Baseball

Spring really starts when your favorite team takes the field. Chattanooga has the Lookouts, and the community can easily get behind the team since tickets are extremely affordable.

Wednesday afternoon games feature the "Business Lunch" special. Six bucks gets you a hot dog, soda and seat. Great way to spend time with your office mates and team build, or invite a prospective client to a neutral venue.

Tickets and schedule online at www.lookouts.com

Best of Chattanooga - Local Coffee House

Best of Chattanooga series begins....

We're on a quest to find the Best Coffee House in Chattanooga. The winner will be announced on National Coffee Day in May.
Soon you'll find vote cards in many local coffee houses encouraging patrons to make their choice known. Be sure to cast your vote, and tell all your friends to do the same.

Vote now --->

7 Deadly Sins of Business Networking (and how to avoid them)

Don't fall into these traps next time you're at a Chamber breakfast meeting, or other networking event...



By: Leesa Barnes, author of "Schmooze Your Way To Success: 9 Fearless Networking Tips for the Shy, Timid, Introverted, & Just Plain Clueless"


1. PRIDE - Arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment; haughtiness. Whoever has pride has an excessive love of themselves. At a networking event this person will talk endlessly about her products, her services and how happy her clients are with her. To resist pride talk about yourself, but only after finding out what the other person does for a living.

2. GREED – An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs.At a networking event a greedy person knows your business needs but is afraid to connect you with someone in her network because she is afraid you will steal an opportunity from her. Avoid falling prey to greed by knowing that networking is about giving and the more connections you give the more you will reap the benefits in increased sales, endless referrals, and unlimited job opportunities.

3. ENVY- A Feeling of admiration and desire to attain something possessed by another.At a networking event this person resents your acheivements, traits, status, abilities or situation due to jealousy of your success. To avoid the pitfalls of envy, acknowledge your personal successes and communicate them to those with whom you network.

4. WRATH- Intense anger; unrighteous feelings of hatred or revenge.At a networking event this person is upset that the event did not produce any clients or immediate sales or that someone of whom they hold a low opinion of has decided to attend as well. Bringing wrath into a business environment only has the potential for harm. The business community is smaller than most think and bad mouthing others will eventually come back to haunt you. Take up your dissatisfactions personally outside of the confides of the event.

5. LUST- To have an intense or obsessive desire.Plain and simple, business networking is about gaining new professional connections not dates or flirting. Keep topics of discussion on safe topics such as books you are reading, industry relate news, or the ever-popular weather.

6. GLUTTONY- The desire to consume more than what one requires; over indulgence.Drinks at a networking event are designed to losen people up and reduce inhibitors to conversation. First impressions are very important, but more important is making a lasting impression. To avoid gluttony of food or alcohol, never attend a networking event hungry (eat before you arrive) and limit your alcohol consumption to 2 drinks.

7. SLOTH- The avoidance of physical work. Idleness, wastefulness, laziness.Half of networking is meeting new people. The other half is buiding the business relationship after you meet. If you offer to follow up with some one, do so. And do so within 24 hours of the event. That way they will remember who you are. And following up as promised can be the difference between a thriving business and just scraping by.

Star in the next IMAX film

Take a break in your work day and come out and play raft Tug-O-War with Outdoor Chattanooga and the Tennessee Aquarium on Thursday, March 13 at Ross’ Landing. Volunteers are needed to paddle rafts on the Tennessee River at the downtown waterfront for about an hour, beginning at 10:45 a.m. The Tug-O-War will help launch the next IMAX theatre film: Grand Canyon Adventure: a River at Risk. The movie has a strong environmental focus and it uses the Colorado River as a metaphor for the rivers of the world: the tug of war between resource vs. consumption and supply vs. demand. No rafting experience is needed, just a willingness to paddle a boat and have some fun. Contact Ruthie at Outdoor Chattanooga to volunteer for this fun adventure.

Business Development Center turns 20

Congratulations to the BDC who celebrated its 20th anniversary yesterday by having an open house. Channel 3 was there to produce a video story that appeared on their local telecast later that evening.

The Times Free Press also covered the event, and published a story.

Josh Kreis & Ryan Riddle of Northshore Concepts talk with Cathie Beene of MCA about their company.

Spring Training/Cleaning for Business

Spring is just around the corner. For many of us, that means a rebirth of sorts. We shrug off the winter doldrums by tackling the cluttered attic, basement, or garage and raking away the dead branches and left over leaves from fall, clearing the way for the seeds of growth.

Make sure you give your business the same treatment. It’s time to discard that pile of dead leads, outdated names and old addresses. Revisit the list of to-do’s that were never done, refresh project plans by casting off the activities and ideas that never took hold or blossomed and focusing your energy on those behaviors that proved most fruitful. Revitalize your business by creating new ideas and cultivating those with the best chance of producing the biggest yield.

Stay informed. Toss outdated sales material. Keep abreast of new product and service developments. Reach out to existing clients and keep them informed of new developments.

Expand the boundaries and scope of your business. Look for ways to affiliate with other businesses whose products & services compliment yours.

Major League Baseball teams have begun Spring Training in Florida and Arizona. Players are vying for positions (and contracts), while General Managers and coaches are putting their team rosters together, trying to identify their strengths and weaknesses.

How do you stack up against your competition? What do you need to do to set yourself apart from the rest? In Spring Training, every team gets a fresh start. Every team feels like they have a chance to win, but only a handful of teams make the playoffs and only one champion is crowned.

This is your fresh start. Are you ready for Opening Day?

Automate your small business marketing

John Jantsch's Duct Tape Marketing blog has a great post this week about technology available at a low cost to small business marketers. The idea is to automate contacts, sales follow-up, tasks, email, marketing materials distribution, orders, upsells, referrals and campaigns thus freeing you up for even more face-to-face time with clients and prospects. You can cast a wider net by using these types of applications.

We've used some of the tools he mentions such as Jott and Basecamp. Jott is especially useful for business people constantly on the go. It allows you to transcribe a message over the phone and then converts it into a text message and can send it back to you at a specified time of your choosing (kind of like a reminder) and will also email it to you. Best of all...it's a free service.

Here are some more applications you should check out:

Send Out Cards - automatically sends out birthday & anniversary cards on your behalf. Create greeting cards to send to one or one thousand people.

Vertical Response - Email Marketing & Direct Mail Postcards automation with a very attractive pricing model.

What are some of your favorite marketing automation tools?