U.S. Rep. John Mica introduced a new program in the Orlando area on Jan. 11 aimed at bringing together the area’s employers, developers, and educational and government entities to create jobs near the first 12 planned SunRail commuter rail stations.
Take a look at Phase 1:
The new Jobs Though Connections initiative encourages local officials to promote transit stop connections and adjacent development along the first 31-mile phase of the $1.3 billion SunRail route. Business plans are under way for nearly $1 billion worth of related construction projects slated to begin later this month, a release said. Mica’s initiative seeks to make sure SunRail and related development is aligned with the region’s planning efforts.
This month, Hudson’s Furniture has opened its 14th location in New Smyrna Beach, off of State Road 44. This new store will create more than 40 jobs and stimulate the economy in surrounding areas.
“We’re very excited to be opening this store in New Smyrna Beach. We’re expecting the new location to get a lot of traffic and improve service to existing customers in the area,” said President Josh Hudson. “We track many of our deliveries to New Smyrna Beach and believe that this area can support a new store with little risk.”
The Hudson family has owned and operated 13 stores ranging from Sarasota to Ormond Beach for the past 30 years, this past year marking their 30th Anniversary. By opening this new store, the Hudson’s expect to hire more than 40 employees and create a boost in the economy.
Currently the city of New Smyrna Beach has an unemployment rate of 11 percent, which is higher than the national average of 9 percent. “Everyone is feeling the effects of today’s economy,” said Fred Hudson, CEO. “We hope that our store will have a positive impact on the area by generating new jobs and increasing the flow of customers to New Smyrna and it’s many local businesses.”
Neighbors in the S.R. 44 area include a new Walmart along with a planned new Cracker Barrel and ABC Fine Wines & Spirits.
Hudson’s Furniture is the premier furniture retailer serving the Tampa, St Petersburg, Orlando, and Ormond Beach area. A total of 14 store locations are conveniently located to serve customers in the surrounding areas. Family owned and operated since 1981, Hudson’s Furniture carries brands such as Broyhill, Lane, Lexington, Simmons, Tommy Bahama and Paula Deen. For more information, visit http://hudsonsfurniture.com/current/stores/Florida_Furniture_Stores.aspx
The city of Orlando posted on its website a request for proposals to remove the antique Baldwin locomotive at Church Street Station.
The Florida Rail Museum in Parrish noticed, and now is considering moving the train to its site near Bradenton. The museum has train engine and car displays and runs a 13-mile train trip from its site Saturdays and Sundays. It also operates the North Pole Express during 12 days in December.
A train mover representing the museum met with the city and plans to submit a proposal to move the train to the Florida Rail Museum, said Gene Hughey, past president of the museum.
The engine and tender — that section of the train where fuel for the engine was stored — would be renovated as a display for the museum.
Of the three rail cars, one could easily be renovated by museum volunteers, Hughey said. The other two, including the one with a glass dome, have structural problems and may not be restorable.
The city needs to move the engine and cars to make way for a SunRail station being built near Church Street. The city doesn’t own the train, but agreed to dispose of it for the state Department of Transportation. The DOT inherited the train when it paid $618,900 to TSLF Church Street Development LLC and TSLF Church Street Depot LLC for property that will become the station.
On Nov. 3, DOT paid CSX $150 million for tracks to operate SunRail.The city has budgeted $300,000 to move the train and may pay to have it moved to a site where it would be preserved.
“As part of the proposals we are asking for them to move it, but we will evaluate the proposals that are presented to us,” city spokeswoman Heather Fagan said in an email to OBJ.
The train has been sitting on the tracks near Church Street since Bob Snow opened an entertainment complex known as Church Street Station. Snow brought the train to Orlando from Pensacola and used it as a casting office.
The train has fallen into disrepair with changes in ownership of the complex, which struggled to keep up with night-time entertainment complexes opened at Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Orlando.
The 2nd annual Small Business Saturday is a day dedicated to supporting small businesses on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.
On November 26, American Express is asking millions of people to shop small at their favorite local stores and help fuel the economy. “When we all shop small, it will be huge.”
Powerhouse USA announces two team member promotions
ORLANDO, Fla. – Oct. 17, 2011 – Within the past month, Powerhouse USA, a marketing and advertising agency located in downtown Orlando, has promoted two of its employees – Amanda Gaid has been elevated to Creative Services Manager, and Haley Lindback is now the agency’s Business Development Specialist. Gaid has been with the company since May 2009, while Lindback joined the Powerhouse USA team in April 2010.
While in her previous position as Creative Services Specialist, Gaid was responsible for creating graphics and generating online content for client campaigns. As Creative Services Manager, Gaid will be overseeing all graphic and content elements of print and online client campaign execution.
“My past few years with the Powerhouse USA team have been great and I’m looking forward to my new responsibilities and opportunities,” says Gaid. “I’ve got some great ideas to bring to the table.”
Lindback moves from Online Marketing Coordinator to Business Development Specialist and is currently training to better prepare for her new responsibilities, which will require increased client contact. Previously, Lindback managed client web presence, online campaigns, and implemented new technologies on behalf of both the agency and clients. In her new role, Lindback will be conducting consumer and market research while developing relations with new and existing clientele.
Powerhouse USA is a full-service advertising, marketing and promotions agency dedicated to helping businesses flourish in today’s competitive environment. Located in Orlando, Florida, the Powerhouse USA team specializes in all forms of advertising and marketing, including traditional advertising media and online marketing. For more information, visit http://powerhouseus.com/.
See Amanda and Haley in the Orlando Business Journal.
Lynx was awarded a total of $3.2 million in funds from the Federal Transit Administration for projects that would replace, rebuild or modernize transit infrastructure.
The grants, which were a portion of the $928.5 million in federal funds for more than 300 public transportation projects nationwide, involve replacing or refurbishing aging buses, building or improving bus terminals, garages, and other transit facilities, installing bus-related equipment, and conducting studies to help communities select the best transit options to meet future transportation needs.
Lynx received a $2 million grant to build a Kissimmee Intermodal Transfer Center in historic downtown Kissimmee. The transportation hub would feature eight bus bays and 16 passenger waiting shelters, along with sidewalks, information kiosks, landscaping, lighting, passenger seating, closed-circuit TV security and bike racks.
Additionally, Lynx was awarded a $1.2 million grant to study alternatives along the 21.5-mile east-west segment of SR 50 between the University of Central Florida’s main campus on Alafaya Trail and West Oaks Mall in Orange County. The corridor is served by 20 Lynx routes, passing through downtown Orlando and connecting with two planned SunRail commuter rail stations south of SR 50. It’s expected to support economic redevelopment, improve mobility for residents and businesses and provide connections to regional transportation systems. This study was done in response to population and employment growth and changes in travel demand and traffic patterns.
Nationwide Massage Envy locations, including 11 in Central Florida, will partner up with the Arthritis Foundation to host Healing Hands for Arthritis—an event to build awareness and raise money for the Foundation.
“We see the role massage therapy can play in pain management and symptom relief in our clinics on a regular basis,” said Adam Toporek, Regional Developer for Massage Envy in Central Florida. “We understand how important the work of the Arthritis Foundation is in helping people face the challenges of arthritis.”
Massage Envy will donate $10 to the Arthritis Foundation from every one-hour massage and facial session all day (8 a.m.- 10 p.m.) on Oct. 12. In addition, Murad—Massage Envy’s exclusive skincare partner—will donate 10 percent of all sales of products sold at Massage Envy on the day.
Community Development Specialist for the Arthritis Foundation’s Florida Chapter, Mariel Armitage, said, “This event is such a great way to give back and at the same time create public awareness for this disease that affects millions of people.”
Those who wish to participate are being encouraged visit Massage Envy’s website to book an appointment as well as Arthritis.org to learn more about the Arthritis Foundation and how their partnership with Massage Envy will benefit those suffering from this disease.
The Orlando Magic are already planning their next multimillion-dollar real estate investment in downtown Orlando, less than a year since the Amway Center opened.
The Orlando Magic want to build a $100 million headquarters, sports and entertainment complex across the street from the $380 million Amway Center, which opened last October.
The team’s headquarters now is in the RDV Sportplex in Maitland.
The complex would be on the 100 block of South Hughey Avenue bordered by Hughey Avenue to the east, Church Street to the south, Division Avenue to the west and Central Boulevard to the north.
Existing structures on the property — excluding the Orlando Police Department — likely will be demolished for the project.
The city of Orlando owns the 4.3-acre property the Orlando Magic are envisioning for the project. City officials said the property would be sold to the Magic, but it’s too early to determine the value of the sale.
The project, which does not have a name yet, would be completely funded by the Orlando Magic and is expected to house dining, hotel and entertainment/nightlife options for residents and visitors coming to downtown Orlando.
The timetable for the project has yet to be determined, but is expected to create as many as 300 permanent jobs related to the retail, entertainment and other businesses that would locate there.
The project is “another huge piece in making the best downtown in all of America,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.
The project still is being pitched to the City Council, and will undergo a feasibility study to determine several factors, including making sure financing is in place, providing leasing opportunities for existing tenants on the property and ensuring the existing property is appraised and sold at a fair market value.
In addition, Dyer said the businesses now on the property would not be harmed by the construction of the complex because new retail space would be developed first while tenants remain in their current space, then move to the new space once it is complete.
Dyer said the property could be similar to the $2.5 billion L.A. Live entertainment complex across from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, home to the NBA’s L.A. Lakers. “Other NBA cities with arenas have something similar to L.A. Live, but that’s a larger development, whereas this would be to scale for Orlando.”
On Aug. 15, SunRail released a post asking for partners to aid in the construction of Orlando’s commuter rail system rumored to be competed sometime in 2016. This $1.3 billion project is looking for engineers, operators, maintenance inspectors and supervisors. The SunRail construction team is offering career opportunities to all in the Central Florida area, and you can expect to see a growth in employment possibilities with SunRail during the next five years.
Rumored to open toward the end of October 2011 is none other than one of the largest theme parks already in California, Denmark, U.K., and Germany… and soon, Florida! Legoland construction is underway and soon to be revealed a mere 50 minutes from Orlando, in Cypress Gardens. After the success of Legoland, California which opened in 1999, it was voted the country’s best children’s theme park by “Amusement Today” for the sixth year running recently. It is also recognized as the fastest growing theme park in the U.S., enjoying an increase in visitor numbers year-on-year, including six percent in 2009.
Legoland Florida will be the largest location yet, spanning over 145 acres of water parks, roller coasters, shows and interactive attractions. This park is expected to bring more than 1,000 jobs into the economy as well as giving the economy a boost with the use of local contractors for development.
A. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) was signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. It is an unprecedented effort to jumpstart our economy, create or save millions of jobs, and to address long-neglected challenges so our country can thrive in the 21st century.
B. The Recovery Act takes a comprehensive approach and attacks several problems facing small businesses at once by reducing fees, guaranteeing a greater share of certain loans, expanding capacity in the Microloan program, providing new loans to help small businesses keep their doors open through economic hardship, as well as new mechanisms to help unfreeze the secondary markets for SBA-backed loans.
C. The bill provides $730 million to the Small Business Administration (SBA) and makes changes to the agency’s lending and investment programs so that they can reach more small businesses that need help.
·$375 million for temporary fee reductions or eliminations on SBA loans and increased SBA guaranteed shares, up to 90 percent for certain loans (saving businesses about $2000 on a $100,000 loan)
·$255 million for a new loan program to help small businesses meet existing debt payments, helping small businesses consolidate their debts — something it wasn’t allowed to do in the past.
·$30 million for expanding SBA’s Microloan program, enough to finance up to $50 million in new lending and $24 million in technical assistance grants to microlenders
·$15 million for expanding SBA’s Surety Bond Guarantee program
The bill also authorizes refinancing for certain SBA loans so borrowers can expand their businesses on favorable terms, and expands leverage capability for Small Business Investment Companies.
D. The main areas of focus for investment include:
·Infrastructure
·“Green jobs”
·Health care
·Education
There should be plenty of opportunities for small businesses to contract with the government: By congressional mandate, the government aims to award 23% of all contract dollars across all agencies to small businesses every year. (State and local governments have their own rules; in Florida you can visit the Department of Management Services Web site to learn about contracting with the state of Florida – http://dms.myflorida.com/contracts and http://dms.myflorida.com/business_operations/state_purchasing)
As a small business, you must first find out what federal or state agencies, if any, are buying their products or services and then network with the right people at those agencies. This can involve submitting lengthy proposals, and can take weeks or months to hear whether a company has won the contract. Small businesses are often at a disadvantage compared with larger businesses that have a staff well-versed in the intricacies of government contracts.
According to Shelby Scarbrough, of the Virginia based Entrepreneurs’ Organization, “Many times it is better for a small business to start out as a subcontractor on government projects to get a sense of what government work is like.”
In the month of April, the SBDC will offer a series of seminars on contracting with the government, including federal procurement, bids and proposals, subcontracting and teaming … http://www.bus.ucf.edu/sbdc/seminars_gov_descriptions.html
II. Outlook for recovery?
A. By most economic indicators, things will get worse before they get better
B. That being said, I anticipate that we will see the bottom of the stock market and close to a bottom of the housing market in 2009
C. Some parts of Florida are going to take longer to recover, because not all parts of the state have the diversity that the Metro Orlando area has
III. What else?
A. Check out Recovery.gov to learn more about the high level goals
B. Go to sba.gov/recovery and sba.gov/stimulus to learn more about the programs discussed here today
C. And make sure that you plug in with the Small Business Development Centerwww.sbdcorlando.comand the Disney Entrepreneurship Center for local program support (the SBDC just held a workshop this week called “Business Strategies during a Down Economy” and other events are posted on their site)
D. This plan also has provisions for hiring and training staff, including tax credits for hiring disadvantaged youth or unemployed veterans. In our next segment, I will talk about Florida’s workforce system and investments in talent to compete in the 21st Century.
The first page of Google is now the holy grail of marketing achievement. It has also become the
most competitive battleground for Internet marketers and website optimizers all jockeying for
position in a wide variety of different methods. Some methods work. Some do not. And some like
cloaking are considered improper and get your website permanently shut down. What the search
engine providers ultimately want is for you to get the most relevant results, not the site that has
been optimized with tricks and methodology designed to fool the search engine. The algorithms
for detecting the good results from the bad results are continually improving. They are also
effective at helping the search engine providers’ ban misleading marketers from our search
results and closing down websites that use “Black Hat” Optimization.
Google and other search engine companies now employ a team of expert web detectives to flush
out and defeat the Black Hat optimizers. If you are unfamiliar with that term you may have already
paid a Black Hat optimizer thousands of dollars to optimize your website and had little or short lived results. With many companies frustrated with wasted budgets and poor results from
optimization, we are seeing a trend to the natural and pure side of Internet marketing. We refer to
this as organic or natural optimization. Optimized Online Media is one method, which uses only
white hat or organic optimization and is quickly emerging as the most efficient method to
dominate the highest positions on the search engines without having to pay a monthly fee per
term as you would with pay per click.
Use Online Media instead of optimizing your website to drive traffic.
Did you know that there are over 200 million websites on the Internet? No matter how much you
spend on optimizing your website the chance of boosting your page rank even into the top 100,000 sites is slim to none. However, using a site to promote your business that is already ranked in the top 20,000, makes a lot of sense and dramatically increases your chance of landing on the firstpage of search results. But, it takes even more than that to guarantee results.
Optimized Online Media leverages syndicated online media and SEO methodology to improve
search engine results over a broad spectrum of search phrases. The goal is to increase company
revenues by driving highly qualified traffic to their websites with as many optimized search
phases as possible, not just a few. Since it does produce the most relevant text results and this
is what the web crawlers are looking for, it should never be defeated by the search engine
providers. Optimized Media is proving to be a big advantage to companies seeking more visibility
on a wide spectrum of searches and better and longer lasting results from their media or
SEO/SEM campaign.
Write Internet articles that get published and attract readers.
There are several important rules for success to follow for publishing on the Internet. You need
crisp and concise content, but also a method of distribution that will reach millions of readers and
get your article to the top of the search engines.
First of all, you want to make articles short, establish your knowledge and give useful advice. Writing 5 bullets or 4 paragraphs are just enough to generate interest and get click through. Too much information and extremely long articles will cause readers to click out. An easy way to jump start writers block is to start by writing 5 bullet points, then expand to one paragraph on each point. Another method is to use Q&A. Write 4 questions you would want to be asked in a newspaper interview, then answer them. Use “Frequently Asked Questions.” What are the most frequent questions people ask you when making a buying decision. Ask and answer them in your article. These are the same questions people will type into Google when looking for your product of service.
Anything you have previously published off-line under non-exclusive agreement also works. Content from books, articles, or interview transcripts can be published on the Internet to reach a new and larger audience. However, you do not want to republish exact content that previously appeared in other Internet locations. Google can detect duplicated content and it will adversely affect your search results.
Write PFB (Problem Feature Benefit) articles. Begin with the problem clients are having and then explain how your features or service solve the problem and end with the benefits. Write anecdotal articles. Write about a real customer experience using the PFB formula. Exclude names unless
you get written permission.
Look for ideas in obvious places. Look on your on your website and brochures sales
presentation. Search for articles on Google for your key words. Ask other staff members and
have a brainstorming meeting. Ask your clients what they want to learn more about. Ask your
clients what is their buying criterion. These last two can be done in a survey to your database and
will give you great information to use in all of your marketing vehicles.
Where you publish articles will make a huge difference.
Your articles’ ranking in search results on Google, Yahoo, MSN and the others will make the
difference between hundreds of readers or millions. The value or page rank of the site that hosts
your article will influence if you land on the first page or fifth page in a search. Many authors write
great content and then publish on low ranking Ezines, blogs and free PR services. This may be
gratifying to see your content online, but to most potential readers it will be lost in the back pages
of the search engines.
There are syndicated news networks like UPI and Reuters and other Internet specific news portals that have massive distribution to millions of readers and pull a very high page ranking on the search engines. This is where you want to get published. Most of these sites only accept content from accredited or approved contributing editors. Working with an approved media agency can facilitate publication on these sites. The best advice I can give writers is – if you are going to take the time to write articles, also take the time to get it read by millions of readers.
A guide to best practices for your online media campaign.
Many of the following ideas have come to us from our clients. In addition to gaining dominance on
the search results on the first pages of Google, there are many different ways companies can
proactively leverage Online Media to support sales marketing and other activities. Implement these tactics to get the best results from your online media campaign.
1. Increase your reach – How many potential clients are aware that you exist? This is the
most fundamental aspect of all marketing. How many of these searchers are visiting your
website. How many Google first pages are you listed? Your first goal is to get on the first page for a wide variety of search phrases in your industry so consumers in hunt mode
can find you.
2. Get more traffic – Link your articles to your website(s) to make it easy for interested readers to click through.
3. Build a client database – Once clients get to your website, collect their email addresses and interests. Add these to your database for permissive personalized marketing.
4. Retain clients longer – Use your articles to position to your company as a market leader.
Set the market’s buying criterion and provide clients information on how to use your
product or service. Become the market leader, provide valuable information and you will build client preference and improve retention.
5. Improve response from email campaigns – Send out links to published articles in promotional email campaigns.
6. Use as a sales closing tool – Send links to published articles to clients in advance or
during presentations. This will assert your position as a leader, convey your value
proposition and improve credibility, which can help close sales. Before the Internet,
companies used to mail news clippings to clients to “make hay” from their publicity. Now
you can accomplish the same result with the speed of email and show market dominance
by demonstrating high Google ranking for phrases commonly used in your industry. In
addition to the ranking each article provides information that buyers are seeking to guide
purchase decisions.
7. Credibility building – Companies that provide the most information and best information
always lead in mind share. This is an important aspect of becoming the top company in
any market. The same information that may appear to be self serving posted on your
website takes on more credibility when published as a news article. Company officers,
employees, sales staff, everyone in the company can proactively direct clients to news
articles with links or by typing a phrase into Google to demonstrate a company’s
dominant position in the market.
8. Information reference material – Instructional information can be published in articles to
save the time of explaining procedures or processes. Using editorial for this purpose also
positions the author as an expert in her or his field.
9. Become the best source of information in your industry – Control the flow of
information and you control the buying criterion. Chet Holmes International has been
using this methodology with its “core story” concept to help clients gain superior access
to high-level decision makers and build market dominance for companies in a myriad of
industries.
10. Better than newsletters – Enhance the personalization on your monthly contact with
clients by providing article links to subjects of individual interest to your clients rather than
a newsletter about your company that is generic and uninteresting to most readers.
Generic newsletters also cause opt outs of database clients. Personalized marketing by
providing articles based on the clients subjects of interest increases retention and gives
the client the feeling they are being treated as an individual, not being spammed.
11. Improve your website page rank – Articles published online with activated links create
inbound links to your website. Most search engine algorithms count inbound links as one
method of establishing the page rank of your website.
12. Improve customer service – Publish helpful “how to” or “how to avoid mistakes” articles
that customer service reps can direct a client to with common problems. This can save
hours of time and expense for companies in phone help time and improve you customer
relationships.
13. Collateral material – How many brochures are given out each year and how many
people actually read them? Put your company’s most valuable promotional information
online in interesting and credible editorial format. Benefits are increased reach and increased
readership –linked to your website for increased commerce and retention.
14. In advertising – Traditional advertising is in decline at a rate never seen in history. Even
powerhouse publications like the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times have
made drastic cutbacks and layoffs due to reduction in ad revenue. In fact, 92% of consumers
today are turning to search engines for their purchases and information. Online PR and
getting to the top of a search page can even improve your traditional ads response by
giving a memorable phrase that can be typed into Google as a call to action/ response
vehicle. Chet Holmes says, “just go to Google and type in “double sales”. This makes
your ad more memorable, establishes market position and gives clients a memorable
phrase to relate you to the next time they are on their computer. This is much easier to
remember than your phone number or most URL names of websites used in traditional
ads as a response vehicle.
Chet Holmes International creates and runs Optimized Online Media campaigns that are guaranteed to get you on the first page of Google for a wide variety of search results. The campaign designs are personalized and optimized with keyword research for each company to attract their ideal clients. They are published only on top ranked syndicated news portals guaranteeing first page ranking.We also perform website makeovers to maximize conversion rate of traffic from all sources.Please call for an appointment to get your optimized campaign design today.
The 10 Natural Marketing Advantages of Small Business
John Jantsch | December 29th, 2008 – 05:18 AM
(43) found this useful. Do you?
As companies large and small wrestle with the realities of a challenging economy, I think it’s the perfect time to be a small business.
Small businesses possess certain natural advantages in economic downturns that make them much more flexible and able to survive and thrive in slow markets. In addition, I think 2009 will be the year of the small business. The market is hungry to connect with companies and products that are more personal and real.
In recognition of this coming trend I’ve listed what I believe are natural competitive advantages that will give small businesses the opportunity to thrive in the coming year.
1. Focus – In order to survive, most small businesses must adopt a narrow market focus. In doing so, they can develop a premium reputation for serving that narrow market.
2. Reach – Small business owners are so close to their markets they can experience what their market experiences. They can deliver CEO-level experience to any size client who can connect with a client better a 25-year veteran and author of two books on the industry or two 20-something whiz kids from McKenzie?
3. Nurture – Small businesses can grow with customer needs. Often, they can create products and services that address highly personalized requests at a moments notice.
4. Surprise – The best small businesses understand the value of surprising their clients from time to time. A simple interrupt in the system can become a system for a small business.
5. Transform – Small businesses can obtain new data from a market, or even a client or two, and dramatically change their business model to align with a new opportunity.
6. Partner – Smart small businesses create networks of strategic partners and address the needs of their clients with the best and brightest every time.
7. Automate – The proper use of technology allows small businesses to put up big shop follow-up, service and prospecting without the overhead. Plus, they can outsource the boring work.
8. Educate – Lacking big ad budget, small businesses must educate their prospects before they can make any ground selling them. This trust building process makes selling unnecessary and delivers the ideal client relationships.
9. Meaning – Small business is personal. Markets are hungry for businesses that allow them to connect to something beyond the products and services. Small businesses can deliver a story that has meaning.
10. Play – Why does someone start a business anyway – To get more life, to develop a passion, to get free? It doesn’t really matter that freedom comes with an 80 hour work week. Passion and purpose are sexy and contagious.
Think Big, Act Small!
A.1 I can’t think of many small businesses that could survive and be taken seriously these days without … at a minimum … the following basic technology:
A.2 Starting with a computer; these days you can get a laptop computer for about $600 and that gives you the flexibility to go wherever the job is. Desktop systems are fine but if you have to pick one or the other, go with the laptop …
A.3 Not only do you need to be accessible, but you need to have access to your information wherever you are; today’s smart phones can help you achieve that. My personal choice is an iPhone (and that would be an entire segment all by itself) There are probably hundreds of choices to consider, but today’s cell phone is more like your digital lifeline
A.4 Back up your work – at a minimum you should have an external drive to save your project work and to archive client projects. Ideally, you will have a basic server for your office computer and some off-site back up, such as Mozy.com.
A.5 If you are just getting started with your business and cash flow is a challenge, you may not have the hundreds of dollars to invest in office productivity software, so consider Google.com or Sun’s OpenOffice for the presentation, word processing and spreadsheet tools that are essential in today’s workplace
B 2. Productivity tools
B.1 There are so many great tools and resources available online, and many are free. I am going to share five that cover a number of common small business needs, and remember, links to all of these can be found on the Orlando Business Review dot com web site (you can find many more on LifeDev …)
B.2 #1 – Evernote
B.2.1 Forget about bookmarking web sites, by the time you come back to the site the content has changed or moved and you forget why you bookmarked it in the first place. With Evernote, you have a “virtual scrapbook” of the resources and information you want, synced to your computer, phone and the web …
B.3 #2 – Paint.net
B.3.1 Ever need to make an edit to a digital photo, or manage an image that you’ve scanned? This is a free photo editing tool that allows you to make Photoshop level edits without the hit to your wallet …
B.4 #3 – Basecamp (or 5pm)
B.4.1 Tom Peters, a business consultant who write “In Search of Excellence” says that we are all project managers, and that the projects we work on become our brand. To keep track of the files, activities, milestones and communications around a client project, I strongly recommend Basecamp … 5pm is another online project tool that you may want to check out
B.5 #4 – 30 boxes … also agreeAdate
B.5.1 How do you coordinate schedules with people who aren’t even on the same calendar program, never mind on the same network where you can just look into their Outlook calendar to see when they are available? 30 Boxes is a calendar tool that gives you some flexibility on this front, and agreeAdate helps you to “vector” a meeting time from multiple options with multiple participants
B.6 #5 – Freshbooks
B.6.1 Finances are the lifeblood of any small business, and if you are not managing your accounts receivable you are not going to stay in business for long. There are literally hundreds of options out there, but one that is relatively new on the scene is Freshbooks, and I recommend taking a look at it … it gives you invoicing, time tracking and accounting features that are simple and effective.
B.7 #6 – LinkedIn
B.7.1 Even though LinkedIn is really a social networking resource not a productivity tool, I have to give it a plug because I think that it is THE leading social network out there for business and it puts you in touch with people that you need to grow your customer base. As you make new contacts, you can see their networks as well, and through facilitated introductions you can get introduced to yoiur next customers, get recommended, and showcase your capabilities to the Web 2.0 community
C 3. Big company feel on a small biz budget
C.1 So how do you get that “big company” image when you are working with a small biz budget?
C.2 Consider a service like eVoice Receptionist or OneBox that gives your business a big company feel while ensuring you never miss a call
D 4. Getting the word out about your business
D.1 One of the biggest challenges about running a small business is that not only are you the one doing most or all of the work, but you are also responsible for growing that business at the same time.
D.2 Much of that will come from “word of mouth” advertising initially, but you have to make some good investments up front to keep your business growing.
D.3 There are a number of freebies out there which can help you tell your story, for example posting videos and animated graphics on YouTube … and if it’s really good you might get the benefit of viral marketing when people forward your creative clip to their friends. Think JibJab …
D.4 As a starting point, check out sites like ehow.com, search “Small Business” and you’ll find hundreds of tips and ideas … look for the link on the Orlando Business Review dot com site
D.6 My friends DP and Brit can tell you all about Search Engine Optimization or SEO … so I won’t steal their thunder … but if you don’t know what SEO is you need to know, as this will make all the difference when people are looking for a business that can help with their needs
How do you get people talking about your company? Create the news.
That’s right, create something newsworthy to get people talking. With a little luck and promotion, your company will end up getting exposure from the mainstream press. It might even go viral.
Last time, I went over methods to increase your company’s online visibility, such as contributing articles and becoming active in online communities. Now it’s time to turn things up a notch for companies that are serious about online exposure.
It isn’t easy to create something newsworthy, especially something that will get picked up by the mainstream press, unless you’re a celebrity or politician. This is where hard work and diligence comes into play.
Research, Research, Research
Everyone thinks their child is beautiful. Everyone thinks their idea is the best. Well, that doesn’t mean other people will agree.
Instead of putting time and resources into a project that others might find ordinary or mundane, do preliminary research to find out what people are interested in. Find out what the press will write about and reference.
The process is the same whether you’re targeting major news outlets, such as the Associated Press, or a specific niche of media for your industry. Study what has received the most attention in the past. Research what they’re most likely to write about.
A good place to start the research is Yahoo News. Notice in the top right corner they have tabs for “Most Emailed,” “Most Views,” and “Most Recommended.” That’s a great way to find out what’s important to people and what’s being discussed the most.
Another tool for research is Yahoo Buzz. It can be searched by topics such as travel, health, sports, and business. The time frame can be adjusted from the past six hours up to 30 days.
There’s also a scrolling bar at the top for “just added buzz.” For those who cover industry news, this is a great way to be one of the first people writing about a breaking story.
Yahoo Buzz, on the top right, lists the top searches and updates hourly. That’s very revealing about current events and insights into culture in general. It shows what’s important to people. The point of the research is to find out what other people are most likely to write about, e-mail, discuss, and link to.
That’s where Google News plays an important part in the research. They list other trusted media sources that have written about a story. A good indicator about how other media outlets are covering a topic: are there 455 news articles, or three? Remember, you want to create news that others will write and talk about.
Other useful tools for research include Google Trends and Google Insights. Several paid services also monitor buzz and news.
These are just some research methods and tools to get you started. The key is to do the research to increase the probability that your news story will be popular with the press or go viral.
In part two, we’ll look at testing and promoting your idea.
How SMBs Can Optimize their Social Networking Time, Part 2
By Carrie Hill , April 14, 2009
In Part 1, we talked about how using Twitter with all of its features and tools can help you expand your network and engage with people buying your products or services. Today, I’ll give you some tips for finding and participating in local and niche forums in an effort to become an authority on your industry.
The first step is finding out what’s going to work best for you. If you offer a service in a particular industry and area, then finding related forums for your city or state is probably your best bet.
If you’re a general contractor in Colorado, you should join the Associated General Contractors of Colorado forums and offer help and assistance in your area of expertise. Their traffic is already qualified, and you’ll be able to help and gain visibility right away. I found that particular forum by searching Google for “General Contractor forums Colorado.”
