathe Chamber of Commerce CEO. “As an educator, employer and neighbor, MNU’s social and economic impact to the community is huge. From the students they’re attracting to the region, to their employment and capital spending – the contributions MNU makes to the community is part of the reason Olathe is such a great place to live, work and play.” Read more: GardnerEdge.com

Tim Roche to lead Lakeville Minnesota Chamber

After a national search, a Lakeville businessman with years of experience leading a business organization has been tapped as the new Lakeville Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau president. Tim Roche, who led the Twin Cities North Chamber of Commerce as president and CEO for six years, will start in Lakeville on Monday, Aug. 4. Read more: SunThisWeek.com

St. Clair Chamber Awaits State Approval for New Director

The St. Clair Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors is waiting for state approval on whether it officially can hire the candidate it wants for its executive director. The board offered the position to its top candidate last week and the individual has accepted, pending state approval, Chamber board President Nathan Tate told The Missourian this week. The name of the individual cannot be released until the state gives its OK. The state must conduct background checks since the executive director also will be the contract manager of the license office. Read more: eMissourian.com

Chamber issue: Voters Resoundingly Approve Proposal 1 to Reform Michigan’s Personal Property Tax

This is a big win for Michigan job providers and working families. Michigan Chamber lobbyists played a leadership role in drafting and passing the bills that became Proposal 1. After a statewide voter education campaign, Michigan voters approved Proposal 1 (69% -31%) to phase out personal property taxes paid by small businesses and manufacturers. Passage of Proposal 1 authorizes the distribution of existing use tax revenue to local governments who currently rely on personal property tax collections to provide services, including police and fire. Michigan Chamber

State Chamber of Oklahoma President & CEO Fred Morgan recently released the following statement about the Quality Jobs program:

 

“Since its creation over 20 years ago, Oklahoma’s Quality Jobs program proved to be an economic development tool envied and copied by other states. It requires jobs to be created before a company can get the taxes it already paid back from the state. These jobs have to pay above the median salary for the area where they were created as well. The success of the Quality Jobs program can be seen in the state’s successful economy including the 4.5% unemployment rate which is 10^th best in the country and well below the national average of 6.1%. We are pleased that the Quality Jobs program has broad, bipartisan support among lawmakers who recognize it as a standard by which other economic development tools are measured.”

Famous Chamber of Commerce Quotation (Leadership): 

  “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” ~ Rosalynn Carter