PARAMOUNT
Serving the Community Since 1990
Chamber’s Long History Parallels City’s Growth and Achievements
he Paramount Chamber of Commerce is one of the oldest organizations of its kind in this region. Founded in 1924 as the HynesClearwater Chamber (in the days before the two villages joined together as Paramount), it was formed with the goal of improving the community. In the early days of the area, that meant working to expand the local school district, pave streets and build sidewalks, and improve police services. The group even purchased a large tract of land near the Pacific Electric railway tracks to develop as Paramount Park, which eventually happened after World War II.
In fact, the Chamber served many of the same purposes as a city government before Paramount incorporated in 1957. These extended to making plans for such infrastructure needs as flood control, sewer and street lighting systems.
The concept of having fun was part of the package, too. In the same way that today’s Chamber produces its annual Fiesta Days carnival, the vintage version sponsored the Hay and Diary Festival.
In this, its 85th year, the Paramount Chamber of Commerce is thriving. With hundreds of members, it offers a wide variety of benefits, with a
dedication “to advance the commercial, financial, industrial and civic interest of our community.” And when it comes to the old-fashioned idea of networking to build business relationships, there is no better venue.
The Chamber is home to businesses both large and small, corporations and mom-and-pop operations. The value of membership attracts new companies every year. For others, a long history has proven how profitable the partnership has been. Zamboni Company, Carlton Forge Works and Paramount Swap Meet, well known names in town, all joined more than 40 years ago.
Other locals have also hit the four-decade-plus mark. Storage Solutions of Paramount, for example, signed on in 1968. Located at 15125 Lakewood Blvd., managed by Union Development Company of Cerritos, it’s a leader in the self-storage industry and offers consumers both space and supplies.
Trepte’s Wire & Metal, Inc., opened in 1930, maker of commercial display racks, moved to Paramount in the late 1950s and has been a Chamber member for 41 years. Celebrating similar anniversaries are Romberg Milling – provider of quality hay and other animal feed products, and one of the few businesses still in the area with roots in the dairy days – and the YMCA Los Cerritos branch.
Membership in the Paramount Chamber of Commerce is, and always has been, about opportunity, teamwork and success. It’s a clearinghouse of information and a communal resource for promotion. It’s all as true today as it was nearly 100 years ago.
The Paramount Chamber of Commerce sponsored a yearly Flag Day Parade during the 1960s. Here, the grand marshal for the 4th annual parade – film and television personality Pedro Gonzales-Gonzales – passes by the Chamber office on February 20, 1965.
Louis Spane (later to become a councilmember and mayor of Paramount), Marynell Smith and Ed Hottenroth (owner of the Hynes Hotel) in costume for the Chamber’s Hay and Dairy Festival in the late 1930s.
Extended Holiday Hours
Enjoying the Holidays With City Events
The City of Paramount’s line up of holiday events for residents began with the Halloween Carnival and has continued with the Seniors Thanksgiving Dinner and our Tree Lighting Ceremony, all of which had large turnouts and provided great fun.
This month, be sure and join friends and family at the following:
December 7-10: Christmas Train. As usual, we’ll give out about 30,000 apples and candy canes over four nights in every neighborhood in town. Folks can also take a picture with Santa on his sleigh. The train begins its daily run at 3 p.m. (You should have received an “Around Town” newsletter from the City recently that has the schedule of stops, or you can call the Recreation Department at the number be-
low to ask any questions.)
Saturday, December 12: Breakfast with Santa and Snow Day. Santa Claus makes his annual trip to Paramount Park, which will be covered in snow on Saturday, December 12, from 8:00 a.m. till noon.
There will be crafts, prize giveaways, entertainment and a train ride. Wristbands, which act as tickets for the breakfast, can be purchased at the event for $4 on a first-come, first-served basis. (There will be 3,500 meals available.) You can take your own photos with Santa at the park. A professional photographer will also be taking pictures that you can access afterwards on the City website. In this case, you can download the photo for free or you can purchase packages from the photographer.