If you’re in a service industry, such as a hotel or restaurant, you’re in luck — there are a ton of places for you to participate. TripAdvisor forums are probably the most effective and targeted, but there are several places where you can interact with potential customers.
Many resort or destination cities already have forums in place for you to participate in, and many U.S.-wide sites have regional and state-specific forums. A search for “Outer Banks North Carolina Forums” returned results for Frommer’s Travel Guides, Outer Banks Vacation Guide, Destination360, and TripAdvisor. All of these feature threads that are dedicated to people looking for vacation accommodations in the Outer Banks. If you offer accommodations, you need to engage with these people.
So we’ve found a lot of places to participate, but what’s the best way to do this without alienating your potential customers? You need to learn the art of the “soft sell.”
Suggestion is a powerful tool, and being very helpful without badmouthing your competitors or constantly expounding the virtues of your own business is an art form. Here are some ideas for promoting your business in a forum without being “pushy.”
Pick a user name that promotes what you do and where you do it. An HVAC installer in Chicago might use ChicagoHVAC, whereas a hotel in the Outer Banks might use OBXHotelier. Any person you help in that forum will see your handle, and know what you do.
Utilize your profile or forum signature. Many forums have strict rules about putting links or promotional language in your signature, so be creative:
“If you need help finding accommodations in the Outer Banks send me a private message and I can help”
Don’t place a link but do include your domain name i.e. CorollaClassicVacations.com instead of CorollaClassicVacations.com
Consider including your e-mail or phone number. If you truly want to help people, responding to a few people you can’t help will be worth the calls you get from people you can help.
Follow up with anyone you’ve helped in the forum and make sure they had a rewarding experience with you, or even your competition. Making customers and potential customers feel cared about is one of the key factors of engagement marketing.
Don’t badmouth anyone if they chose to go with your competitor and had a horrible time (bad karma and a bad idea). Simply offer your services should they ever need them and promise you’ll do whatever you can to make sure they’re well taken care of.
The key to any type of social networking and engagement marketing is to stay involved and follow through. If your time is limited, then limit your involvement to one or two sites. Do what you do very well and you’ll be rewarded.
As a side note, I can’t complete this article without mentioning the valuable links and search results saturation benefits you might receive from forum profiles to your Web site. A search for your brand can and will return your postings and profiles from those sites on which you or your brand participates. The more results you control on the first page for your brand, the more likely you are to push negative mentions or comments down the results list — that’s powerful stuff!
Engaging with your forum friends and providing excellent customer service is a phenomenal way to build a little army of brand evangelists. They know where to go next time, they know where to send their friends, and they know where to find you when they need help again.
SEO Tools 101, Part 1
SEW EXPERTS: SEM 101
Those new to the world of SEO may feel a little overwhelmed with all of the tactics that are needed to achieve higher rankings. A good starting place for newbies is Mark Jackson’s search engine optimization column here at Search Engine Watch.
My purpose in this two-part column is to arm you with some good tools to get you started. There are too many tools to list them all here, so I’ll only cover a few.
To make things simple, I’ll break them down into categories: keyword tools; SEO site grader tools; linking tools; browser toolbars; and other SEO tools. Many of these tools have a free or limited version with the option to upgrade to a premium version for a fee.
Keyword Tools
I won’t spend a lot of time here because I covered most of these in my articles on keyword discovery. Employing the right keywords can really make a difference in your SEO campaign. If you begin your campaign without taking the time to find, analyze, and validate your keyword set, then you run the risk of using keywords that won’t perform well for you.
It takes considerable time for your SEO efforts to reach your ranking goals, so it might be months before you realize you needed to use different keywords. That would be a waste of time and money.
A good place to start is SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool. I like this one because it links to most of the other existing keyword tools, such as Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery, and tools from Google, MSN, and Yahoo. This one tool lets you explore many others.
SEO Site Grader Tools
If you have an existing site and would like to take a pulse on the SEO effectiveness, then these tools will help. They will analyze your site against specific criteria and produce a report, or even give you a grade. You can even use these tools on your competition to see how you stack up against them.
Website Grader is a great tool for running a health check of your site. Then it will provide a score that incorporates elements such as Web site traffic, SEO, social popularity, and other technical factors. It will also provide advice on how your Web site can be improved from a marketing perspective.
Another SEO site grading tool is Quarkbase. This tool provides a great way to find your site information, including social bookmarking statistics, Alexa ranking, and related sites and domain information.
Linking Tools
You should be aware by now that the number and quality of external links that come to your site are an important factor in achieving good rankings. You need to be able to see how many URLs have links to your site and their quality, which is measured by its PageRank. A PageRank of 10 is the highest and rarest. You’re looking for PR 3-4 and above.
SEO Pro’s Link Checker will report all backlinks to your site. Be patient, it will take time to run this report. This tool will show the PageRank of the pages your URL is on. It will also tell you the number of links on the page and the anchor text for the link. You also have the ability to check the number of backlinks for all of the pages on your site, or just the top domain.
Another important factor in SEO is analyzing your internal links and identifying bad links. You’ll need to isolate any that you have and fix them. Dead-Links will crawl your site, follow all the links and provide a broken link report.
Google Webmaster Tools
Google Webmaster Tools is a free service that provides a wealth of information about your site. After you’ve verified your site, you’ll be able to check for errors, analyze your HTML tags important for SEO, identify top search queries, enhance 404 error pages, and much more. Yahoo has a similar tool with its Site Explorer, and Live Search has its Webmaster Center .
As I stated earlier, there isn’t enough space to cover the numerous SEO tools, but these should help you get started. Next week, I’ll cover some browser SEO toolbars and other SEO tools. If you have a favorite SEO tool that you’ve really found useful, please post it below in the comments or e-mail me.
1. Publicize your business, service or products to millions of potential customers. Having a website can increase your sales by making it easier for people to do business with you.
2. You can update your website with your latest news or prices much easier and cheaper than print based media. A website can save you a lot of money in communication and administration costs.
3. You can link your website with other advertising campaigns therefore creating brand awareness.
4. Your business can advertise and publicize on the internet 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.
5. Your business now has an extra outlet for taking orders, streamlining business processes.
6. Websites are easier and cheaper to change / update, than conventional print based media.
7. Websites make it easier for customers to do business with you. These customers can be nationwide or local.
8. You can compete with other companies in your market area.
9. You can now place your website address on your business card to enhance your image.
10. You can use your website to network with other companies and build better business relationships, locally and around the world. Imagine the scenario whereby customers ring you requesting information on a product or service – there’s only so much you can do via telephone and delivering brochures via postal services takes time. It would be great to say, “If you take a look at our web-site, I’m sure you’ll find what you need there.” You would be surprised how many extra sales you could have by developing an on-line brochure or virtual store. Having an internet site also speeds up the time taken to react to customer queries, which can be done via e-mail. An effective web site is a collection of applications. Applications meant to streamline your business processes. Examples of such applications include: online banking, online shopping, applying for a job, taking courses online. The possibilities are limited by your imagination. The internet is here to stay so why not act now and make use of this powerful marketing tool. If your company does not have an internet site, the only people benefiting is your competitor – who does have one!
I wasn’t always in SEO. Nope. I’m older than that. My background includes years in advertising sales. Radio, television, print/newspaper, and interactive — I covered them all.
Without a doubt, I fell in love with interactive. The measurability. The accountability. The “instant” nature of placing ads on the Web and seeing clicks and conversions. It was amazing. My first six months with Lycos (back in early 2000), I could swear that I had a brain-ache, trying to get my head wrapped around this new way of marketing businesses via the Web.
Just before joining Lycos, I sold newspaper advertising for a small community newspaper group in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. When advertisers couldn’t afford to advertise in the Dallas Morning News, or if an advertiser needed to supplement their print initiatives, we were there. Small/local advertisers didn’t have much choice. In case you’ve never checked it out, local radio and local television advertising can be quite expensive.
Fast-forward to 2009 and there are so many great opportunities for local advertisers to get in “on the cheap” (or even free). And now that Google is showing more local results, even when a search query doesn’t specifically include a location, it’s becoming even more important for businesses to pay attention to local SEO. But how many small businesses are taking advantage of these opportunities?
Certainly, SEO is “free” (assuming that you don’t consider your time worth any amount of money). Same can be said for inclusion into local directories.
Today, I’m writing for the small business owner, but some of these opportunities are certainly available for national companies, with multiple locations. Consider this a checklist of things that you should be doing, if you aren’t already.
Local SEO Tips
For businesses of all sizes, local SEO starts with keyword research. Understand how your potential customers search and what geographical modifiers they include. This means understanding local search behavior whether it is “New York City coffee shops” or “Greenwich Village coffee houses”; or “Minneapolis tailors” or “Twin Cities alterations.”
Now that you have a better understanding of how to attract your local audience, apply this to your site. Develop individual pages for each brick-and-mortar location. Your specific keywords should be reflected in the URL, title, meta, heading, and content. Many companies only include an address.
Remember to add content specific to each location to further entice potential foot traffic, as well as enforcing your placement for the search engines. Also, add images/photos of your location. Include alternative text and file naming to reflect your targeted keywords. This adds to the page theme and may potentially add your location image into image and universal search.
An advanced step in location search would be to integrate a location sitemap on your site, a well-developed internal linking strategy to include your locations, and adding geotagging on location pages. Placing actual grid coordinates and regional tagging within a page’s source code further indicates to a search engine the physical location of your company and its correlation to the respective Web page.
Take Advantage of Local Online Opportunities
Without a doubt, one of the most important off-site local search opportunities is the use of Google Local Business Center/Google Maps and Yahoo Local. These listings are often presented at the top of the first page for local queries — a place you want to be. One of the larger missed opportunities for local companies is using these local listings to display their name, address, number, and link.
It’s important to take advantage of all the options within you local listings. Include:
A targeted keyword (if possible), along with your company name in the title.
Keyword-rich descriptions.
Images and videos.
A coupon (when possible) in your listings. This can be used as a metric to assess how well your local listings are working.
Also, don’t include an 800 number. Remember, this local listing should have a local feel and, hence, a local telephone number.
Participation in other local entities, such as Citysearch, helps your listings as reviews are aggregated into local listings. Most importantly, include a link back to your site to the specific location page on your site. Hopefully, you’ve included the city name in the URL!
Now, this is where big business usually drops off due to a lack of time available because of multiple locations. This is sad because there’s still so much left to do to optimize for local SEO.
Go to local review sites, such as Yelp, and create local listings for your company locations. This helps your local customers lift their voices for your brand and help advertise for you at a local level. These sites are a link, referral source, and a potential search engine listing as well.
Now that you’ve created review channels, link within your Web site (on your location pages to these review sites) so that you can provide a path for your repeat customers to provide a review and help build your profiles on these sites.
What’s Next?
Find all relevant local directories, partner sites, and community business sites and request a link with your targeted local keywords as an anchor text when possible. Remember to link to the specific location page. Link building for your locations will potentially lift your organic rankings for location specific queries and add referral sources.
Moving forward with link building brings us to a section for the “die-hards” who have a lot of time on their hands. This entails grasping the power of social media.
You should create profile on social networks centered on your company plus your targeted keywords. For example, a Facebook fan page or Squidoo page for “ACME Memphis Painters.”
You can add profiles and attract an audience from an endless list of social properties. This will take a lot of time to manage if you want to correctly build an audience and increase your reach.
The time consuming aspect of this venture lies in consistently listening and responding to your audience, providing fresh and compelling content to keep loyal visitors returning, and for those visitors to further spread your message in a viral manner. Success here achieves growth in links, search engine listings, and referrals.
For those with a little time on their hands, the opportunities are endless. Local SEO is one of those processes that you can start and possibly never end due to the constant availability of emerging local channels. This is very true in other sectors, including localized PPC and Internet yellow pages.
From the days of an overpriced local print ad or radio spot, times have really changed. And they’ve changed in local businesses’ favor.
WINTER PARK, ORANGE Winter Park’s Park Avenue’s service deters shoppers, survey finds Britt Beemer to present findings Friday Daphne Sashin | Sentinel Staff Writer 4:23 PM EDT, April 23, 2009 WINTER PARK – Park Avenue must change its image as a special-occasion shopping district and deliver better service to bring back disaffected shoppers, a recent survey suggests. Former Park Avenue shoppers viewed the strip as a place to buy cocktail-party dresses, anniversary presents and other special purchases — not everyday items, said retail expert Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group. He surveyed 500 people who haven’t shopped on the avenue in at least a year. “If I don’t go to any social functions this year, and if I decide to get my family a cruise this year, versus a gift, you just lost my shopping for a whole year,” Beemer said of merchants. “You want to be viewed as more than just in a very narrow perspective.” Beemer will present some of the findings Friday, and a task force of restaurants, retailers and landlords will offer recommendations for the Park Avenue area, including Hannibal Square. The meeting is scheduled for 8:15 a.m. at the Winter Park Welcome Center, 151 W. Lyman Ave. It may last two to three hours. Related links Restaurant review: Park Avenue Wine & Cheese Cellar Restaurant review: The Bistro on Park Avenue The city’s community redevelopment agency spent $55,000 for market surveys that will provide the foundation of a special taxing district to fund marketing and other improvements. In coming weeks, Beemer will survey 500 people who shop regularly on the avenue. Contrary to claims by some merchants and shoppers, parking availability and early-evening closing hours did not rate as major concerns among former shoppers. Limited return policies were the single biggest point of frustration. Even so, 80 percent of those surveyed said they didn’t have a bad experience on Park Avenue, and most said the price were worth the quality of the purchases. On the other hand, 80 percent also said the economy had curbed their spending. Some retailers said they can’t afford to accept returns, but in this new era of frugality, Beemer said they must ask themselves: “Can you have a store policy that is so diametrically opposed to what your customer wants?” Daphne Sashin can be reached at 407-650-6361 or dsashin@orlandosentinel.com.
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Good Service Departments ‘Sell’ Cars April 30, 2009
Posted by powerhouseus in Clients. trackback
A dealership service department’s role should go beyond maintaining and fixing vehicles. “We’re also a support function of the sales department,” says Lee Harkins, a fixed-operations consultant. “Our job is to help sell cars. To support that effort, we must retain our customers.” Because of the current slump in vehicle sales, the main focus at a lot of dealerships has switched over to fixed operations, Harkins notes. “We’ve been getting a lot of attention.” The service department is crucial to many dealerships, says Ray Fenster, e-commerce director for the Lindsay Automotive Group, with dealerships in Virginia, Maryland and the Washington, DC, area. “My passion is fixed operations because that’s where the business is and that’s where a sale is made,” Fenster says, referring to data indicating customers who are satisfied with a dealership’s service department are more likely to buy their future vehicles at that store. Considering the slump in vehicle deliveries, “it’s not new-car sales or used-car sales but fixed operations that run the business,” Fenster says. Bob Horn, service manager of Firkins Nissan in Bradenton, FL, says he makes it a point to introduce himself to customers taking delivery of cars. American auto dealers might learn something from their Canadian counterparts, says Les Silver, a Manitoba native and chairman and CEO of Mobile Productivity Inc., a firm that provides dealerships with hand-held electronic devices for expediting vehicle inspections. “Canadian dealers have been able to operate on smaller sales volumes because of their emphasis on parts and repairs,” he says. “The biggest short-term opportunity for fixed operations is when the car is in your service department; what do you do to maximize that transaction?” he says. Silver says offering free vehicle inspections help in that regard, because they can identify repair needs that potentially give dealerships additional service work and provide the customer with a car in good working order. “Capitalize on existing traffic,” Silver says, although he notes most dealerships, for whatever reason, fail to offer the inspections. Airplanes are routinely inspected. Vehicles should be too, he says. Customer retention is critical to a profitable service department, says panelist Neal East, CEO of Xtime Inc., a provider of online service-scheduling systems. But dealerships see as much as 70 percent of their service business fall off, particularly when warranties expire and customers end up taking their business elsewhere. “It’s primarily our business, yet there’s a big falloff,” he says. “Often that happens because of issues with trust and convenience.” East says dealerships that “hide” their service prices by failing to disclose them up front run the risk of engendering customer distrust, whether deserved or not. Dealership service departments that are open only Monday through Friday can be perceived as having inconvenient hours, he says. “And some dealership fixed operations don’t have a holistic process,” East says. “A customer gets different answers from different people.” Many dealerships spend money trying to increase vehicle sales through online efforts, such as search-engine optimization and search-engine marketing, Fenster says. “But how much of that effort is put into fixed operations?” he says. “If you are a dealer in the Northeast, do you include ’snow tires’ or ‘collision repair’ as search terms? And how much real estate on your website is dedicated to fixed operations, especially in this economy?” He recommends dealerships use customer-relationship management systems “to the max” by sending customers timely and useful service information. “Customers should know when they are due for an alignment or when their tires should be changed or rotated,” Fenster says. “And just as a dealership may use microsites for sales, they should use them for fixed operations.” Horn warns not to “bombard people with garbage” when sending service reminders and such. “We send coupons, rebate information, incentive information,” he says. “We honor all oil-change coupons and track it; if you’re not measuring it, don’t do it.” His dealership also sends customers specific information relevant to the age of their vehicles. “Vehicles of different ages have different service needs,” he says. (Source: WardsAuto.com, 04/28/09)
Chrysler May Close 7 Local Dealerships
Posted: 12:33 pm EDT May 14, 2009Updated: 1:13 pm EDT May 14, 2009
CENTRAL FLORIDA — At least seven Central Florida Chrysler dealerships have been recommended for closure Thursday as part of the company’s massive bankruptcy filing.
Nearly 800 dealerships nationwide have been given notice (see nationwide list) that the company intends to shut them down to save money.
The local dealerships that may close are:
» Bob Dance Dodge in Sanford
» Courtesy Chrysler Jeep Of Casselberry
» Courtesy Chrysler Jeep Of Sanford
» Deland Dodge
» Sunshine Dodge in Melbourne
» Vic Osman Jeep in Melbourne
» Winter Park Dodge
A spokesman for the company says all dealers were notified by overnight mail if they will close.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — General Motors notified 1,100 of its 6,000 dealerships Friday that it is terminating their contracts with the struggling automaker, the first step in an even deeper 40% cut in its retail network.
GM spokeswoman Susan Garontakos said that the dealers receiving notice Friday are being told that their contracts will not be renewed in October 2010. Many of them are expected to close shop this year.
The company has told the Obama administration that it plans to cut its network down to 3,600 dealers by next year.
Much of the rest of the cuts will come from GM’s plans to sell or close four brands – Saturn, Hummer, Saab and Pontiac.
Those four brands have about 600 dealerships that do not include other GM brands. But most Pontiac and Hummer dealers will stay in the GM family because they have one of the four remaining GM brands as part of their operation.
Business failures and purchases of dealerships by larger dealers has already shaved GM’s dealership ranks by about 300 dealership this year, Garontakos said.
GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said Monday that GM would work with the dealerships being cut to ensure an orderly wind down.
“As I look at it, it is work that will take place through ’09, and then we would wind down and handle the distribution of cars and make sure the customers are taken care of … make sure that dealers are reimbursed for warranties and that sort of thing,” Henderson said. “This is not a several week process.”
While many of the dealerships identified for closure could exit the business this year, Garontakos said they can also stay active through September 2010.
The move comes a day after Chrysler LLC announced that it is dropping nearly 800 Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealers, or about a quarter of its network, as part of its bankruptcy restructuring.
GM (GM, Fortune 500) is not yet in bankruptcy court, although Henderson has said such a filing is “probable.” The company has until the end of the month to win agreement from creditors, unions and dealerships on a turnaround plan. If it fails to do so, the Treasury Department, which has been bankrolling GM’s ongoing losses, has said it will force the company to file for bankruptcy.
GM, Chrysler and Detroit rival Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) have far larger U.S. dealer networks than their Asian rivals, a remnant to the days when the so-called Big Three dominated the market in a way they no longer do.
The number of employees working at the dealerships that are being notified is not yet known. The average dealership has about 52 employees, according to the National Automobile Dealers of America, meaning about 57,000 workers could lose their job as a result of Friday’s action.
All told, the planned dealership cuts at Chrysler and GM will eventually cost 140,000 jobs, NADA estimates.
NADA and various dealership organizations at GM and Chrysler are fighting the cuts, lobbying Congress and hiring bankruptcy attorneys to argue their case. The dealers hope that strong state franchise laws may still protect them, despite the powers granted to the bankruptcy court and the demand for cuts by the Treasury Department.
“While NADA understands the realities of the current marketplace, we also know that dealers didn’t cause the situation,” the group said Thursday. “Furthermore, we believe that these draconian dealer cuts are not only misguided but counterproductive. Fewer dealers mean less revenue for the automakers. Dealers are the manufacturer’s customer; they buy the cars and parts and even the signs in front of their dealerships.”
Traditionally, eliminating brands and dealerships has been an expensive proposition for automakers. GM spent about $1 billion dropping Oldsmobile earlier this decade, mostly in payments to 2,800 dealers and the repurchase of their inventory of vehicles and parts.
But the cash-strapped GM is not offering payments or vehicle repurchases to dealerships in this current round of cuts, although it may make limited purchases of parts and equipment, Garontakos said.
GM has yet to identify which dealers were notified Friday. But its previously announced plans signal that most of the cuts will be in major metropolitan and suburban areas, where GM acknowledges that “dealership overcapacity is most prevalent.”
The company’s expectation is that the surviving dealerships will become larger and more profitable as a result of the thinning out, which in turn will allow them to spend more on advertising and facilities. But GM also acknowledges that its long-term decline in U.S. market share will continue as a result of the smaller network of dealers.
The company has about 2,700 dealers in rural areas, some with relatively low sales volumes. But even some of those small dealerships could be spared if they don’t face significant geographic competition.
The New ABCs of Success: Always Be Creating
By Robert Pagliarini | May 19, 2009
In every economic crisis, there have been those individuals who have emerged from the aftermath even more financially secure. Luck has something to do with it, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. In order to rise up and get ahead, you need to shift paradigms. You need a new way to look at and interact with the world. Fortunately, it’s as simple as re-learning your ABCs.
In the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, Alec Baldwin taught us the ’80s ABCs: “A-always, B-be, C-closing. Always be closing!” But that’s old school. The new ABCs are Always Be Creating. People who create will be the people who succeed and excel. If you can create, you can write your own check.
I know what you’re thinking: work stinks. They’re talking about more layoffs, bonuses are out of the question, and you have to pitch in more for health insurance. Your 401(k) is in shambles, and your house is worth 40 percent less than it was a couple of years ago. The vision you had for your life has been seriously challenged. All you feel like doing when you come home is kicking back, cracking open a Heineken, and watching the tube. That’s understandable, but it’s absolutely bass ackwards.
You must get out there and create — start a blog, write a book, record a video, start a business, code a new application, etc. It’s easy to give advice like this, but I’ve tried to follow it, too. A couple of months ago I came up with an idea for a free personal finance eBook titled Plan Z: How to Survive the 2009 Financial Crisis (and even live a little better).
Why did I create something for free? I have counterintuitive (some would say controversial) advice on how to get through this recession, and I wanted to spread the word and build my brand: get the media’s attention, build followers, and attract new readers to this blog and future projects. So I used my other 8 hours and wrote and wrote and wrote. I then partnered with several people and got the whole thing completed in about a month. It took me some time, but it didn’t cost me anything. (More on how to find partners to donate their services for free in an upcoming post).
In a recession there’s a whole lot of talk about reducing, cutting, shrinking, and decreasing — but what if you took a different view? What if instead you looked for opportunities? What if you looked for ways to grow and expand and create?
Here are a few ideas on how to jumpstart your creative thinking:
Brainstorm. Think about what services/products might be needed if this turmoil continues and what services/products people will want when we recover.
$1 million game. This is a fun one. If you absolutely positively had to make $1 million in less than 365 days, what would you do? What area would you focus on? What skills would you have to rely on? You might not start any of the businesses you think about, but it’s a great way to jumpstart your creativity.
Get partners. Get two or three friends/colleagues together for a twice-a-month meeting. Sit down with them and brainstorm. Tell them what’s on your mind — what ideas you’re toying with. Press each other to come up with at least three business ideas for each meeting. If you agree on one, you have your team in place. But even if you don’t, this get-together will force you to think entrepreneurially inside AND outside of the group.
Your goal is to create something — anything. Create content. Start a blog. Invent a prototype. This blog post you’re reading right now is an example of creating something. What can you create?
Segment #1: Customers for Life… what makes up a customer for life? A customer for life is a patron who is an ambassador to the public for your business. How do you create customers for life for your small business? Listen. Listen to your customers, listen to your employees.
Segment #2: Customer Delight, the 7 steps to creating and sustaining customer delight
Segment #3: Keeping customer promises. What do you promise to your customers? How do you deliver on those promises? Keep your promises, listen to your customers. Do the small stuff: Keep the posted hours of operation, answer the phone during business hours, keep consistency in policies and procedures…
Segment #4: Tips for creating customers for life. 1-Train your staff; 2-Take the extra step
Will Chrysler dealers’ demise bring amazing deals?
Steven Cole Smith | Sentinel Automotive Editor
4:04 PM EDT, May 21, 2009
Chrysler vehicles are already selling at major discounts, with rebates to the customer and the dealer totaling as much as $8,000. But since the company announced last week that it’s pulling its franchise agreements with nearly 800 Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealers, some consumers are hoping for even greater discounts.
Rejected dealers have until June 9 to sell out their inventory, as Chrysler, under the terms of the bankruptcy, doesn’t have to buy the cars and trucks back. Some of the rebates and incentives are expected to expire at the end of May, which makes the need to liquidate that much more urgent.
Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation, the country’s largest auto retailer, told the Sun-Sentinel newspaper there that they will be offering “deep discounts” at the seven Chrysler dealerships they own that are set to close, with up to 50 percent off some 2008 models, said AutoNation president Mike Maroone.
“Our intention is to quickly liquidate our inventory,” he said. Eight Chrysler dealers in the Central Florida area are losing their franchises, and two of them, Courtesy Chrysler-Jeep in Sanford and Casselberry, are owned by AutoNation, and will close. Will those two dealers be offering vehicles at half price? No one at the dealerships would respond, instead referring calls to the AutoNation headquarters in Fort Lauderdale.
Are other local dealers expecting customers to show up at their stores, offering pennies on the dollar for the remaining vehicles?
“Absolutely,” said Don Intoccia, general manager of Winter Park Dodge, one of the dealers scheduled to lose its franchise. “But that’s not the case with us, and I don’t think it will be the case with other dealers.”
In other words: Expect very aggressive deals, but don’t expect giveaway prices. “Chrysler is working with us to get the cars moved to other — what’s the term? — ‘non-rejected’ dealerships.”
Winter Park also has a dealer in the chain that is keeping its franchise, so unsold vehicles are likely to be moved there if they aren’t sold by June 9. AutoNation also has other Chrysler dealers in its network that could absorb some inventory.
“Beware of a deal that sounds too good to be true,” said Mike Smith, owner of Orlando Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep. He said he and other surviving dealers are buying some of the inventory from rejected dealers at “net price, which is same we pay the factory.” Dealers are, he said, “trying to help each other out.”
Conrad Letson, general manager of Greenway Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep in Orlando, which is also keeping its Chrysler franchise, said that he isn’t concerned about being undersold by some of the rejected Chrysler dealers.
“You might see them take a $1,000 or $2,000 loss on a vehicle that has been on the lot for a really long time, but any of us would do that. But sell at $5,000 or $6,000 below cost? I don’t see that.”
And if a customer buys a vehicle from a rejected dealer, and brings it to a surviving dealer for service and warranty work?
“We’d welcome them,” Letson said.
Smith agreed, saying, “If someone can get a great deal somewhere else, we’ll still welcome them as customers. Because we aren’t going anywhere.”
General Motors also announced last week that that it would not renew franchise agreements with 1,124 dealers next year, but since GM is not in bankruptcy, they are bound by contracts that say they have to buy back unsold vehicles from rejected dealers. Chrysler, under bankruptcy protection, does not.
The most effective email list-growth tactics for marketers are on-site registration and capturing information through inbound call centers, while the least effective are outbound call-center attempts to solicit information and list rental, according to research conducted by ExactTarget, Ball State University and the Email Marketers Club.
The study found that the best way to grow subscriber lists is to collect customers’ email addresses during times of high engagement and on occasions when the consumers perceive the marketer as adding value – at the point of sale, during online shopping and in-store via text messaging, reports Marketing Charts. These tactics rated as much as 60% higher than offline methods such as list rental and mass advertising.
Exact Target also reported that email subscription via text messaging is the fastest growing list-building tactic among marketers. The company predicts that mobile capture – enabling consumers to subscribe to emails via their mobile phones – will increase 500%, more than any other growth tactic in 2009.
Marketers also expect the practice of enabling subscribers to share email content with their social networks is expected to increase more than 348% in 2009.
As for the top three email priorities for 2009, the largest number of marketers (51%) said improving conversations was important to them, followed by improving the relevance of emails (41%) and growing email lists (38%). The smallest number of respondents said lowering costs was one of their top priorities (5%).
“The best performing list growth tactics are built on gathering subscriber data rather than hunting for it,” said Morgan Stewart, ExactTarget’s director of research and strategy. “Whether you are a B2B or a B2C marketer, the best way to grow your subscriber list is to collect information during customer-initiated interactions.”
Previously released findings from the same research show that marketers expect to increase their social networking-related email initiatives by 367%.
About the research: The study analyzed the past performance and future plans of 351 email marketers in various countries and evaluated 18 different list-growth tactics to identify the best, worst and fastest-growing approaches to building email lists.
Segment #1: Kathleen Petersen of Poolside, commercial and residential pool new construction and remodeling of Volusia County, FL www.poolsideofflorida.com
Segment #2: How to develop your unique selling proposition for your small business in Central Florida: What does your company offer that differs from your competition?
Segment #3: Unique Selling Proposition worksheet: outline what defines your business and make it work!
Segment #4: Recap, building brand identitiy, positioning yourself in your market, building your unique selling proposition
General Motors files for bankruptcy protection
AP – The General Motors headquarters is seen with the moon in the background in Detroit, Sunday, May 31, 2009. … By DAN STRUMPF and KIMBERLY S. JOHNSON, AP Auto Writers Dan Strumpf And Kimberly S. Johnson, Ap Auto Writers – 1 hr 48 mins ago
NEW YORK – General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday as part of the Obama administration’s plan to shrink the automaker to a sustainable size and give a majority ownership stake to the federal government.
GM’s bankruptcy filing is the fourth-largest in U.S. history and the largest for an industrial company. The company said it has $172.81 billion in debt and $82.29 billion in assets.
“The General Motors board of directors authorized the filing of a Chapter 11 case with regret that this path proved necessary despite the best efforts of so many,” GM Chairman Kent Kresa said in a written statement. “Today marks a new beginning for General Motors. … The board is confident that this New GM can operate successfully in the intensely competitive U.S. market and around the world.”
