Now comes the fun part…working daily to involve our new members in any or all of the many opportunities that Chamber membership provides.  One of my favorite analogies about Chamber membership is the comparison to a health club membership.  We all know that when we join the health club, that act alone will not produce any results for us, but if we attend regularly, use the equipment and tools that are provided for us, the results can be remarkable!  I think the same is true for Chamber membership.

As we move forward and begin reaching out and communicating with our new members and our existing members, I hope to see a level of participation from all of our members that brings them and The Chamber a positive outcome.  We use the expression, “Greater. Together.”  True statement in life, don’t you think?  I heard another expression recently that is true as well, “Let’s do together what we can’t do by ourselves!”

Each company, organization or individual that makes the decision to join The Chamber is making a commitment to our goal of making our community a better place to live, work and play.  The Chamber is the one organization most representative of the total business community and best equipped to solve the issues facing the community.  Even though we would love for everyone to be an active part of the organization, and always encourage that, we also realize that time constraints do not allow everyone to actively participate in the many activities offered by The Chamber.  We still want all of our members to keep abreast of issues and events through The Chamber’s Web site, e-Newsletter and “Chamber Connections” in The Sentinel-Record.

Membership Mania 2012 – The Main Event is in the history books and we are excited to have all of the new members who joined the Chamber family.  We are grateful for ALL of our members.  The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce is a member driven organization and without this body of strong business leaders, our voice in the community would only be a whisper, but with 1,098 members we are a strong “Voice” that cannot be ignored.   Like I said earlier, “Greater. Together!”

I can’t teach you how to be patience … I am having a hard enough time teaching my daughter patience and teaching her why it is a virtue.  Heck, I have to personally work on it daily too, and by no means am I am expert!  But I do understand and see why it is so very important.  What I can tell you is about patience and why it is important in your life.

The act of patience is behavioral and requires skill.  But even though it is a behavior, it is also a positive or clear state of mind.  You can’t be patient if you mind is jumbled up with things.  To be patient you have to be self-aware of what is going on internally (“your world”) as well as being aware of what is going on externally (“everyone else’s world”).

When there is a mutual respect and trust between two people (manager and employee; husband and wife) then both sides are more likely to show patience with one another.  Here are three ways that we can each work on patience:

1)      Acceptance of difficulty—we have to accept that difficult things will happen and cannot be avoided.  This doesn’t mean waking up each day saying to yourself “Well, I know something bad is going to happen today!”  But instead just pay attention to your own state of mind, make your best effort and meet each situation as it arises.

2)      Not acting hastily—given how difficult, unpredictable and stressful life can be, it is easy to respond quickly and impatiently.  In these situations it is best to really look at and think about what really is the cause.  Just stop, take a breath, and notice your breathing and what is around you (one of my personal favorite ways to practice patience).

3)      Acceptance of what is true—most impatience comes from wanting things to be different.  But there is nothing we can do to change it (most of the time).  We can take actions to change something but normally that action includes accepting what is difficult, not acting hastily and accepting what is true.

There are tons of excuses people give about not being patient.  Learning to practice patience is a practical skill that we should either improve upon or develop; it will serve in every single area of your life.  Being patient will sharpen your focus, make you become a better listener and make you less frustrated.

Choices we make have good and bad consequences.  Those choices inevitably affect someone in one way or another.  The choice to give good customer service will affect residents and visitors and in turn affect business revenue and the economy.   Every day we all have choices: where to vacation, where to eat, shop, find entertainment, and hire a plumber and so on.  It all begins with one choice; the choice to do business with one place over the other and once the choice of which business to use is made, that business is given the opportunity to give the gift of extraordinary customer service.  The pure quality and outcome of customer service that is provided and received will have an emotional effect on customers, which will prompt another choice.  The customer will be given an option to return and refer them to others, or not.  That choice alone will impact the success of a business.

