About the author: Brooke Howell
Brooke Howell edits SmartBrief’s newsletters on small business. Before joining SmartBrief, she was editor of a specialty newsletter on the business aspects of the home-health industry, and prior to that an associate research editor at AARP The Magazine. Her interest in workforce issues began at Indiana University where, as an undergraduate, she worked at the university’s Career Development Center.
Spotlight on Association Leadership: An interview with Forté Foundation’s executive director
Elissa Ellis-Sangster serves as executive director for the Forté Foundation, an organization dedicated to inspiring women business leaders. Ellis-Sangster brings to the role extensive knowledge of issues affecting women’s abilities to seek, prepare for and attain business leadership positions, drawn from her experience as assistant dean and director of the MBA Program at the McCombs [...]
Live from #OPENNYT: Better safe than sorry is no way to approach social media
One of the mistakes American Express has made in recent years was being too cautious with social media, said Susan Sobbott, president of American Express OPEN, Monday during the panel on “Decoding the New Digital Consumer” at The New York Times Small Business Summit. American Express is all caught up now and engaging on a [...]
Live from #OPENNYT: The daily-deal debate rages on
With stories of booms and busts brought on by daily deals from Groupon and its competitors, a debate has arisen among small-business owners over the wisdom of participating in the Web-based bargains. That debate raged on at The New York Times Small Business Summit on Monday, starting with morning keynote speaker Tim O’Shaughnessy, CEO and [...]
Live from #OPENNYT: Customers want to connect with brands, businesses and their leaders
During the breakout sessions I attended at The New York Times Small Business Summit on Monday, the successful entrepreneurs serving as panelists kept coming back to one key concept for attracting and retaining customers: authenticity. Customers only want to be evangelists for brands they believe to be authentic, said Yes To Carrots Inc. co-founder Ido [...]
Live from #OPENNYT: Jay Goltz on hiring
The New York Times Small Business Summit kicked off Monday with advice from The New York Times “You’re the Boss” blog’s Jay Goltz, who dished out a wealth of wisdom on how to hire the right people. Goltz started out with a two-part question that entrepreneurs commonly ask: How do you hire a salesperson, and [...]
With a little help from technology, you can harness the power of social media for customer service
The second post in SmartBrief’s Spotlight on Customer Service series is brought to you by First Data, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing. Check out First Data’s white paper on using e-gifting to drive your social-marketing strategy and improve customer relationships. Not only do people care about customer service received from businesses, [...]
How franchisors lead the way to entrepreneurial success
The International Franchise Association brought together bankers, politicians, government officials and franchise leaders for a Small Business Lending Summit April 7 in Washington, D.C., in an effort to work toward solutions to the obstacles that franchisees and other small-business owners are encountering in getting the loans they need to start up and grow. As part [...]
Live from #IFA: Are computers OK in training?
Computers should be off-limits in training sessions unless they are an integral part of the exercise, said the speakers at the Best Practices in Training session at the IFA 2011 Annual Convention. No exceptions for people who want to take notes on their laptop or iPad. Why? People will inevitably check e-mail, so if your [...]
