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12 Ways ASBTDC Can Assist Your Customers
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· Market information and research· Site selection · Financial benchmarks · Industry trends and outlook · Business planning · Expansion planning · Ratio analysis · Marketing · Projections · Training (classroom and online) · Website optimization · Loan proposals We want to help your borrowers better understand their market, industry, and financials. ASBTDC offers one-on-one consulting services for current and prospective small business owners at no charge. 501.683.7700 800.862.2040
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A Client's Point of View
"I knew from my first business experience that I needed to go to school to open a business just as I had gone to school to become an electrician."
Nathan Muhammad,
licensed electrician and owner of X-Force, a Little Rock electrical contracting business. Muhammad attended ASBTDC's Starting a Business in Arkansas seminar and completed the City of Little Rock's 12-week entrepreneurial course taught by ASBTDC.
Read our client story about X-Force
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The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration through a partnership with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock College of Business and other institutions of higher education. UALR is committed to the policy of providing equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate in employment, admissions, programs, or any other educational functions and services on the basis of sex, age, disability, race, and national origin, color, or religion.
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Fact: On average, small businesses have a 37% chance of survival in their first four years. The top three factors in business failures are insufficient operating capital, lack of realistic planning, and lack of management skills.*
As a lender, you can't afford a failure in your portfolio. How can you ensure that your customers have the skills they need to avoid early-stage pitfalls?
The services offered by the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center are perfectly aligned to equip small businesses with the planning and management skills necessary to compete effectively.
In addition to our one-on-one consulting services, we sponsor a year-round schedule of management seminars across the state. Many classes are also offered online, free of charge, for the convenience of busy business owners. Here are just a few of the live seminars we offer:
- Starting a Business in Arkansas
- How to Write a Business Plan
- Business Boot Camp
- Accounting 101
- QuickBooks (Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced)
- Creating Financial Projections
- Restaurant 101
- Tips, Tools & Trends from Google
Many lenders find it helpful to refer their customers to our training classes to improve their management skills. If you would like to receive our training schedule updates via e-mail, contact Shannon Roberts, ASBTDC Training Manager, at sxroberts@ualr.edu.
* Source: Eliyahu M. Goldratt, "It's Not Luck," Great Barrington, Mass.: North River Press.
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Bring Training to Your Customers
Partnering with ASBTDC to provide educational and networking opportunities can be an excellent way for lenders to build relationships with current and prospective local small business owners and to help your small business customers succeed. What does a training sponsorship look like? Here's an example. The ASBTDC regional office at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia has great success with its annual Business Boot Camp. Each year, the center partners with a local bank or community organization to offer the program to owners of existing businesses as well as those planning startups. Offered as a five-part weekly series with segments on Starting a Business, Business Planning, Human Resources, Financial Projections/Cash Flow Management, and Marketing, the recently completed fall Boot Camp had more than 20 graduates. Co-sponsors were named on promotional materials and invited to take part in the events. Training was provided by Henderson State's ASBTDC staff.Would you be interested in sponsoring ASBTDC training in 2012? Lending institutions can work with ASBTDC as financial partners (by helping offset hard costs) or promotional partners (by contributing in-kind resources such as meeting space and local promotion). Contact Shannon Roberts, ASBTDC training manager, at sxroberts@ualr.edu or 501.683.7700.
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