It is more important than ever, to go above and beyond for our customers and for our business.  One of the most important key’s to extraordinary customer service is communication.  Customer service is about the overall experience not just what is spoken.  Communication is linked to our four senses, by body language and a smile, by tone of voice and background music, and savored by taste.  These things must all play hand in hand and have the right consistency to achieve the right message you would like to communicate.  With every interaction and connection, with whatever sense you are dealing with, it will have some kind of impact on someone, which in turn will prompt someone to make a choice.  More often than not customer service affects people emotionally causing them to talk about those experiences and how they were affected. Unfortunately, those impacted negatively are more likely to vocalize their experiences.  Word-of-mouth can darn right make or break a business.

We have all experienced disappointment or frustration with customer service.  Some questions we could ask ourselves daily: did I make someone’s day, how did I make my customers feel today, did I address them by name, did I go above and beyond to make them feel welcome and appreciated, and did I meet all their needs?

A chance to influence someone is a gift of opportunity; to us, our customers, and our businesses and to our economy.  Let’s make it our purpose and goal in Hot Springs, Arkansas to influence customers to make their choice be our business!  Let’s face it; we all want to be treated like royalty.  So why not give our customers what they come for?  Let’s all embrace this and make a conscious effort to give the gift of extraordinary customer service. It’s a win-win!

The Hot Springs Metro Partnership leadership and staff came to realize a year or so ago, during the recession, that the scattershot approach to growing the local economy was not the most efficient way to go about it. So we began talking about a strategic plan for economic growth, not just in our county, but in our region. We developed a request for proposals for guiding us through the planning process, and received three top-notch submittals from nationally respected planning firms.

It was a tough decision, but we eventually settled on TIP Strategies from Austin, Texas, in large part because company principal Jon Roberts shared our vision – that Hot Springs is a unique place with a unique set of challenges and a unique opportunity for building on its assets to transform its economy. Jon, like us, understood the need for capturing all the essential elements that ARE Hot Springs – the natural beauty, the history, the arts, the geography – in an overarching plan that depends on all of them to move our community from the regional to the national to the international stage.

The plan TIP Strategies drafted for us, after hours of consultation with local, regional and state business, civic and governmental leaders as well as in-depth research, analyzed our present situation and found it troublesome. While the regional economy had held up relatively well in a recessionary period, there were some disturbing indicators:

• Our regional population was relatively flat, with slow growth in Garland County offset by declining population numbers in some of our neighboring counties – for which Hot Springs is the regional trade and employment center.
• The population is aging; the percentage of residents of the five-county region who are older than 65 is increasing, while the percentage from birth to 35 is declining.
• The average household income trails the national average, and more significantly, the per-capita income in the Hot Springs MSA was in the bottom five percent of all MSAs in the nation.
• About four times as many employment sectors were losing jobs as were gaining jobs.
• Many of our historic assets were reaching a tipping point – they either had to be improved, or they would soon be past the point of improving.

That all adds up to an unsustainable economy. Another troublesome point: According to TIP’s conversations with many local leaders, things were “good enough” in the greater Hot Springs region; in other words, major action wasn’t needed.

To quote Jon Roberts, in delivering the plan to the HSMP board: “ ‘Good enough’ is NOT good enough. A community that isn’t growing is dying.”

Fortunately, TIP Strategies also crafted for us a plan of how to impact those numbers to turn our population growth positive, build our employment, attract young talent and grow the economy. It rests on the presumption that things in Hot Springs are not “good enough.”

The plan rests on four major pillars:

• Stabilize, and then resurrect, Downtown Hot Springs, the spiritual and cultural heart of the region.
• Attract new jobs, either through expansion of the local business sector or the attraction of new businesses.
• Attract young, professional talent. Entrepreneurs build economies.
• Put Hot Springs on the map for international and upscale tourism, as well as a destination for upscale Baby Boomer retirees.

Each one of those four main program goals has a series of strategies, and each strategy has a series of action steps that have been developed to promote it. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be detailing for you the recommendations and activities designed to put Hot Springs on a firm economic footing for its next half-century.

This annual event began in 1986 by Ray Owen, Jr. while he was serving on the Education Committee for The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce.  Weyerhaeuser Company has been the presenting sponsor of this event since 2006.  The Sentinel-Record is also a partner of this event.