As it reorganizes, the fallen icon of American industry will rely on $30 billion of additional financial assistance from the Treasury Department and $9.5 billion from Canada. That’s on top of about $20 billion in taxpayer money GM already has received in the form of low-interest loans.
“Our agreement with the U.S. Treasury and the governments of Canada and Ontario will create a leaner, quicker more customer and completely product-focused company, one that’s more cost competitive and has a competitive balance sheet,” CEO Fritz Henderson said at a news conference in New York. “This new GM will be built from the strongest parts of our business, including our best brands and products.”
The Detroit automaker said warranty coverage, service and customer support will continue uninterrupted, plants will continue to make cars and trucks, and employees and essential suppliers will continue to be paid. GMAC Financial Services said in a statement that it will continues to provide automotive financing to GM and Chrysler dealers and customers, and the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said workers’ pension plans remain safe.
GM will follow a similar course taken by smaller rival Chrysler LLC, which filed for Chapter 11 protection April 30. A judge on Sunday gave Chrysler approval to sell most of its assets to Italy’s Fiat, moving the U.S. automaker closer to a quick exit from court protection, possibly this week.
The plan is for the federal government to take a 60 percent ownership stake in the new GM. The Canadian government would take 12.5 percent, with the United Auto Workers getting a 17.5 percent share and unsecured bondholders receiving 10 percent. Existing GM shareholders are expected to be wiped out.
GM shares fell as low as 27 cents in Monday morning trading, their lowest price in the company’s 100-year history, but rebounded to rise 10 cents from Friday’s close to 85 cents in afternoon trading. On June 8, Cisco Systems Inc. will replace GM in the Dow Jones industrial average, which excludes companies that have filed for bankruptcy.
The government’s partial stake in GM comes on top of a far smaller ownership of Chrysler, as well as significant federal equity in banks, the AIG insurance giant and two mortgage industry titans — all victims of an economic crisis unrivaled since the Great Depression.
But the president said the actions were part of a “viable, achievable plan that will give this iconic company a chance to rise again.”
The president said the government would refrain from playing a management role in all but the most critical areas.
“Our goal is to help GM get back on its feet … and get out quickly,” he said.
Henderson declined to offer a firm timeline for how long it would take the government to sell its stake in GM, but he indicated it could take some time.
“These are a substantial block of shares,” Henderson said. “This is a question of years, not months.”
GM said it expects the bankruptcy court process to last 60 to 90 days. If successful, GM will emerge as a leaner company with a smaller work force, fewer plants and a trimmed dealership network.
“We’re confident that we will move fast,” Henderson said. “Not with a sense of urgency. We’re talking about pure unadulterated speed.”
GM said Monday that it will permanently close nine more plants and idle three others.
The Pontiac, Mich., and Wilmington, Del., assembly plants will close this year, while plants in Spring Hill, Tenn., and Orion, Mich., will shut down production but remain on standby. One of the idled plants will be retooled to build a small car that GM had originally planned to build in China.
Seven powertrain and parts stamping plants will be closed starting in June 2010, while an additional stamping plant will be idled but remain in a standby capacity.
GM will move forward with four core brands — Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC — and cut four others. The company plans to cut 21,000 employees, about 34 percent of its work force, and reduce the number of dealers by 2,600. GM said it was finalizing a deal to sell Hummer, and plans for Saturn are expected to be announced within weeks.
The third of the one-time Big Three, Ford Motor Co., has also been stung hard by plunging sales of cars and trucks, but it avoided bankruptcy by mortgaging all of its assets in 2006 to borrow roughly $25 billion, giving it a financial cushion GM and Chrysler lacked.
Ford issued a statement Monday saying it “remains absolutely committed to continuing to make progress on our transformation plan without accessing emergency taxpayer assistance from the U.S. government.”
The bankruptcy filing represents a dramatic downfall for GM, which was founded in 1908 by William C. Durant, who brought several car companies under one roof and developed a strategy of “a car for every purse and purpose.” Longtime leader Alfred P. Sloan built the global automaker into a corporate icon.
GM first sought help from the Bush administration and Congress last year as it was in the midst of being staggered by $30.9 billion in losses and seeing its cash resources shrink by more than $19 billion.
Consumers, worried about the economy and the future of GM, shied away from the company’s cars and trucks this year even after President George W. Bush promised loans and Obama followed through with billions more in assistance — plus a stiff set of new requirements GM was ordered to meet.
When GM failed to do so by a March 31 deadline, Obama forced out CEO Rick Wagoner and replaced him with Henderson.
Wagoner served at the helm since 2000 and was the face of GM when he first flew on a company jet to ask Congress for aid. After a firestorm of negative publicity, Wagoner rode in a hybrid Chevrolet Malibu from Detroit to Washington for a second set of withering questions before lawmakers.
But that amounted to only a sideshow as the automaker’s financial position worsened. Its revenues plunged almost 50 percent in the quarter ended March 30 and it racked up another $6 billion in losses.
The Henderson-led GM faced a government-imposed June 1 deadline to restructure, slash costs and modify contracts with its union and dealers. But meeting most of those demands, plus a late agreement by many bondholders to swap the $27 billion in debt they are owed for shares in a new GM, were not enough to prevent the court filing.
Some bondholders might still fight GM’s reorganization plan, but the company and Treasury hope the 54 percent who supported the debt-for-equity offer will convince the judge that its a fair deal.
“There is no other sale, or other potential purchasers, present or on the horizon,” Henderson said in an affidavit filed Monday in bankruptcy court. “The only other alternative is the liquidation of the debtors’ assets that would substantially diminish the value of GM’s business and assets, (and) throw hundreds of thousands of persons out of work and cause the termination of health benefits and jeopardize retirement benefits for current and former employees and their families.”
It was an all-out sprint to Monday’s filing, as GM quickly sought to nail down deals with its union, bondholders and sell off brands along with most of its Opel operations in Europe to appear in court with a near-complete plan to quickly emerge with a chance to become profitable.
The German government on Sunday agreed to lend GM’s Opel unit $2.1 billion, a move necessary for Magna International Inc. and Russian-owned Sberbank to acquire 55 percent of the company.
In the U.S., the UAW’s ratification of concessions, announced Friday, will save GM $1.3 billion per year. The new deal freezes wages, ends bonuses and eliminates some noncompetitive work rules.
It moves billions in retiree health care costs off GM’s books. In exchange for its ownership stake, $6.5 billion of interest-bearing preferred shares, and a $2.5 billion note, the trust will take on responsibility for all health care costs for retirees starting next year. Higher health care costs alone accounted for a $1,500-per-car cost gap between GM and Japanese vehicles.
GM will offer buyouts and early retirement packages to all of its 61,000 hourly workers to shrink employment. The company also has about 27,000 white collar employees. In contrast, GM employed 618,000 Americans in 1979, more than any other company.
GM earlier outlined a plan to cut about 1,100, or 40 percent, of its dealers by the end of 2010. It also plans to shed about 500 dealerships that market the Saturn, Hummer and Saab brands.
A person familiar with GM’s plans said the automaker has no plans to accelerate the dealership cuts that were already announced. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the details have not been made public.
The person said dealerships that the company is planning to terminate began receiving wind-down agreements Monday. Those agreements, if dealers sign them, will allow targeted dealers to receive compensation and support from GM as they close down their franchises and sell off inventory.
But just cutting labor and overhead costs won’t be enough to save the company. It also has been working to streamline its engineering and design, as well as standardize many parts so they can go into multiple models.
The once powerful GM earns a place in history as the largest U.S. industrial company to file for bankruptcy protection, and the fourth-largest company overall to do so based on its $82.29 billion in assets as of March 31.
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s Sept. 15 bankruptcy filing is the nation’s largest with $691.1 billion in assets, and it likely served as a catalyst for GM and Chrysler’s downfall, as it hastened the erosion of credit markets, making it more difficult for consumers and dealers to finance new vehicles.
Washington Mutual Inc. and WorldCom Inc. are the second and third largest U.S. companies to file for bankruptcy protection.
___
AP Auto Writer Kimberly S. Johnson reported from Detroit. AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher in Detroit, AP Business Writer Harry R. Weber in Atlanta, AP Business Writer Vinnee Tong in New York, and Associated Press writers David Espo, Ken Thomas and Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington contributed to this report.
Pending US home sales rise more than expected in April, biggest monthly jump in nearly 8 years
Alan Zibel, AP Real Estate Writer
On Tuesday June 2, 2009, 10:54 am EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of U.S. homebuyers who agreed to purchase a previously occupied home in April posted the largest monthly jump in nearly eight years, a sign that sales are finally coming to life after a long and painful slump.
The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday its seasonally adjusted index of sales contracts signed in April surged 6.7 percent to 90.3, far exceeding analysts’ forecasts. It was the biggest monthly jump since October 2001, when pending sales rose 9.2 percent.
“This is yet another positive indication that the bottoming process is forming,” Jennifer Lee, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a note to clients. “Now if only prices would stabilize.”
Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the index would edge up to 85 from a reading of 84.6 in March. Typically there is a one- to two-month lag between a contract and a done deal, so the index is a barometer for future existing home sales.
“The pronounced increase in April does indicate that actual existing home sales are poised to rise in the coming month or two,” wrote Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist with MFR Inc.
The index was 3.2 percent above last year’s levels and has risen for three straight months after hitting a record low in January. A nearly 33 percent sales increase in the Northeast and a 9.8 percent jump in the Midwest led the overall surge. Sales contracts rose 1.8 percent in April from a month earlier in the West, but fell 0.2 percent in the South.
The big boost likely reflects the impact of a new $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers that was included in the economic stimulus bill signed by President Barack Obama in February. Since buyers need to finish their purchases by Nov. 30 to claim the credit, “we expect greater activity in the months ahead,” Lawrence Yun, the Realtors’ chief economist, said in a statement.
Still, Yun cautioned that the pending sales data is more volatile than in the past because many sellers need banks to agree to take less than the original mortgage — a so-called “short sale.” That process is often difficult, time-consuming and can wind up falling apart before the deal closes.
The Federal Housing Administration last week released details of a plan in which borrowers who use FHA loans can get advances from lenders that let them effectively receive the credit in advance, so they don’t have to wait to get the money from the Internal Revenue Service.
Completed home sales rose 2.9 percent to an annual rate of 4.68 million in April from a downwardly revised pace of 4.55 million in March, the Realtors’ group said last week.
Sales of inexpensive foreclosures and other distressed low-end properties have even sparked bidding wars in places like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Miami. But the market for high-end properties remains at a virtual standstill.
The national median sales price in April plunged more than 15 percent to $170,200, from $201,300 in the same month last year. That was the second largest yearly price drop on record, according to the Realtors’ group.
GM cuts loose 2 Central Florida Chevy dealerships
Steven Cole Smith | Sentinel Automotive Editor
8:53 PM EDT, June 2, 2009
Two longtime Central Florida car dealerships with community roots dating back more than 70 years were cut loose by General Motors on Tuesday, a day after the automaker filed for bankruptcy.
Holler Chevrolet in Winter Park and Classic Chevrolet in Altamonte Springs, both part of the Holler Automotive Group, learned they would lose their Chevrolet franchises when their contracts with GM end.
Roger Holler III, group vice president, said both dealerships will remain open until Oct. 31, 2010, when the franchise agreements expire. Service and warranty work will be available for all Chevrolets sold at the two dealerships.
The family was “shocked” at the notification by overnight mail, Holler said. The Holler family has been in the auto business since 1920. Family patriarch Bill Holler was vice president of General Motors and general sales manager of Chevrolet from 1929 until 1945.
The family has sold General Motors products in Orlando since 1938. Holler Chevrolet, originally in downtown Orlando, moved in 1966 to Fairbanks Avenue in Winter Park, and then in 2005 to Semoran Boulevard, five miles way, where the business remains.
“Based on the history and the performance of our two locations, and the quality of our customer service, we don’t understand why GM would go this route,” Roger Holler said. “It makes no sense.”
Last year’s bankruptcy of Bill Heard Chevrolet in Sanford left Classic as the top-selling Chevrolet dealer in the four-county area. Holler Chevrolet was second, he said.
Similarly surprised was Ted Smith, chairman of the Florida Automobile Dealers Association in Tallahassee. “For a dealer with such strong roots in the community for 70 years — I just don’t understand the rationale.”
The Holler family intends at least to ask for an explanation, said Christopher Holler, another vice president of the group. “It would be nice to talk to an actual person at GM,” he said.
General Motors has refused to discuss individual dealerships and the reasons behind its franchise cancellations. In its restructuring plans, it has said the company plans to trim its 5,969 dealers to 3,600 by the end of 2010.
Last month Chrysler, also bankrupt, told 789 Chrysler dealers their franchises will expire June 9. The central rationale: Fewer dealers would reduce the inter-brand competition that drives down prices.
In Detroit, GM spokesperson Susan Garantokos said every General Motors dealer received a letter from the company Tuesday, outlining its future status with the corporation.
Holler Chevrolet and Classic Chevrolet are two of 250 dealers that received nonrenewal notices, in addition to the 1,124 that were notified last month.
Other dealers were notified their status was safe and they would be part of the “new” General Motors. Still others were told they may have to move, improve their facilities, or either absorb one or two GM brands or give them up to other dealers.
“It’s very difficult for everyone involved,” Garantakos said. “We value all of our dealers, but we are all caught up in the economy.”
Six other Holler and Classic dealerships, which market Honda, Hyundai, Audi, Mazda and Hummer are not affected, though General Motors has said it has a deal in place to sell the Hummer brand to a Chinese manufacturer that should keep those dealerships open. GM is still trying to sell Saab and Saturn, and has offers for both.
Roger Holler said his family intends to keep their employees working at the two Chevrolet dealerships through next fall, and then possibly move them to other stores. He intends to pursue “a Plan B, because those are very good locations, with excellent potential,” which could mean seeking another brand to sell.
Meanwhile, they are hoping somebody at GM — a real person, perhaps — will explain what went wrong, “so we can try to explain it to the customers we’ve been serving for so long,” said Roger Holler.
choose an interest, organization, or community event that you have a deep and abiding interest in. it can be as specific and grand as breast cancer research or as simple as coaching or sponsoring your local little league team.
community events and relationships go a long way towards positioning yourself and your business as a leader in community involvement, growth, and leadership in general.
Segment #3: Local Orlando examples of Community Involvement
Local Examples of Community Invovlement,
including Bubbalou’s Bodacious BBQ of Altamonte Springs on 436,
Mark’s Carribean Cuisine in Orlando 10034 University Blvd (407) 699-8800
Segment #4: More Small Ways you can contribute to the Local Community
Big Three Sales Slow…So the Government Buys 17,205
By Jim Motavalli | June 15th, 2009 @ 12:10 pm
One way for the federal government to prop up Detroit automakers is to invest billions and take control of their operations. That’s what happened with General Motors and Chrysler. Another approach is to simply buy the cars themselves. That’s the strategy of the General Services Administration (GSA), which is committing $287 million to buy more than 17,000 fuel-efficient vehicles from all three carmakers.
The funds, appropriated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), will go to buy 7,924 Fords ($129 million), 6,348 GM cars and trucks ($105 million) and 2,933 Chrysler products ($53 million).
The GSA wasn’t specific about what it was buying, nor about its fuel-efficiency guidelines. It did say that “each new vehicle will have a higher miles-per-gallon rating than the one it replaces.”
GSA manages a quarter of the federal government’s total procurement, and $500 billion in assets, including 213,000 vehicles. According to James A. Williams of GSA’s federal acquisition service, the agency “is committed to spending recovery dollars quickly and wisely.”
Getting any additional information out of GSA beyond its initial press release has proved to be enormously difficult. The release does raise a number of questions. For instance, the company that benefits most is Ford, which is the only Big Three company not to take bailout money.
It’s also unclear which company vehicles GSA will buy. It would be nice to think that the feds are buying 7,900 Ford Escape Hybrids, for instance. And if the totals include Chevrolet Malibu Hybrids, it won’t do much good because GM just canceled that product line as a slow seller.
Orlando fares poorly in economic report
Orlando Business Journal – by Bill Orben Staff Writer
If misery loves company, Orlando must feel right at home with other large cities in Florida, California and Ohio that saw their economies decline, according to a report released today by the Brookings Institution.
The one solace the area can take in the figures released in the Metro Monitor, the institution’s tracking of recession and recovery in the top 100 metropolitan areas, is it didn’t place in the 20 worst-performing areas. It did, however, secure the top spot in the 20 second-worst-performing metropolitan areas, spurred by a 5.1 percent job loss, 5.3 percentage point change in the jobless rate, a 2.7 percent loss in gross metropolitan product and a 14.2 percent fall in real estate prices.
The area did place in the 20 worst metropolitan areas in terms of negative employment growth, with an employment loss of 5.1 percent.
Orlando also witnessed a 14.2 percent decline in housing prices from the first quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of this year, putting it at the 86th spot in terms of housing price growth, the report said.
The area also placed in the bottom 20 in terms of real-estate owned (REOs) properties, with a rate of 6.45 per thousand mortgageable properties.
All of the top 100 metropolitan areas experienced some job losses, but 10 of the 15 metro areas with the largest job losses were located in California, Florida and Ohio.
Nine of the 15 metropolitan areas with the sharpest economic drops were in the same three states.
Of the top five worst-performing metropolitan areas, four were in Florida — Jacksonville, Lakeland, Tampa and Bradenton.
While it was losses in the manufacturing sector that hurt states like Ohio and Michigan, it was the fallout in the housing industry that impacted Florida, Arizona, Nevada and California .
The top metropolitan areas were San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Austin, Houston and Dallas, according to the report.
The report examined indicators through the first quarter of 2009 (ending in March) in employment, unemployment, wages, output, home prices and foreclosure rates for the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas.
Segment #2: More on celebrity endorsements, tips and advice from DP, Powerhouse USA, Inc.
Segment #3: Celebrity Endorsements can backfire. Make sure you choose your endorsement wisely, that that person is a right fit for your product or service, and that you will be able to maintain goodwill with your customer base.
NOTE: SOME INTERESTING RESEARCH ON THE VALUE OF IMPRESSIONS ON THE CONTENT NETWORK.=DP
OPA-comScore Study Says the Unclicked-Upon Ad Has Value
By Catharine P. Taylor | June 18th, 2009 @ 12:36 pm
Online Publishers Association and Internet measurement firm comScore yesterday released the results of a comprehensive study which they say demonstrates that just the mere act of seeing an ad is valuable, in the hopes that it will make advertisers think twice before just counting clicks. Here are some of the things they discovered after observing 80 brands, across 200 sites, over a month’s time:
One in five people did a search on a brand advertised on one of these sites.
Those who saw the ads spent 50 percent more on the brands of sites they saw than those who had not.
That people who saw these ads spend 10 percent more online than others and spend even more on brands in the categories of ads that they saw.
This is more or less good news. It makes a kind of gut sense that exposure to an ad, even if the person who saw it doesn’t immediately act upon it, has more of an impact than never seeing the ad at all. One possible anecdotal example of this is Microsoft’s early success with Bing, for which the company launched one of the most ambitious online ad campaigns ever, in part using the OPA’s new super-sized ad units. Early data shows that Bing is claiming some search share — it doesn’t take a rocket science to note that people have to know about something in order to use or buy it.
But none of this means that the OPA and comScore have, with this study, forever solved the problem of how advertisers measure their online ad buys. Far from it. Even if branding ads are the prevalent form on TV, and usually don’t even have a direct response mechamism, in online, expectations are different — it will take a lot of studies for that perception to change.
For one recent story I did on the search for metrics beyond the click-through, I was told that some advertisers insist on buying on a cost-per-click basis, knowing full well that, because click-through rates are so bad, they’ll get the media cheap while still benefiting from impressions of those who did not click. It’s going to be a long road.
Americans believe Internet news most reliable
A new poll reveals that more Americans would choose the Internet as their only news source than TV, radio and newspapers combined, and Internet reports are considered much more reliable that other media.
It also shows only 1 in 200 people surveyed believes newspapers will be a dominant source of information in 2014.
The poll by Zogby International said as broadcast newscasts continue to lose viewers and newspapers struggle to stay alive, “the Internet is by far the preferred source for information, and & it is considered the most reliable source as well.”
The survey discovered 56 percent of adults nationwide would pick the Internet if they were allowed just one source for their news, while television, newspapers and radio earned the support of 41 percent – together.
Among Republicans, 56 percent would choose the Internet for their news, while among Democrats that figure was 50 percent. Seventeen percent of Democrats said they would prefer newspapers as their only news source while 5 percent of Republicans made that choice.
The survey, which contacted more than 3,000 people and has a margin of error of 1.8 percent, revealed 38 percent believe news from the Internet is the most reliable, followed by television at less than half that figure – 17 percent. Newspapers were in third at 16 percent and 13 percent chose radio.
Since a full 84 percent of American adults report having Internet access, the poll “reinforces the idea that the efforts by established newspapers, television and radio outlets to push their consumers to their respective websites is working.”
he poll said 49 percent of all respondents said national newspaper websites were very important and 43 percent said national television websites were important to them as a key source of news.
A total of 41 percent said local newspaper websites were important sources while 34 percent said local television stations were the same.
“That the websites of traditional news outlets are seen by a wide margin as more important than blog sites – most of which are repositories of opinion devoid of actual reportage – could be seen as an encouraging development for the media at large,” the report said.
And forget Facebook and Twitter: Just 10 percent consider Facebook as important for news while 4 percent said the same of Twitter.
Eighty-two percent said they believe five years from now the Internet will be the most dominant information course. Television was second, at 13 percent. The survey showed that only one-half of one percent – 0.5 percent – said they thought newspapers would be the most dominant source of news in five years.
NOTE: THIS WAS SENT OVER BY OUR MASTER OF BUSINESS ETIQUETTE STEVE URQUHART.=DP
June 22, 2009
Mind Your BlackBerry or Mind Your Manners
By ALEX WILLIAMS
For the first half-hour of the meeting, it was hardly surprising to see a potential client fiddling with his iPhone, said Rowland Hobbs, the chief executive of a marketing firm in Manhattan.
At an hour, it seemed a bit much. And after an hour and a half, Mr. Hobbs and his colleagues wondered what the man could possibly be doing with his phone for the length of a summer blockbuster.
Someone peeked over his shoulder. “He was playing a racing game,” Mr. Hobbs said. “He did ask questions, though, peering occasionally over his iPhone.”
But, Mr. Hobbs added, “we didn’t say anything. We still wanted the business.”
As Web-enabled smartphones have become standard on the belts and in the totes of executives, people in meetings are increasingly caving in to temptation to check e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, even (shhh!) ESPN.com.
But a spirited debate about etiquette has broken out. Traditionalists say the use of BlackBerrys and iPhones in meetings is as gauche as ordering out for pizza. Techno-evangelists insist that to ignore real-time text messages in a need-it-yesterday world is to invite peril.
In Hollywood, both the Creative Artists Agency and United Talent Agency ban BlackBerry use at meetings. Tom Golisano, a billionaire and power broker in New York State politics, said last week that he pushed to remove Malcolm A. Smith as the State Senate majority leader after the senator met with him on budget matters in April and spent the time reading e-mail on his BlackBerry.
The phone use has become routine in the corporate and political worlds — and grating to many. A third of more than 5,300 workers polled in May by Yahoo HotJobs, a career research and job listings Web site, said they frequently checked e-mail in meetings. Nearly 20 percent said they had been castigated for poor manners regarding wireless devices.
Despite resistance, the etiquette debate seems to be tilting in the favor of smartphone use, many executives said. Managing directors do it. Summer associates do it. It spans gender and generation, private and public sectors.
A few years ago, only “the investment banker types” would use BlackBerrys in meetings, said Frank Kneller, the chief executive of a company in Elk Grove Village, Ill., that makes water-treatment systems. “Now it’s everybody.” He said that if he spotted 6 of 10 colleagues tapping away, he knew he had to speed up his presentation.
It is routine for Washington officials to bow heads silently around a conference table — not praying — while others are speaking, said Philippe Reines, a senior adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Although BlackBerrys are banned in certain areas of the State Department headquarters for security reasons, their use is epidemic where they are allowed.
“You’ll have half the participants BlackBerrying each other as a submeeting, with a running commentary on the primary meeting,” Mr. Reines said. “BlackBerrys have become like cartoon thought bubbles.”
Some professionals admitted that they occasionally sent mocking commentary about the proceedings, but most insisted that they used smartphones for legitimate reasons: responding to deadline requests, plumbing the Web for data to illuminate an issue under discussion or simply taking notes.
Still, the practice retains the potential to annoy. Joel I. Klein, the New York City schools chancellor, has gained such a reputation for checking his BlackBerry during public meetings that some parents joke that they might as well send him an e-mail message. Few companies have formal policies about smartphone use in meetings, according to Nancy Flynn, the executive director of the ePolicy Institute, a consulting group in Columbus, Ohio. Ms. Flynn tells clients to encourage employees to turn off all devices.
“People mistakenly think that tapping is not as distracting as talking,” she said. “In fact, it can be every bit as much if not more distracting. And it’s pretty insulting to the speaker.”
Still, business can be won or lost, executives say, depending on how responsive you are to an e-mail message. “Clients assume they can get you anytime, anywhere,” said David Brotherton, a media consultant in Seattle. “Consultants who aren’t readily available 24/7 tend to languish.”
Playful electronic bantering can stimulate creativity in meetings, in the view of Josh Rabinowitz, the director of music at Grey Group in New York, an advertising agency. In pitch meetings, Mr. Rabinowitz said, he often traded messages on his Palm Treo — jokes, ideas, questions — with colleagues, “things that you might not say out loud.”
The chatter tends to loosen the proceedings. “It just seems to add to the productive energy,” he said.
But business relationships can be jeopardized. Lori Levine, the founder of Flying Television, a talent-booking agency in Manhattan, said that in an effort to be environmentally sensitive she instructed employees to take notes on BlackBerrys instead of paper during client meetings.
“Then I got a call from a client screaming that our vice president spent an hour on his BlackBerry during a huge meeting,” Ms. Levine recalled. To soothe the client, Ms. Levine read aloud the notes the vice president had taken.
In Dallas, a college student sunk his chance to have an internship at a hedge fund last summer when he pulled out a BlackBerry to look up a fact to help him make a point during his interview, then lingered — momentarily, but perceptibly — to check a text message a friend had sent, said Trevor Hanger, the head of equity trading at the hedge fund, who was helping conduct the interview.
Very few companies have policies on smartphone use in meetings, which leaves it up to employees to feel their way across uncertain terrain.
To Jason Chan, a digital-strategy consultant in Manhattan, different rules apply for in-house meetings (where checking BlackBerrys seems an expression of informal collegiality) and those with clients, where the habit is likely to offend. There is safety in numbers, he added in an e-mail message: “The acceptability of checking devices is proportional to the number of people attending the meeting. The more people there are, the less noticeable your typing will be.”
Beyond practical considerations, there is also the issue of image. In many professional circles, where connections are power, making a show of reaching out to those connections even as co-workers are presenting a spreadsheet presentation seems to have become a kind of workplace boast.
Mr. Brotherton, the consultant, wrote in an e-mail message that it was customary now for professionals to lay BlackBerrys or iPhones on a conference table before a meeting — like gunfighters placing their Colt revolvers on the card tables in a saloon. “It’s a not-so-subtle way of signaling ‘I’m connected. I’m busy. I’m important. And if this meeting doesn’t hold my interest, I’ve got 10 other things I can do instead.’ ”
Florida Franchising Update
Demand for 7-Eleven franchises up in Sunshine State, report says
CAPE CORAL, Fla. — 7-Eleven Inc. has been converting about eight to 10 company-operated stores to franchises each month in Florida, according to a report by The Breeze. The company recently franchised its 100th store in the state. There are currently some 460 7-Eleven stores still available for franchising in the Tampa/St. Petersburg, Orlando, Daytona/Melbourne, Fort Myers/Naples and South Florida areas. 7-Eleven began franchising its previously company-owned stores in late 2007 in the Miami area and franchising other parts of Florida the following May.
New 7-Eleven franchisees say that owning a proven, successful business while receiving support and training from the world’s largest convenience retailer can make for a rewarding business venture even in a challenging economy, said the report.
Because Florida is one of the last states where Dallas-based 7-Eleven is converting its company-operated stores to franchises, some new owners have moved to the Sunshine State to take advantage of what they see as an opportunity to be their own bosses. Local residents are also considering the opportunity to become part of one of the world’s most recognized brands.
7-Eleven provides the land, building, equipment and a turnkey operation for its franchises. The average upfront, total investment for a 7-Eleven franchise is between $175,000 and $250,000, although the cost may vary by store and region.
The Fort Myers/Naples area has several new franchisees such as Dashmesh Sethi and Nitish Malik, the report said. Dashmesh Sethi, 28, had grown up working in his family’s sandwich franchise shops in Pennsylvania and Florida, but he always wanted to be an independent businessman. He also wanted to get a business that offered a larger variety of products. He was researching several companies when he heard about the franchising opportunity with 7-Eleven.
“I wanted to do something on my own,” Dashmesh told the newspaper. “And 7-Eleven had such a great support system for the franchisee.”
He franchised his first store in Fort Myers in November of 2008. He said that he really enjoys testing new 7-Eleven products with his customers to see what suits their needs and tastes. He recently started offering fresh-cooked pizza through a new 7-Eleven program. “It’s long hours at the beginning,” Dashmesh said. “But if you’re smart and can organize your crew, the benefits are great.”
He hopes to get his second store very soon, said the report.
Nitish Malik was thinking seriously about going to graduate school for an advanced degree in business when he realized he could get experience and become a store owner right away. Nitish, 24, had grown up working in his father’s 7-Eleven stores in New York. His uncle also is a franchise owner in that area. “They were my inspiration,” Nitish told the paper.
He had researched many different business possibilities and was mulling over his next move when he heard about the Florida franchising program. “I thought this was as good a training for business as school would be, and it was an opportunity that I couldn’t say ‘no’ to.”
He franchised his store in Naples in October 2008.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Orlando fares poorly in economic report
Orlando Business Journal – by Bill Orben Staff Writer
If misery loves company, Orlando must feel right at home with other large cities in Florida, California and Ohio that saw their economies decline, according to a report released today by the Brookings Institution.
The one solace the area can take in the figures released in the Metro Monitor, the institution’s tracking of recession and recovery in the top 100 metropolitan areas, is it didn’t place in the 20 worst-performing areas. It did, however, secure the top spot in the 20 second-worst-performing metropolitan areas, spurred by a 5.1 percent job loss, 5.3 percentage point change in the jobless rate, a 2.7 percent loss in gross metropolitan product and a 14.2 percent fall in real estate prices.
The area did place in the 20 worst metropolitan areas in terms of negative employment growth, with an employment loss of 5.1 percent.
Orlando also witnessed a 14.2 percent decline in housing prices from the first quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of this year, putting it at the 86th spot in terms of housing price growth, the report said.
The area also placed in the bottom 20 in terms of real-estate owned (REOs) properties, with a rate of 6.45 per thousand mortgageable properties.
All of the top 100 metropolitan areas experienced some job losses, but 10 of the 15 metro areas with the largest job losses were located in California, Florida and Ohio.