For more information on any of Paramount’s holiday events, please call (562) 220-2121.
Thank You, Paramount High Volunteers
Each holiday season, the great kids who belong to the Paramount High School service club Corsairs give generously of their time and energy, and deserve a big thank you. The Corsairs help serve the Seniors Thanksgiving Dinner at the Paramount Park gym, and make the event go very smoothly for the hundreds of diners. They also do a lot for many other people in the community during the rest of the holidays.
It’s a great example of kids giving back to the Paramount community, and it’s very
By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by
VOLUNTEER
much appreciated.
Peaceful Parties
The holidays are often filled with friendly parties and get-togethers. As we all know, though, parties can sometimes get out of hand and bother neighbors.
Paramount has a dedicated patrol deputy whose main job is to respond to complaints about loud parties. If a call for disturbing the peace comes into the Sheriff’s Station, there will be a visit to the location and a first-warning notice will be issued. If a return visit is made, the property owner will be liable for fines. For instance, a second visit within 30 days will produce a fine of $250. The third, fourth and fifth visits within 30 days of the first call will entail fines of $500, $750 and $1,000, respectively. In addition, the cost of extra resources involved (multiple deputies, helicopter, and so on) can be passed on. These fines, if not paid, can go to a collections agency.
If such disturbances come from the same location over an extended period of time, deputies will focus on solving the problem with those who are causing it.
If you’re planning a party, be sure to take your neighbors into consideration and refrain from playing loud music and making other loud noises into the early morning hours. Keep in mind, also, that deputies do not divulge the identity of any residents making complaint calls.
For more information, call the Paramount Sheriff’s Station at (562) 220-2002.
Holiday Trash Pickup Schedule
Christmas and New Year’s Day will slightly alter garbage collection schedules this year.
The City’s vendor, CalMet Services, will have no trash pickup on those holidays. So if your collection day falls on Christmas Friday (Dec. 25) and New Year’s Day Friday (Jan. 1, 2010), service will be on Saturday, Dec. 26 and Saturday, Jan. 2. If you have any questions, please call (562) 634-5420.
Remember to Recycle Your Christmas Tree
This holiday season, residents of Paramount who have Christmas trees can place them out for pickup by CalMet. The trees will then be recycled into mulch, which is distributed to public agencies for water conservation use in landscaping, an important procedure in this time of drought.
CalMet will pick up trees at no charge after Christmas from 12/28/09 through 1/15/10 for single-family residential accounts. Be sure to remove the stand and all the decorations, lights and tinsel, and do not wrap the tree or enclose it in a plastic bag. If the tree is four-feet-tall or less, you can put it in your green waste recycling barrel. For anything larger, set it curbside on your normal garbage collection day by 6:00 a.m. (Flocked trees will also be picked up.)
After 1/15/10, your tree can still be taken away by scheduling a bulky item pickup. For apartments or condominiums, if the trees are on the curb by 6:00 a.m. they will be taken away for free on regular pickup days. If it’s necessary to drive onto the property there will be a $5.00 charge per tree. In these latter cases, the service must be ordered 24 hours before regular pickup day by the manager or owner who must have the account number for verification.
If you have any questions, please call (562) 634-5420.
Mayor, Diane Martinez
New Beat Deputies Join Public Safety Team
For many years, law enforcement services in Paramount have been using the “BEAT” system. This divides the City into four areas. Each area is assigned a dedicated group of deputies to closely monitor activity in that “beat.” This allows the officers get to know their assigned neighborhood up close and provide direction to patrol deputies. At the same time, residents and business owners develop a relationship with their deputies.
With this personalized service, deputies are being proactive by keeping an eye on things, noticing instances of property neglect or disorder that can lead to both minor and serious crime. They are also building trust, and when people trust law enforcement officers they provide information that prevents crime and leads to nuisance solutions.