Following dinner the students were introduced to the audience by volunteers from our community.

Sara Schreiner Kendall and David Byerly, President/CEO of The Chamber presented each student with a plaque and a gift from Weyerhaeuser Company.

According to Richard Chapman, Public Affairs for Arkansas, with Weyerhaeuser Company, he looks forward to this event every year just to be able to meet the students, hear what degree they will be pursing and what college they will be attending and that Weyerhaeuser is a proud sponsor of this event along with The Chamber and The Sentinel-Record.

The top five percent of graduating classes from: Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, Cutter Morning Star, Fountain Lake, Hot Springs, Jessieville, Lake Hamilton, Lakeside and Mountain Pine were:

• Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts (www.asmsa.org) are: Nicole Hinman, Zachary Lovin and Katherine Truibitt

• Cutter Morning Star (www.eaglesnest.dsc.k12.ar.us) students are: Colin Heaton and Stephan Mitchell

• Fountain Lake (www.flcobras.com) students are: Ashley Brown, Wade Garrett, David Harrison, Alexandra Rose and Kaycie Taylor

• Hot Springs (www.hssd.net) students are: Grace Ann Brown, Jalyn Hays, Toni Hines, Daniel Koch, Elexus Smith, Jessa Thurman and Breanna White

• Jessieville (www.jville.k12.ar.us) students are: Deanna Herron, Jesse Ivers and Marina Sweeten

• Lake Hamilton (http://www.wolves.dsc.k12.ar.us) students are: Andrea Balfour, Thomas Bearden, Johndre Bennett, Alyssa Bryant, Marlee Buchanan, Victoria Clark, Ashton Fleming, Brendan Frazier, Katlyn Hill, William Kellstrom, Tyler Lindsey, James Blake Tilley and Mary K. Tucker

• Lakeside (www.LakesideSD.org) students are: Keia T’Ann Allen, Sara Bryant, Timothy Carroll, Elizabeth Dye, Anna Green, Jessica Hale, John Hudgens, Madalyn Marinick, Alison Norman, Jordan Preston and Jordan Smith

• Mountain Pine ( www.mpsd.dsc.k12.ar.us) students are: Caleb Ellison, Ryan Hancock and Jalen McElroy

This year’s presenters were:
Latt Bachelor, Summit Bank
Benny Baker, Arlington Hotel Resort and Spa
Sara Brown, National Park Community College
Roger Carter, Aluminum Arts of Arkansas
Brenda Chase, Mercy
Kevin Cortez, First Arkansas Insurance
Joyce Craft, Hot Springs School District
Lisa Engebretson, The Chamber
Gary Everett, Weyerhaeuser Company
Mike Ferguson, US Bank
Craig Forbes, Weyerhaeuser Company
Jorge Garcia, Stephens Inc.
Don Gooch, Arvest Bank
Jill Johnson, National Park Community College
Bryan Smith, Alliance Rubber Company
Forrest Spicher, BancorpSouth
Gary Troutman, The Sentinel-Record
Marilyn Trusty, Lakeside School District
Steve Trusty, Simmons First
Les Warren, Hot Springs Title Company

As this event’s coordinator, it was my second year working with the school counselors, parents, the Hot Springs Country Club, Weyerhaeuser, The Sentinel-Record, and the people who volunteered their time to be presenters.  Without their support this event would not happen, and these deserving students would not be honored.  Thank you for helping to make this banquet for the students and parents a success!

The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce offers networking opportunities, referrals and sales opportunities to deliver return on your investment, access to information, government advocacy, exclusive marketing and sponsorship opportunities, a business listing in The Chamber’s Business Directory, and access to a membership list. In addition to these benefits, The Chamber offers programs and events for your enjoyment and business development. These are only the highlights!

The Chamber works daily to find ways to add value to being a member. We just launched a new program, “Benefitting Your Business”, which is a seminar promotion plan that will give Chamber members the opportunity to either provide or attend free seminars. Last summer The Chamber launched a coupon program, Try It Local, in an effort to offer savings to your favorite places in town, but more importantly to expose the over 5,000 people that receive the Try It Local emails to businesses they might not be familiar with.