Nine of the 15 metropolitan areas with the sharpest economic drops were in the same three states.
Of the top five worst-performing metropolitan areas, four were in Florida — Jacksonville, Lakeland, Tampa and Bradenton.
While it was losses in the manufacturing sector that hurt states like Ohio and Michigan, it was the fallout in the housing industry that impacted Florida, Arizona, Nevada and California .
The top metropolitan areas were San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Austin, Houston and Dallas, according to the report.
The report examined indicators through the first quarter of 2009 (ending in March) in employment, unemployment, wages, output, home prices and foreclosure rates for the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas.
Segment #2: more tips for an effective advertising campaign–
biggest tip: don’t try to be all things to all people! find out who your target audience is and focus on being all things to that group of people. this strategy will pay dividends in the long run as you develop a core customer base…
Segment #3: Effective Ad Copy is the Key to Successful Marketing– Read the Entire Article Here
If your advertising does not convey the benefit of your products or service then it will not succeed. Your marketing efforts must convince people that your service is superior to your competitors.
Segment #4: Some Fundamental Rules of Effective Copy, and the 5 Rules of Good Copy
Set the Objective, Be Specific, Be Credible, and Provide a Solution! your customers don’t want to hear about the problem– they know the problem! they want to know how you are going to provide the solution!
Starting Wednesday, Florida hopes to stoke its real-estate market by becoming one of the few states to offer $8,000 in down-payment assistance to qualified homebuyers so they can benefit upfront from a new federal tax credit.
The state Legislature set aside $30 million to create the Florida Homebuyer Opportunity Program, aimed at first-time buyers and others who have not owned a home for at least the past three years. To qualify, an individual cannot earn more than $75,000 a year, while couples can’t earn more than $150,000.
“Here in Florida, rather than qualified buyers waiting to get the tax credit on the tail end of the process, in the form of a credit after they have filed the tax returns, it will allow them to get it upfront and let them use it for down-payment assistance and fees,” said David Hart, vice president of legislative and government affairs for the Florida Home Builders Association. He estimated that about five states are taking a similar approach.
The state’s program takes effect Wednesday, though the money isn’t expected to be available until later in July or August. The funds are being distributed through local government and nonprofit agencies that already provide down-payment help through the State Housing Initiatives Partnership, known as SHIP. Qualified homebuyers are entitled to $8,000 or 10percent of the property’s purchase price, whichever is less.
18 months to repay
Buyers who receive a down payment must file for the tax credit on their federal tax return next year and then repay the agency that lent them the assistance, according to the program, which was proposed by state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey. The program gives buyers who qualify and get funds 18 months in which to repay the state, which allows them plenty of time to realize the benefits of the tax credit, part of the federal government’s massive stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.The state program is intended to boost Florida’s slumping housing market. While the number of existing-home sales locally and statewide have been up for months now compared with a year ago, prices continue to be down 30 percent or more year-over-year depending on the market, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.
To receive the state’s down-payment assistance, the buyer must close on a property by the end of November. Housing agencies are still working out the details of how to distribute the funds, and state officials caution that four or five months is a relatively short time in which to qualify, find a home, obtain a mortgage, close on the property — and use the money. Qualified buyers who do not take advantage of the state program may still take the federal tax credit, which is currently set to expire in December.
Some local homebuilders are hopeful the state’s decision to convert the tax credit into upfront money will help spur the slumping market. George Glance, who oversees operations for KB Home in Central Florida, said that, while historically low interest rates and falling home prices are enticing many first-time buyers into the market, many of them struggle to come up with a down payment.
“Allowing the federal tax credit to be used toward a down payment would be a great advantage to a first-time homebuyer trying to obtain the dream of homeownership,” Glance said.
One consumer advocate considers the state program flawed, however, because of the way the state is distributing the money. Walter Dartland, director of the Consumer Federation of the Southeast, said he fears some Florida cities and counties will run out of cash before the end of November, even as others wind up with excess funds that won’t get used.
Will it be used?
“Each county or municipality gets a share of the money. In smaller counties, no one is going to buy any houses — there’re so many for sale,” Dartland said. “The concern I have is that it won’t be used. If there’s any money left on deck, it won’t stimulate anything.”
He proposed that the money all come from a single, statewide pot. But state officials said they must abide by rules set by the Legislature, which call for the funds to be distributed through local housing agencies.
JAGUAR ANNOUNCES AN ALL-NEW XF SUPERCHARGED MODEL FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN MARKET
Jaguar today announced the introduction of the 2010 Jaguar XF Supercharged, the fourth and newest member of its acclaimed XF lineup. The vehicle, a mid-year release, is powered by a 470 hp version of the 5.0-liter supercharged AJ-V8 Gen III engine that debuted at this year’s Detroit Auto Show. The XF Supercharged will go on sale in October 2009, and will be priced starting at $68,000 MSRP.
“The Jaguar XF Supercharged will offer consumers a compelling luxury sedan choice with benchmark handling ability and truly memorable performance,” says Mike O’Driscoll, Managing Director, Jaguar Cars. “This new luxury performance XF Supercharged sedan builds on the tremendous momentum Jaguar has achieved by introducing beautiful fast cars such as the XK sports car, the XF and the XKR and XFR models.”
At-A-Glance Highlights –
5.0-liter Supercharged AJ-V8 Gen III engine with 470hp (a 12% increase over the 4.2-liter 2009MY supercharged XF) and 424 lb/ft of torque
0-60 mph time of 4.9 seconds
Adaptive Dynamics (the latest in computer controlled continuously variable damping) and Active Differential Control (electronically controlled rear differential) are standard
Upgraded ventilated disc brakes
Interior features include: contrast color twin needle stitching on the instrument panel and door top rolls, Jaguar Suedecloth Premium headlining, Rich Oak veneer (unique to XF Supercharged only), 440W Bowers & Wilkins surround sound system, HD radio, and heated steering wheel
Exterior features include: unique 20” five triple-spoke Selena-style alloy wheels, “Supercharged” badging on rear trunk lid, quad polished exhaust tailpipes, and silver-gray painted brake calipers
Globally launched at Frankfurt Motor Show in 2007, the XF line has set new standards for the next generation of luxury sports cars. The XF Supercharged expands the already highly acclaimed model line that includes:
4.2-liter naturally aspirated XF (300 hp) with a $52,000 MSRP
5.0-liter naturally aspirated XF Premium (385 hp) with a $57,000 MSRP
5.0-liter supercharged XF Supercharged (470 hp) with a $68,000 MSRP
5.0-liter supercharged XFR (510 hp) with a $80,000 MSRP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JAGUAR ANNOUNCES AN ALL-NEW XF SUPERCHARGED MODEL FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN MARKET
Jaguar today announced the introduction of the 2010 Jaguar XF Supercharged, the fourth and newest member of its acclaimed XF lineup. The vehicle, a mid-year release, is powered by a 470 hp version of the 5.0-liter supercharged AJ-V8 Gen III engine that debuted at this year’s Detroit Auto Show. The XF Supercharged will go on sale in October 2009, and will be priced starting at $68,000 MSRP.
“The Jaguar XF Supercharged will offer consumers a compelling luxury sedan choice with benchmark handling ability and truly memorable performance,” says Mike O’Driscoll, Managing Director, Jaguar Cars. “This new luxury performance XF Supercharged sedan builds on the tremendous momentum Jaguar has achieved by introducing beautiful fast cars such as the XK sports car, the XF and the XKR and XFR models.”
At-A-Glance Highlights –
5.0-liter Supercharged AJ-V8 Gen III engine with 470hp (a 12% increase over the 4.2-liter 2009MY supercharged XF) and 424 lb/ft of torque
0-60 mph time of 4.9 seconds
Adaptive Dynamics (the latest in computer controlled continuously variable damping) and Active Differential Control (electronically controlled rear differential) are standard
Upgraded ventilated disc brakes
Interior features include: contrast color twin needle stitching on the instrument panel and door top rolls, Jaguar Suedecloth Premium headlining, Rich Oak veneer (unique to XF Supercharged only), 440W Bowers & Wilkins surround sound system, HD radio, and heated steering wheel
Exterior features include: unique 20” five triple-spoke Selena-style alloy wheels, “Supercharged” badging on rear trunk lid, quad polished exhaust tailpipes, and silver-gray painted brake calipers
Globally launched at Frankfurt Motor Show in 2007, the XF line has set new standards for the next generation of luxury sports cars. The XF Supercharged expands the already highly acclaimed model line that includes:
4.2-liter naturally aspirated XF (300 hp) with a $52,000 MSRP
5.0-liter naturally aspirated XF Premium (385 hp) with a $57,000 MSRP
5.0-liter supercharged XF Supercharged (470 hp) with a $68,000 MSRP
5.0-liter supercharged XFR (510 hp) with a $80,000 MSRP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JAGUAR ANNOUNCES AN ALL-NEW XF SUPERCHARGED MODEL FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN MARKET
Jaguar today announced the introduction of the 2010 Jaguar XF Supercharged, the fourth and newest member of its acclaimed XF lineup. The vehicle, a mid-year release, is powered by a 470 hp version of the 5.0-liter supercharged AJ-V8 Gen III engine that debuted at this year’s Detroit Auto Show. The XF Supercharged will go on sale in October 2009, and will be priced starting at $68,000 MSRP.
“The Jaguar XF Supercharged will offer consumers a compelling luxury sedan choice with benchmark handling ability and truly memorable performance,” says Mike O’Driscoll, Managing Director, Jaguar Cars. “This new luxury performance XF Supercharged sedan builds on the tremendous momentum Jaguar has achieved by introducing beautiful fast cars such as the XK sports car, the XF and the XKR and XFR models.”
At-A-Glance Highlights –
5.0-liter Supercharged AJ-V8 Gen III engine with 470hp (a 12% increase over the 4.2-liter 2009MY supercharged XF) and 424 lb/ft of torque
0-60 mph time of 4.9 seconds
Adaptive Dynamics (the latest in computer controlled continuously variable damping) and Active Differential Control (electronically controlled rear differential) are standard
Upgraded ventilated disc brakes
Interior features include: contrast color twin needle stitching on the instrument panel and door top rolls, Jaguar Suedecloth Premium headlining, Rich Oak veneer (unique to XF Supercharged only), 440W Bowers & Wilkins surround sound system, HD radio, and heated steering wheel
Exterior features include: unique 20” five triple-spoke Selena-style alloy wheels, “Supercharged” badging on rear trunk lid, quad polished exhaust tailpipes, and silver-gray painted brake calipers
Globally launched at Frankfurt Motor Show in 2007, the XF line has set new standards for the next generation of luxury sports cars. The XF Supercharged expands the already highly acclaimed model line that includes:
4.2-liter naturally aspirated XF (300 hp) with a $52,000 MSRP
5.0-liter naturally aspirated XF Premium (385 hp) with a $57,000 MSRP
5.0-liter supercharged XF Supercharged (470 hp) with a $68,000 MSRP
5.0-liter supercharged XFR (510 hp) with a $80,000 MSRP
NOTE: LENNY PANZINI FROM JAGUAR OF MERRITT ISLAND SENT THIS OVER.. THESE ARE AMAZING CARS AND LENNY IS THE EXPERT ON THESE BABIES. I HOPE TO SEE YOU DRIVING ONE SOON!=DP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JAGUAR ANNOUNCES AN ALL-NEW XF SUPERCHARGED MODEL FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN MARKET
Jaguar today announced the introduction of the 2010 Jaguar XF Supercharged, the fourth and newest member of its acclaimed XF lineup. The vehicle, a mid-year release, is powered by a 470 hp version of the 5.0-liter supercharged AJ-V8 Gen III engine that debuted at this year’s Detroit Auto Show. The XF Supercharged will go on sale in October 2009, and will be priced starting at $68,000 MSRP.
“The Jaguar XF Supercharged will offer consumers a compelling luxury sedan choice with benchmark handling ability and truly memorable performance,” says Mike O’Driscoll, Managing Director, Jaguar Cars. “This new luxury performance XF Supercharged sedan builds on the tremendous momentum Jaguar has achieved by introducing beautiful fast cars such as the XK sports car, the XF and the XKR and XFR models.”
At-A-Glance Highlights –
5.0-liter Supercharged AJ-V8 Gen III engine with 470hp (a 12% increase over the 4.2-liter 2009MY supercharged XF) and 424 lb/ft of torque
0-60 mph time of 4.9 seconds
Adaptive Dynamics (the latest in computer controlled continuously variable damping) and Active Differential Control (electronically controlled rear differential) are standard
Upgraded ventilated disc brakes
Interior features include: contrast color twin needle stitching on the instrument panel and door top rolls, Jaguar Suedecloth Premium headlining, Rich Oak veneer (unique to XF Supercharged only), 440W Bowers & Wilkins surround sound system, HD radio, and heated steering wheel
Exterior features include: unique 20” five triple-spoke Selena-style alloy wheels, “Supercharged” badging on rear trunk lid, quad polished exhaust tailpipes, and silver-gray painted brake calipers
Globally launched at Frankfurt Motor Show in 2007, the XF line has set new standards for the next generation of luxury sports cars. The XF Supercharged expands the already highly acclaimed model line that includes:
4.2-liter naturally aspirated XF (300 hp) with a $52,000 MSRP
5.0-liter naturally aspirated XF Premium (385 hp) with a $57,000 MSRP
5.0-liter supercharged XF Supercharged (470 hp) with a $68,000 MSRP
5.0-liter supercharged XFR (510 hp) with a $80,000 MSRP
NOTE: WE DID A SHOW RECENTLY ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS. THIS SEEMS TO GO AGAINST THE TREND OF BAILING AT THE SLIGHTEEST BAD NEWS. LET’S SEE HOW IT WORKS OUT FOR THEM.=DP
Subway Will Use Phelps in Ads Despite Bong Photo
By Jim Edwards | July 4th, 2009 @ 1:28 pm
Sandwich chain Subway will feature swimmer Michael Phelps in TV advertising from MMB, Ad Age reported. The news is significant because it answers a question raised by BNET in February over whether Subway’s consumers (and management) were adult enough to handle the news that Phelps was photographed smoking a marijuana bong after he returned home from the Olympics. At the time, BNET argued that Subway’s audience was primarily adults looking for lunch during their workday, and were therefore old and jaded enough to understand that just because Phelps had gotten stoned at a party did not mean that Subway was endorsing that, or vice versa. Subway was in a different position to Kellogg, which dropped Phelps as a sponsor immediately, because Kellogg’s audience is kids and their parents who don’t want to answer annoying questions from the rugrats about what that man is doing to that pipe over the breakfast table. The order of events suggests that Subway had considered this all along. Even though it removed all links to Phelps from its FreshBuzz site, Subway never outright kicked Phelps off its roster. With the smoke (ahem) cleared, it appears that Subway is willing to do something highly unusual in the advertising business: Proceed with a campaign featuring a man who has taken a drug that most adults believe is largely harmless, but that nonetheless causes hysteria among those who believe the opposite. Most brands aren’t mature enough to risk that.
Rudolph Giuliani’s Strategies for Tough Times Former mayor of New York City Rudolph Giuliani guided the city through one of our darkest days. His leadership skills will be forever linked to the events of 9/11. Here he shares his tips for leadership excellence with SUCCESS: Maintain your integrity. “Have a set of principles that you develop and can stick to in good times and bad.” Be courageous. “Whether on a daily basis or in times of crisis, organizations look to their leaders for courage in the face of adversity. Courage is the strength to act on strong beliefs, whatever the risk. When leaders remain steadfast in their adherence to principles, regardless of professional jeopardy, they generate confidence, loyalty and respect from their peers, employees and clients.” “Relentless preparation is key. Anticipate what is going to happen. Practice your response, and then afterward, study what actions you did take and what those results were.” Communicate goals and expectations. “Let people know what you expect of them. Not doing so is one of the biggest mistakes made.” Effective management of any organization requires clear goals and internal communication, both vertically and horizontally, in collective pursuit of those goals. Be accountable. “Use your own powers of observation rather than take someone else’s word for it. As human beings, we don’t always see things as they are. That’s why I believed it was important to go to the scene of an emergency, though some emergency management people would dispute that. For me, I have to make my own assessments, see with my own eyes. When you work with people you get to know who can observe accurately and who does not.”
One of the biggest mysteries in the region’s tumultuous housing market these days is: How much is that house worth?
Appraisers, real-estate agents, buyers and sellers across Central Florida are in a quandary about whether to include bargain-basement sales in the price mix when determining the value of a nearby, comparable home.
“It’s really causing havoc in the market right now,” said Les Simmonds, president of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. “Hopefully it will turn around as we go through inventory of foreclosures and other distress sales. But I want to emphasize that could take some time.”
The confusion over local home values in a changing market is compounded when it takes weeks — or even months — for actual sale prices to reach government and commercial Web sites. One nationwide Internet sales site is taking on that problem by rolling out next-day closing prices, with the hope that it will draw potential customers by helping take some of the guesswork out of determining the worth of nearby properties.
Realtor.com has started posting sale prices the day after the transactions close in 22 U.S. markets — including the Daytona Beach area, parts of Brevard, the Miami area and Northeast Florida.
Picking list price ‘an art’
“If you’re trying to track trends in your neighborhood, you can find out what homes sold for in 24 hours. You don’t have to wait 60 to 90 days,” said Julie Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the Web site, which serves as a national, consumer version of local Realtors’ well-known Multiple Listing Service. “With the rapidly changing market trends, especially in Florida, it’s an art to establish the right list price or the right bid.”
Current sales information also can affect homeowners who are considering whether to sell or refinance their property, she said. The sales information is available in the “Find Home Values” feature on Realtor.com’s home page.
Leah Selig, executive director of the Space Coast Association of Realtors, said her group voted to disclose its members’ sales-price information to the public on a next-day basis to give the Realtors’ Web site an advantage over competitors such as Zillow.com, which provides property listings and estimated home values for houses throughout the country.
“Some of these public sites are publishing data that is not always current or accurate,” Selig said. “And you’ve got consumers out there relying on that information when it’s really months old.”
Zillow posts sale prices within about three weeks of closings in most markets.
So far, the Orlando Realtor association, with members throughout the region, hasn’t embraced next-day reporting of sale prices. The group voted against the idea about a year ago, noting that the information typically becomes available on government Web sites within a few weeks of a closing, Simmonds said.
But he added that the Orlando group is likely to review its earlier position, perhaps as soon as next week.
Include ‘distress sales’?
Though quicker reporting of sale prices can give the public more-accurate snapshots of the home market as a moving target, it won’t untangle confusion over whether foreclosures and short sales should affect the value of other homes.
Orlando real-estate analysts have tried to keep such “distress sales” from sullying the rest of the housing pool by separating the two in monthly price reports. On the other hand, Orange County Property Appraiser Bill Donegan often includes foreclosures when his staff computes home values in particular neighborhoods.
The state Department of Revenue has advised county property appraisers that they are allowed to, but don’t have to, use foreclosure sales when determining the value of nearby properties. Donegan said his staff is factoring foreclosures into property values in areas that contain numerous bank-sold houses.
“It’s got to be more than one, or even five, foreclosures spread out among 3,000 houses,” Donegan said. He said his appraisers are “being awfully cautious, based on what they did before [the housing bubble deflated]. They’d rather be low than high.”
The Orlando Regional Realtor Association has taken to distinguishing between the prices paid for foreclosure properties and those paid for homes sold through conventional methods. In May, for instance, the median price paid for all distress sales was $140,000, compared with the $165,000 median for “normal” sales, the association said.
Simmonds said he thinks it’s important to categorize the two types of sales because people need to understand why prices overall have continued to drop, even as monthly sales volume has been improving compared with a year ago.
The music video features Spears sporting Candie’s apparel, footwear, jewelry and accessories. After she makes her Candie’s clad autumnal contribution, Spears will surrender her celebrity spokesperson role, said Iconix spokesperson Maria Dolgetta, who explained:
It’s part of the original agreement we announced back in March. We always do two seasons in these campaigns, spring and fall, and we do TV in fall for back to school. What we do with Candie’s is get a new celebrity spokesperson so we have a new face for the brand every year. Our customers embrace celebrity and are all about it. We’ll announce who our spokesperson for 2010 is, and that can happened some time from February to April next year.
So, Iconix has the tricky job of finding someone to follow Spears. “It’s going to be hard to top Britney,” Dolgetta said. “How do you follow Britney as an advertising and marketing focus, and create that excitement?”
Iconix will be on the lookout for someone who scores high in consumer name and image recognition. “We’re open as to who we go to as the next spokesperson,” she said. “We tend to lean toward music for Candie’s, but we haven’t started to brainstorm yet.”
The all new XJ brings a bold and daring new spirit to automotive luxury
MAHWAH, N.J., JULY 9, 2009 – Jaguar proudly revealed the all new 2010 Jaguar XJ today in London. The iconic XJ offers a seductive mix of striking design and robust performance made possible by Jaguar’s aerospace-inspired light weight aluminum body technology. The all new Jaguar XJ will go on sale in December 2009, with a starting price of $72,500 MSRP. It is available to order today for delivery in early 2010.
Building on the success of the XK and XF, the new XJ is the third step in the revitalization of the Jaguar brand and redefines the world’s perception of a large sports sedan. The new XJ will be available in both standard and long wheelbase models. The long wheelbase offers an even more sumptuous and refined environment for rear-seat passengers with an additional five inches of legroom while the XJ’s trunk features power opening and closing for convenient access to the 15.2 cu. ft. storage space (with standard alloy space saver spare wheel).
The all new Jaguar XJ brings new standards of sustainability to the luxury vehicle segment. Its lightweight aluminum structure makes it at least 300 lbs. lighter over steel body construction, and is made with 50 percent recycled material allowing the XJ to minimize its carbon footprint and create a potential savings of three tons of CO2 per vehicle, compared to a body shell made entirely of new aluminum. These aerospace-inspired aluminum body technologies also provide benefits to performance, handling and fuel economy, while delivering increased strength, refinement and safety.
“The launch of the all new Jaguar XJ marks a major milestone for Jaguar in North America, which is expected to be the world’s largest Jaguar XJ market,” says Gary Temple, President of Jaguar Land Rover North America. “The debut of our ultimate four-door flagship follows recent recognition for exceptional dependability and clearly demonstrates our commitment to producing the finest cars in the world – fast, beautiful cars that offer luxury, performance and first-rate quality.”
The first impression of the all new XJ is its visual assertiveness. The XJ’s sleek lines are complemented by a taut waistline, which further accentuates the impression of length and elegance, and creates a natural tension as it fades from the front arch into the middle section of the car before reappearing as a strong haunch towards the rear.
The new XJ offers a modern reinterpretation of a number of key XJ design cues while maintaining the highest standards of personal luxury. This is evident in how the strong, muscular lower half of the car contrasts with the slim and graceful quality of the roofline – a nod to the original 1968 XJ sedan.
A standard panoramic glass roof is an integral part of the all new XJ’s design, enabling the car to have a lower, more streamlined roofline, while dramatically enhancing the feeling of light and space inside. The LED light clusters wrap stylishly over the rear fenders, and feature three dramatic red vertical strips while the elongated teardrop shape of the side windows establishes the car’s silhouette. The rear of the all new XJ is notable for its pure, sculpted shape. With a conscious absence of ornamentation, the rear features only a single leaping Jaguar.
The face of the all new 2010 XJ is confident, with a wide front track and short overhang contributing to the finely judged proportions. The nose of the car follows Jaguar’s new design language with a bold and assertive treatment – the powerful mesh grille and slim xenon headlights create a strong road presence while the wrap-around rear screen reduces the visual weight of the pillars and gives the impression of an exotic “floating” roof.
“The new XJ is a thoroughly modern interpretation of the quintessential Jaguar,” says Ian Callum, Design Director, Jaguar Cars. “Its visual impact stems from the elongated teardrop shape of the car’s side windows; that powerful stance and its wide track. It is the most emphatic statement yet of Jaguar’s new design direction.”
The sleek design and refined luxury is continued inside the all new XJ by mixing newly advanced technologies and contemporary design to create an environment more akin to a state-of-the-art living space than a car cabin. The overriding impression from the interior is a sense of personal space that is enhanced by the clean, simple form of the leather-wrapped instrument panel sitting low across the vehicle. At the center of the instrument panel is an analog clock with individual chrome chaplets, a spun metal face and iridescent blue background; a look inspired by luxury watches.
The all new XJ’s cabin is a marvel in its own right, blending elegant, contemporary design with the comfort, luxury and unmistakable sporting style of a Jaguar. Chrome and piano black detailing provide an eye-catching contrast to the beautifully crafted leather and veneer surfaces. To further complement the cabin design is a level of choice in colors, veneers and leathers not seen before in a Jaguar. Four specification levels – XJ, XJL, Supercharged and Supersport – allow the customer to tailor the car to suit their tastes. The top-of-the-range Supersport provides the ultimate expression of performance and luxury, with a specification that includes a leather headlining, semi-aniline leather seats and veneers with laser inlays.
Stunning, 12.3-inch high-definition Virtual InstrumentsTM complement an innovative 8-inch Touch-screen that displays vehicle functions ranging from audio and video to navigation and climate control. Premium surround sound options include the top-of-the-range 1200W Bowers & Wilkins system, which is standard on the Supercharged and Supersport models. Advanced infotainment features also include hard drive-based audio and navigation systems, and comprehensive connectivity for portable audio and video devices via the powerful Media Hub.
The all new XJ’s beauty is much more than skin-deep. All engines transmit power through an enhanced version of Jaguar’s acclaimed electronically controlled, six-speed automatic transmission which has a fully-adaptive shift system that delivers extremely smooth gear changes and works to balance performance and economy.
With the XJ, Jaguar has built upon its leading quality performance using the latest virtual product technologies. These proven Jaguar dynamic technologies are taken to new levels in the all new XJ. Features such as air suspension, Adaptive Dynamics (continuously variable damping), Active Differential Control (on Supercharged and Supersport) and quick-ratio power steering deliver the blend of responsive, dynamic handling and a refined, supple ride expected from a Jaguar.
The new XJ will be available in the US with a choice of three engines – a 5.0 Liter 385 hp naturally aspirated V8, 5.0 Liter 470 hp supercharged V8 and a 5.0 Liter 510 hp supercharged V8. In naturally-aspirated form, the XJ develops 380 lb-ft of torque. The supercharged versions develop 424 lb-ft and 461 lb-ft of torque, respectively. All three engines combine deft performance, unparalleled character, peerless pedigree, and have a classic Jaguar blend of strength and precision.
The all new 2010 Jaguar XJ delivers a driving experience that is just as memorable as the car’s sleek and alluring appearance, combining responsive, sporting dynamics with the luxurious drive expected from a Jaguar.
All New Jaguar XJ At-A-Glance
As the company’s ultimate four-door flagship, the all new XJ extends the appeal of the legendary XJ line to a new generation of customers.
The all new XJ will be available in the US with a choice of three engines – a 5.0 Liter 385 hp naturally aspirated V8, 5.0 Liter 470 hp supercharged V8 and a 5.0 Liter 510 hp supercharged V8. In naturally-aspirated form, the XJ develops 380 lb-ft of torque. The supercharged versions develop 424 lb-ft and 461 lb-ft of torque, respectively.
The new XJ features both standard and long wheelbase models. The long wheelbase offers an even more sumptuous and refined environment for rear-seat passengers with an additional five inches of legroom while the XJ’s trunk features power opening and closing for convenient access to the 15.2 cu. ft. storage space (with standard alloy space saver spare wheel).
The new Jaguar XJ is constructed using Jaguar’s aerospace-inspired aluminum body technology, which makes the XJ at least 300 lbs. lighter over steel body construction; providing benefits to performance, handling and fuel economy, while delivering increased strength, refinement and safety.
Key driver aids on the new XJ include Adaptive Dynamics (continuously variable damping), Active Differential Control (available only on Supercharged and Supersport), and Sequential Shift System for manual gear selection, with shift paddles mounted behind the steering wheel and quick-ratio power steering.
The new XJ comes standard with a CD/DVD player, HD radio, and a SIRIUS™ satellite radio receiver. In addition, the Media Hub provides flexible connectivity through two USB ports, Bluetooth® audio streaming and an auxiliary input, which allow the user to connect with iPods®, iPhones™, laptops and Blackberrys®.
A 12.3-inch high-definition screen, which uses sophisticated – and beautifully detailed – Virtual InstrumentsTM, provides all of the functions performed by traditional dials.
A panoramic glass roof is an integral part of the all new XJ’s design, enabling the car to have a lower, more streamlined roofline, while dramatically enhancing the feeling of light and space inside.
The all new Jaguar XJ can be ordered today for delivery in early 2010 and will go on sale in December 2009, with a starting price of $72,500 MSRP.
The All New XJ Model Line Will Include:
5.0 Liter naturally aspirated XJ and XJL (385 hp) with a $72,500 and 79,500 MSRP, respectively
5.0 Liter XJ and XJL Supercharged (470 hp) with a $87,500 and $90,500 MSRP, respectively
5.0 Liter XJ and XJL Supersport (510 hp) with a $112,000 and $115,000 MSRP, respectively
<<Jaguar XJ_06_USA_low resb.jpg>>
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — After several months of growing optimism about the state of the economy, suddenly there’s a lot of concern that a recovery has come off the tracks.
A June employment report included an unexpected jump in job losses. That was followed by last week’s report of a nearly 5% decline in June year-over-year sales at major retailers other than discounter Wal-Mart Stores (WMT, Fortune 500), which no longer releases monthly results.
The gloomier economic outlook has hurt stocks, and prompted talk among some economists and policymakers about whether a new round of economic stimulus is needed to get the economy growing sooner.
But there are still many economists who believe the early signs of a turnaround in the economy are there — and growing.
They’re not saying the recession that started 19 months ago is already over. But many believe the economy will reach bottom and finally start to improve as soon as late summer. Some even believe employers could again start adding jobs before the end of this year.
“It would have certainly been better if the jobs report had continued to show improvement,” said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of Economic Cycle Research Institute, which specializes in calling when the economy will turn from recession to recovery and back again. “The fact that after a few steps forward we had a step back doesn’t negate the indicators pointing to a recovery this summer.”
Reasons for encouragement: There are several factors accounting for these economists’ optimism.
They say that business inventories have been cut so deep that production will need to start to resume simply to keep minimal supply of product on shelves.
In the auto industry, for example, General Motors is restarting six of its assembly lines Monday after what was typically a two-week summer shutdown was extended to up to three months this year.
Chrysler Group also had its own extended shutdown as it went through the bankruptcy process. Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500), after cutting production plans repeatedly, recently announced it was increasing third-quarter production by 25,000 to deal with low inventories of some of its more popular vehicles.
The same kind of inventory bounce back is likely to be seen in many other industries, according to the economists who see a recovery sooner rather than later. They say much of the drop in gross domestic product, the broad measure of the nation’s economic activity, at the end of 2008 and the first three months of 2009 came from businesses slamming the brakes on production due to excess inventories.
