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 Featured News
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JOB FAIR COMING UP
OhioMeansJobs: Muskingum County, in partnership with the WHIZ Media Group and the Chamber of Commerce, would like to invite local companies to participate in a job fair to be held Tuesday, March 29, 2016. The time of the event will be from 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm with the first hour dedicated to exclusively to our local Veterans. If your company is hiring and is interested in participating, please contact us as soon as possible to reserve your place. The deadline for employers is March 18th. To register please contact Justy Cordray at 740.454.6211 or email Justy.Cordray@jfs.ohio.gov.
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Business Resources & News
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CLOSING MORE SALES
Today's customers are complex, but unfortunately we as salespeople haven't fully grasped the change. Being comfortable with two closing techniques is simply not enough. Today we must be comfortable with many more than two. If we want to close quickly, we need to be ready to use the right closing technique the first time and not have to muddle through the slow response. Below are 10 closing techniques. Read through them, and I suspect you'll find a couple you like. Read more from Mark Hunter.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
- Nationwide sales of new single-family houses in January 2016 were 494,000 at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), down 9.2 percent from December's revised rate and down 5.2 percent from January 2015. For complete information visit http://www.esa.doc.gov/content/indicators.
- The national Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged in January on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 1.4 percent before seasonal adjustment.
SAFETY EXPO
The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation is hosting its annual Safety Congress and Expo March 9-11 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. This free event is open to all Ohio employers and their employees. There will be more than 200 educational sessions, 225 exhibitors and free continuing education credits. All the details are available here.
10 NETWORKING STEPS
Are you looking for a new job, new customers, new investors, or new opportunities? You likely know that networking is one of the best ways to find them. Unfortunately, if you're like most people, networking doesn't come that naturally. Alyssa Gelbard, founder of career consulting firm Resume Strategists, has broken down the process into easy-to-follow steps that will help the most introverted or inexperienced networker start making valuable new contacts immediately--and may even help some seasoned networkers do it better. Read more from Inc.com.
LEADERSHIP
Zane State College and MCBI are bringing in some of the best leaders in the nation for a one-day, high-impact conference to help our businesses and organizations grow. Archie Griffin, one of the best sports leaders in history, is the keynote speaker, followed by equally substantial speakers and topics:
- Strategic Thinking: Panel of four very successful CEO's
- Teamwork and team building: While teamwork is a buzzword, what are we really doing to foster it?
- Leading with Lean: Lean concepts are being implemented in virtually every industry and are becoming the difference between success and failure
- Moving from manager to leader: This session isn't just for the manager, it's for the manager's boss as well.
The conference is on April 21st from 8:30 - 3:00 at the Zane State College Campus Center. Tickets are $180 for an individual or $650 for a group of four people from the same company. You may register online at https://www.zanestate.edu/LeadWithIntent.
SMALL BUSINESSES GROWING
For months now, economists and other business experts have raised concerns that the U.S. could be heading into another recession. World markets have seesawed since last summer on news that growth in China's economy is slowing. The global commodities rout has sparked significant concerns that we could head into a deflationary spiral. And closer to home, wages are growing at a tepid 2 percent, which will tamp down consumer demand and probably keep the economy growing at a comparable rate for some time. But using small business as a yardstick--an important one, since entrepreneurs are responsible for the bulk of jobs and hiring in the U.S.--things appear to be just fine. Read more from Inc.com.
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Chamber Updates & Services
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CUSTOMIZE YOUR LISTING ON BUYERSGUIDE.BIZ
Your business listing in the online Officials Buyer's Guide for Zanesville & Muskingum County comes FREE with your chamber membership. It is important that you take advantage of the option all members have of customizing and expanding your listing into a whole page worth of information including logos and images. Here's why:
- Getting listed in online business directories is a fundamental part of digital marketing nowadays. It helps people more easily find your business on the web, where most buying decisions start.
- You have a lot of paid and free directory options. But there is only one Official Buyer's Guide for Zanesville and Muskingum County that helps buyers everywhere find your business and its products and services when they are searching online. And there are few or none that provide you with a whole page where you can include your logo, web link, images and more.
- Our guide's search engine optimization is so strong that each month 31,000 local businesses with listings in the Official Buyer's Guide appear in search results on major search engines like Google and Yahoo. At times, your listing in the Official Buyer's Guide will appear in search results BEFORE your own webpage. That is how effective our Official Buyer's Guide's SEO programming is.
- Plus, the Officials Buyer's Guide is published online by the Chamber, and chambers all over have been the trusted go-to for local business information for over a century. Chamber affiliation brings instant credibility to your listing and adds to the strong reputation your business already has.
SPRING BREAK EVENT
Mark your calendars for the Chamber's annual Spring Break event. It will be held on Friday April 1 from 7 am to 9 am at the Muskingum Recreation Center. This event features the annual ACES Awards and Safety Council awards, and its always a casual, fun time. Watch your inbox for more details.
STAYING INFORMED
One big reason businesses are chamber members is to stay informed about business issues and solutions. Here's a sampling of some of the best resources available on our website, www.zmchamber.com.
- Business Tools - A variety of online business calculators such as a sales pipeline tool, a price calculator, break even calculator and more.
- Size Up - Online local market data tool that helps you plan advertising and compare your business to your industry.
- News & Advice - Up to date business headlines and stories from national media sources such as Inc.com, Wall Street Journal and others.
- Official Buyer's Guide & Member Directory - This online guide has a lot of information about area businesses, and it's business listings were viewed more than 200,000 times in 2015.
- Tourism Information - If you want comprehensive information on what to see and do in the area, or if you want to share that information with visitors headed our way, go to visitzanesville.com.
- Calendar of Meetings & Events - Both www.zmchamber.com and www.visitzanesville.com offer calendars you can use to see what's coming up. Also, if you are promoting an event or meeting you can use both to do that.
- Job Listings - Members are free to post their job listings on our website, www.zmchamber.com.
- Economic Dashboard - Local economic indicators presented in an easy to read format.
- Chamber Experts Blog - Columns submitted by area business people to share their expertise (and any member is welcome to submit to the blog).
5 MARKETING SERVICES YOU CAN USE TODAY
- Expand your online presence by customizing your member business listing in the online directory.
- Promote your events and meetings on our web-based calendar of events.
- Offer an online Hot Deal via our website to promote a sale, special promotion, or discount.
- Illustrate your professional expertise by posting a business column on the Chamber Experts blog.
- A free social media marketing account is provided to each member via Save Local Now (SLN) a software platform that helps you simplify and streamline your social media posting and email marketing.
Visit the Marketing Solutions Center to help you identify chamber services that can meet your needs depending on what you are trying to accomplish. |
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