Value is important…The Chamber strives to deliver. Choices in today’s economy are critical…we truly appreciate all that make the choice to invest in The Chamber. As corny or cliché as it may sound, we believe that we are Greater. Together. and the combined voices of the members of The Chamber make a difference to the area’s economic vitality and quality of life. I love this quote found in our New Member sales packet, “Ignition is not possible in a vacuum. Success occurs when we interact, when we reach out, when we support one another.” This statement is so simple and so true, but sometimes seems so difficult to obtain for some reason. The Chamber gives us the vehicle to make it possible!

If you are an investor in The Chamber…thank you! If you know of a business in our community that is not a Chamber member, encourage them to give us a call, 501-321-1700 or to visit www.hotspringschamber.com. The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce is a member driven organization and without our members, we would simply not exist. This Chamber is committed to be the organization that meets the needs of our members and our business community.

When times seem slow and your phone isn’t ringing or your showroom isn’t overflowing with customers you can take one of two approaches:

REACTIVE … slash marketing, sit perfectly still and just wait it out, hoping and praying that  good times will suddenly appear again and all  will return to normal…eating a few more ramen noodles in the meantime.

PROACTIVE … step up your efforts to connect with your customers, getting out of your door and into those of your customers,  trying to find out what they are thinking; what it takes to get their business back; what they will be looking for when they do come back.

When put in those terms the proactive approach seems the most logical.  I contend that businesses that are proactive will survive and flourish through this recession.

Entrepreneurial-driven businesses are so often successful in-no-small-part because they adopt a proactive mindset much like this:

“When no one is coming through your doors you get out there and find out why?  You go to them.  You ask questions.  You listen.  You take notes.  You keep relationships open and flowing.  You talk to your competitors to see if they are noticing the same things.  You figure out what it takes to get customers off their couches and back in your doors.  If necessary, you get your house in order so that when they do get off the couch yours is the door they want to come in.”

Successful small business owners always work hardest when times are tough and lean.  It’s that entrepreneurial spirit that burns in the successful business that makes the difference between hitting the pavement to go find your customers or sitting in your office waiting for the phone to ring.  At Garland County Economic Development Corporation (GCEDC), we like to view our approach and mindset as chiseled from the same stone as that of a successful, entrepreneurial-driven business.

At GCEDC, we are always trying to do one of three things:

• We are always working to make sure the current customers in our community are
  getting everything they need to survive and thrive in this environment.
• We are working to get new customers in the community’s door.
• And, we are making sure our shop has the tools and equipment needed so that when they do come in we are ready.

When the phones stop ringing on their own, we hit the pavement in every way we can to visit with our job-creating-customers.

• We go places where we can ask a thousand questions and figure out what is keeping them on the couch and out of our community.
• We listen, we evaluate, we improve, we prepare.
• We keep being seen wherever our customers are … even if that is somewhere other than our store.

In our business of community and economy building, we aren’t given the luxury of sitting idly by, left to just hope and pray that the world will go back to normal and hundreds
of companies will simply walk back in the door.  We have to keep moving and earn or retain that contact for the future business they will become for our community.  To
be left behind is to be left irrelevant to a company’s future growth decision.  So our challenge is always to keep our product fresh and our community’s face familiar.

At our store, our teams have certainly kept moving.   In fact, when times are rough we tend to move more and we seem to move faster.  During this period when fewer customers have been walking through the door, we have been visiting them, trying to find ways to lure them back into the store to do a little business.  We are also making sure we are putting the tools in place so that we are still relevant to that customer when he or she does get off the couch and decides they are ready to do business again.

Our vast travels on the road lead us to the following report:

Our customers are still out there in the market.  They need to grow.  They need to make investment.  They have plenty of money in the bank … but little to no confidence in the market.

The net result is this:

“Everybody is on the couch.”  Business isn’t doing anything until it gets a little less scared about this economy.  Our competitors, neighbors and partners are seeing the exact same thing.    It seems as quiet as crickets out there right now.  Plenty of chirping about the need, but beyond rubbing their legs together, little to no actual movement.