“If you just stop cutting inventory, you add $80 to $90 billion to GDP. That’s pretty impressive,” said Robert Brusca of FAO Economics.
The severe job cutting done by businesses over the past year is another reason some economists are expecting a bounceback sooner rather than later. They say the low employment levels should help corporate income rebound relatively quickly once demand starts to build again.
Thomson Reuters is forecasting two more quarters of double-digit percentage earnings declines in the second and third quarter, but a 187% jump in income among S&P 500 companies in the fourth quarter as they move to put the year-earlier losses behind them. That could be a key to employers hiring again, according to some economists.
“You have a super-lean corporate sector that should be able to generate earnings fairly quickly,” said Joseph Carson, chief economist at AllianceBernstein. “You usually need the health of the corporate sector to flow to the labor markets, and I think that’s the way this is playing out.”
Jump in confidence: The Conference Board’s CEO Confidence Index released last week showed a huge jump, with nearly 55% of business leaders expecting economic conditions to improve in the next six months, up from only about 17% in the previous reading three months ago.
Lynn Franco, director of the business research group’s consumer research center, said that kind of jump in CEO confidence is a good predictor that spending on capital spending is about to increase, even if management will be more cautious about hiring again.
But businesses might not be the only ones poised to start spending again. Many economists believe there is pent-up demand among consumers that will cause a rebound in spending, once confidence in the labor market stabilizes.
“Even people with jobs have been pulling back on spending, concerned they’re going to be next,” said Brusca. “I think the people with jobs will spend a little more freely when they’re less concerned about the economy.”
Achuthan said two factors giving him hope are that the financial stimulus bill passed earlier this year has yet to have much effect on spending and jobs, and that credit markets are still constrained by troubled assets due to the problems in the housing market and foreclosures. He said it’s possible both those things could change quickly before the end of the year.
“If the stimulus dollars start to hit, and the financial system starts to behave more normally, there is a wall of money that will begin to flow through the economy,” he said.
NOTE: THE FLORIDA HOUSING MARKET CONTINUES TO REBOUND, SOME SAY “AS GOES HOUSING, SO GOES THE STATE’S ECONOMY”. MORE TRIPS TO HOME DEPOT, LOWE’S AND OTHER RETAILERS, MORE WORK FOR CONTRACTORS ETC…GREAT STUFF!=DP
Realtors see Ocala sales soar Existing home sales up sharply over last year, but prices fall
By Fred Hiers Staff writer Friday, July 24, 2009 at 12:12 a.m.
The Ocala housing market got its largest boost in more than a year, when sales of previously occupied homes jumped 63 percent last month compared to a year ago. The Florida Association of Realtors reported Thursday that sales by its realtors jumped to 311 in June, compared to 191 in June 2008, for the Ocala area. Bert Meadows, president of the Marion County Association of Realtors, said the report shows that prospective buyers were no longer riding the fence but were starting to take advantage of low interest rates and cuts in home prices. “We’re beginning to see buyers come out of the woodwork … and they’re making offers,” Meadows said. “I just think we’re getting people that were sitting and waiting and now are deciding to buy.” Ocala’s spike in sales of existing homes was the second-largest among the 19 metropolitan areas in the report. Only the Fort Myers-Cape Coral area showed a larger jump, with a 137 percent increase. The rise in June was too large to be a fluke, Meadows said, and reflects a wider trend in home sales in Florida. The Ocala sales spike was the fifth consecutive month-to-month increase. While climbing unemployment has undermined sales in the past, Meadows said, people in the market to buy now feel secure enough financially to take the plunge. Marion County’s June unemployment was 12.6 percent, up from May’s 12.1 percent. “All in all, I think we’ve see the bulk of the unemployment,” Meadows said. Also fueling sales are tumbling home prices, according to the Florida Association of Realtors report. The average home sales price for Ocala area properties sold by a realtor was $107,800, down 28 percent from a year ago. While that hurts sellers, Meadows said, it is helping flush out three years worth of housing inventory for the county. The June sales report marked Florida’s 10th consecutive increase in year-to-year comparison homes sales. But statewide, sales prices also dropped 28 percent, from a median of $205,300 during June 2008 to $148,000 last month. Although median prices fell statewide, home sales prices experienced a 2.49 percent increase from May to June. Meadows thinks the Florida Homebuyer Opportunity Program is helping boost sales. The program, administered by Florida’s counties, gives first-time homebuyers up to $8,000 to help with down payments and closing costs, which is reimbursed by a federal income tax refund. Also attracting buyers is the continuing low interest rate, Meadows said. A 30-year-fixed rate mortgage currently averages 5.42 percent. Those and other incentives were enough to get people like Shannon Robinson and her family to start looking. Robinson, 28, and her husband are currently negotiating with their bank to buy a three-bedroom, two-bath home. “Our mortgage payment is only going to be $100 more a month than what we’re paying in rent now,” she said. “And the $8,000 tax credit is a nice little incentive to buy a home. The prices are low … so we decided now’s the time to buy.” The real estate market is also improving across the rest of the country, according to National Association of Realtors. For the first time in five years, sales of previously occupied homes rose for the third consecutive month in June, while foreclosure sales and the glut of homes on the market both declined. Sales also have risen for three straight months in 40 out of 55 major metropolitan areas tracked by the Associated Press-Re/Max Housing Report, also released Thursday. Prices rose during that period in about half of those areas. Florida Realtors also reported a 39 percent rise in statewide sales of existing condominiums in June.
TAVARES — Lake County officials reported tourist tax collections were up 34 percent in May compared to the same month in 2008.
Officials were quick to point out, however, that total tourism revenues were down 17 percent for the first eight months of the fiscal year compared to the previous year.
The money comes from the bed tax visitors pay when they stay in area hotels.
Festivals like Leesburg Bikefest set attendance records, but officials said many of the visitors were daytrippers and did not spend the night at a hotel.
The county collects about $2 million a year in taxes on tourists.
Bruce Rossmeyer, whose empire of Harley-Davidson dealerships made him the company’s largest dealer, was killed in Wyoming in a motorcycle crash, sources confirmed.
Rossmeyer, 66, of Ormond Beach, was traveling with a group of friends on his way to the Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota.
Wyoming Highway Patrol officials confirmed there was a fatal motorcycle crash involving a Florida resident on Wyoming Highway 28 near Pinedale, but refused to release further details.
Rossmeyer’s family is expected to release a statement soon.
From his first dealership in Daytona Beach in 1994, Rossmeyer amasssed an empire of 15 Harley-Davidson dealerships and retail stores, from South Florida to Tennessee and Memphis to Colorado.
The crowning jewel was Destination Daytona, a 150-acre resort for bikers off Interstate 95 with hotels, condominiums, restaurants and stores anchored by his big-box-size dealership, which ranks as the largest dealership.
Rossmeyer made his face synonymous with motorcycles. If you haven’t seen his highway billboards, you may spot the portly magnate on TV ads with Geico’s gecko.
He had recently left Denver, Colo. and was meeting with the Hamsters, a group of custom motorcycle builders in Thermopolis, Wy., in the western outskirts of the state.
Around 11 a.m., Rossmeyer was traveling with a pack of other riders on Wyoming Highway 28, between Lander and Farson. He was the last rider of the group and he was struck by an RV, which strayed into his lane, according to witnesses.
Rossmeyer was on his way to the Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota, one of the nation’s largest biker rallies.
In Sturgis, news of his death shocked the many attendees who have arrived at the rally, said Woody Woodruff, owner of the Buffalo Chip Campground, a Sturgis landmark.
“His death is going to change the entire motorcycle industry,” Woodruff said. “You have movers and shakers and Bruce was definitely a mover and shaker. He made things happen. You lose someone like that and it creates a big void.”
Rossmeyer is survived by his wife Sandy, five children, and many grandchildren.
NOTE: DEALS ARE CERTAINLY OUT THERE AS THIS STORY ON FOX 35 TODAY NOTES. LIKE HOUSES, CARS, TRAVEL…PRICES ARE REACHING LEVELS THAT ARE MAKING ORLANDO CONSUMERS ACT! GOOD NEWS!=DP
Now may be a good time to buy a boat
Updated: Wednesday, 29 Jul 2009, 6:08 PM EDT Published : Wednesday, 29 Jul 2009, 5:01 PM EDT ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) – A glimmer of good in the bad economy-falling prices means you might be able to buy things that used to be out of reach such as a pretty sweet boat. It might be a great time for your family to jump in. Regal Boats has been in business in south Orlando for 40 years. The family owned boat building company crafts some big ticket toys, from 19 foot sport boats, to 52 foot yachts. “This is the most challenging time his company has seen since 1973,” said Regal Boats President Duane Kuck. An industry study also shows that boat manufacturing as a whole is down about 70 percent since the recession began. Kuck mentions that his sales are down about 20 percent in the last year because more people are holding onto their money but he says with demand low, and supplies high, many manufactures and dealers offer incentives to buy now. Right now, a small boat cost about as much as your average car, around $25,000.00, a big 40 footer can cost as much as your average four bedroom house $300,000.00. Some of the incentives right now to buy these toys range from about $2,000.00 on the small boats up to $40,000.00 on the bigger ones. “This is the best time to buy that I’ve ever seen, and I don’t think it’s going to be repeated. I think there has been some excess inventory out there at the dealers and once that inventory is reduces, those incentives are going to go away, so incredible time to purchase,” said Kuck. Florida ranks number one in the country in number of boats but per-capita only 20th. Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes, ranks first where there’s one boat for every six people.
The number of retired individuals entering the exciting world of entrepreneurship is at an all-time record high. Many retired people starting their own businesses are now doing so purely as a matter of economics: having lost much of their retirement investments they feel compelled to earn an income but either cannot, or do not wish to go back to working for someone else.Like most people entering business, even seniors may need to raise start-up cash. But rather than dip even further into retirement funds, you should consider a small business loan. You could end up paying taxes or other penalties for early withdrawal from 401k plans, etc., but interest paid on a business loan might be tax deductible on IRS Form Schedule C.
To increase your chances of securing a loan, you should prepare a business plan and be ready to show a personal financial statement to lenders. If you are already in business, you should submit a full set of financial statements to the lender. These include a recent balance sheet, a profit and loss statement, a statement of cash flows, and notes to the financial statements.
The White House pressured the Senate to replenish “cash for clunkers” Monday, as auto dealers across Central Florida and the rest of the nation continued to register strong sales from eager customers taking advantage of the rebate program.
Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s spokesman, said the CarAllowance Rebate System is up and running but could shut down by Friday if the Senate doesn’t act.
A victim of its own success, CARS ran out of money in its first official week of operation. The House voted to provide another $2 billion before leaving for summer break last week. But the Senate would have to approve that as well before its vacation starts this Friday.
In Central Florida, Jason Tulchinsky, general sales manager forFord of Clermont, said his dealership has done about 25 “clunker” deals since the program began and was continuing to deliver cars to customers.
It will keep on doing that at least through today, regardless of what Congress does or doesn‘t to about adding to the $1 billion in original funding, Tulchinsky said.
“Corporate told us we have at least until midnight Tuesday to log deals — that they will be covered at least through then,” he said.
Jack Starling, general manager of Starling Chevrolet-Cadillac in DeLand, said the clunker program has helped bring in customer traffic to his store.
He said it’s helping to remove a lot of older vehicles from the road and put more people into fuel-efficient cars. “I’m a big fan of that,” he said.
CARS provides consumers with $3,500 or $4,500 in incentives for trading in gas guzzlers. Government officials estimated the original funding would be enough for about 250,000 deals.
The government rebate has had a decidedly positive impact on Ford sales, helping push the company’s July 2009 sales up 2 percent from the same month a year ago, the company said Monday. It was the company’s first U.S. sales increase in nearly two years.
“We had another strong month in progress [even] before the ‘cash for clunkers’ program started,” said Ken Czubay, a Ford vice president of marketing, sales and service.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood ducked when asked if the program will be suspended if the Senate does not vote to replenish coffers before lawmakers go on vacation later this week. Instead, he said “I believe the Senate will pass it this week.”
The administration said the average fuel economy of new vehicles purchased through the program is nearly 10 miles per gallon higher than for the vehicles traded in for scrap.
LaHood said some 80 percent of the traded-in vehicles are pickups or sports utility vehicles, meaning many gas-guzzlers are being taken off the road, and the Ford Focus is a leading replacement vehicle.
Fierce lobbying to extend funding for CARS also came from the National Automobile Dealers Association and the American International Automobile Dealers, which contacted thousands of dealerships, telling them to bombard the Senate with phone calls and e-mails.
“This is the one true stimulus that seems to be working out of all the things that have been tried in the last few months,” said Cody Lusk, president of the international group.
Meanwhile, dealers learned that the $3,500 or $4,500 the government contributes towards the cost of a new car is taxable income for dealers, but not for consumers. Trade organizations last week were suggesting that it would not be taxable for either, but the Internal Revenue Service clarified its position.
And dealers no longer must permanently disable the engines in the “clunker” trade-ins before they apply for the CARS money but must do so within one week of receiving the funds.
This prevents dealers from essentially destroying the value of a clunker before it is learned whether funds remain available to pay for it.
Many employees run quick background checks on candidates by searching for their blogs and social networking profiles. It’s a strategy that can help the hiring process — if it’s done the right way to avoid legal troubles.
Here are the top four ways Googling applicants can lead to legal trouble, according to attorney Joseph Beachboard, speaking at the recent Society for Human Resources Management Annual Conference in New Orleans:
Caregiver or disability bias – Hiring managers may find information on social networking sites that they would never ask about in an interview — for example, pictures of a female candidate with her young children, or details about the applicant’s struggle with a disability. Even though managers may not think about discriminating against working mothers or people with disabilities, if they know that information and turn the person down, the applicant could have ammo for a lawsuit.
Privacy violations – A lot of what applicants put online is public. But not everything, and accessing things that are deemed private could get managers in trouble. In one recent case, a group of employees were members of a private, password-protected group on MySpace where they often complained about work. A manager wrangled the password out of a worker, went to the site and fired the creators of the group for “unprofessionalism.” The employees sued, claiming the company had no right to see their private site. A jury agreed and awarded the employees $17,000 in back pay and damages.
Legal, after hours activities – Several states prohibit employees from denying a job to someone based on their legal, non-work activities. That may include things like chugging booze — though if you can show a connection between the behavior and an inability to do the job, you’re usually OK. But other activities might show up — for example, political protests or union activities — that are more clearly off limits for hiring decisions.
Fair Credit Reporting Act – If you use a third party service to conduct certain types of background checks, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that you give the applicant prior notice. In some states, such as California, you have to give notification even if you’re doing the check yourself. Does that including checking out someone’s Facebook profile?. Experts don’t know for sure, and probably won’t until a test case is brought to court.
If your managers do Google applicants, what’s the best way to proceed? The biggest key, Beachboard says, is focusing on job-related information only. Give managers a list of what they might look for and tell them to only record information that can legally be used in the hiring process.
The latest report for existing-home sales in the Orlando area, released Tuesday, showed prices rising a bit in July for a second month in a row, but the number of sales fell slightly last month from the previous month for the first time this year.
The July numbers underscored how much the market has changed in just the past year. For instance, though the number of homes sold was up 45 percent from July 2008, the median sales price was down 35 percent, according to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, which issues the monthly report for the core Orlando market.
Realtors in the core market measured by the association — mainly Orange and Seminole counties — expressed optimism about the coming months, noting the steep increase of members’ pending sales, which in July jumped to 7,713 contracts compared with only 3,258 a year ago. Because of extended periods of time that bank-owned homes take to process and banks’ cautious lending tactics, some of these contracts may not come to fruition.
“Pending sales is an accepted economic indicator of future sales activity,” association President Les Simmonds said. “But we are seeing a bottleneck in this category due to the extended length of time it takes to complete transactions involving bank-owned and distressed homes.
“Another good indicator of future market activity,” Simmonds added, “is the number of newly filed contracts, which in July was 3,696 and the most in a single month this year.”
Meanwhile, the backlog of unsold homes has been cut in half during the past year to an 8.1-month supply, while the average number of days a house spends on the market has shrunk considerably less, from 116 to 103.
Among the factors driving sales in July: a slight drop in interest rates to a nationwide average of 5.34 percent for a 30-year loan, and the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers.
First-timer Brian Smith said he feels his patience is paying off.
“For years I watched in wonder as real-estate prices skyrocketed out of control and listened to everybody say, ‘You can’t lose money in real estate,’” said Smith, who is now shopping for a condominium. “… I saw that as a sign to keep out. And now that the old adage has been proven wrong — I think it’s finally time.”
Kathleen Gallagher-McIver, president-elect of the Orlando Realtors group, said first-time buyers are beginning to realize that they may not have time to shop foreclosure properties and still close on a sale before December — the deadline to qualify for the tax credit. Foreclosure purchases have become competitive and complicated, she said — two weeks ago, she saw 15 bids on a foreclosed home in Winter Garden.
“This $8,000 first-time buyer credit — it is bringing people into the market like crazy,” Gallagher-McIver said. “There are a lot of buyers out there, and they’re going for the most-available homes — and they’re not short sales.”
She also noted that several other forces are making the home-buying process tougher and lengthier: “A lot of appraisals are coming in low, and it’s slowing up the sales. … People aren’t qualifying for the financing. We’re losing deals that way, too.”
Tim Becker, director of the University of Florida‘s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies, said the uncertain employment outlook could still dim “the light at the end of the tunnel that is getting brighter.” But Orlando, he added, is poised to rebound faster than some other parts of the state because of the area’s diverse employment base.
Banks and investors will remain conservative about putting money into real estate as long as there is “still a big difference between what sellers are asking and what buyers are willing to pay,” Becker said. In July, for example, the average sales price amounted to 94 percent of the average asking price — a gap that has been relatively consistent since prices began declining from their record high in July 2007.
THE SECRET: Explain quantifiably what the customer gets from your offering, using simple, everyday words. Let’s look at an example. I recently received this sales message from a reader. While it’s well-meaning, it shows exactly what NOT to do. Here it is: ORIGINAL: “It’s really very cool! Because we specialize in automated workflow solutions, our customers hire us to build, implement or update digital documentation solutions/‘The paperless office’ and incorporate streamlined workflow solutions that move them toward greater profitability and increased business valuation.” Let’s start with what’s right about the message: a true attempt was made to make the message compelling and customer-focused. Unfortunately, that attempt fails because the overall viewpoint and choice of words are all about the vendor and its products, not about the customer’s story. In addition, it’s way too long. Spoken in a regularly-paced voice, it takes around 25 seconds to get it that mouthful actually out of a mouth. I can’t imagine anybody listening to that spiel with going at least a little glassy-eyed. But it’s not just the length, it’s the contents, which are heavy on biz-blab and buzzwordery. Let’s deconstruct it: “It’s really very cool! — The fact that you have to say so at the beginning shows that you know it’s not cool. Because we specialize in… – Beginning with a “we” statement shows that the message is about the the vendor not the customer, a theme that carries through almost the entire message. …automated workflow solutions… – Because I’ve worked in high tech for decades, I’m pretty sure what’s meant by this techie term, but I doubt if many customers would know (or care). …our customers hire us to build, implement or update… – To most reasonable people, “build” and “implement” are the same thing? However, to a programmer, “building” is writing the code and “implementing” is installing and customizing the actual system. So this is techie jargon. …digital documentation solutions… – Say what? I once wrote a book entitled “Document Databases” and I’m still not sure what’s meant by this term. …The paperless office… – This is just high falutin’ nonsense. Every year since the PC was invented, printer sales and paper sales, have mushroomed. Face it: the paperless office is as likely as the paperless toilet. Not gonna happen. …and incorporate streamlined workflow solutions… – Again with the “workflow solutions” — as if once wasn’t more than enough. And what does “incorporate” mean? That the solution is going to be it’s own business with its own tax id? And “streamlined” is just a throwaway word. According to who? Compared to what? …that move them toward greater profitability and increased business valuation.”… — Almost as an afterthought, we finally get to some customer benefit. Unfortunately, they are vague and trite. What would work better? Turns out that the service this company provides is actually quite useful, although you’d never know it from that turkey of a sales message. Here’s a better one: REWRITE: Our customers save millions of dollars by using a computer to scan and control their paper documents and approval processes. Here’s why this message works. It’s short and sweet. You can say the entire sentence in a casual speaking voice in just seven seconds. It’s about the customer. It explains what customers do with the product, not what the product does. It has a quantifiable benefit. Further detail about “how many millions” (assuming real case studies exist) can be provided later. It omits buzzwords. Instead it explains what the customer is doing in simple, easily-understandable words. Here’s another example that came in about five minutes after I posted the above: ORIGINAL: “Customers use our application to help them rapidly deploy business plans throughout their operations, it cascades high level objectives quicker and most effectively than existing systems.” Once again, an attempt was made to make the message customer-focused, but the message is all about what the product does, with some vague promises tacked on. The phrases “deploy…operation” and “cascades…objectives” are biz-blab, while the words “rapidly”, “quicker” and “more effectively” are meaningless because they’re unquantifiable. So here’s my rewrite: REWRITE: Our customers spend 15% less on management overhead because our software helps their teams focus on what’s important. Get it? You just explain quantifiably what the customer gets from your offering, using simple, everyday words. THE SECRET: Explain quantifiably what the customer gets from your offering, using simple, everyday words. Let’s look at an example. I recently received this sales message from a reader. While it’s well-meaning, it shows exactly what NOT to do. Here it is: ORIGINAL: “It’s really very cool! Because we specialize in automated workflow solutions, our customers hire us to build, implement or update digital documentation solutions/‘The paperless office’ and incorporate streamlined workflow solutions that move them toward greater profitability and increased business valuation.” Let’s start with what’s right about the message: a true attempt was made to make the message compelling and customer-focused. Unfortunately, that attempt fails because the overall viewpoint and choice of words are all about the vendor and its products, not about the customer’s story. In addition, it’s way too long. Spoken in a regularly-paced voice, it takes around 25 seconds to get it that mouthful actually out of a mouth. I can’t imagine anybody listening to that spiel with going at least a little glassy-eyed. But it’s not just the length, it’s the contents, which are heavy on biz-blab and buzzwordery. Let’s deconstruct it: “It’s really very cool! — The fact that you have to say so at the beginning shows that you know it’s not cool. Because we specialize in… – Beginning with a “we” statement shows that the message is about the the vendor not the customer, a theme that carries through almost the entire message. …automated workflow solutions… – Because I’ve worked in high tech for decades, I’m pretty sure what’s meant by this techie term, but I doubt if many customers would know (or care). …our customers hire us to build, implement or update… – To most reasonable people, “build” and “implement” are the same thing? However, to a programmer, “building” is writing the code and “implementing” is installing and customizing the actual system. So this is techie jargon. …digital documentation solutions… – Say what? I once wrote a book entitled “Document Databases” and I’m still not sure what’s meant by this term. …The paperless office… – This is just high falutin’ nonsense. Every year since the PC was invented, printer sales and paper sales, have mushroomed. Face it: the paperless office is as likely as the paperless toilet. Not gonna happen. …and incorporate streamlined workflow solutions… – Again with the “workflow solutions” — as if once wasn’t more than enough. And what does “incorporate” mean? That the solution is going to be it’s own business with its own tax id? And “streamlined” is just a throwaway word. According to who? Compared to what? …that move them toward greater profitability and increased business valuation.”… — Almost as an afterthought, we finally get to some customer benefit. Unfortunately, they are vague and trite. What would work better? Turns out that the service this company provides is actually quite useful, although you’d never know it from that turkey of a sales message. Here’s a better one: REWRITE: Our customers save millions of dollars by using a computer to scan and control their paper documents and approval processes. Here’s why this message works. It’s short and sweet. You can say the entire sentence in a casual speaking voice in just seven seconds. It’s about the customer. It explains what customers do with the product, not what the product does. It has a quantifiable benefit. Further detail about “how many millions” (assuming real case studies exist) can be provided later. It omits buzzwords. Instead it explains what the customer is doing in simple, easily-understandable words. Here’s another example that came in about five minutes after I posted the above: ORIGINAL: “Customers use our application to help them rapidly deploy business plans throughout their operations, it cascades high level objectives quicker and most effectively than existing systems.” Once again, an attempt was made to make the message customer-focused, but the message is all about what the product does, with some vague promises tacked on. The phrases “deploy…operation” and “cascades…objectives” are biz-blab, while the words “rapidly”, “quicker” and “more effectively” are meaningless because they’re unquantifiable. So here’s my rewrite: REWRITE: Our customers spend 15% less on management overhead because our software helps their teams focus on what’s important. Get it? You just explain quantifiably what the customer gets from your offering, using simple, everyday words. Why do so many people find this so difficult? I think it’s because some people (marketeers mostly) wrongly believe that it makes an offering seem more important if you trick the message out with high fallutin’ phraseology. And that’s a shame, because chances are your product really does do something “cool” for the customer. But unless you can express it simply and easily, you’re throwing away sales opportunities. Why do so many people find this so difficult? I think it’s because some people (marketeers mostly) wrongly believe that it makes an offering seem more important if you trick the message out with high fallutin’ phraseology. And that’s a shame, because chances are your product really does do something “cool” for the customer. But unless you can express it simply and easily, you’re throwing away sales opportunities.
The controversy continues around whether or not the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is more commonly referred to as the stimulus package, helps small businesses.
While the political debates rage, reports from around the country are starting to highlight examples of small businesses benefiting from the package. A few examples from the dozens of stories I’ve seen on this topic over the last few weeks include:
- The Boston Globe article A boost for the little guysdiscusses a stimulus package loan that is helping Red Barn Coffee Grocers, a small coffee shop and roaster. The article points out that they are “one of hundreds of small businesses in Massachusetts to benefit from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”
- The American Institute of Architects story Small Firm Takes Big Steps with Stimulus Funded Projectsdescribes how Substance Architecture, a 14 employee architecture firm in Des Moines, is getting work due the stimulus package. The article points out that the AIA estimates that $130 billion of the stimulus funding is for design and construction.
- ProPublica continues its excellent stimulus package coverage and now reports that more than 5800 highway projects have been approved and about 2300 are underway. From browsing through their detailed project data, it appears most of these projects have been awarded to small businesses.
A more personal example is my own very small (2 employee) business. We have upgraded our technical infrastructure and are saving money by taking advantage of the stimulus package extension of accelerated depreciation for certain assets.
The next six months will see a substantial increase in the amount of stimulus money moving into the economy. Because of this, the opportunities for small businesses to benefit – both directly and indirectly – will increase.
The association said as first-time home buyers rush to take advantage of a tax credit that expires this fall, home sales rose 7.2 percent in July, marking the fourth-straight monthly increase and the highest level of sales since August 2007.
In the Orlando market, 2,343 single-family homes sold in July, a 41 percent increase from 2008.
The price of homes in the Orlando market was down 29 percent, from $209,000 in July 2008 to $148,000 in July 2009.
For the Daytona Beach market, 755 single-family homes sold last month, a 27 percent increase from July 2008.
Home prices in Daytona Beach fell 23 percent in July, from $171,000 in 2008 to $131,000 this year.
WE TEST DROVE THE NEW 2010 BUICK LACROSSE THIS WEEKEND.
DOUG CHASE AT FOUNTAIN AUTOMALL ASKED US TO TAKE HOME THE BUICK LACROSSE ON SATURDAY NIGHT AND RETURN IT SUNDAY AFTERNOON. ALTHOUGH BUICK MAY NOT SEEM LIKE AN EXCITING BRAND I CAN TELL YOU THIS; FROM THE MINUTE WE LAID EYES ON THIS CAR WE WERE VERY EXCITED TO DRIVE IT. FIRST, THE LACROSSE HAS TAKEN SOME VERY PROMINENT DESIGN CUES FROM BUICK’S SUCCESSFUL ENCLAVE CROSSOVER VEHICLE. MY WIFE IS ALREADY A FAN OF THE ENCLAVE SO, THE EXTERIOR STYLING OF THE LACROSSE SAT VERY WELL WITH HER. OVERALL, I’D GIVE THE 2010 LACROSSE HIGH MARKS FOR EXTERIOR STYLING.
AS FOR THE INTERIOR, BUICK HAS CRAFTED A MASTERPIECE INSIDE THE 2010 LACROSSE. FROM THE STITCHING ON THE LEATHER TO THE TASTEFUL WOOD TRIM THIS CAR JUST OOZES STYLE. THE COCKPIT GIVES THE DRIVER A SENSE OF POWER AND CONTROL . THE NAVIGATION AND BACK UP CAMERA SCREEN IS LARGE AND EASY TO SEE. THE DASH IS LOADED WITH FEATURES YET SOMEHOW VERY EASY TO USE.
THE LACROSSE HAS THE SMOOTH RIDE YOU WOULD EXPECT FROM A BUICK. HOWEVER, THIS CAR DID NOT HAVE ANY OF THE CLUNKINESS OR HEAVY FEELING THAT SOME PEOPLE MAY ASSOCIATE WITH BUICK. IN FACT, THE BUICK LACROSSE WAS VERY PEPPY. QUICK, SMOOTH ACCELERATION. ADEQUATE BRAKING. AMPLE BACK SEAT WITH AN EXTRA LARGE TRUNK AND MASSIVE SUNROOF. ALL THIS FOR JUST A LITTLE OVER $36K MSRP. OF COURSE, TAX, TAG, TITLE AND FEES ARE EXTRA BUT, THAT PRICE DOES NOT INCLUDE ANY DISCOUNTS OR REBATES YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR. IT MAY TAKE YEARS FOR AMERICAN AUTOMAKERS TO WREST THE LUXURY CAR TITLE AWAY FROM FOREIGN BRANDS BUT, IN ORDER TO DO IT THE FIRST THING THEY WILL NEED ARE CARS LIKE THE 2010 BUICK LACROSSE.
Orlando’s July unemployment rate hit 11 percent — a level not reached since October 1975 when the jobless rate was 11.5 percent, according to Workforce Central Florida.
The rate is nearly double the 6.2 percent rate recorded during the same month a year ago.
Lake and Osceola counties, at 11.6 percent, recorded the highest rate in Central Florida. Lake’s June rate was 11.3 percent and Osceola’s was 11.5 percent.
Orange County’s 10.9 percent rate recorded in June held firm in July, but Seminole County went from 10.3 percent in June to 10.4 percent in July.
The jobless rate statewide mirrored the numbers recorded in Orlando, but was substantially higher than the 9.7 percent rate nationwide for both June and July. The state’s jobless rate for July 2008 was 6.6 percent and the national rate was 6 percent.
Be alert, vigilant and responsive to criticism of your company, products and services — it could hurt your bottom line.
September 30, 2009
Defending your business online can be a matter of survival. Companies that ignore damaging and often malicious attacks are taking a big risk. And the danger is growing as negative comments are increasingly being posted online in blogs, chat rooms, online industry forum boards and consumer protection and public service sites.
Even small and medium-size businesses are being attacked, not just the bigger, more obvious targets of consumer displeasure, such as large insurance companies and mortgage bankers. Online assaults and intentional misrepresentations of your company, products and corporate ethics can easily affect local and national consumer opinion if they are not addressed.