Recently there have been new deputies assigned to a pair of the City’s beats. Deputy David Howard has taken over Beat A, which is north of Somerset and west of the Union Pacific rail line. He can be reached at (562) 220-2262 or emailed at DMHoward@lasd. org.
The new leader of Beat E – south of Somerset and east of the Union Pacific – is Deputy Shelby Martin. Her phone is (562) 220-2265 and email is SLMartin@lasd.org.
Beat B, which extends north of Somerset and east of the train tracks, is still covered by Deputy Alfonso Esqueda, (562) 220-2184,
AEsqued@lasd.org.
The leader for Beat D, south of Somerset and west of the tracks, is still Deputy Chris Garcia, (562) 220-2261, C1Garcia@lasd. org.
A copy of the City’s Beat map can be found on Paramount’s website (www.paramountcity. com) in the Public Safety section.
A deputy who listens to their “beat” becomes more aware of what the people who live there want. Likewise, residents can learn how the Paramount Sheriffs work – what they can and can’t do – by interacting with the cop on their beat. It’s a two-way street, a win-win situation.
If you have any questions about the BEAT system, please call (562) 220-2002 or visit the city website at www.paramountcity.com.
Vacation Home Checks
Here’s another reminder that if you are a Paramount resident and have plans to be out of town during any part of the holidays, you can contact the Sheriff’s Station for a vacation home check. The City’s Public Safety Officers will periodically take a look around your home or property while you’re gone. (This service is available throughout the year, not just during the holidays.)
Call (562) 220-2002 for more information.
Mounted Patrols Bring Smiles to Residents
ENVIO DINERO A MEXICO Y OTROS PAISES
Over the last few months, the mounted patrol division of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has been ambling around town in the Dills Park and Spane Park areas. The goal has been to lend more visibility to deputies and reach out in a proactive and interactive way with residents.
Stater Bros. Annual Holiday Giving Campaign to Feed Over One Million
People In Need In Southern California
• Over $350,000 will be donated to local food banks and self-help organizations
• Also, all 167 Stater Bros. Supermarkets are collecting food for struggling families
• And additional donations can be made at each check stand for hunger relief
Stater Bros., in conjunction with its charitable arm Stater Bros. Charities, is launching an urgently needed campaign to help local families who are faced with hunger this Holiday Season. “Harvesting Hope in our Community” will provide cash and food donations to local food banks and emergency food providers that are currently experiencing an increase of at least 30% in requests for assistance this year. Some organizations have been forced to close while others are facing long lines of families in need. Because of this, the coordinated campaign will run through December 27th, for an entire two months, to assist with hunger relief efforts in the communities where Stater Bros. customers and employees live and work.
“I always tell my employees to do the right thing for the right reason,” said Jack H. Brown, Chairman and CEO of Stater Bros. Markets. “Helping families in need this Holiday Season is definitely the right thing to do.”
Throughout the months of November and December, Stater Bros. Charities will be presenting over $350,000 in total donations to various Southern California food banks and self-help organizations. Over 100 organizations will receive donation checks to assist with the larger needs they are already facing this holiday season. From bottles and blankets to food and program support, each of these cash donations will go towards the fight against hunger.
In addition to cash donations, all 167 Stater Bros. Supermarkets will have food barrels in the front of the store to collect non-perishable food items for families in need in the local communities. Some of the products in greatest demand include canned fruits and vegetables, whole grains (such as oatmeal, crackers, cereal and pasta), canned meats, canned or dry beans, and shelf-stable dairy products. This food will be shared with regional food banks and charities to assist those families who are struggling to make ends meet.
All Stater Bros. check stands will offer yet another opportunity for Stater Bros. customers and employees to make cash donations to the “Harvesting Hope in our Community” campaign. “Harvesting Hope” Donation Canisters will be located at the end of every check stand for loose change. Every check stand will also have $10 “Harvesting Hope” Scannable Donation Cards, and each $10 donation will provide 30 full meals. Then at the conclusion of this campaign, Stater Bros. Charities will be making further monetary donations to fight hunger.
