Hub You - Business

Maybe It's Time to Hire a Yellow Page Expert
The problem with most successful business owners is that they tend to be control freaks. That can be both good and bad. Micromanagement has it’s place in the corporate structure but can also be a two-edged sword. When the owner must be involved in every single decision and forgets that he or she hired people to oversee the very things they are criticizing, then the system fails. But, if you are reading this and fall into that category, take a deep breath and relax. I’ve been in your shoes and realize I can’t be omniscient and know all things.I admit I try. But I have to leave the implementing of my website to the professionals that do that for a living. The same is true about my accounting, insurance, and other areas I would love to do myself. Luckily, I have marketing degree and can handle that aspect quite nicely. I suggest that you consider your own strengths and weaknesses as well. Stay with what you do best and allow the people you pay to do their jobs.So, when the Yellow Page rep comes to see you, do you pretend to be an advertising expert as well? Do you understand the elements of ROI, reach, penetration, and targeting? Can you do a market analysis and category study? I didn’t think so. Advertising requires time th

ons must operate on a national level and have annual operating budgets of at least $2 million. Each listing is broken down into 10 logical sections: 1. Name and communications information 2. Description (association mission, number of members, number of full-time employees, operating budget) 3. Chief Staff Executive - which uniquely enough provides a photo of the executive director printed in the directory along with his or her background information 4. Officers and Management - including direct-dial phone and fax numbers and e-mail addresses 5. Government affairs office and phone 6. Committees 7. Foundations - research, education, fundraising and contacts 8. Branches 9.Publications including editors, frequency, and content 10. Board 11. Meetings - conferences, seminars, dates and locations and 12. Mailing list availability and contact.

The listings in The Associations Yellow Book are supplemented by eight indexes: Industry; Geographical—alphabetically by state; Budget—alphabetically within five budget classifications; Political Action Committee; Foundation; Personnel—all names are listed alphabetically; Acronym; and Master Index of Associations.

Making a Decision to Outsource: Driving Factors
Most executives view offshore outsourcing most of all as a source of cost reducing. The greatest savings are expected to come from lower labor cost and reduced project timelines. However offshore outsourcing also creates new challenges and expenses for the organization involved. Those may include vendor selection costs, legal costs, costs of transition and many others. That is why despite the evidence of possible major up-front cost savings many outsourcing vendors have yet to prove that they are able to provide positive ROI in a complex project.Yet businesses have to perform deep analysis of its strategic program and goals before making a strategic decision to outsource part of their activities. The main driving factors are as follows:Lack of special expertise/knowledge. This is probably one of the most important factors that force companies to outsource. Many projects require technical expertise that is not present within the company. Moreover, very often the company can not hire employees with required expertise, or it is not reasonable to employ them full-time. As Outsourcing Institute has suggested “outsourcing is a clever alternative to hiring”.Floating demand for personnel. Often a company that

If you’re in direct marketing, you’re continually looking for new list sources — everybody’s tired of mailing to the same lists. If you’re not in direct marketing and thinking about putting a mailing together, here’s something a little different: take a look at marketing through associations.

Why would anyone ever market to associations? They’re great targets: try sending a press release to an association’s publication - whether it’s a newsletter or a magazine. Why, you can alert an entire industry of your products or services with one or two well-placed news releases.

Since the magazines and newsletters of associations are not the mainstream prospecting tools of most marketers who market through more traditional channels association publications receive just a fraction of the press releases and promotional articles that go to major publishers. Yet the comprehensive lists of over 23,000 associations go astonishingly deep in most major and minor markets. In addition, association publications are usually well regarded and lend excellent credibility to the firms that get ink in their house publications.

Why else would you market through associations? Maybe you’re an affinity marketer - and you’d like to have the 96,000 members of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association apply for the special trial rate of your new credit card. Or, maybe you’d like the National Electrical Contractors Association - with 80 people on staff, and a budget of $10 to $25 million to support their 4,000 member firms that comprise 118 local chapters (along with the entire personnel of each member firm) - to apply for your new phone service. Associations can deliver thousands of their members - new customers for you - with a just a few contacts and a modest budget.

You’d definitely market through associations if you’re part of the hospitality industry and would like to arrange a convention - complete with hotel rooms, ballrooms, and services for the complete screaming regime of whoever shows up - of the 2,300,000 members of the National Education Association of the United States. Or go for a smaller piece of their $100,000,000 budget - give or take a few million - get hired as a speaker or on-site entertainment, or snag some of the the association’s printing business. Association lists work for all the above. Associations are key targets for the entire hospitality industry sales force: hotels, convention space, caterers, promotional products, printed material, ballrooms, ground services, and on-site entertainment, to name a few.

Quite frankly, I realize the big organizations are not for everyone. Not everyone is looking for the big numbers, even in lists. Some people are just looking for a short cut - an entry wedge into an industry at the top level. For this purpose, association lists are also useful in marketing to the elite leaders of select industries.