Some of them may be from customers who are genuinely upset — perhaps with good reason — but they may also be posted anonymously by competitors seeking to put you at a disadvantage or to cause your clients or potential partners to think again before finalizing a big deal. Other possible culprits: angry ex-employees, or even their family members and friends, who want to create doubts about your reputation. Whatever the source, damaging words can slow sales or raise questions that could be hard to erase.
To protect yourself, designate someone in your company to regularly monitor the large search engines and industry Web sites for references to your company, your products and key staffers. Also, consider using online surveillance services, such as Giga Alert or TruReputation, that will constantly monitor and automatically alert you by e-mail with indexed results based on keywords, such as names of your product lines, your company and your subsidiaries. You may even want to include the names of your competitors as search words just to keep tabs on what’s being said about them, too. That’s a legitimate form of business intelligence gathering.
Search engines, consumer protection Web sites, message boards and public service sites where complaints are often posted usually won’t remove an offending or defamatory post, even if it is patently false or, in your opinion, outrageous, without a court order. They have lots of legal immunity in the largely free world of the Internet. Open Web forums that don’t seek to influence content, such as corporate Web sites or union or advocacy sites, are immune from liability.
The best thing to do is attempt to track down online defamers through research. Try tactfully engaging them online, for instance, to learn more about who they are, who they may work for and the reason for their discontent. You may even threaten legal action against the individuals personally to persuade them to remove the posting. Sometimes an attack is posted surreptitiously by someone at a competing business, and you can send a legal notice to that business, too, if you show that the intent was malicious.
The chance of tracking down a defamatory poster who uses a pseudonym without a return e-mail address is fairly good if attempts are made quickly. Most Web sites and Internet service providers keep log files and e-mail access records for 30 to 90 days and will often comply with requests for basic information on where a post originated, even if they won’t remove it at your request.
Add your own posts on the same sites or blogs where offending posts appear. Identify yourself, and write tactfully and directly, using arguments and evidence to counter the attacks as well as offering examples of how highly customers value your products and services.
Another good practice is to periodically ask your best customers to report back to you on what they are seeing about you online. Loyal customers will appreciate being deputized to assist you.
Even though there are signs that the economy may be starting to turn around, this has been and continues to be a stressful year for most business owners. I often think stress should be spelled $tre$$. I cannot think of many jobs that pay a good amount of money that don’t also offer a good amount of stress. The interesting thing about entrepreneurship is that you can encounter stress either because you are busy and growing and making money — or because you are not. After many years of ups and downs, I have some tips on how to deal with stress in productive ways:
1. First, identify the real problem. Entrepreneurs often say they just need more sales or more credit. From my personal experience and from looking at other businesses, I have found that this is frequently just the symptom. More often, the problem is bad marketing, bad management or poor financial management (often pricing and debt-structuring mistakes). It might take someone with more expertise to analyze the situation and identify the weaknesses and solutions. Joining a business group, interviewing new accountants or reaching out to other business people you respect can make a huge difference.
2. Separate the fear from the anxiety. Fear is rational, a healthy emotion that keeps us from doing reckless things and helps keep us focused. Some would argue that starting a business is reckless, but I think it’s more of a calculated risk. In business, you have to manage fear and overpower it. Whether the tight rope is 100 feet up or 1,000 doesn’t make much difference. Don’t look down. Look straight ahead. Focus. Take action.
Anxiety, on the other hand, is unwarranted and irrational worrying. Do your best to recognize anxiety and eliminate it from your mind. I know, it’s easier said than done, but you do have to do it. Go to a professional if you have to. Exercise. Many studies have shown that exercise reduces stress.
3. Forgive yourself. Business is not easy, and there is no way that you can do business and not make mistakes. Wasting energy on looking back and feeling stupid is an exercise in futility that you cannot afford. Stop feeling guilty. Save that for the way you treat your spouse or children when you are in a bad mood. Stop that, too. You can do it. Roll with the punches.
4. Keep perspective. Look around you. Life is not fair. Horrible things happen every day, most of them not to you. Self-pity is kryptonite to the superman/superwoman entrepreneur. I have read many books on successful people. They all had serious problems along the way. Their success is as much about tenacity as it is about working hard or being smart.
5. Accept responsibility. There is no one to point fingers at. It’s all you. If you didn’t know that when you signed up, too bad. Now you have to figure out how to make it work. This is America. Everyone loves the underdog. (If you are not in America, never mind.) After you have accepted full responsibility, re-read No. 3.
6. I don’t want to sound trite, but you need to think positively. If you think negatively, you will fail. If things are so bad that you can’t do any of this, throw in the towel. Get it over with. Take the hit. There is no shame in failing. You took a shot. It didn’t work. The sooner you can get it over with, the sooner you can move on.
Entrepreneurship is not easy, and it is not for everyone. It can provide great rewards. It does get easier. It should get easier. It takes time.
Long gone are the days when Central Florida car and truck dealers zealously guarded their new models until that day in the fall, where customers lined up to see what was behind the curtain.
A lot of the 2010 car and truck models are already out — and have been for months. Still, there are some vehicles that haven’t made their formal 2010 debuts. Here are five that might qualify as happy surprises, especially to Orlando area dealerships eager for new products. “This is going to be a difficult year for everyone,” said Ian Riding, a sales manager for Sun State Ford in Orlando. “But the manufacturers have done their jobs, and now it’s our job to make sure our customers see them.”
2010 Honda Crosstour
Mark Cubarubbia, general manager of Classic Honda in Orlando, expects the average Crosstour buyer to be in his or her 40s, possibly buying it as a second vehicle for weekend travel or carpooling.
“I think it could bring some new buyers to Honda,” he said.
Such as? “Well,” Cubarubbia says, “do they still use the word ‘yuppie?’ Because that, I think, is the Crosstour’s demographic.”
Honda claims the Crosstour is part of the Accord line, but it’s unlike any Accord you’ve seen before. Its big, wagonish design, familiar on some other recent vehicles such as the BMW X6, is sort of a cross between an SUV and a station wagon.
Look for the Crosstour next month, starting in the mid- to high-$20,000 range.
European brands, such as Volkswagen, Audi and BMW, never gave up on the station wagon market, but with the advent of minivans and SUVs in the U.S., wagons fell out of favor. The CTS Sport Wagon from Cadillac hopes to reverse that trend.
“I think it’s going to be a major hit,” said Jack Starling, general manager of Starling Chevrolet-Cadillac in DeLand. “I believe it’s going to be much more than a niche vehicle.”
It’s offered with a choice of two V-6 engines, with a starting price of about $41,000. Will there be a hot-rod, V-8-powered CTS-V wagon? GM is considering it. The CTS Sport Wagon is just now reaching dealers.
2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor
Just a few years ago, SVT, Ford’s Special Vehicle Team, was busy building high-performance versions of Ford vehicles like the Focus, Contour, Mustang and F-150 Lightning. Ford neutered the SVT program for financial reasons, but the new SVT Raptor shows that there is at least a little life left in the team.
“It’s a fantastic vehicle,” said Riding of Sun State Ford. “The technology is there, it’s bold, it’s a bit outrageous. We’ve had one in and it sold immediately.”
The Raptor is an extended-cab, four-wheel-drive pickup that SVT has turned into a genuine high-performance off-road truck, with an improved suspension, huge tires, an in-your-face grille and bright orange paint.
Unlike past SVT products, the engine remains a stock 5.4-liter V-8 with 310 horsepower, but a 400-horse engine is coming soon. Ford will build only 1,500 this year, with prices starting at about $39,000.
2010 Hyundai Equus
Hard to imagine that it was only in the mid-1980s when Hyundai had only one vehicle to sell, the little Excel. Now, the company is venturing into true luxury territory with the Equus, a sedan that, said Hyundai spokesman Chris Hosford, takes on the Mercedes-Benz S-Class head-to-head, but at a substantially lower price.
Hyundai dipped a toe into the premium market with the Azera, then with the larger, more expensive Genesis, and when it arrives next year, the Equus will undoubtedly be the nicest car ever from a Korean manufacturer. Powered by the same V-8 engine as the Genesis, Hyundai is hoping to sell only about 2,000 copies of the Equus a year, as the company seeks to establish itself further as not just a company that builds inexpensive vehicles.
Expect a price of under $60,000, but how much under remains to be seen.
2010 Suzuki Kizashi
Two years ago, Suzuki unveiled a sleek passenger car as an auto show concept called the Kizashi. When a toned-down version of the concept made it to production, many of us thought Suzuki might change the name, but they’ve stuck with Kizashi, which apparently translates to something akin to “good omen.”
The Kizashi “is targeted at the same buyer who might purchase a Honda Accord,” said David Boldt, a Suzuki spokesman. “The company has worked very hard to get it right, and I think we have.” Suzuki’s most recent mid-sized sedan, the Verona, was actually built in Korea by Daewoo, and it was not a big success.
Suzuki, which has suffered troubling sales declines this past year, desperately needs the handsome Kizashi to be a success. Power is from a 2.4-liter four-cylinder, and prices should start at about $20,000 when it goes on sale in December.
But is simple really better, or is this just another fad for health-conscious consumers, not to mention the ever-growing number of people looking for a quick fix so they can continue to gouge themselves on high-fat and sugary foods without feeling guilty? Sure, fewer additives and processing is a good thing, but three simple ingredients – butter, sugar, and flour - will kill you faster than you can say “cardiac arrest.”
More to the point, tricking consumers with creative marketing is one thing. But will the trend extend beyond consumable products? Is ’simple’ something we should all be watching and considering in our marketing, branding, and positioning? The simple answer to that is yes. Here are …
Five reasons why you should Keep It Simple:
I don’t care if your business is B2B or B2C, high-tech or high fashion, IT or HR. When it comes to positioning your product or service, the simplest way of getting across your unique value proposition – the reason why customers should buy from you and not your competitor – is always the best way.
We’re all consumers. You, me, the CEO, even the seemingly unflappable finance and IT people. We’re all consumers and we’re all subject to mega-marketing trends that invade our subconscious day and night. You can fast-forward your Tivo through the commercials all you like, but major trends like this one will sink in anyway.
We’re all stressed-out on media, product, and “choice” overload. I never thought I’d say it, but too much choice can be a bad thing. Frankly, we’re all overloaded with media and product choices. Moreover, technology adds complexity that takes time to learn. It’s nice to have one less thing to analyze and worry about. “Simple” is calming, relaxing … for a change.
I’ve said it before, In Management, Keep It Simple. That simple rule goes a long way to explaining why Apple’s Mac continues to gain market share over PCs, Carol Bartz is a way more effective CEO than Jerry Yang, and Lou Gerstner was able to restructure IBM while Jonathan Schwartz failed miserably at Sun.
Simple has both left and right-brain appeal, which probably explains the other four reasons. Emotionally, we associate “simple” with easy, quick, controlled. And while we make left-brain decisions based on the perception of quality and performance, in many of those metrics – defects, moving parts, size and weight – less is more. These days we just want things to work the way they’re supposed to – no instructions, no drama, no returns.
The tough times have brought about a lot of changes, both personally and professionally. One of those changes has been a lot of people launching their own businesses from home. But what happens when you and your significant other both start working from home? Will it work? Will it cause a rift so wide you’ll never recover?
That was a question I posed to Scot and Kate Herrick this week for my Gannett column. Here’s what they had to say….
Actress Bette Davis once said that the key to a successful marriage was separate bathrooms.
For Scot and Kate Herrick, it’s headphones.
The Bellevue, Wash. couple have both been working from home since March. She likes to listen to heavy metal music while working. He usually likes instrumentals. They have found marital and professional harmony by using headphones, their iPods delivering the music they each favor.
It’s just one of the many ways the couple, who both once worked for Washington Mutual, have found to share domestic and professional spaces. They both also have separate work areas.
“We’ve found ways not to get on each other’s nerves,” says Scot, owner of CubeRules.com, an online career management site.
The recession has had a lot of impact on American lives, and one of those areas has been that many couples have found themselves spending more time together because of job loss, career change – or because they’ve launched businesses from home like the Herricks.
And like the Herricks, many couples are trying to work out the kinks of being together 24/7.
“I love my husband dearly,” Kate says, “but he likes it so quiet that this house is like a museum.”
Despite their different working styles, the Herricks say they’ve managed to develop a system that works for them professionally and personally. The recommend other couples wanting to do the same should:
• Respect the work. Just as you wouldn’t interrupt a colleague unnecessarily, the same should be true of a partner at home. It’s best to have separate work spaces with required office equipment, but if that’s not possible, it’s even more important to be sensitive to the other person’s work style. For example, headphones are a good idea to eliminate distractions, or moving to another part of the house for a conference call is helpful. At the same time, not interacting too much during the day is important “so you can later tell each other about your day,” Scot says. “You need something to talk about.”
• Have regular meetings. The Herricks say they discuss their work schedules every day so they know how they can best support one another. While they each have cell phones for business, they like to use the home land line for conference calls, so coordinated schedules make sure there isn’t a conflict.
• Stay connected. The Herricks admit that with any home-based job, there is a sense of isolation. “I really miss the social interaction of an office a lot,” Kate says. “I miss the collaboration with my colleagues. (Working at home) can be very lonely.” Notes Scott: “When you’re separated because you work in different places, it gives you something to talk about later. Now, we have the same experience because we work in the same place.” Experts say it’s a good idea for those who work at home to schedule meetings or coffee dates with colleagues or friends, and look for opportunities to get out and network at professional events.
• Set terms. Couples need to agree on household duties, and when they will be done. For the Herricks, they live by the schedule they established when both were working outside the home and don’t begin household tasks such as laundry until 5 p.m. “When you work at home, you have to ask yourself: ‘Is this something I would be doing if I was in an office right now?’” Scot says. Adds Kate: “You’ve got to maintain the integrity of the workday.”
• Establish transitions. While one of the advantages of working from home is that couples no longer have to commute to and from work, the Herricks say it’s still important to find a way to “transition” between a professional and domestic life. “You need to find a way to move mentally and socially into the next part of your life,” Scot says. “For me, it’s starting the chores. For someone else, it might be going on a walk. But you have to find that ritual that takes the place of the commute.”
Now more than ever, it’s important to connect with your customers.In short, if you don’t have a social media strategy, then you’re already behind your competitors. Here are 10 reasons why your business should be utilizing social media:
1. Social networking sites have overtaken porn as the Internet’s #1 activity.
2. Twitter has seen an increase of almost 1500% over the last year.
3. Two out of three people on the PLANET visit social networks.
4. Time spent on social networks is growing at three times the overall internet rate.
5. 100 Million YouTube videos are watched every day where every minute 20 hours of video is uploaded.
6. More than 5 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day where more than 1.5 million pieces of content are shared.
7. If Facebook were a country, it would be the 8th most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan, Russia and Nigeria.
8. If YouTube were a country, it would be the 3rd most-populated place in the world.
9. We are at 3.8 billion tweets and counting.
10. 68% of Internet users have used social networks, while only 65.1% have used email.
Conversations – especially those dealing with emotional issues – rarely follow a logical pattern or system. Every conversation is a little different.
You can’t shoe-horn a conversation into a pattern or system. What you can do, however, is develop a method for getting the other person’s feedback and moving toward a desired result. This five-part conversation method and system has worked for many managers when they’re seeking a change in behavior or performance. A step-by-step example of dealing with someone who’s always negative and critical of others’ ideas:
1. ‘When you … I feel …” You can use this to set up the problem: “When you say, ‘That’s a dumb idea,’ I feel as if you’re being disrespectful to the person who offered the idea, and you discourage others from speaking up.”
2. Wait for their input. This is one of those points when your silence can be golden and when you can put into practice one of the “don’ts” we described earlier – “Don’t feel as if you have to fill every silence.”
Let your “When you” sentence hang and wait for a response. And here’s where it gets a little tricky, because you can’t be certain of the response.
The person may deny it, in which case you’ll have to give examples: “I can describe at least three times in the last week …” Or the person may say, sincerely, “I didn’t realize I was doing that.”
Sometimes, too, the person will offer an excuse – valid or invalid. For instance, the response may be, “I’ve been losing a lot of sleep because of migraine headaches, so that may account for some of it.”
If you believe the excuse is valid, take steps to help or accommodate the employee. That’s what supervisors are supposed to do. Even if you do that, you still can move on to the next step.
3. “I would like …” Here’s where you describe, specifically, the change in behavior you’d like to see: “I would like you to come to the next meeting with at least three ideas of your own on how we can improve.”
That sets the standard and results in positive terms: “This is what I want you to do.” Instead of “This is what I want you to stop doing.”
Consider how that works in any number of conversations involving performance or behavior. For instance, the person who’s always
coming in late.
Negative: “I would like you to stop coming in late.”
Positive: “I would like you to be on time every day.”
4. “Because …” In almost any situation, you have to provide a reason for requesting change (other than “because I said so”).
Again, try to stay positive: “Because I know you have a lot of good ideas, and I think we’d all benefit from hearing them.”
That beats the negative attack mode: “Because we’re tired of hearing your criticisms.”
5. “What do you think?” You’re asking straight-out for feedback here, and you’re doing so with more than one purpose:
You don’t want the person to walk away with the feeling that he or she has been given some iron-fisted orders.
You can move toward a commitment from the person to change.
You’ll get a real feel about whether the conversation worked and you’re headed toward a desired goal.
Try this system the next time you’re in a difficult conversation, and see how it helps to get you where you want to go.
ORLANDO –The City Beautiful has snagged a major convention away from the Windy City.
After decades in Chicago, the International Plastics Showcase will make Orlando its home in 2012 and 2015.
Tuesday, the Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau said the Society of Plastics Industry — the association overseeing the event — chose Orlando over Chicago’s McCormick Place, where the convention has played since 1971.
Tourism officials think the convention could generate around $100 million for Orlando and fill up almost half of the Orange County Convention Center.
So just how big is the plastics show?
Plastic is the third largest manufacturing industry in the United States.
This year 2,000 companies took up 1 million square feet at the expo in Chicago, bringing in about 75,000 people from more than 100 countries
Just past the two-year-old model home with the sun-bleached For Sale sign, beyond vacant lots and not far from the lone house on the cul de sac, new signs of life are emerging in the Pepper Place development in Orlando‘s Conway area.
Contractors have begun building two houses in a subdivision that, like so many others, seemed comatose since Florida’s growth machine choked and all but died two years ago.
Claudio Menzerotolo bought a home in Pepper Place in 2008 and waited more than a year for someone else to move in. When the construction began again recently, he “actually felt kind of relieved. I’d rather have neighbors than not have neighbors.”
The idea of new homes being built may seem almost unthinkable in a region faced with a decade-long supply of housing inventory. Median prices for existing homes have been cut almost in half in the last two years and the state’s population actually shrank this year for the first time since World War II.
Blame the collapse of the housing market and the recession, but there were earlier indications that Florida’s 60 years of rapid growth was decelerating. For every three people moving into Florida, two were moving out. Annual growth rates of five and six percent in the 1980s were replaced by two percent or less in the 1990s and from there, to zero percent in 2009.
No one knows how the boom state will recover. A new age of slow growth may be Florida’s future. Or these next few years may just be a breather in the breathless race to keep up with population growth.
Smaller projects, smaller homes
Central Florida’s foreclosure-wracked countryside is spotted with half-started subdivisions with streets and sidewalks, but few homes. While no one can fully predict exactly how and when the housing market will rebound, industry professionals say when it does, it will not focus as much on large-scale, outlying developments. At least for the near future, they foresee smaller projects with more affordable, smaller homes popping up in more spots closer to the urban core.
“The development ring used to look like this,” said longtime home construction attorney James McNeil as he spread his hands the width of a extra large pizza pan.
“Now it looks like this,” said McNeil, as he cupped hands the width of a dinner plate. “People were asking for a 4,000 square-foot house in Minneola during the boom. Now, location, price and affordability are driving everything.”
So few new houses have been started this year that it’s difficult to pinpoint changing growth patterns based on a relative smattering of building permits. Compared to a year ago, permits have dropped by about a third in each Central Florida county except hard-hit Osceola, which was down by more than half, according to an Orlando Sentinel analysis of permit data through the third quarter of this year. On the city level, home construction basically shut down in the upper middle class suburbs of Lake Mary, Winter Springsand Maitland while the west Orange County boom town of Winter Garden had almost as many homes being built as Orlando in that time.
The market is downsizing and most builders are shifting their focus to the Orlando core, said Jim Lewis, president of Charles Wayne Consulting Inc. real estate researchers.
“It’s inevitable that, down the road, Orlando will grow again. There’s only one place to go and it’s out,” Lewis said. “It’s going to take a while. It will take a year or two to push back into Clermont and Minneola, and another year or so to go further out to Mascotte and maybe five or six years to get back down to Dundee.”
‘Carnage’ in ‘burbs
Orlando resident Ana Rodriguez recently signed a contract for a new house to be built on one of the vacant lots at Pepper Place. The location — near her parents and her airport-area job — sold her.
“I love the place. It’s small and it’s so close to everything,” she said. “From there I can walk to a small shopping center and there’s a Winn Dixie, Walgreens, Blockbuster, and a place to eat.”
Rodriguez said she had looked earlier this year at the empty model home near the community entrance. At that time, the asking price was about $470,00 for the 2,800-square-foot house, she said. When it was first built more than two years ago, the price was $515,000.
Today it’s $310,000.
The house is gorgeous, Rodriguez said, with granite counters and wood floors. But she is glad she waited. With 1,500 square feet, the house she is buying is smaller than the model and lacks some of the expensive finishes, but it cost only $205,000.
As the market begins to turn, centrally located projects will be key, said Budge S. Huskey, former president of the Orlando Regional Realtors Association and vice president of NRT LLC, the largest residential real estate brokerage in the country.
“People want to be closer to work, activities and retail,” said Huskey, now based in Sarasota. “They have a new sensitivity to their carbon footprint.”
The new owners of Pepper Place, K. Hovnanian Homes, lost the deposits it had taken out on subdivision lots in the outlying towns of Groveland and Lake Wales, said Scott South, division president with the New Jersey-based builder. It “had to walk away” when prices collapsed and potential buyers disappeared. Other builders, South said, had it worse because they owned their lots and lost them to the banks.
“That’s the kind of carnage that’s left on the road,” South said. “The sad reality is that you end up with consumers in subdivisions where you might have had 100 lots and only several people living there in homes with no neighbors. That’s who gets hurt.”
Even Pepper Place, known as an “urban infill” community, had the look of deserted suburbia earlier this year when K. Hovnanian bought it from veteran Orlando builder Frank Anderson. He helped launch the subdivision four years ago, just before the downturn started in 2007.
Small builders, Anderson said, don’t have the resources to hang onto dozens of lots for years and years. He said he was fortunate that he had an attractive location that appealed to K. Hovnanian.
Sipping coffee one recent morning, Anderson said he’s glad to be sitting on the sidelines for the first time in years.
“It’s just like any other retailer out there — you’ve got inventory sitting on the shelf,” said Anderson, referring to foreclosures, short sales, homes listed for sale by owners and spec houses. “Until we get rid of that, the new-home market and the housing market in general is going to be very difficult.”
Pepper Place owner Menzerotolo said he knows the subdivision may not end up looking like he envisioned it when he bought there early last year. New houses there will cost less and they may be the minimum size allowed, he said. Some people might have a problem with that but he said that when he looks at satellite-view web site Google Earth, there are few places so close to downtown Orlando where new homes could be built.
With that kind of location, he asked, how can you lose?
The living space of new houses being built in the U.S. has grown from about 1,500 square feet in the mid-1970s to more than 2,200 square feet. Now they are getting smaller.
•For the first time since 1995, houses are being built smaller. Last year, the midpoint size for new homes in the U.S. was 2,219 square feet, compared to 2,277 the previous year. In the second quarter of this year, they shrunk further, to 2,019 square feet.
•Two factors appear to be driving down size – an increase in first-time buyers seeking a federal tax credit tailored to them and the large share of empty-nester baby boomers looking for less maintenance.
•The percentage of new houses with four bedrooms or more shrank slightly, from 41 percent in 2007 to 40 percent in 2008, while the number of new houses with two bedrooms edged up from 11 to 12 percent during the year. New houses with three-bedrooms held steady at 28 percent.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, National Association of Home Builders
In a multimillion-dollar move being watched by government agencies across the country, Orlando this week became one of the first cities in America to switch all of its employees to Google e-mail.
The implications are vastly bigger than simply changing the icon that Orlando workers click on their computer desktops.
For city officials, it means cutting annual e-mail costs by two-thirds, saving taxpayers an estimated $262,500 a year.
For Google, the deal provides another toehold in the $20 billion-a-year market for office software. For years, that market has been dominated by Google’s archrival Microsoft and its Office software, including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
In contrast, Google doesn’t rely on software saved on users’ computers but is a so-called “cloud computing” system in which applications are Internet-based and run on remote Web servers.
With government budgets squeezed, Google hopes other cities will follow Orlando into the “cloud.”
“The contract with Orlando is very important to us,” said Michael Lock, vice president of sales in America for Google Enterprise. “They’re going to be on the leading edge of doing this, not the bleeding edge. It’s not the biggest contract, but Orlando is a very well-known city.”
Orlando will no longer need the City Hall servers it uses to run its current Lotus Notes e-mail system, or pay for the electricity those servers consume, the extra data storage to archive employee mail or the two network administrators who oversee it.
“It made more sense to me given my budget. I had to look at a different way of doing business,” said Chief Information Officer Conrad Cross, whose IT department was whittled from 84 workers to 69 this year.
If Orlando were to keep its current system, city officials estimate it would cost $133 a year for each of its 3,000 employees — or $399,000 — including annual software licenses.
Google is charging $45.50 per user, or $136,500. In return, everyone from city planners to police officers will use a Web-based e-mail system similar to Google’s popular Gmail, but without the advertisements that support the free consumer version. Google servers will store all city e-mail and run the application, and Google technicians — not city employees — will make sure it runs smoothly.
“The costs and IT support are someone else’s nightmare, and that’s what we’re paying for,” Chief Financial Officer Rebecca Sutton said.
A half-dozen Google techs scurried around City Hall on Thursday and Friday, trying to make sure the transition went smoothly.
Orlando’s contract includes Google Docs, which includes word-processing, spreadsheet and presentation software meant to compete directly with Microsoft Office. But Cross said the city will stick with Office for now to avoid the expense of retraining employees.
Thousands of businesses and universities have switched to Google, according to the company. But so far, few cities other than Orlando have.
Los Angeles became Google’s crown jewel in October, when that city approved a $7.25 million e-mail contract with the Internet giant, but Los Angeles has not yet moved its 30,000 employees to the Google system.
Google cited its deal with Orlando, which had already been signed, in its pitch to Los Angeles.
The vote there culminated a yearlong battle between Google and Microsoft, whose lobbyists warned that Google wasn’t ready for the security implications of handling public e-mail for such a large work force.
Lock said Google will archive Orlando records, which must be kept and accessible under state public-records law, in “super-secret data centers.”
And Cross said he’s confident city records, including sensitive law-enforcement and legal documents, will be safe from loss or cyberattack. Google has greater security resources, from people to money, than Orlando could muster on its own.
Besides, Cross said, the city last year contacted other e-mail providers, including Microsoft and IBM, about moving to the cloud.
“They gave us pricing that couldn’t compete with Google,” he said.
That’s according to USAToday.com out of the North American International Auto Show.
GM told Chris Woodyard that its agreement with Woods, one that got him free vehicles, is over. It ended two weeks ago.
Woods crashed a Cadillac Escalade on Nov. 27 outside his home at Isleworth. The black SUV was given to Woods to use by GM, the company said.
The accident triggered a number of questions that ultimately resulted in a minor traffic citation and a major marital dispute for Woods, who since had admitted on his Web site that he was unfaithful to wife Elin Nordegren.
According to Hart, the once-Woods SUVs were returned to GM.Drive On reported previously that the Escalade that Woods was driving will be repaired and sold.
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Superstar or slouch? Study reveals what sets top salespeople apart March 16, 2010 by Bob Hill Posted in: New Research, Sales meeting ideas, Special Report – Sales & Marketing, sales management, training New research has uncovered the one trait most sales superstars share — and several others that differentiate the top producers from the bottom feeders. The study, conducted by Psychology of Sales Reluctance authors George Dudley and Sharon Goodson, was based on interviews with over 1,000 sales execs across multiple industries. It found the one common trait almost all of today’s sales superstars share is an innate willingness to prospect consistently, whether by traditional means or new outlets — like social networking and online forums. The study also found these four key differences between top-producing salespeople and low performers:
Low performers often fear their cold calls will be seen as pushy or intrusive, while top performers assume their calls are welcome because they have info that can help the prospect’s business.
Low performers generally feel there are only certain hours of the day when cold calls should be made, while high performers feel any time is the right time.
Low performers blame poor results on non-receptive prospects, bad leads or poor market conditions, while top performers look at their own performance and key metrics to determine what needs adjusting.
New hires who get a job based on prior experience often don’t live up to expectations because they’re unwilling to learn a new system, while those who show a genuine enthusiasm about learning the new process tend to perform at a higher level.
Buffalo Wild Wings’ Orlando franchisee has two new eateries in the works — the company’s sixth and seventh in Central Florida — and is expanding an existing restaurant.
Longwood-based Sunshine Restaurant Corp. is building a new 10,500-square-foot restaurant in Formosa Gardens Village shopping center in Kissimmee and a 9,600-square-foot restaurant at the Clermont Landing retail center in Clermont. The firm also is adding 2,100 square feet to its existing 6,700-square-foot restaurant at the Crossroads center in Lake Buena Vista, which is expected to be done by mid-June. The Kissimmee restaurant is slated for a mid-July completion, while Clermont should be finished by mid-August.
The expansion will cost the company about $6.5 million and will create 200 jobs, said Sunshine Restaurant principal Andy Gross.
The new restaurants also are expected to feature several green elements, including capturing rainwater for irrigation and incorporating low-flow faucets and toilets, Gross said.
Citing a delay in getting new aircraft, Virgin America Inc. said Wednesday it will delay starting its new route to Orlando.
Virgin America said it won’t start flying cross-country routes to Orlando until at least October, instead of its previous plan of Aug. 19. Once service starts, Virgin America will fly to Orlando from San Francisco and from Los Angeles.
Burlingame, Calif.-based Virgin America said it will add six new aircraft this year. It is scheduled to take possession of three more planes next year, bringing its fleet of Airbus A 320’s to 37 by 2011.
Virgin America flies to San Francisco, Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Las Vegas, San Diego, Boston and Fort Lauderdale. The company will begin flights to Toronto starting June 23. Virgin America will stop flying to Orange County later this month.
The Virgin Group, which operates Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., holds a minority share in Virgin America. Virgin Atlantic’s international flights served nearly 1 million passengers in 2009 at Orlando International Airport
The number of job cuts planned by U.S. employers fell nearly to a four-year low in April.
In what is perhaps a sign of stabilization in the U.S. job market, employers planned 38,326 layoffs in April, a 43 percent dive from the 67,611 layoffs planned in March, which had seen a surge in planned cuts, according to a report by global outplacement consulting firm Challenger Gray & Christmas Inc. The April figure is the lowest since July 2006 (37,178). The previous low was 42,090 in February.
