Are you participating in National Small Business Week 2012?  NSBW is a two and a half day conference in Washington, D.C. focusing on small business accomplishments, including disaster recovery, procurement and entrepreneurial success.  All NSBW events will be webcast except for the Opening Reception and the State Department reception.

If you’re in DC and able to attend, this free event on Sunday at 3pm looks particularly of interest:

How Small Businesses can win Big with Large Companies

Free event!

Are you a small business with a great product, but have no idea how to get it noticed by a large company? Have you ever wondered how to get your merchandise on the shelves of a major retailer? How Small Businesses can get in Big with Large Companies will share the secrets to small business success with big business partners. With a panel comprised of a major retailer, a small business product developer, and a non-profit small business mentoring organization, the session will offer solutions from all sides of the equation that add up to achievement.

Linda Boykin, Vice President of Merchandising for Office Depot, a leading global provider of Office Supplies and services, will share what retailers look for in small business partners. Holly Bohn, founder of See Jane Work, a stylish office and organization product company, will discuss her path to store shelves, and Mark Dobosz, president of SCORE, a nonprofit association dedicated to helping small businesses get off the ground, will offer tips to grow the business while also generating attention from larger companies.

View the complete schedule here.

ARMA believes strongly in the effectiveness of teaming.

Stephanie Christensen at Intuit Small Business Blog has an interview up with Fishbowl CEO David Williams on the practice of mentoring that’s worth reading.   One choice quote:

To break through to real success, you need a support system that’s proven to work. Most truly successful business owners I’ve seen have three kinds of support: a mentor, a coach, and a team. A mentor helps you look at your business in new ways to determine what will get you to the next level and how to focus on those activities — both personally and in business.

In a similar vein, Becky McCray over at Small Biz Survival has some thoughts on the creation of local business alliances to foster success.  Click through to read more about an organization called BALLE that focused on “locally-owned businesses, sustainability, green jobs, and thinking local first.”  

Also, Inc Magazine has a great collection of articles that talk about ways to get mentors if you’re trying to figure out how to get started. 

As always, feel free to contact us at ARMA if you’re interested in partnering with us directly!

We stumbled across this infographic looking at the ins and outs (and ups and ups) of local business and wanted to share it with you.  We’ve talked about the benefits of going local before.  It seems pretty clear to us at ARMA that one of the propelling factors for the growth of local business has to do with trust. 

What do you think?

A well-written post that we’ve noticed here at ARMA regarding government contracting:

Kenneth Larson has posted a number of thoughts at his blog that cover the gamut from contract strategy to funding analysis (although be mindful that his site does a number on our Flash for some reason).  His advice is intended to get agencies that rely on government contracts through a potentially lean fiscal year.  A key bit of advice:

Examine your core competencies. Skill sets such as IT, logistics, GIS, facilities support and similar services will remain in demand but will be spread across the agencies in accordance with the judgements the new congress makes for devoting focus in the next annual budget cycles.  Health care, education, the FAA the CDC and DOT will remain at the fore, while agencies such as the Pentagon and USAID may experience significant cuts. It will pay to broaden your marketing scope and expand your base to government organizations for whom you could potentially supply services. 

 Just getting started with government contracting?  Small Business Trends has the basics covered for you here.

Some interesting articles from around the web:

As part of the Black Enterprise Small Business University, yesterday Black Enterprise CEO Butch Graves took questions about “Getting Started,” on Black Enterprise’s Twitter. Peruse the conversation by viewing tweets marked by hashtag #SmallBizUChat.

Social Media Examiner presents a video from Becky Carroll that gives insight into the practice of getting the most opportunity from your existing customers.  She utilizes many of the strategies that we’ve talked about here at ARMA recently. 

The New York Times has written a lovely piece on the power of the handwritten note in establishing strong business relationships.  Small touches like this can make or break customer relationships.