For example: If you wanted to get in bed with all of the 53 companies who belong to the Biscuit and Cracker Distributors Association, a reference book showing detailed information about their association may be just your cup of tea. You’ll find their address - along with their association size, annual budget, history, newsletter and publication detail, meeting and convention dates, website, email address, and their executive director’s name - on page 179 of the National Trade and Professional Associations of the United States directory.

The 828-page National Trade and Professional Associations of the United States ($99) reference tool lists 7,600 associations, and is published annually by Columbia Books, Inc. (www.columbiabooks.com; 888-265-0600, fax 410-810-0911) along with its companion, the State and Regional Associations of the U.S. directory ($79). The state and regional association guide is particularly useful if you are targeting specific geographic areas and want access to top local association contacts not included in the national book. The State and Regional Associations of the U.S. directory also has a higher percentage of association managers who, while managing multiple associations, cross many industry lines when sourcing vendors or affinity marketers.

Information in both Columbia Books directories is cross-referenced by association index, subject index (500 subjects/alpha), also by budget index, geographic index, executive index, and acronym name index. Association management companies are also shown. All of their data is available on disk. These two reference tools fit in your briefcase, and make surprisingly great reading, if - like me - you’re a marketer and have no other life outside of marketing and occasionally watching cat- dog on TV (ask your kids!).

Association lists and data are also available in the Encyclopedia of Associations by The Gale Group (800-877-GALE) on disk, CD, and on- line through Lexis-Nexis. This hardbound, three-volume set ($505) is the motherload of associations - showing detailed information on more than 23,000 local, state, national, and international associations. Gale says that seven out of every ten Americans belong to an association, and now I believe it: they all show up here in this extensive directory set.

Referenced and cross-referenced in every which-way possible, you can reach the 30,000 members of Retinitis Pigmentosa International, the 200 members of the 1954 Buick Skylark Club, the 20 members of the Vacuum Cleaner Manufacturers Association (VCMA), or the 10 members of the Holy Innocents Reparation Committee with equal ease.

Another great resource of associations is The Associations Yellow Book from Leadership Directories. While it doesn’t have the number of associations found in Gale’s Encyclopedia of Associations, it has an exceptional depth of information about the top thousand or so associations, arranged and presented in an attractive and logical manner. So if you’re looking for the top players in the association field, this resource tool may be just what your doctor ordered.

The Associations Yellow Book is 1,400 plus pages, and profiles 1,045 of the leading U.S. trade and professional associations. Included within these profiles are 42,159 officers, staff and board members, 263 political action committees, 437 foundations, and 725 branch offices. 1,036 associations with Internet sites are included.

To be listed in The Associations Yellow Book, associations must operate on a national level and have annual operating budgets of at least $2 million. Each listing is broken down into 10 logical sections: 1. Name and communications information 2. Description (association mission, number of members, number of full-time employees, operating budget) 3. Chief Staff Executive - which uniquely enough provides a photo of the executive director printed in the directory along with his or her background information 4. Officers and Management - including direct-dial phone and fax numbers and e-mail addresses 5. Government affairs office and phone 6. Committees 7. Foundations - research, education, fundraising and contacts 8. Branches 9.Publications including editors, frequency, and content 10. Board 11. Meetings - conferences, seminars, dates and locations and 12. Mailing list availability and contact.

Church Fund Raisers
If you're looking for some church fundraiser ideas, here are a dozen or so that are fairly easy to put together. These church fund raisers are low cost and take some effort, but they do a great job of raising much needed funds.Bake Sale Bake sales are a great way to get everyone together and strengthen the bond with your church. You can do a typical bake sale fundraiser or a Christmas Cookie box sale where you sell tickets and everyone gets to fill up a box with their choice of cookies.Yard Sale Doing a big rummage sale or yard sale in the church parking lot on Saturday morning is a fun way to raise funds. You can get people to donate their items for a general sale, sell tables like a flea market does, or even let people sell things from their trunks for a small fee. Put out a general call for items and let parishioners know that you can send a crew around with a truck for big items from the attic or garage.Community Cleanup A great project for a youth group is to do a community cleanup fund raiser. Essentially, your workers get pledges of so much per pound of trash collected and hauled away. This works especially well when the area being cleaned up is a visible eyesore such as a creek bed or illegal

re personnel of each member firm) - to apply for your new phone service. Associations can deliver thousands of their members - new customers for you - with a just a few contacts and a modest budget.