“It’s our hope that every person living in our community will be cared for this holiday season,” said Brown. “Because of this, Stater Bros. Charities and Stater Bros. Markets are honored to help in a larger way this year by making substantial contributions to the organizations that serve on the frontlines.”
Stater Bros. believes in being a good neighbor, and the “Harvesting Hope in our Community” campaign winds up Stater Bros. year-long efforts to support nonprofit organizations in the communities it serves. Each year, Stater Bros. contributes over $15 million to assist those in need, with an emphasis on worthy programs that benefit hunger relief, health and nutrition, and education. Stater Bros. also donates over 3 million pounds annually of food and products to the local food banks.
20% Discount on all Catering Services for the Holidays
Minimum Order $200 – Free Delivery Included (Please present ad to receive discount)
Free Homemade Dessert with Dine in Orders 10 or more persons (Please present ad to receive discount)
20% de descuento en todos los servicio de Comida a domicilio para grupos durante la epoca de Navidad y Año Nuevo
Minima Orden de $200
– Entraga Gratis Incluida (Presente cupon para recibir descuento)
Postre Hecho en Casa Gratis con cada orden en el Restaurante
10 personas o mas (Presente cupon para recibir descuento)
Where the Scholarships Are How to Develop a Scholarship Strategy
Although most student aid comes in the form of federal education loans and grants from colleges, scholarships - with their lure of free money - get a huge amount of attention from students and their parents. If you and your child decide to invest your time in a search for scholarships, it’s important to have an organized system to find, apply for, and win scholarship money.
Start With a Personal Inventory
Most of the information your child will need to fill out a scholarship search questionnaire will be easy to come up with - year in school, citizenship, state of residence, religion, ethnic background, disability, military status, employer, membership organizations, and so forth.
Beyond those questions, your child should give some thought to academic, extracurricular, and career plans. Your child should ask:
• Do I want to participate in a com petition? If so, what are my talents and interests?
• What subject do I plan to major in?
• What career do I plan to pursue?
• Do I want to apply for all types of aid or only scholarships?
Answers to these questions will help determine scholarship eligibility. Your child should take time to brainstorm thoroughly - the more personal characteristics your child discovers, the more scholarships she could potentially apply for.
Research Local Scholarships First
In general, the smaller the area a scholarship covers, the better your child’s chances of winning. Your child should start at the high school counselor’s office. Counselors will know about scholarships for students graduating from the local high school. They may also be aware of scholarships for residents of your town, county, and state.
Your child’s next stop should be the college aid section of your local public library or bookstore. Look at a range of books about financial aid.
Then, it’s time to start looking at large national scholarships such as Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), National Merit, Gates Millennium, Siemens, Coca-Cola, and Robert Byrd.
Check Membership Organizations and Employers
Here’s an area where you, as a parent, can really help out. Think of all of the organizations you have an affiliation with - religious, community service, fraternal, military, union, and professional - and find out if any of them sponsor scholarships for children of members.
Don’t forget your employer. Many large companies offer scholarships or tuition reimbursement programs for dependent children of employees. Check with your
human resources department to see if your company offers such programs.
Employers of students such as fast food chains, department stores, and supermarkets often provide scholarships. Awards related to student employment can come from unexpected sources. For example, there are a number of scholarships for golf caddies.
Use a Free Scholarship Search Service
A scholarship search company collects information on hundreds of awards and compares your child’s student characteristics with scholarship restrictions. Based on answers to a questionnaire, your child will receive a list of possible scholarships. It is up to your child to decide which ones to try for.
You should never have to pay for scholarship information. If you are asked to pay a fee for “exclusive” scholarship leads, there’s a good chance the scholarship service is really a scholarship scam.
Here are some free scholarship search services:
• Scholarship Search
• FastWeb • Sallie Mae
Contact Your State Department of Higher Education
Almost every state has a scholarship program for residents - keep in mind, however, that awards are usually limited to students who attend college in-state.
