February 2: Closing the Deals: Planning Sales Strategies (Part of JumpStart Series)
Once you have targeted your market and figured out how to reach them, you need to plan your sales strategies and conversations. Learn how to understand and use sales process terms, understand the sales process and sales funnel, articulate solutions using your product/service and more.
February 3: Webinar: Joint Business Counseling: Teaming & Second Tier Strategies: Joint Ventures
Joint Business Counseling Sessions are for established business owners seeking to grow their businesses through government and corporate contracting. Each session is held via interactive webinar and is limited to 5 persons so that each participant has ample time to apply this valuable information to their own business. If you are seeking assistance with joint ventures, try this new platform for interactive, strategic planning and learning in a small group format.
February 7: Developing Your Child Care Business (10 Week Program)
This comprehensive series of 10 workshops will provide you the tools to launch and sustain your business. Participants will follow a step by step process to develop a business and marketing plan, policies and procedures for their child care business, a parent handbook and a sound understanding of business financials.
February 8: Building Blocks, Band-Aids and Bridges: Working with Your Attorney to Generate More Revenue for Your Business
Discover how to employ an innovative method to understand and deal with the myriad of legal issues that your growing business faces; learn how to effectively build a strong advisory team to cut down on your costs; and understand the interrelatedness of your business decisions so that you are able to operate more profitably. Best of all, learn how to cut your legal fees in half. This is a must-attend workshop for the growing business.
February 8: Webinar: Driving Traffic to Your Website: SEO and Copywriting (e-Marketing Series)
Having a website is important, but even more important is the ability to get people to find and stay on your website long enough to build awareness and even buy something. Learn to build benefit and value for your customers through the words you choose to describe your product/service.
February 9: Financial Smarts for Business Starts (Part of JumpStart Series)
Learn to analyze costs and revenues for your business. This workshop will address the importance of decreasing risk by employing monthly record keeping, the critical role of the tax professional/accountant, how financial analysis (record keeping) and marketing work together and the difference between cash flow and profit and loss. Learn to apply five types of financial statements and know the purpose of each statement.
February 14: Webinar: Joint Business Counseling: Teaming & Second Tier Strategies: Mentor protégé
Joint Business Counseling Sessions are for established business owners seeking to grow their businesses through government and corporate contracting. Each session is held via interactive webinar and is limited to 5 persons so that each participant has ample time to apply this valuable information to their own business. If you are seeking assistance with mentor protégé programs, try this new platform for interactive, strategic planning and learning in a small group format.
February 15: Webinar: Online Storytelling: Business Blogging & Email Newsletters (e-Marketing Series)
Got news? Have great advice to give or a good story to share? Learn how you can use blogs and email newsletters to reach your audience in a way that moves them into action.
February 16: Procurement Best Practices for Women in Manufacturing
W.W. Grainger is a WBDC Corporate Partner and leading business-to-business distributor of products manufactured by hundreds of suppliers, many of whom are diverse manufacturers. During this informative workshop, Nancy Conner, manager of supplier diversity at W.W. Grainger, will share best practices and "scorecard" information used by Grainger to measure supplier performance. This workshop is a unique learning opportunity designed exclusively for women in all sectors of the manufacturing industry.
February 16: Financial Analysis: Building Your Financial Muscle with the Expert (Part of JumpStart Series)
Meet with a WBDC finance specialist to dig deeper into understanding the financial pieces of running your business. Learn how to determine cash flow projections, create revenue assumptions and sales projections prior to listing business expenses, develop sales projections utilizing a variety of strategies, utilize financial ratios and what is essential in managing business banking relationships.
February 21: Webinar: Take the Mystery out of Finance
Learn from a WBDC finance specialist the criteria lenders use when evaluating your business. Empower yourself and learn how to prepare a good financing package.
February 22: Webinar: Reputation Management and Analytics (e-Marketing Series)
Do you know how to fix a bad review that is tarnishing your reputation? Do you know how to create buzz around your business name in order to build relationships that lead to revenue? Managing your business' online reputation and measuring the impact of your online efforts are important tools in your business' e-Marketing kit.
February 23: Guiding Your Success Through Building a Business Plan (Part of JumpStart Series)
Do you have a written business plan? This workshop is designed for both new business owners and owners of emerging or established businesses to learn all the parts of an effective plan and why it's important to get it on paper. You will write a draft of your executive summary as an outline for creating your full business plan and your planning process.
February 23:How to Respond to a Request for Proposals (RFP)
This workshop is for established businesses that want to learn how to differentiate themselves from the competition when responding to a government Request for Proposals (RFP). The top do's and don'ts in responding to an RFP and tips to help you have continued success with WBDC government partners will be discussed. Attend this workshop to gain valuable advice on how to win the business!
February 24: Joint Business Counseling: Teaming & Second Tier Strategies- Peer Partnership
Joint Business Counseling Sessions are for established business owners seeking to grow their businesses through government and corporate contracting. Each session is held via interactive webinar and is limited to 5 persons so that each participant has ample time to apply this valuable information to their own business. If you are seeking assistance with peer partnerships, try this new platform for interactive, strategic planning and learning in a small group format.
February 29: Webinar: Online Store Savvy (e-Marketing Series)
Do you want to have an online business but aren't sure how to set one up? This workshop will discuss what you should look for in hiring an outside consultant to develop your online store and will help you identify important online sites which can be key to your success.
February 29: Starting a Business in Illinois
Are you considering starting a business in Illinois? Put yourself ahead of the curve and gain the knowledge you need to assist with a successful launch. This workshop will address if business ownership is right for you, the transition from being an employee, volunteer, homemaker and/or independent contractor to business owner and more.