Why Buy a Franchise?
Franchising is now exceeding over a Trillion dollars per year. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, franchising is the safest road to success for the new businessperson. Franchising is literally fraud free in the United States and the cases, which are purported as fraud by the FTC are generally completely bogus and merely used as public relations ploys thru creative writing tactics of prosecutors on behalf of competitors of franchise companies.Franchising is a proven business concept that originated in the United States over 100 years ago, first with Singer Sewing Machine Company and then with General Motors. During the last 45 years, franchising has exploded into the single most successful marketing concept ever invented.In 1994, franchising contributed over $900 billion to the United States economy in sales of goods and services and employed over one million people. Today one-third of every consumer dollar spent goes thru a franchised outlet. Franchise outlets number in the 450,000 unit range by all estimates and should break the half a million outlet number by 2008 employing 8-10 million folks.Franchising is the market strategy of choice. Globally, franchising has become the marketing strategy of choic

ciation size, annual budget, history, newsletter and publication detail, meeting and convention dates, website, email address, and their executive director’s name - on page 179 of the National Trade and Professional Associations of the United States directory.

In Praise Of Entreprenuers
There is no sector of the U.S. Economy that is more vital, yet often ignored' than small business sector. While many thought that big business drove the U. S. Economy by virtue of employment and the ability to produce products at lower prices, that is not necessarily the case. While we are currently appalled and angry at the excess of some of the biggest businesses, the fraud and destruction of many employees' life savings and the large number of cutbacks in employment of these companies, the small business sector continues to make its mighty contribution to our economy. A better measure is that out of almost 5 million corporations in the U.S. there are less than a million corporations with annual revenues of more than a million dollars. More than 80% of all corporations can be considered small business. They employ 51% of all public sector workers and represent nearly all of the self-employed, which makes up about 7% of the civilian workforce. In the face of the wide layoffs caused by the current market disruptions, the small business sector still provides about 75% of the net new jobs.The small business sector also makes a large contribution to federal government activities, capturing about one third of all prime and subcontra

ons by The Gale Group (800-877-GALE) on disk, CD, and on- line through Lexis-Nexis. This hardbound, three-volume set ($505) is the motherload of associations - showing detailed information on more than 23,000 local, state, national, and international associations. Gale says that seven out of every ten Americans belong to an association, and now I believe it: they all show up here in this extensive directory set.

Survey: The Secret to Effective Marketing
How can you go wrong when you have a great idea? How can clever, witty or beautiful ads go unnoticed? Is there a way to predict the behavior of potential customers? How can you create marketing and branding materials that will bring in customers?Ask. The first step in marketing a product or service or selling a brand identity is making sure it's the right product, service or brand. You have to find out if you have it right. The way to do that is to ask. Survey.Every single aspect of your business can be improved through the use of surveys. It's true. Everything and anything can be surveyed.Before investing in a new offering:Find out if anyone is interested.What makes them interested?How should it be packaged?What color should it be?How do you position it among its competition? For existing products:How do customers feel they benefit from your product or service?What words do THEY USE to describe the product and its benefits?What do THEY think could be improved?How do THEY related the product to other similar products? Business owners and marketing managers need to know their audience, who they are, what

One of the most outstanding features of this easy to use directory is the quality and depth of information about each association. For example: the full page and one-quarter listing for the International Association for Management Education shows not only the 18 officers and management personnel with their individual direct dial phone numbers and extensions, their affiliations, education and email addresses, but the listing also contains the names and affiliation of each of their 23 board members. Even the receptionist gets her name mentioned with her phone number. So if you’re looking for the person who just handles the conventions, or the publications, you can write or call directly to him.

The clean layout and extensive coverage in each listing (plus all those photos that we think are a nice visual touch) make this excellent reference tool one of the favorites around our offices. I can assure you it’s heavily used, and we recommend it.

The Associations Yellow Book is available from Leadership Directories, Inc., 104 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. 10011; Telephone 212/627-4140, Fax 212/645-0931; web address: www.leadershipdirectories.com. Published semi-annually, the subscription cost is $245 for two issues. Additional subscriptions to the same address are $172. Subscriptions include access to their Internet association database which is updated daily.

Marketing to - or through - associations may turn out to be a key component of your campaign; don’t overlook these great resources for their membership lists or for opportunities for joint ventures in affinity marketing.

Association directors represent key players who are in charge and in tune with virtually any industry, so they make great resources if you need information. Sometimes mailing or faxing a few simple questions to an association headquarters may produce more information faster than an entire year of researching books or reading trade periodicals. The foremost goal of most associations is to educate their members - might as well have them educate their members about your products and services.

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The garment industry of Bangladesh has been the key export division and a main source of foreign exchange for the last 25 years. At present, the country generates about $5 billion worth of products each year by exporting garment. The industry provides employment to about 3 million workers of whom 90% are women. Two non-market elements have performed a vital function in confirming the garment industry's continual success; these elements are (a) quotas under Multi- Fibre Arrangement1 (MFA) in the North American market and (b) special market entry to European markets. The whole procedure is strongly related with the trend of relocation of production.

How to dress for an interview is a question that many of us fret over right before an interview takes place. Much of the interview dress code boils down to common sense but there are a few simple tips that you can follow to ensure you are dressed for success.

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