April’s figure came in 71 percent below planned cuts in the same month of 2009 (132,590).
Through the first four months of 2010, employers announced 219,509 layoffs, down 69 percent from the corresponding period last year. The current pace — which averages to 54,877 cuts a month — could put 2010 job cuts below 700,000 for the first time since 2000, Chicago-based Challenger Gray & Christmas said.
Two sectors continue to struggle — nonprofits and government, primarily state and local governments, the release said. Employers in that category in April said they planned 14,973 job cuts, for a total 76,773 so far this year. That’s nearly triple the 27,214 planned cuts announced this year in the pharmaceutical sector, which had the next-highest number of cuts.
The Orlando area lost 101,000 jobs — 39,500 in construction — during the past three years, said the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, which released new figures on April 16.
Stephen Lambert, an associate professor at the UCF College of Medicine, and his team will study the breakdown of myelin, a substance that coats and protects nerves inside the brain and spinal cord, enabling electrical signals to reach distant nerve cells and muscles, according to a UCF release.
UCF’s research is aimed at developing new drugs that reverse the damage caused by these diseases. About 400,000 Americans suffer from MS, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Drugs available now focus mainly on limiting damaged caused by the disease and do nothing to reverse that damage.
UCF bioengineer James Hickman showed last year that specialized myelin coating could be produced in the lab environment without the use of any type of growth serum, which allows researchers to more clearly study the causes of breaks in myelin and also the impact of chemical treatments. Both could potentially lead to a greater understanding of the causes of neurological disorders.
Award recipients will be revealed on June 10 at the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate.
Among Central Florida’s finalists are:
• Emerging category: Bob Moore, chairman and chief executive officer, iGPS, Orlando
• Financial services category: Peter R. Kassabov, chairman and chief executive officer, Digital Risk LLC, Maitland
• Retail, consumer products and hospitality category: Brian Wheeler, founder and chief executive officer, Tijuana Flats, Maitland
• Technology category: Carol M. Craig, founder and chief executive officer, Craig Technologies, Cape Canaveral
• Technology category: Daniel J. Devine, chief executive officer, Compass Knowledge Group, Orlando
Finalists were selected by an independent judging panel made up of regional business, academic and community leaders. The Entrepreneur of the Year program honors entrepreneurs regionally in June, leading up to the national awards in November.
Orlando moved up a spot to 27th strongest economy among 366 U.S. metropolitan areas, according to an annual report by Policom Corp.
Although the area moved from 28th to 27th on the report, it is down significantly from its rank of 13th on the 2007 report.
Orlando was the highest Florida city ranked on the list. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale area was ranked 53rd, Jacksonville, 76th, and Tampa-St. Petersburg 85th.
To compile its report, Palm City-based Policom said it measured 23 different economic factors from 1989 to 2008. Positive factors in the rankings include wages and income broken down in several ways, plus jobs in key sectors; negative factors include welfare and Medicaid spending.
“The rankings do not reflect the latest ‘hot spot’ or boom town, but the areas which have the best economic foundation,” says William Fruth, president of Policom. “While most communities have slowed or declined during this recession, the strongest areas have been able to weather the storm.”
Seattle tops the list, followed by the metro Washington, D.C.; Denver; and Houston. Danville, Ill., ranks last.
Posted on May 20, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
Friday, May 14, 2010
Visit Florida adds live info feed online
Orlando Business Journal
Visit Florida, the official tourism marketing organization for the state, has launched a new website feature that allows visitors to get real-time information from local beaches and residents.
At www.VISITFLORIDAlive.com, online users can see photos and tweets being shared in real time by people in the Sunshine State.
“A picture is worth a thousand words, and a real person’s view is worth a thousand paid photographers,” said Will Seccombe, chief marketing officer at Visit Florida. “People want to see what’s really happening, not just what the ‘marketing guy’ is posting.”
Other features at Florida Live include live webcam feeds from destinations around the state, Google map-based Twitter feeds that provide local updates on beach conditions, weather and activities from cities and towns across Florida, and an extensive collection of vacation deals for a variety of Florida destinations.
Visit Florida promotes tourism to Florida through sales, advertising, promotions, public relations, new product development and visitor services programs.
Courtesy of Orlando Business Journal. Link for article below.
Posted on May 20, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
Monday, May 17, 2010, 2:01pm EDT
Rollins launches new master’s program
Orlando Business Journal
Rollins College is offering a new master of planning in civic urbanism degree through its Hamilton Holt School’s evening program this fall.
The new 12-course, two-year degree will stress responsible urban planning and design, and trains students for urban planning careers in either the private sector or government work, according to a Rollins release.
The classes will examine design elements, combining the classic elements of the Renaissance period with the latest models of urban sustainability. In addition to teaching the skills to design sustainable communities, the courses will provide critical perspective on the political process involved.
Spearheaded by veteran Rollins faculty Bruce Stephenson, professor of environmental studies, and Richard Foglesong, professor of politics, the new program is currently accepting applications. The school said ideal candidates include urban planners, architects, environmental engineers and those in real estate and growth industries, including both the government and private sectors.
“Courses will show students how to draw communities — a skill that planners have gotten away from when conceptualizing urban design,” said Stephenson.
Prior to the program’s launch, Stephenson and Foglesong conducted an in-depth feasibility study, including holding a series of focus groups with local developers, planners and consultants.
“This master’s degree is very much needed in our community,” said Brian Canin, owner of Canin Associates, an urban planning and architecture firm. “With commuter and high-speed rail on the horizon, we need planners to design walkable communities and get away from automobile-centric design.”
Canin will be among several local professionals serving as adjunct professors and/or guest lecturers in the program. Others include Gregg Logan, managing director of RCLCO Co. and president of the local Urban Land Institute chapter, and Chris Sinclair, president of the Renaissance Planning Group. Opportunities for off-site studio projects and internships at local agencies will also be available to students.
Rollins is the first school in Central Florida to offer a master’s program of this kind, according to the college. Rollins anticipates accreditation of the new program by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools by August 2010.
For more information, call (407) 646-2232 or visit www.rollins.edu/holt.
Courtesy of Orlando Business Journal. Link for article is below.
Rosen Hotels & Resorts, which includes seven properties totaling 6,300 guest rooms and suites, will rebrand three of its four leisure hotels as of Oct. 1.
The Orlando-based privately held hotel group recently completed a $30 million room and property renovation on all four leisure hotels. This fall, the Quality Inn Plaza and the Rodeway Inn International will become Rosen Inns, and the Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista will become a Clarion.
Rosen Hotels & Resorts also the Rosen Plaza, Rosen Centre and Rosen Shingle Creek.
“For the last 36 years, Rosen Hotels & Resorts has built a reputation for superior quality and service in the hospitality industry, so we felt it made sense to draw upon the Rosen name in marketing our leisure properties as we have successfully done in promoting our convention properties,” said Harris Rosen, president of Rosen Hotels & Resorts.
Quality Inn Plaza, soon to be renbranded as Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando, recently earned the AAA Three Diamond Award. The hotel features 1,020 guest rooms in six high-rise buildings.
The Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista, which is being rebranded as Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista, features 640 rooms in four high-rise buildings near Downtown Disney.
There are currently no plans to rename the 728-room Quality Inn International, which was the first hotel that Rosen purchased on June 24, 1974.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer proposed May 18 a new city ordinance that would require gas stations near Orlando International Airport to post the prices they are charging for fuel or face a $500 a day fine.
The proposed rule, which the Orlando City Council is expected to review on May 24, comes as a response to the mayor’s office, Greater Orlando Aviation Authority and Orlando/Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau receiving hundreds of complaints over the last two years from drivers — many of whom were visitors returning rental cars — who pulled into stations with no signs displaying prices only to find out that the prices were dramatically higher than market rates, the mayor’s office said.
“While it might not technically be a crime, I think just about any reasonable person would agree that what’s going on here is just not right,” Dyer said in a prepared statement. “As mayor, when residents or visitors to our city are getting scammed and hurt, I believe it’s my job to step in and stop it from happening.”
Orlando is above average among the top cities in the Southeast for fitness and bested all other Florida metro areas, according to the American College of Sports Medicine’s 2010 American Fitness Index.
The annual study, which evaluates the 50 most populous city areas to determine the healthiest and fittest metro areas in the United States, ranked Orlando 19th with a core of 55.5 out of 100 for 2010. It was second only to Atlanta (No. 16) among cities in the Southeast.
Orlando was not ranked on the list in 2009.
The AFI data report reflects a composite of preventive health behaviors, levels of chronic disease conditions, health care access, and community resources and policies that support physical activity.
For the third year in a row, Washington, D.C. took No. 1, due mostly to a low smoking rate, higher-than-average level of healthy eating and lower-than-average rates of obesity, asthma, heart disease and diabetes.
Rounding out the top five are Boston, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Portland, Ore.
Among other Florida metro areas, Jacksonville ranked 24th, Tampa 30th and Miami 39th.
Posted on May 25, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
Friday, May 21, 2010
April unemployment at 11.4%
Orlando Business Journal
The unemployment rate for Orlando fell to 11.4 percent from 12.1 percent in March, but a spike from 9.4 percent recorded in April 2009, said a report by Workforce Central Florida.
Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April was 12 percent, a slight decline from 12.3 percent in March. The latest figures show 1.11 million people are jobless out of a labor force of 9.28 million.
Osceola County recorded the highest unemployment rate at 12.3 percent, down from 13.2 percent in March, but up from 9.9 percent in April 2009. Lake County came in second with 11.9 percent unemployment, down from 12.8 in March, but up from 9.9 percent in the same month last year.
Orange County posted an 11.2 percent unemployment rate, down from 12 percent in March, yet up from 9.4 percent in April 2009. Seminole County was at 10.8 percent, down from 11.4 percent in March, but a jump from 8.8 percent in April last year.
Unemployment claims for April were 8,419, a 1.4 percent increase from the 8,295 claims in March, but down 33.2 percent from 12,599 claims in April 2009. In addition, the Orlando area reported 126,586 unemployed residents as of April 2010, a 21.5 percent increase from 104,144 unemployed people reported last year.
Posted on May 26, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
Monday, May 24, 2010, 2:10pm EDT
Orlando most visited destination in 2009
Orlando Business Journal
The metro Orlando area welcomed 46.6 million visitors in 2009, making it the most visited U.S. destination of the year, according to a new report by D.K. Shifflet & Associates.
The visitation numbers represent a 4.7 percent decrease as compared with 2008, marking a much stronger performance than the earlier forecast by D.K. Shifflet & Associates of a 9.9 percent decrease in a difficult year for the travel and tourism industry.
Domestic travel represented 93 percent of Orlando’s total visitors in 2009, with 43.3 million visitors. International travel, which includes overseas countries and Canada, totaled nearly 3.3 million.
The top international market for 2009 was Canada with 865,000 visitors. The second-largest number of international visitors came from the United Kingdom, with 831,000.
D.K. Shifflet & Associates said the United Kingdom still represented 35 percent of all overseas visitors and remained Orlando’s largest overseas origin. Overseas visitors excluding the United Kingdom increased 6.4 percent in 2009.
The overseas travel numbers are provided by the United States Department of Commerce’s Office of Travel & Tourism Industries through in-flight surveys and analysis of customs paperwork provided by travelers.
D.K. Shifflet & Associates Ltd., a travel research firm, specializes in consumer-based travel data.
The Colonial Town Centra Care, at 630 N. Bumby Ave., will focus on downtown business people and area families who expressed a need for an urgent care facility in their area, according to a CentraCare release. It is located on the corner of East Colonial Road and Bumby Avenue.
Centra Cares offer X-ray and labs on-site and occupational health services. Centra Care’s new No Wait online reservations allow patients to secure a time at any of of its locations that fits with their schedule.
All Centra Care doctors are pediatric trained, and each new Centra Care location has a pediatric waiting area for children with a videogame kiosk and a magnetic wall, and a pediatric exam room.
Posted on May 28, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
Tuesday, May 25, 2010, 12:49pm EDT
Scottrade opens 2nd Orlando office
Orlando Business Journal
Scottrade Inc. is opening a new branch office June 7, its second in Orlando.
The new office will be located at 7524 W. Sand Lake Road in the Plaza Venezia Shopping Center. Its other office is located in downtown Orlando.
St. Louis-based Scottrade is the online investing firm that offers a full line of investment products and market research tools to help self-directed investors make their own investing decisions.
Though Scottrade does not provide advice, stock brokers are available at branch offices to answer account-related questions, provide customer service and give tutorials on Scottrade’s online trading services.
“We have always focused on providing exceptional customer service and feel it is important to have branch offices where our customers live and work,” said Scottrade founder and CEO Rodger Riney. “While most of our customers trade online, our branch network of more than 450 local offices enables us to provide a better customer experience for self-directed investors.”
Florida Business Bank shut down their Orlando office on May 25 which first opened on June 1, 2009.
Jeff Wagner, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Florida Business Bank, said the “loan production office in Orlando was a great way to test the waters in a different market. But after evaluating the results, the bank decided not to pursue it any further.”
Jeff Wagner also stated that Orlando customers will be reassigned to another loan officer in Melbourne.
Wagner said “the closing of the Orlando office means more focus on loan activities and growth in the Melbourne market.”
According to a Boys & Girls Club release, the new location will be a technology magnet and features enhanced facilities. The new club has three new computer labs, a kitchen filled with Tupperware products, and a gym. This new location is almost 12,500 feet bigger than the facility prior.
Osceola County government, Walt Disney World Resort, Tupperware Brands, and Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation contributed to the opening of the new facility.
Rick Goings, chairman and CEO of Tupperware Brands said, “Tupperware’s mission has always been to enlighten, educate and empower. Our club has incorporated programs and services that focus on this objective by developing the self-esteem and confidence of Central Florida boys and girls.”
According to a report by The Daily Beast, Florida has three of the most dangerous roads in the U.S.
Florida’s I-95 ranked at number 1, I-4 ranked at number 3 and I-75 made number 15 on the list.
The list came from National Highway Safety Administration’s data that collected 5 years of accidents.
I-95′s data showed that statistically there is one accident for every 1.73 miles. I-4′s data showed that statistically there is one accident every 1.58 miles. The data for I-75 revealed that an accident occurred 1.14 miles.
BlueChip Energy LLC said June 4 that they will be commencing the first stages for their solar farm located in Lake Mary. Their Rinehart Solar Farm facility is a 10-megawatt solar photovoltaic facility.
This facility is believed to produce 15 million kilowatt-hours a year when it is finished, which could provide for about 1,100 homes.
The solar farm is currently being constructed in stages. The first stage should be done by July.
Stage 2 of the Rinehart Solar Farm is a rooftop plant containing 500 kilowatts. The following stages will contain a 1.4 megawatt rooftop system and 8 megawatts of ground-based systems.
BlueChip has an agreement with Progress Energy Florida to provide them with renewable solar power from their Rinehart Solar Farm. This agreement will create about 100 jobs.
Orlando Business Journal – Anjali Fluker Staff Writer
High Tide Harry restaurant will be relocating near the airport.
The new 7.500-square-foot location is at 4645 S. Semoran Blvd. High Tide Harry signed a six-year lease and bought the space.
According to the owner, Mike Heretick, High Tide Harry will continue to lease on a monthly routine at the current location until the new location is ready.
The owner renewed the new space costing him around $250,000. The restaurant will contain an outdoor patio, 275 seats, and will employ 25-40 new positions
The new restaurant is expected to open by late June.
Posted on June 15, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
Courtesy of Orlando Business Journal
Full Sail University opened its Full Sail Studios Gateway Project. The project is a 22,000-square-foot multi-purpose complex with a new game production and recording studios.
According to a Full Sail release, the school held a June 7 event to honor the opening. The commemoration included an induction ceremony for the Full Sail University 2010 Hall of Fame class along with a three-day series of events and celebrity and industry leader appearances.
The project completes the university’s backlot, which has 19 different outdoor scenic environments, and includes a plaza, equipped with Wi-Fi, bike trails and lighted seating areas.
The Full Sail Studios Gateway Project has areas designed for audio, graphic, technical development, team meeting rooms and production offices.
Posted on June 15, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
Courtesy of Orlando Business Journal
The city of Orlando was selected as host city for the 2012 U.S. Conference of Mayors annual convention, which is expected to attract more than 500 mayors, presidential Cabinet members, and state and federal lawmakers.
The announcement was made at this year’s mayors convention in Oklahoma City. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer also was chosen to serve on the USCM advisory committee.
Among other items addressed:
• The U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted a resolution brought forward by Dyer that calls on the president and Congress to adopt a well-funded and dedicated source for the planning, development and maintenance of high-speed rail corridors throughout the country.
• An emergency meeting of mayors from Florida and other Gulf state cities was called in which the group decided to collectively work to assist the federal government in its response to the oil spill.
Posted on June 16, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
Courtesy of Orlando Business Journal
Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink launched a webpage on Friday that allows Floridians to track state expenditures in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and how BP grant dollars are distributed to Florida counties to reimburse their costs in responding to the oil spill.
The webpage — www.myfloridacfo.com/transparency — is updated nightly.
Sink said, “Both the scope and cost of this environmental and economic disaster continue to devastate Florida. It’s important that state and local governments are transparent in how they track cleanup funds so that BP pays every penny of what they owe.”
The financial data shown represents what Florida’s state agencies have received or spent in relation to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award held on June 10 at the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate awarded two Central Florida businessmen.
Bob Moore, chairman and CEO of iGPS in Orlando, won in the Emerging category. Daniel J. Devine, CEO of Compass Knowledge Group in Orlando, won in the Technology category.
Additional Florida winners include:
• The Florida Lifetime Achievement Award: Lewis Hay III, chairman and CEO of NextEra Energy Inc. (formerly FPL Group Inc.), Juno Beach
• Retail, Consumer Products and Hospitality category: Christian de Berdouare, founder and CEO, Chicken Kitchen USA LLC, North Miami Beach
• Marketing, Media and Entertainment category: Benjamin C. Fertic, CEO, World Triathlon Corp., Tampa
Posted on June 18, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
Courtesy of Orlando Business Journal
The Orlando Magic revealed a new team logo in anticipation of the fall opening of the new Amway Center.
The logo has a sharper look with the iconic Orlando Magic “star ball.”
Alex Martins, chief operating officer for the Magic said in a prepared statement, “This new logo signifies the beginning of a new era of excellence for the Orlando Magic and our fans. We are excited about where our team is and the direction we are headed as we build on the legend already created and look forward to what the future holds.
The new logo already has been incorporated into the team’s merchandise and is available online.
Google is about to set up electronic shop at Orlando International Airport – bringing passengers more free Internet services, new smart-phone apps and even free international phone calls from international gate areas.
The Internet search-engine giant and the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority are negotiating a two-year deal that would have Google sponsor the airport’s existing free Wi-Fi Internet service and provide a variety of other new services. In return, Google would pay the airport at least $125,000 a year.
According to a proposal outlined to the GOAA board on Wednesday, as many as 50 free Internet–surfing kiosks would be sprinkled around the airport terminal complex, including at the airsides, so people without laptop computers or smart phones could get online.
International gate areas would get faux-British telephone booths labeled “Google VOICE,” that would allow travelers to make free overseas calls, though Google says there will be a time limit.
People using the Wi-Fi connection would see a home page that would allow them to click on interactive Google Earth-style maps of the airport to locate shops, restaurants and services, then zoom in close enough to see 360-degree photo images.
Other information, such as flight schedule updates, also would be available, including live, tracks of flights that would allow people to watch their incoming plane’s progress.
Google is also promising new mobile phone applications for airport-related information such as parking, maps, flight schedules and ticketing, as well as airport concessions deals.
And, of course, the company would sell advertising, likely to national and international firms as well as shops within the airport.
If everything goes well, the features could start rolling out this fall, said Jim Rose, GOAA senior director of business services.
“It goes beyond just the link to the Internet,” Rose said. “This really provides an opportunity for a test bed. We can try different approaches.”
Google would split ad revenue with the aviation authority, as well as paying a fee for every person who logs on. The first-year guarantee is at least $125,000 a year, plus a Google advertising buy of at least $30,000.
The aviation authority is pursuing the two-year deal as a pilot project – an experiment. That allows the deal to go forward without any requirement to seek competitive proposals from other Internet companies.
Google hopes to roll out similar packages at other airports, said spokesman Andrew Pederson. But no deals have been signed yet anywhere, including in Orlando, he said.
For Google, it’s an opportunity to expose its brand – and sell advertising – to a captive audience of presumably affluent travelers, some of whom may be waiting for hours.
“It’s in the spirit of experimentation,” Pederson said. “The high-level concept of this project: there are a lot of people [who have been] accessing [the Internet] in airports for a long time. How can we make that experience better?”
For most people, the Google connection would be found through the airport’s Wi-Fi home page, and the Web pages that follow. Those pages would be branded with Orlando International Airport’s logo.
Ads would show up, including Google ads. But there would be no pop-ups, and advertising would be “tasteful, non-offensive and family safe,” according to Google’s proposal.
Posted on June 24, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
According to new figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau, Orlando went from ranking 102nd-largest in America to 80th largest.
According to the bureau’s latest estimates, Orlando’s population was over 235,000 on July 1, 2009 and increase from about 194,000 in 2000.
New York City, with an estimated 2009 population of 8.39 million, easily remains the largest city in America. It’s followed by Los Angeles (3.83 million), Chicago (2.85 million) and Houston (2.26 million). All hold the same ranks now as in 2000.
The only newcomer in the top 10 is San Jose, which was 11th in 2000. It now occupies 10th place on the list of America’s largest cities, replacing Detroit, which has slipped to 11th place.
Posted on June 24, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
The U.S. Department of Energy gave over $800,000 to the University of Central Florida for an advanced energy-efficiency building technology project.
Some of the money will be used to develop training programs for commercial building equipment technicians, building operators and energy auditors working to make buildings more eco-friendly.
According to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, “These projects will help the United States lead the world in advancing energy-efficient technologies by cutting its carbon emissions and energy costs.”
UCF is the nation’s third-largest university, with more than 53,000 students and a 1,415-acre campus in Orlando. It offers 225 degree programs in fields such as optics, simulation, engineering and computer science, digital media, business administration and hospitality management.
Posted on June 24, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
BP said it will create a $20 billion fund over the next three years to satisfy “legitimate claims” for damages caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
BP CEO Tony Howard said: “From the outset, we have said that we fully accepted our obligations as a responsible party. This agreement reaffirms our commitment to do the right thing. Our top priority is to contain the spill, clean up the oil and mitigate the damage to the Gulf Coast community. We will not rest until the job is done.”
According to the U.S. Coast Guard an estimated 35,000 to 65,000 barrels of oil are being released daily.
A recent study by University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith said the Gulf oil spill could put nearly 195,000 Floridians out of work and cost the state $10.9 billion in spending.
Posted on June 25, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
Pinkberry Inc., the retailer that started the premium frozen yogurt craze in the United States more than five years ago, is finally coming to Orlando.
Bill Harmening, local entrepreneur and chief executive officer of Orlando-based area developer Pinkberry of Florida LLC, plans to debut his first location — also the first in the state — by early August.
Pinkberry of Florida signed a seven-year lease on June 9 for a 1,082-square-foot, 33-seat space in Dr. Phillips Marketplace. Future plans for Pinkberry include opening five more restaurants in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties over the next two years, including signing at least one more lease this year. Los Angeles-based Pinkberry has nearly 80 locations in six states, as well as four international stores in Dubai, Kuwait and Mexico.
JUST IN TIME FOR 4TH OF JULY, HUDSON’S FURNITURE IS EXTENDING IT’S GRAND OPENING SALE WITH 50% OFF RVERTHING STOREWIDE. BEST OF ALL, EVERY PURCHASE INCLUDES HUDSON’S VALUE PLUS PROMISE-FREE WHITE GLOVE DELIVERY,FREE TWO YEAR PROTECTION PLAN AND A HASSLE FREE 30 DAY EXCHANGE POLICY. ORLANDO AREA LOCATIONS INCLUDE ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, EAST COLONIAL AVE. ,OCOEE, SOUTH ORANGE BLOSSOM TRAIL, ORMOND BEACH AND MELBOURNE . FOR DETAILS AND DIRECTIONS TO THE STORE NEAREST YOU VISIT www.HUDSONSFURNITURE.com
According to Newsweek’s magazine ranking, Seminole County Public Schools’ high schools were ranked in the top 3 percent of the nation.
The “America’s Best High Schools” list included the following Seminole County high schools: Seminole, Lyman, Hagerty, Winter Springs, Lake Mary, Oviedo, Lake Brantley, Lake Howell and Crooms.
Newsweek used the Challenge Index, created by Jay Matthews, to rank more than 27,000 public high schools. The index creates a ratio of the number of advanced placement (AP) and/or international baccalaureate (IB) tests taken by all students at a public high school in May 2009 divided by the number of graduating seniors for that same school year.
Posted on June 29, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
AAA said Thursday, “Despite the Gulf oil disaster affecting coastal beaches and waters, travel from Florida is projected to increase 6.2 percent this holiday week July 1-5.
Manager of AAA public relations, Jessica Brady said, “The situation in the Gulf continues to change rapidly, and the long-term impact on tourism in the Gulf Coast region is still unknown. Currently, the majority of Florida’s beaches are unaffected, beautiful and open to the public.”
Heathrow-based AAA said it has received inquiries regarding travel to the Gulf Coast, but has not experienced widespread cancellations. Travel in the Gulf Coast region is expected to increase slightly since many travelers visit Florida for reasons other than the beaches such as golfing, theme parks, state parks, shopping, nightlife and to visit family and friends.
Posted on June 30, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
4PSA, a provider of cloud computing software and infrastructure based in Bucharest, Romania, is opening its U.S. headquarters at the Central Florida Research Park in southeast Orlando.
The local branch of 4PSA is a client company of the University of Central Florida Incubation Program.
In addition, veteran U.S. telephony executive Mike Ross was named president of the Orlando branch.
Ross, whose industry credits span a 25-year career and a pioneering role in the development of voicemail and voice over Internet protocol, formerly served as a top executive with Dialogic Corp., Rhetorex/Octel, Aculab USA, Esnatech, Acredo Technologies and Conversif.
Posted on July 6, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
According to figures released Wednesday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Orlando area added 60,900 private-sector jobs between May 2000 and May 2010.
However, compared with 2009, Orlando lost over 17,000 private-sector jobs.
53 of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas didn’t fare as well, having fewer jobs now than they did 10 years ago.
Eight metros suffered drops of more than 100,000 private-sector jobs during the same 10-year span, with Detroit taking the worst hit, losing more than 498,000 positions since May 2000.
Orlando’s best year of the decade was in May 2007, having over 980,000 private-sector jobs. Its worst year was in May 2002, when it fell to around 803,000.
Posted on July 7, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
ESPN The Magazine’s 2010 Ultimate Standings ranked the Orlando Magic first among all National Basketball Association teams in fan experience.
In addition, the Magic ranked second among all professional sports franchises including the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the NBA and National Hockey League. The ranking is based on a variety of categories such as the affordability of the experience, the quality of the team’s play and the treatment of the fans.
The Super Bowl champion, New Orleans Saints, took first place, one spot ahead of the Magic.
According to the ESPN rankings, the Magic ranked first among all 122 teams in bang for the buck, defined as wins during the past three years per revenues directly from fans, adjusted for league schedules.
Posted on July 8, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
Shuttle Discovery’s launch date was postponed by NASA to Nov. 1 because its payload hardware isn’t expected to be ready in time for the original Sept. 16 launch date.
Due to the to the launch moving to November, shuttle Endeavour’s flight has been pushed back to the next available launch window for Feb. 26.
Endeavour will deliver more spare parts, including communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank, and micrometeoroid debris shields.
Posted on July 14, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
Need help developing a company newsletter?
Here are 3 tips to get you started.
1. Content – Decide on a topic that you are interested in writing and your potential customers would be interested in reading. In addition to informational content, you can also include news concerning your organization or business as well as upcoming events or other announcements. Newsletters are an excellent way to increase awareness of your organization, company, brand, or product.
2. Formatting – Three options are the traditional article format, question-and-answer, and a top 10 list. No matter what format you decide to use, your articles should be clear, concise, and coherent.
3. Publishing – Free sites such as Topica, Zinester, and Coollist are easy and efficient to use, however, if you want to avoid advertisements while aiming at a more professional look you should consider Sparklist, Lyris, or List Host.
Posted on July 15, 2010. Filed under: OBR Minutes |
Ever wonder why new employees don’t fit in at first?
Maybe it’s time your company took the time to welcome new employees.
Here are 3 tips on how to welcome a new employee.
1. Make an announcement – Whether it is a memo, bulletin board or email, find a way to inform all employees of the new employee’s name and position.
2. Ask a receptionist to welcome the new employee – The receptionist could give the new employee a tour around the office while introducing him/her to other employees who will be in the same department.
3. Ask your CEO to make time for the new employee – CEOs of small organizations might be able to have a 5 minute call with the new employee which would show him/her of the value the organization gives to each person. In a big organization, the head of the department could greet the new employee.
According to Disney Parks Blog, a new restaurant is launching at the Italy pavilion at Walt Disney World’s Epcot called Via Napoli. It’s grand opening will be on Aug. 5.
The blog said the new table service restaurant will not accept reservations for dates until Sept. 10 and on, however, early reservations for the September date can be made starting on Aug. 6.
Once open, the Italian restaurant will join more than 20 other restaurants, eateries and cafes that are located at Epcot. Like the others, Via Napoli will also accept the Disney Dining Plan, and its menu will consist of Italian-style vegetarian options. The average check at Via Napoli is estimated at $23.
This just in! Orlando Business Report has recently been informed about a great opportunity for aspiring singers. Fox 35′s Orlando Idol Audition will give four local hopefuls the chance to compete LIVE on the FOX 35 morning news for a guaranteed front line pass to the American Idol auditions in San Francisco, CA on August 19th. One winner will be chosen LIVE on the FOX 35 morning news on Friday,August 13th. Prize package includes hotel accommodations for two nights and roundtrip airfare to San Francisco.
The audition will be on Saturday, August 7th from 9am-3pm and it will be held at Ford of Clermont.
Ford of Clermont is located on 1101 E Highway 50, Clermont, Florida 34711.
European wax center is having their grand opening this Saturday, July 24th at their Waterford Lakes location in Orlando.
They will be having a special offer for a free wax. For women the free wax can be performed on the bikini line, eye brow, or under arm. The special offer for men applies to the eye brow, ear, or nose.
European wax products contain no alcohol and 100% natural beeswax and the finest polymers that is less painful than ordinary wax with less irritation and redness to provide silky smooth results. The products were developed in Paris exclusively for EUROPEAN WAX CENTER.
The address of the new location is 889 N. Alafaya Trail, Orlando, FL 32828.