Recently, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission expressed some of the same frustration during the Arkansas Economic Developers Annual Conference.  At that time, AEDC had 73 open project files.  That is 73 companies that have an interest in moving to Arkansas and creating jobs.

How many have made a final decision? “None, Nada, Zero.”

All 73 files are stuck in this quagmire of economic uncertainty.  Screams of national debt default, credit rating adjustments, new EPA regulations, National Labor Relations Board lawsuits, confusion and uncertainty about health care implementation, talk of tax restructure … you name it, business has good reasons to be afraid of the dark right now.  When the business community is afraid of the dark, it simply isn’t going to make investments or add jobs with such uncertainty.  It is going to sit tight and make sure they are as profitable and productive as they can be the safe zone that they know.

I can’t blame them.  It’s just reality.

But our business of community and economy building still requires that we continue to be out in the field talking to them, trying to figure out what scares them and reassuring
them that when the lights come back on we’ll be here and we’ll be ready for them.

This all wraps together in one simple and challenging summation.  When we’re asked what we as a community are doing to turn this slow economy, our answer is this:  “We’re moving and moving and moving.”

• We are on the factory floors of our local companies, being their biggest advocates
  for productivity and growth here locally.
• We are in crowded airport lines headed to meetings where companies that need to grow are sitting around the table trying to figure out if they are still too
  scared of the dark.
• We are wearing out good quality, locally made shoes getting into the rooms where
  economists and competitors are gathered trying to get the newest information,
  latest tricks, quickest technology so that our tool belts are full of all the things we need to lead companies through the dark.
• We are researching, debating, analyzing and educating ourselves so that our plan
  to grow the economy is the best plan our community can have … perfectly balanced with ambition, vision, reality, and common sense.

But don’t be fooled into thinking the immediate reality isn’t stark.  There are no quick fixes to this economy.  There are no magic pills to create business courage.  In the end, we can’t force anyone off the couch.  Our small marketing and travel budget cannot reverse the fear of the dark that businesses deservedly have right now.  We can touch one or two at a time, but this frozen panic is wide spread and whoever gets the credit for doing it has much more TV attention than we’ll ever catch.

But our challenge is no less presented: we keep moving to make sure that everything we can do we are doing.  It’s the act of moving; the proactive mindset that all so often makes the difference between the successful business and just another recession statistic.  Hot Springs isn’t a recession statistic.  It has a great plan.  It has great economic bones to build upon.  It has a desirable business story to share.  It also has a burning desire to be out telling that story to its customers … even when times seem frustratingly slow.  That
attitude will survive and prosper in this long and grueling economic race.

Rest assured, our economic development attitude and commitment are solid.  We’re making sure that our community store is not just going to survive this recession but we’re working hard to build business while it’s happening.  In the meantime, we’ll be moving wherever that business takes us.

1. Don’t Advertise Like a Big Business
Big businesses advertise to create name recognition and future sales.  A small business can’t always afford advertising for those reasons.  Instead, aim to produces sales now with the design and message.  A simple way to accomplish that is to include an offer in your
advertising.  It is instant gratification for the consumer and easy for them to respond to it.

2. Offer a Less Expensive Version
Some customers don’t want to pay the asking price for products or services.  Some customers are more interested in paying a lower price than in getting the best quality.  To avoid losing sales offer them a smaller or stripped down version of your product or service.

3. Offer a Premium Version
For the customers not looking for a less expensive price, you can boost your average sale and your total revenue by offering a more comprehensive product or service …or by combining several products or services in a special premium package offer for a higher price.  Many are willing to pay a higher price to get a premium product or service.

4. Try Some Unusual Marketing Methods
Unconventional marketing methods your competitors are overlooking could be a key component in your marketing mix. Using these methods could generate sales and avoid competition.

5. Trim Your Ads
By reducing the size of your ads so you can run more ads for the same cost.  You may even be surprised to find that some of your short ads generate a better response than their longer versions. 

6. Set up Joint Promotions with Other Small Businesses
Work with non-competing businesses to offer to publicize their products or services to your customers in exchange for them publicizing your services to their customers.  An example of this is joining The Chamber’s Leads program (for information on this program contact Betsy Atkins).