Research Institutional Scholarships
Since a great deal of scholarship money is disbursed by colleges, it makes sense to research what kinds of scholarships are available at your child’s favorite colleges. Investigate college websites, catalogs, and financial aid offices for this information. Institutional awards can be offered on a university-wide basis, or within a particular college or major. Eligibility for such awards can be based on merit, financial need, intended major, ethnicity, or a variety of other factors. Here are some questions your child might want to ask about these awards:
Are scholarships awarded automatically if a student matches certain criteria (such as GPA or SAT score)?
What is the application procedure? What materials are required?
Is the award renewable? What are the requirements to maintain the award?
Scholarship Application Tips
Once you and your child create a list of scholarship possibilities, read “How to Apply for a Scholarship” for advice on creating a winning application at www.collegeboard.com.
(This article was provided by The College Board.)
Taking Care of Your Body, Mind and Spirit
Seniors
Laughlin Excursion
December 9, 10, 11
$98 per person (double occupancy)
$118 per person (single occupancy)
Depart: 9:00 am
Return: Approx 6:30 pm
Candlelight Pavilion
December 18, 2009
Candlelight Christmas
New show filled with holiday songs
$53.50 per person
Includes meal, gratuity, and coffee
(Registration begins October 27 at 10am)
Depart: 9:30 am
Return: Approx 5:30 pm
Cruise to Alaska
Months of Sailing: May through July of 2010
Deposit: $350 per person
Cost of trip will depend on sailing date
PARAMOUNT CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Invites
HELP WANTED
OUTSIDE SALES AND BODY & PAINT TECHNICIAN WITH TOOL EXPERIENCE. Trouble-shooting. Apply at Herald’s Garage, 8124 E. Alondra Blvd, Paramount. 562-633-2136, Ask for Joe.
INSURANCE SALES – Growing company seeking hard working, energetic, bilingual (Spanish/English) and sales oriented individuals with a strong interest in educating the community about Insurance and Financial Products. A positive attitude and commitment to providing exceptional customer service are required. Insurance experience is a bonus but not a necessity. More importantly, we are looking for ambitious quick learners who are excited about determining their own salary and want to be an integral part of a growing company. Email resume to maria@galliagency. com or fax resume to 562-817-5621.
Helping Children and Families Find Pathways Through Their Grief ...
... that simple phrase expresses the mission of Pathways Volunteer Hospices’s CHANGES Bereavement Program.
Parents and other caregivers often want to “protect” children from death, and the grief it produces. In reality, however, the best “protection” for kids is allowing them to experience their grief while adults admit the reality of its pain. Experience shows that a supportive network - involving family, school, faith group, and community working together - is the best environment to provide this protection.
CHANGES combines a unique team of grief professionals and volunteers to help children and adolescents realize they are not alone in their grief and that their experiences are normal. Under the direction of Alan Saum, MSW, Bereavement Counselor, Pathways’ bereavement team uses a diversity of activities designed to meet the specific needs and abilities of each group. Although most children express their
grief in healthy ways, our team can provide further resource and referral in the case of complicated bereavement.
The next group starts Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 and meets for 7 weeks. Children 5 - 18 meet in age appropriate groups while their surviving parent or caregiver meets concurrently. This gives the adults the opportunity to talk about their own grief and the behaviors and attitudes of their children. Together, they often find a common bond in their shared losses and discover practical tools and resources for dealing with their own grief while understanding and helping their children.
“Children can bear the truth much better than they can bear being deceived.”
Dr. David Crenshaw
Pathways services are offered free of charge to the community.
For more information or to register, please call (562) 531-3031
St. Judes Children’s Hospital
Recycles Holiday Greeting Cards
Each year, many of our holiday cards become landfill. If you’ve ever wondered if there is a better solution – and a way to help someone in need – now you can.