The Amway Center is hosting a job fair on July 31. They are looking for part-time workers to staff Orlando Magic games, concerts and other events at the new Amway Center facility, scheduled to open this fall.
The job fair will be held at the current Amway Arena from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Some of the partners on location that will be hiring include the Orlando Magic, Levy Restaurants, Andy Frain Services, Spherion, OR&L Corp. and the city of Orlando.
The new Amway Center includes 875,000 square feet, which is nearly three times the size of the current Amway Arena.
Virgin America will begin serving Orlando International Airport with one daily nonstop flight from both Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport on Oct. 6.
Due to a delay in its leased aircraft deliveries, Virgin America postponed its sales and original start of service to Orlando. According to a news release, the flights had been previously slated to begin on Aug. 19.
Diana Walke, vice president of planning and sales at Virgin America said in a prepared statement, “We’re pleased to open sales for [Orlando International Airport] today and to bring our low-fare, award-winning service to Orlando.”
Ticket sales began July 20 at Virgin America. Connecting flights will also be available to Orlando from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Florida’s six largest metropolitan areas lost about 10 percent of their employment base during the course of the recession.
The construction industry took the biggest hit with a decline of over 330,000 jobs. Although the homebuilder tax credit helped boost home building it has done little to clear the oversupply of homes.
Fortunately, tourism spending improved and hotel occupancy rates are up from a year ago. However, the biggest roadblock to the state’s recovery is the oversupply of housing and the excess of foreclosures.
According to Mark Vitner, Wells Fargo Securities senior economist, Florida’s overall unemployment rate appears to have topped out two months ago and has fallen in each of the past two months as “we are starting to see signs of improvement in some of Florida’s larger metropolitan areas” including Fort Lauderdale and Miami, “where a rebound in international trade and tourism is helping to spark gains.”
The new $65 million University of Central Florida College of Medicine in Lake Nona launched its first official event on Aug. 2 when the college held its “White Coat Ceremony” for its second class of 60 students.
The event showcased the college’s new medical education building, including a 356-seat main auditorium, and new lab and classroom technology.
Dr. Deborah German, UCF vice president for medical affairs and dean of the College of Medicine said,“We designed our building to be iconic, to be a welcoming, life-giving magnet for the Central Florida community we serve.”
According to UCF, the UCF College of Medicine education building is the first to start from scratch in the United States in more than 30 years.
As part of a team led by Oceaneering Space Systems Inc., Harris Corp. was awarded a contract for NASA’s Crew, Robotics, Avionics and Vehicle Equipment (CRAVE) program.
The team is working under a five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with a value of up to $70 million.
CRAVE contracts cover a wide range of tasks for human spaceflight programs supported by Johnson Space Center’s engineering directorate in Houston, including the space shuttle, space station and exploration. The contracts may include avionics and ventilation systems, communications, space suit modifications and new hand tools for astronauts.
Harris Corporation will provide development, design, testing, manufaturing and maintenance of communications systems and equipment. It will also support Oceaneering with networking and robotic command and control tasks.
According to a recent study by a Forbes publication, Orlando ranks No. 45 among the top U.S. cities for working moms.
Forbes Woman measured how working-mom-friendly the nation’s largest 50 cities are. The factors are based on the cost of living and women’s earnings among many others.
Orlando ranked No. 20 on cost of living but proved much worse on women’s earnings. The City Beautiful was No. 41 for unemployment, No. 39 for pediatricians, No. 41 for school spending per pupil and No. 46 for violent crimes.
The top spot for working moms was claimed by Minneapolis/St. Paul. No.2 was Washingtion, D.C., No.3 Boston, No. 4 Pittsburgh, and Baltimore came in at No.5.
Tampa-St. Petersburg ranked No. 40, Miami-Fort Lauderdale was No. 41, and Jacksonville was No. 44.
Red light cameras installed at a couple of Orlando intersections now are getting complaint from an Orange County judge who ruled that the use of the cameras was illegal.
Orange County Circuit Judge Frederick Lauten stated that despite the city using red light cameras for over two years the state of Florida only considered the use of red light cameras legal as of July.
If Lauten’s ruling is supported, the city of Orlando may have to pay back all the money generated from tickets related to the use of the cameras, a figure exceeding $6 million in fines from issuing nearly 50,000 tickets.
A city of Orlando official said the city may appeal the ruling.
The U.S. Department of Justice said it has completed negotiations to create a $20 billion fund to provide the resources needed to help those impacted by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP said the cost of the response, to date, has been $6.1 billion.
A preliminary analysis by University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith released right after the Deepwater Horizon disaster estimated the Gulf oil spill could put nearly 195,000 Floridians out of work and cost the state $10.9 billion in spending.
A new statewide forecast released Aug. 5 by Snaith now concludes the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster isn’t just hurting Florida tourism and the environment — it likely will delay the state’s economic recovery for at least a year.
AAA Auto Club South said, motorists in Central Florida can expect to see gas prices rise a few cents this week in response to the slight price increase of crude oil.
Economic news will continue to be a strong influence on the price of crude oil. In its report last week, the U.S. Labor Department showed private payrolls rose less than expected in June and July. Meanwhile, U.S. stockpiles of crude have increased so far this month.
Jessica Brady, manager of AAA Public Relations said, “The bleak economic reports are a good indicator the price of crude oil may decline next week, since fewer jobs are being created and demand is slowing.”
Florida’s average price is 5 cents more than last week at $2.73 per gallon.
In metro Orlando, the price of a gallon of self-serve regular currently averages $2.67, up 6 cents from a week ago.
The Disney Entrepreneur Center is deciding whether to move from downtown Orlando to Orlando Fashion Square mall.
The center’s board was expected to meet in order to decide whether to pursue signing a five-year lease for approximately 21,000 square feet of space on the north end of the Orlando Fashion Square mall.
If the deal becomes approved, it would grant the center with a larger space than their current 18,000-square-foot first-floor space at the Landmark One building on Lake Eola, and it will also provide visitors free parking.
Jerry Ross, executive director of the center said, “Our lease was ending in April 2011, and we started looking at alternate locations. We determined this could be a good match for what we do, which is engage the public and be good stewards of our funding.”
The Bert Fish Foundation Inc. filed a lawsuit against Adventist Health System, the parent company of Florida Hospital, over the July 1 hospital alliance concerning Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach.
The suit, filed in the 7th Judicial Circuit Court, claims that merger transactions broke the state’s Sunshine Law. .
Bert Fish Medical Center and Florida Hospital signed a contract June 30 for the center to be managed by Florida Hospital. The agreement is a lease arrangement with an option to buy the hospital in five years.
The suit reports that “the transfer was conceived, planned, negotiated, agreed upon and approved by the committee and boards in a series of at least 19 meetings that were not open and noticed to the public.”
The University of Central Florida is preparing to open a business incubation office at the Daytona Beach International Airport.
According to Tom O’Neal, founder and executive director of the incubation program, a location at the airport has already been selected, and renovation work — approximately $1 million worth — will begin before the end of this year for a 2011 opening.
The UCF Incubator Program supports startup and growing businesses through eight local offices in Winter Springs, Sanford, Leesburg, Kissimmee, St. Cloud and three locations in Orlando.
The new 14,000-square-foot office will be the ninth one the program operates in Central Florida.
Due to a federal investigation into the death of an animal trainer at the Orlando theme park in February, SeaWorld confronts three safety violations and a $75,000 fine.
One of the three citations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor’s OSHA Aug. 23 against SeaWorld of Florida LLC was designated as “willful,” or committed with “plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.”
After a killer whale named Tilikum pulled trainer Dawn Brancheau into his tank to kill her, OSHA began a six-month investigation into SeaWorld’s safety practices.
The attraction also faces a “serious” citation for exposing employees to a fall hazard by failing to install a stairway railing system in Shamu Stadium and for failing to equip outdoor electrical receptacles in Shamu Stadium with weatherproof enclosures.
The annual report by the online travel company reported Orlando ranked No. 9 among destinations for travel based on air and hotel bookings made on Orbitz.com for the Labor Day weekend.
The average daily hotel rate booked via Orbitz.com was $79.
Las Vegas was ranked as the top destination for this year’s Labor Day weekend, with New York coming in at No. 2, Chicago ranking No. 3, Denver No. 4 and Seattle No. 5.
According to Jeanenne Tornatore, senior travel editor for Orbitz Worldwide, “Metropolitan destinations close to home top travelers’ lists as the most popular destinations this Labor Day. Although international hoteliers are still offering consumers significant reductions in nightly rates versus historic levels, stateside locales will benefit the most over the Labor Day weekend as travelers open their wallets to take advantage of deeply discounted hotel rates.”
The OrlandoMagic signed a three-year deal with Anheuser-Busch for naming rights to the Budweiser Baseline Bar, a premium-style lounge that will be available to all patrons at new Amway Center.
The 8,700-square-foot bar is on the main concourse behind the basket in the building’s south end zone. There is no food served in the lounge, but four of the arena’s largest concession stands are outside its doors, and hightop tables will be set up for people to bring items into the bar.
Magic President Alex Martins said Anheuser-Busch has been a team partner since the Magic entered the NBA 21 years ago. One point of difference with Bud’s deal at the new arena is that it gets category exclusivity inside the seating bowl on LED screens. He also stated that at the old Amway Arena, Bud shared brand exposure with other malt beverage companies in the bowl. The concourses at Amway Center are open to other brands, and the Magic are in talks with MillerCoors to do a deal elsewhere in the new facility.
Sometimes the first impression we give our customers is through the phone and in order to ensure customers are being treated well it is important to follow these simple steps when answering the phone.
1. Answer phone calls before the third ring. Most people are already annoyed if the phone rings for too long so avoid that tension altogether and pick up in a timely manner.
2. When answering the phone, be polite and enthusiastic. Your voice will set the tone for the conversation and will create an image about you.
3. Identify yourself and your organization. For example,”Good morning. XYZ Company. Kathy speaking. How may I help you?”
4. Make sure that your voice is clear and relatively slow. No one likes to listen to someone over the phone who speaks too fast for them to understand.
5. Eliminate slang words and replace them with positive words. Replace words like, “No problem” with “Certainly”, or “Very well.
According to Nielsen, Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne will remain the nation’s No. 19 TV market for the 2010-2011 TV season.
For the 2010-2011 broadcast season, Nielsen estimates the total number of TV households in the U.S. will rise to 115.9 million, an increase of one million homes from last year. He also estimates an increase of more than two million persons age two and older in U.S. TV households, for a total of more than 294 million people.
The rankings of the Top 10 local TV markets haven’t changed from last year with New York coming at number 1, Los Angeles landing at number 2, Chicago taking the 3rd spot, Philadelphia ranking at number 4, and Dallas coming at number 5.
The Orlando Magic have signed Geico as the fourth founding partner for Amway Center, its new $480 million arena opening in October.
The insurance firm signed a five-year deal valued in seven figures annually. In turn, Geico receives naming rights to a seven-level parking garage being built next to the arena and a skywalk connecting the two buildings.
Geico is also title sponsor of the 15-minute halftime countdown clock, a creative connection with the company’s advertising slogan, “15 minutes could save you 15 percent” on insurance. During the break, Geico’s logos will be posted on all club level signs, in the arena restaurant and on all concourse.
The Magic’s first regular-season game at its new facility is Oct. 28 against the Washington Wizards. The club’s first preseason game is Oct. 10. As of last week, the first ticketed event at Amway Center was set for Oct. 7, an Eagles concert.
The Orange County Commission approved the Disney Entrepreneur Center’s planned relocation from the Landmark One building on Lake Eola to Orlando Fashion Square mall.
According to a news release, the entrepreneur center is expected to move in April 2011. The entrepreneur center, mall owner Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust Inc. and the mall finalized a five-year lease for 21,000 square feet of space on the north side of the mall, next to Barnie’s Coffee & Tea Co.
Jerry Ross, executive director of the center, said in a prepared statement that this relocation will enable the organization to continue its growth, explore new partnerships and expand opportunities for Orlando’s small business community. Additionally, each organization that is part of the center is expected to see lower rental expenses at the new facility.
According to figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost half of the nation’s 100 major markets have more private-sector jobs today than they did 10 years ago. But only a third managed to post gains during the past year.
Houston leads the 47 markets that registered employment gains between July 2000 and the same month this year, with more than 195,000 private-sector jobs during the decade. Coming at second is Washington with a 10-year of more than 189,000.
Orlando continued on a decline that started in 2006. Although the area gained 61,000 jobs over the past 10 years, it lost 5,700 jobs last year, a decline of less than 1 percent.
Island One Resorts Management Corp. filed for voluntary Chapter 11 reorganization on Sept. 10 at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Middle District in Orlando.
Island One and its affiliated entities filed for reorganization with liabilities/debts, an amount more than $148.3 million. Assets are estimated at more than $46.8 million.
The company currently operates nine resorts and employs 700 employees.
Among its resorts are Barefoot’n Resort in Kissimmee and Bryan’s Spanish Cove, Liki Tiki Village, Orbit One Vacation Villas and Parkway International Resort, all in Orlando.
Toys “R” Us added eight temporary stores to the Orlando market, bringing its Central Florida total to nine.
According to a news release, the new Express stores are part of an effort by the retailer to open 600 such stores in malls and shopping centers nationwide during this year’s Christmas season, giving Toys “R” Us another 2.4 million square feet of toy-selling space for the holiday season.
The Orlando market got its first Toys “R” Us express store last year at Orlando Premium Outlets.
The new express stores will open this year are at The Florida Mall, Pointe Orlando, the Volusia Mall in Daytona Beach, Winter Garden Village at Fowler Groves, Oviedo Marketplace, Lake Square Mall, Viera Market Center and Melbourne Square.
A new Bahama Breeze restaurant is being constructed for the east Orlando area, making the fourth in central Florida.
Mike Bernstein, the Bahama Breeze spokesman, said the restaurant chain plans to start construction in the next month on a new 306-seat, 9,400-square-foot restaurant in The Shoppes at Alafaya Trail shopping center in the Waterford Lakes area. Although the company is still in the process of buying the site they expect to close on the deal in the next 30 days.
The store is slated to be completed by next spring.
Bahama Breeze, a concept of Orlando-based DardenRestaurantsInc.(NYSE: DRI), will have 26 locations nationwide with the opening of this newest eatery in 2011.
The U.S. Census Bureau published statistics that revealed 4.1 million people in Florida did not have health insurance in 2009.
The health care reform goal of getting insurance for nearly all Americans has a lot to work on, as it does in the rest of the country, where 50.7 million people were uninsured last year.
In Florida, 26.6 percent of people under the age of 65 did not have health insurance. From the under-65 age group, 58.7 percent of Floridians were covered by private health insurance and 19.7 percent were on government health insurance.
Nationwide, 18.8 percent of people had no health insurance.
The health reform law requires most people to buy insurance and most companies to offer insurance to their employees, and it expands the eligibility requirements for Medicaid.
According to two new studies released by J.D. Power and Associates, KB Home was No. 1 on the list of new home builders in the Orlando market for customer satisfaction and new home quality.
A press release said KB Home received a score of 909 out of 1,000 this year, a 50-point increase from its 859 score one year earlier, in the 2010 new home builder customer satisfaction study. The study ranks builders in 17 markets based on sales staff, warranty/customer service staff, workmanship/materials, price/value, home readiness, construction manager, recreational facilities provided by the builder, builder’s design center and location.
AshtonWoodsHomes was second to KB in Orlando market customer satisfaction with a score of 883.
President Barack Obama has appointed Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy & Negotiations (ACTPN).
The committee is a 45-member group appointed by the president to provide advice on matters of trade policy and related issues, including trade agreements. It is under the direct supervision of U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, a Cabinet member who serves as the president’s principal trade adviser, negotiator and spokesperson on trade issues.
Dyer was the only U.S. mayor selected to serve on the committee.
Dyer stated, “It is an honor to be asked to serve in this capacity, and I believe I can offer a unique voice and perspective to this committee and the president on behalf of the residents and businesses of Central Florida. This appointment also signifies Orlando’s increasingly important role in international tourism and trade.”
Several Florida law enforcement agencies announced a statewide crackdown on telemarketing operations by those peddling timeshare units resulted in four arrests, 137 cease and desist orders and some $125,000 in fines.
Sept. 13-17, state agents went out across Florida and visited 67 telemarketing operations in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando and Tampa.
Officials found several cases of unregistered business, unlicensed salespeople, and two employees who had outstanding arrest warrants.
Florida Hospital DeLand Victoria Medical Park will be opening Oct. 3.
The 25,000-square-foot complex offers women’s diagnostics, outpatient imaging, sports medicine, rehabilitation, a physician offices and a laboratory. It will be located across from Victoria Park’s retail village center.
Florida Hospital DeLand was established in 1962 and is a 156-bed acute-care hospital that is part of the nonprofit Adventist Health System — which also owns Florida Hospital.
According to the National Retail Federation, Halloween won’t be so scary for retailers this year.
According to a new release, in its 2010 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, consumers plan to spend an average of $66.28 on costumes, candy and decorations, which is nearly $10 more than last year’s $56.31.
And total spending on the holiday is expected to reach $5.8 billion – about $1 billion more than 2009.
Gags & Games Inc. leased six Central Florida stores last fall for its Halloween USA chain. Their leases lasted three to four months. They were considered a good way to generate revenue in deserted spaces in the Orlando area.
Alinean announced plans to expand its employee base with at least 10 new hires over the next two years and lease additional new headquarters office space in downtown Orlando.
They were also approved to receive incentives from the state of Florida and the city of Orlando through the Qualified Target Industry Tax Refunds to extend its operations.
Alinean established its first office at the University of Central Florida Technology Incubator in 2001.
Alinean’s tools are used by companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Dell, Intel, AT&T and many more.
Orlando was selected as the host city for the Digestive Disease Week, which will be held at the Orange County Convention Center from May 19-22, 2013.
The annual convention usually draws about 20,000 medical professionals. The Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau estimates the convention’s economic impact will be more than $38 million.
The last time Orlando hosted the Digestive Disease Week was in 2003.
According to a report from Intuit Inc., the growth rate for small business employment continued rising in September, but at a slower rate than the previous month, while hours worked and compensation remained essentially flat.
Intuit said its Small Business Employment Index found that small business employment grew by 0.14 percent in September, making it a 1.6 percent annual growth rate.
Even though unemployment is at 11.7 percent, Florida’s rate rose 0.2 percent.
Intuit said the revised growth rate for August shows that jobs increased more than previously reported.
Amendment 4 was defeated by voters this past election date.
According to the Florida Division of Elections, the Amendment failed by 67 percent.In order for Amendment 4 to have been passed it needed 60 percent. The debate was centered on the possibility of increased costs in a weak economy.
The amendment was originally proposed in 2003 when supporters were worried about Florida’s uncontrolled growth. Florida Realtors opposed the amendment, which could have contributed to the defeat of the amendment.
According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the Orlando Sentinel circulations have dropped during the past year.
The weekly circulation has been down almost 5 percent from last year on the same day while the Sunday circulationh had a drop of 4 percent.
Other Florida newspapers have also taken a hit.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel suffered with a 7 percent drop in the Sunday circulation and a 2.4 percent drop for the Monday through Friday circulation.
Also struggling, the Miami Herald experienced a 10 percent decline in their Sunday circulation and a 6.6 percent downfall in their Weekly circulation.
But St. Petersburg Times had a different experience. They grew almost 2 percent in Sunday circulation this year from last year. Their weekly circulation only declined by 0.2 percent.
Gulfstream International Group registered for voluntary Chapter 11 in order secure long-term financing and restructure its debt. The company believes high fuel costs and declining traffic is responsible for its financial problems.
Fortunately, the airline doesn’t expect the filing to affect its flights. They also stated that they will honor all reservations and tickets.
As stated in a news release, Gulfstream said that it arranged for up to $5 million in debtor-in-possession financing from Victory Park Capital Advisors, an asset management firm with headquarters, dependent on court approval.
Beginning this month, Air Tran Airways, one of Orlando International Airport’s largest carriers, will be partnering up with Gogo Inflight Internet and Ford Motor Company. They will begin offering free access to Facebook (the popular social networking site) through any of the customer’s Wi-Fi enabled devices. All through February, Gogo wireless network inflight will be enabled through a web browser for Air Tran’s many customers for free!
A recent survey done by Ron Sachs Communications assess the status of phone books in today’s media frenzied world. Findings conclude that the phonebook should expect its death in the next few years. Here are some of the more interesting stats based off the 1,100 adults surveyed:
3 out of 4 Americans rely on their phones or internet for finding phone numbers
Only 3% of Americans have used the phone book in the last week
8 out of 10 people between the ages of 18 and 29 see no use for the phone book
Nearly a quarter of Americans immediately discard their phonebooks (1/3 of them are under the age of 45)
About half of those surveyed imagine they will have less or no need at all for phone books in 5 years
And for us people in the advertising and marketing worlds: 51% of those surveyed admitted that the phone book had no influence on their purchasing decisions whatsoever.
CareerBliss analyzed elements such as growth opportunities, compensation, benefits, work-life balance, career advancement, senior management, job security and whether the employee would recommend the company to others. After applying these factors to businesses around America, they created a list of the best cities to work at. Out of the 50 cities ranked, Orlando placed number 20. With positive reviews from employees at UCF to Walt Disney World to PCL Construction Services, ‘work happiness’ is prominent right here in Orlando.
Five Guys Burgers & Fries recently topped the charts as the nation’s fastest growing restaurant chain for the second year in a row. Last year, their sales grew 8% to an estimated $625 million while growing 35% in units. With Five Guys’ 15 locations in Central Florida, you can expect to see more popping up throughout the year, the most recent being their downtown Church Street location. Coming in a close second is Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches with 9 locations in the Orlando area, and third, Chipotle with their 16 locations in the region.
Allstates WorldCargo has been providing transportation solutions for 50 years. They service manufacturers distributors and suppliers in different market segments such as pharmaceutical, retail, aerospace, automotive, medical, tradeshow, and government. Products and services include: domestic air and ground transportation services, international air and ocean services, truck brokerage services, and warehousing and distribution services. The office in Orlando has over 25 years of combined freight forwarding experience. For additional information please visit their website at www.allstates-worldcargo.com or call 407-857-5047 or email mco@allstates-worldcargo.com
A recent report on behalf of the International Franchising Association, or IFA, has projected that the number of new franchise units industry wide will grow 2.5% this year compared to a 0.3% increase from 2009-2010. This growth is also predicted to create 194,000 jobs.
There are several local companies here in Orlando that have succeeded in franchising, along with those that are just beginning to break into the market:
BrightStar- A full service healthcare staffing agency with 18 locations in Florida, four in the Orlando area. With 10,000+ baby boomers a day requiring senior care services, the demand for this type of service increases significantly.
Teriyaki Experience- One of three located directly in Orlando. This two year old company plans to open 150 quick serve locations throughout the state by 2015.
Welcomemat Services- They’ve spent eight years helping small businesses with their new mover loyalty marketing program where specialized technology stores and logs company demographics for use by the local companies it supports. Orlando has been named one of the top five cities for migration last year and Welcomemat is identifying Orlando as an ideal market for development.
Based on a recent survey from DollarDays.com, the rising costs of gasoline are resulting in small business losses including revenue and job loss. In fact, over 25% of small business owners said that they will have to lay off employees. More than half of customers are driving less to shop therefore reducing sales. According to AAA Auto Club, gas prices are rising every week and are expected to worsen during the summer months. “With the recession and increasing fuel and food prices, being a successful small business owner is incredibly tough”– Marc Joseph, CEO of Pheonix-based DollarDays.
This week, May 16-20, is National Small Business Week. Every year since 1963, the President of the United States has declared National Small Business Week to distinguish the influence of small businesses to the financial security of this country. This pronouncement acknowledges not only our country, but also our city’s small business owners for the enormous role that they play in our community and local financial system.
Over half of Americans own or work for a small business, and ninety-three percent of the businesses in Orlando are considered “small” employing less than 50 workers. Orlando’s small companies provide needed and desirable products and services. These entrepreneurs help drive our local economy by employing residents and creating creating new jobs and opportunities, in the long run improving our great city.
Nowadays, a full functional Facebook page is absolutely crucial for many businesses. And the attention that is showed to many company Web sites should also be shown to their Facebooks. According to Kimberly Maul, eMarketer writer/analyst and co-author of the new report, “Facebook Marketing: Strategies for Turning ‘Likes’ into Loyalty,” “The rapid adoption of the ‘like’ button and the rise of the Facebook ‘homepage’ are indications that marketing on Facebook has become a necessity for businesses large and small, yet the fact that some companies have made Facebook the primary way they engage with consumers online raises serious questions about the risks and rewards of marketing within another company’s structure and rules.”
The majority of Fortune 100 companies have begun using Facebook as a marketing tool and a recent report found that 44% in North America view Facebook as vital to the success of their company.
A study from WONGDOODY, a marketing ideas agency, delivered a list of standards for Facebook marketers. Among the 84 Facebook brand pages examined:
- 88% posted video content
- 82% solicited fan stories or comments
- 79% had their wall open for fan comments
- 66% actively replied to fan posts and comments
These stats are just the tip of the iceburg. There are many more tools available on Facebook for marketers to use to drive more customers to their pages. The bottom line is this: a company’s Facebook fan base is only as strong as the energy put into maintaining it.
Despite a seemingly endless recession local newcomer European Wax Center continues to exceed even their own growth projections. European Wax Centers is one of the fastest growing franchises in the United States. In their first 12 months, they granted over 75 franchises in 15 states. Today they have 212 locations nationwide, with 15 locations already open in the state of Florida, and 8 opening soon.
Bearing in mind the dull performance of most businesses these days, many observers are questioning what’s the key to this extraordinary accomplishment. Judd Miller, an area developer for the chains located in Texas, says it’s simple, “people are still spending money as long as they are receiving value for their money.”
In other words, the European Wax Center franchise is founded on the principle of high quality service at unbeatable prices. In addition, there are several reward programs that will allow guests to receive up to a 30% discount off of the already low prices. Because the Reward Programs are usable at any location, and since locations keep popping up everywhere, European Wax Center has even managed to tap into demographic of consumers traveling on business.
By offering the same or even superior quality at nearly half the price, European Wax Center drives high volume business. And thanks to their Reward Programs, they are able to transform the volume into repeat business as well. Altogether, this combination has driven the remarkable growth that’s driving multiple store openings. Since the Center opened its first franchise here in Florida six years ago, the company has blossomed with over 212 franchises presently, and they’re aiming to open 1,000 franchises over the next six years.
According to company President Steven Auerbach, Connextions Inc., a privately held company and part of the New Mountain Partners II LP portfolio, a private equity fund sponsored and managed by Manhattan-based New Mountain Capital LLC, plans to add 1,200 jobs in Orlando due to new business growth within its health care customer base.
The positions will be added at its Orlando headquarters, as well as at a seasonal expansion site in south Orlando. Positions range from licensed and non-licensed health agent roles to coaches, managers and technologists.
To help fill the job openings, the city of Orlando is working with Connextions via a task force that includes several local organizations such as Workforce Central Florida, the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission and the Greater Orlando Chamber of Commerce.
“The city of Orlando is leading this task force because we are committed to helping our residents find good positions during a tough economic time,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.
Information on the available positions is posted at www.jobs.connextions.com.
Governor Rick Scott announced on July 1st that construction on the 61-mile, $1.2 billion commuter train, SunRail, is allowed start rolling again.
SunRail, a Central Florida commuter rail transit project, has been in development for some time now by the Florida Department of Transportation, in cooperation with the federal government and local officials in Orange, Seminole, Volusia and Osceola counties and the city of Orlando.
SunRail will run along a 61-mile stretch of existing rail freight tracks in the four-county area. The 31-mile first phase of SunRail will serve 12 stations, linking DeBary to Orlando. Phase II will serve 5 additional stations, north to DeLand and south to Poinciana. Construction is expected to begin this year with service is projected to start in 2013.
The NBA lockout might threaten the Orlando Magic’s next season in Amway Center, but city officials say they’ll be able to pay the bills for their new building even if the Magic aren’t there. However, local businesses around the new venue may not be as lucky.
The Magic have played only a single season in the $480 million arena, which opened not even a year ago. With NBAplayers and owners still far from concluding contract negotiations, the lockout could last long enough to put the second season in jeopardy. Meaning lost jobs and a major decrease in revenue for the city and small businesses surrounding the arena.
The upside, as far as the city is concerned, is that when the new Amway Center was built a new contract was devised between City Hall and the Magic. That new deal provides an important safety net for the city. Under the new deal, the city is guaranteed a payment from the Magic — on top of the rent that the team pays — even in situations when the Magic don’t play or attendance plummets.
Next season, the team is on the hook to pay the city $2.8 million. Annual rent amounts to $1 million of that, and the rest comes from another contractual payment in lieu of the revenue earned from advertising, naming rights and luxury suites.
However, that does not mean there won’t be some financial pain for City Hall if the Magic fail to play. The city will lose out on a “facility fee” tacked on every ticket sold to an event at the Amway Center. At the same time, if a game is canceled, the city doesn’t have the expense of paying ushers, ticket-takers, security guards and others.
So while the city may be able to save some money, workers and businesses that have sprung up on Church Street to take advantage of Amway Center traffic will be losing out.
“We want to have an NBA season,” Mayor Buddy Dyer said. “Economically, I guess the venue would do better because we wouldn’t have to man the building, but it would so hurt the merchants around Church Street. The huge concern is not the impact on the city and its venues — it’s the income for everybody else who relies on events being held in the Amway Center.”
In the past year, many restaurants and shops have opened along Church Street due to the increased amount of business from the arena. And a lot of these businesses rely heavily on games and events to ensure customers.
With the Magic preseason scheduled to start in just 3 shorts months, local businesses and fans are hopeful that the NBA will reach an understanding and the lockout will not affect the city and our many local businesses.
According to Walt Disney World officials, over the next three years, Downtown Disney’s Pleasure Island will receive a complete makeover that will help to create 1,200 new jobs.
Pleasure Island will take on the new name Hyperion Wharf. The new Downtown Disney district will include stylish boutiques, innovative restaurants and a lakeside park with pedestrian walkways.
“We have made great progress since first announcing our vision to bring new shopping, dining and entertainment experiences to Downtown Disney, many of which can’t be found anywhere else and have already become guest favorites,” said Keith Bradford, vice president of Downtown Disney. “We look forward to providing even more ways for our guests to enjoy Downtown Disney, while at the same time creating new jobs for Central Floridians.”
These additions will come alongside other projects under way at Downtown Disney, such as a renovation of the Lego Imagination Center and improvements to the AMC movie theater, including a bar and dining concept within the theater. Construction will also begin this fall on a new 50,000-square-foot bowling, billiards, dining and nightlife entertainment center, Splitsville. This new entertainment center will be located in Downtown Disney’s West Side where RideMakerz currently is. RideMakerz will be moved to the Marketplace area of Downtown Disney.
Overall, the additions to Downtown Disney are expected to create 600 construction jobs, 500 restaurant, retail and entertainment jobs and support 100 vendor and supplier jobs, which will be greatly appreciated in this poor economy.