Ivar Kroghrud at 1to1 Media speaks further about winning customers by encouraging businesses to:

• Make the committment
• Listen to the little things
• Show [customers] how you feel 

Anyone have any customer service gems to share?

Two posts from Who’s your Gladys? caught our eye at ARMA recently.  Gladys mainstay Marylin Suttle presents a story of truly impressive customer service, one that transformed a business’s potential customer into an outspoken advocate.  Another post from guest blogger Micah Solomon tackles growing trends in customer needs and behaviors that are worth paying attention to, particularly related to young people’s interests and the effect of those interests on consumer preference.

Adrian Swinscoe at the Smal Business Blog has some thoughts on the differences in language employed by businesses and customers: 

Often there is a difference between how we view ourselves, how we describe ourselves, the things we sell and how others (our customers) describe what they buy from us.

Be sure check out John Jantsch’s perspective on the usefulness of CRM programs.  And if you like the tool below, click through for the related free video & workbook, etc.

After the 4th warmest winter on record in the United States, its interesting to think beyond its effect on your greenery.  Intuit put together this interesting infographic that explores the effect that the weather may have had on your business:

Much of the collected wisdom on the internet dedicated to customer service that ARMA has been consuming recently (and previously) has been focused explicitly on the act of listening and responding to customers’ expressed wants rather than perceived ones.

Diane Helbig asks us to strengthen our listening muscle, the better to improve our relationships with customers and ultimately sales.  What plays out is a situation where, “The sales person is so focused on sharing information about their product or service that they don’t take the time to ask questions and listen to the answers. Because of this, they don’t build a rapport with the prospect or help the prospect feel valued.”

Christopher Butler’s piece is focused more on marketing than customer service directly, but there are still pointers to be gained from his encouragement to teach rather than shout.  It plays out in external communications, on our websites and in our meetings.  His tips are universal:

• Slowing down
• Honesty
• Having integrity in the face of opposition
• Being honest to yourself
• Trying to own your own failings

Meikah at Custserv reminds us of the power that children make on their parents’ decisions.  Check out her post for three ways to create “customer touchpoints through children.”

Jamillah Warner has come up with a couple customer service slogans worth paying attention to at Small Business Trends that she feels amount to “Say what you need to say to keep yourself inspired, but do what you have to do to keep yourself moving forward”:

• You Have To Get Your Hands Dirty: Do The Work
• Take action, But Don’t Hurt Yourself

Cloud computing, that is the practice of hosting more and more of our data on web servers rather than in our own physical offices, is clearly more and more prevalent.

Anthony Norris of FedEx extols the virtues of cloud computing over at OPEN Forum.  In short, he identifies the benefits as being:

1. Reduced Costs and Increased Scaleability
2. Automatic Updates
3. Remote Access
4. Customization
5. More Time to Focus on Customers

Read the full article to hear out his reasons.

Jon Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing has a nice little post to go with his podcast about the actual cloud computing programs that he finds most useful personally, and was a nice reminder to look into what ZenDesk has to offer.  His list is helpful for not letting the term ”cloud computing” scare you too much — many of the programs he suggests are ones you might already be using.

And for your eyes, this infographic on the future of cloud computing:

Spring is in the air, and many businesses are taking the oppurtunity to talk about ways to go green.  With Earth Day around the corner, that doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

Keeping it local, Maryland’s Montgomery County has a number of events taking place in April as well as a number of initiatives highlighted in their business news section related to April’s focus on earth-friendly businesses.

If you have an Apple gadget at your disposal, apps like Verde might be a good tool for you as well.  They can take the guesswork away from figuring out what steps would work best to reduce harmful impacts on the environment.

OPEN Forum posted several helpful articles on the concept of green business, with topics ranging from common misconceptiojns of going green, cost effective ways to bring in green practices and some of the most noteworthy recent green trends.

The conversation about the efficacy of green branding and marketing best practices is ongoing and should continue to be analyzed.