Now through Feb. 28, 2010, you can help by saving the FRONTS of your used, all-occasion greeting cards and send them to St. Jude’s Children Hospital. The children at St. Jude’s turn previous year’s Christmas cards into “new” cards for the coming season.
People from all over the world participate by sending their used card fronts!
So when you are taking down your holiday greeting cards, be sure to detach the FRONTS, bind them up in an envelope, and send them to:
St. Jude’s Ranch for Children Card Recycling Program
100 St. Jude’s St. Boulder City, NV 89005
For more information visit (http://www. stjudesranch.org/help_card.php)
St. Judes Children’s Hospital Recycles Holiday Greeting Cards
Are your records organized for an emergency?
By Luis Acosta State Farm® /Acosta Agency
If you were incapacitated, would anyone be able to find your important records and take care of your family’s financial or business matters? Having important papers organized and accessible in advance can be very important in an emergency or crisis situation. Consider the following for organizing your important records.
Location. Options for storage might include a home safe, fire-security box or off-site location such as a safety deposit box. The storage container should be securable and fire resistant. Shoe boxes or cardboard boxes in the closet or under the bed are not appropriate.
Who knows? Does someone in addition to your spouse know where these papers are kept? Consider making a list of such papers and records, and on the list state where these documents can be found. Then advise a trusted third party – an attorney, CPA, relative, or family friend – where this list is kept.
The general idea is that someone not living in your residence knows about this list and how to access it. This decision requires a certain comfort level, and you alone are able to make that determination.
Which papers? Regardless of who knows what, organized records are always a plus. The following items might be part of your “important documents” list:
• safety deposit box key
• life insurance policies
• deeds, contracts, leases, titles, mortgage(s), loan notes
• banking, savings, investment and retirement account(s) records
• will
• burial arrangements
• all other insurance policies (health, auto, home, etc.)
• birth certificates
Beyond however you decide to store your personal records, and whatever you decide to include, one fact is clear. If important legal, business and personal documents are organized and accessible, the handling of a crisis situation is made much easier
How to Get More Customers through Search Engine Optimization
Here’s the bad news – you’ve got an assignment. Here’s the good news – it’ll only take a minute.
Go to Google.com and pretend that you’re a customer searching for the product or service your business sells today (for instance, if you run a pool cleaning business, pretend that you are a pool owner searching for a cleaning help by typing in “pool cleaning services + Los Angeles”). Chances are you know the words or phrases that your customers would use to search for a business like yours, so it should be easy.
So let’s see you found. If your web site comes up on the first page of search results, you get a gold star. You’re a master of internet marketing and probably too busy with customers to read the rest of this article. For the rest of us, take a look at the competitors who are getting all your potential business. According to a recent Cornell University study, 98% of clicks are to web sites listed on that first page.
How come your competitors are listed on that page, but not your business? Because the search engines like Google and MSN’s and Yahoo’s Bing have cataloged their sites as being the most natural fit for a particular search term. Sometimes, that’s a pretty easy process for the search engine. Your competitor’s site might have a name that’s an exact fit (like poolcleaningservices.com), or they have been selling on the web the longest and have tons of traffic because they are an industry leader. But sometimes natural needs a little help and that comes in the form of Search Engine Optimization or “SEO”.
SEO is a process used by web marketers to ensure that their web sites are viewed by Google and other search engines as the very best fit (result) for a particular set of key word searches. Search engines use unique algorithms to determine the probability of returning the best search result. They consider factors like site name, the key phrases used in content, type of programming, page construction and many other variables. SEO techniques help to identify what your particular customers are searching for and then to help calibrate your web site for best fit as defined by what the search engine algorithm most values.
Who can help you? In addition to making web sites, interactive marketing agencies usually offer SEO. It comes in the form of a monthly service since Google and Bing are constantly changing the algorithms to deliver more exact results and because your competitors are jockeying for high positions of their own.