7. Take Advantage of Your Customers
Gaining new business is harder than keeping your current customers, they already
trust you.  Take advantage of this by creating some special deals just for your existing customers.  You can also announce new products and services to them before you let the general public know.

Each of these 7 marketing tips provides a simple, low-cost way for any small business to find customers and generate sales quickly.

Don Beavers who has been associated with the Transportation Task Force with The Chamber for several years stated, “The purpose of the dinner is to show our appreciation to the Commissioners for the work that they do for the State of Arkansas.”

At this year’s dinner all of the commissioners were present including: Chairman R. Madison Murphy; Vice-Chairman John Ed Regenold; Member, John Burkhalter; Member, Dick Trammel and Member, Tom Schueck.  Scott Bennett, Director; Ralph Hall, Assistant to the Director; Frank Vozel, Deputy Director and Chief Engineer; Emanuel Banks, Assistant Chief Engineer-Operations; Phil McConnell, Assistant Chief Engineer-Planning; Lorie Tudor, Assistant Chief Engineer-Planning; Joe Sartini, District Engineer; Tim Baber, Resident Engineer; Keith Goff, Assistant Resident Engineer; and Randy Ort, Public Affairs Officer were also present from the Arkansas Highway Department.

Dave Byerly, President and CEO, of The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, presented tokens of appreciation to the commissioners which were graciously donated from The Savory Pantry, Spa Fireworks & Souvenirs, Visit Hot Springs, Oaklawn and The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce.

Representing the State of Arkansas was: Senator Mike Fletcher; Senator Bill Sample;
Representative Bruce Cozart; Representative John Vines; Representative Bruce Westerman; Deke Whitbeck, Field Representative for Senator Mark Pryor; Stefanie Scott, Assistant to Jeff Weaver; District Director for Congressman Mike Ross; and Gene Higginbotham, Deputy District Director for Congressman Mike Ross.

Local representation from the City of Hot Springs was: Mayor Ruth Carney; City Manager Lance Hudnell; and City Directors: Elaine Jones, Cynthia Keheley, Pat McCabe and Karen
Garcia.  Steve Mallett, Deputy City Manager over Public Works and Utilities; Gary Carnahan, City Engineer; Denny McPhate, Public Works Director; Charles Bocksnick, Traffic Services Superintendent; Richard Penn, Utilities Director; Lance Spicer, City Clerk; and Jean Wallace, Parks and Recreation Director.

Representing Garland County was: Judge Rick Davis; and Justices of the Peace: Thomas
Anderson, Ray Owen, Jr. and Marilyn Ridge.

Look at this list of groups who have pledged their support:

• City of Hot Springs Board of Directors
• Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee
• Democratic Hispanic Caucus of Garland County
• Downtown Association of Hot Springs
• Farm Bureau
• Fifty for the Future
• Forum Club of Hot Springs
• Garland County Democratic Central Committee
• Garland County Quorum Court
• Garland County Republican Committee
• Garland County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #26
• Garland Good Government Group
• Hot Springs Advertising & Promotion Commission
• Hot Springs Landlords Association
• Hot Springs Village Property Owners Association
• National Park Community College Board of Trustees
• The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce
• Virginia Clinton Kelly Democratic Women’s Club

Early voting begins Tuesday, October 4 at the Garland County Election Commission
office on Ouachita Avenue and in Hot Springs Village at the Chamber of Commerce.

Members of The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce can make the difference in what promises to be a very close election.

What can YOU do?
Put a sign in your yard
Put a bumper sticker on your car
Put a sign in your store window
Wear a campaign sticker or button every day
Talk to your neighbors and friends
Give your employees time off to go and vote
Provide a ride to the polls for an elderly neighbor
Call 10 people you know and remind them to vote
Volunteer to work at a polling place
VOTE!

We ask our law enforcement officers for their help every day.  Now they’re asking you for your help.  Give them a bigger jail so they can take more
criminals off the streets of our community.

Vote One Cent FOR Safety.