As business owners demand greater results from ever-tighter marketing budgets, SEO has become very popular. Its value is visible in clicks and sales, and it’s one of the most efficient ways to connect with your best prospects – those that are in the market for exactly what you sell.
Judy Roldan is the California representative for Catalysta, a digital marketing firm that offers web and application development, search engine optimization and web marketing services. Catalysta is a member of the Paramount Chamber. Judy can be reached at 323774-1517.
of income coverage. * Extra expense coverage. * Contractual liability coverage.
* Liability of employees while acting within the scope of their employment.
Many entrepreneurs start their businesses on tight budgets and try to keep expenses at a minimum. But when you consider the risks involved, business insurance becomes a tool you can’t afford to work without. Visit your local insurance agent for more information.
Do You Know What Your Customer Wants?
It was just the other day when I was ordering products for this upcoming holiday season when the question I kept asking myself was, “Would my customers buy this?”
So often we stock our shelves or sell services that we think the customer wants, but how do we really know this is the product or service that they are actually looking for?
If you’re like me, you tailor your business to what you like and what you would buy, most of the time just assuming your customers have the same taste you do. Here is my question to you, have you ever directly asked them what they want? In a recession, you cannot afford to let any customers slip away, so it is imperative that you supply what your customers demand. It is also much easier to sell additional items to customers you already have then to go out and look for new ones. There are many reasons why you should be asking your customers what they want; here are a few techniques you can use:
Hold a focus group. Gather 8-12 people that represent the demographics of your client base to gain insight into your customers wants. Use a facilitator (which can be you) who will ask the group several targeted questions over a 1-2 hour session. The intent is to find out what these people are feeling, thinking, and wanting. One of our clients recently held a focus group to find out if a certain location would be able to support a high-end toy store. They brought in a wide array of people that represented each demographic of the potential area. The purpose of this method is to find out what each groups wants and needs are. This model can be tailored to fit whatever type of information you are looking for.
Survey your customers. In my chocolate store I often give brief surveys or questionnaires for my customers to fill out. One time I had given out a questionnaire that asked my customers to tell me what there favorite product was. Once I tabulated all of the results I was amazed to find out that even though the products they were looking for were very skewed, most of the responses were asking for products in dark chocolate. Prior to this survey I was carrying about 10% of my products in dark chocolate. After, I increased my dark chocolate line to 50% and my sales rose dramatically. By using this questionnaire the customers were able to express to me what they really wanted. As a rule, it is best to give surveys or questionnaires directly in the store. Don’t give your customer the chance to forget about it! To find some good templates of surveys or questionnaires, go to www.surveymonkey. com or www.constantcontact. com. Ask your frontline staff. Frontline employees are the people who have the most access to and can build the strongest relationship with your customers. Once you have established a relationship, you then want to give your frontline staff questions they should be asking the customer. They should be prompting the customer to share their feelings about the
products and services offered. It is important that some type of mechanism be created so that once front-line staff gets feedback, they know what to do with it. I suggest some type of incentive program, so that employees are eager to share what they have learned. For my employees, I will give them a gift certificate to a restaurant or the movies to whichever employee is able to
get feedback from the greatest number of customers.
Make sure that if you use any of these strategies, that you actually follow through and implement what your customers tell you. Here is my challenge to you, try one of these approaches listed above and see what happens. My guess is that your customers will be more than willing to spend more money in your business if you had addi-
tional products they were looking for. When your customers tell you what they want, they are basically telling you that they are willing to spend more money if you have what they are asking for. Isn’t that why we are in business in the first place?
Mike Daniel is the Client Supervisor at the Long Beach Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Hosted by Long Beach
City College, the SBDC is a group of successful small business owners helping fellow entrepreneurs start, sustain, and grow their business through low-cost workshops and free one-on-one consulting in business planning, finance, marketing, and various other specialty areas (Spanish speaking consultants available). To make an appointment call: (562) 570-4574, or email: sbdcinfo@lbcc.edu.
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