Kansas SBDC March 8, 2018 Leave a Comment

Sugar Creek Country Store

When Dan Hohman opened Sugar Creek Country Store LLC – his bulk foods store in St. Mary’s, Kansas – it was because he had decided that not only would this type of store add something new and different to the St. Mary’s community, but it would also give the Hohman kids a chance to grow up with the experience of participation in a family business.

With 10 children and more than 30 nieces and nephews, Dan knew that if the kids were interested, he could bring them into the business and provide them with the opportunity to learn valuable skills and acquire the self-confidence that comes from work and success.

Several years earlier, on the recommendation of a friend, Dan had begun working with the Kansas SBDC at Washburn University (WU) in order to get his idea of opening a new business in St. Mary’s off the ground. In 2013 Dan and the SBDC worked to vet his business concepts and develop a feasible business that would work in a town of 2,600 people.

Dan and his advisors analyzed the various business plans before Dan settled on the general idea for a bulk foods store. Once Dan decided bulk foods was the way to go, the team worked together to dive deep into the business’ financial projections. The SBDC provided extensive market research including demographic information he could use to build a plan. Establishing a workable budget as well as developing a solid marketing plan were key to starting up a profitable business that wouldn’t overspend its resources during the start-up phase.

“With the Kansas SBDC’s assistance in putting together a business plan and a budget, and also looking at where the marketing budget could be best spent, we were able to open Sugar Creek Country Store in St. Mary’s in July of 2016,” shared Dan. “The time spent studying demographics and figuring out how to get word out about the store to folks outside of St. Mary’s so that Sugar Creek could become a destination, was an enormous help in contributing to the store’s ability to be profitable within the desired timeframe.” sugar creek st marys small business award

“With Sugar Creek we were able to make a bigger splash in a very big pond – northeast Kansas – by using best practices in marketing including social media and word-of-mouth to our advantage,” said Dan. “Because of this, our business has outperformed sales expectations and needed to increase employment by the third month in business.” Currently, Dan employs 15 people at Sugar Creek Country Store LLC.

Dan says that his Kansas SBDC advisors were really adept at putting themselves in his shoes and understanding his perspective as a business owner. Dan appreciated the advisors’ ability to understand what it would be like to run his type of business and to see both the challenges and opportunities that he would face.

Referring other business owners to the Kansas SBDC is a “no-brainer”, according to Dan. Whenever he talks with anyone interested in getting into business, Dan recommends that he or she contact the Kansas SBDC.

More about Sugar Creek Country Store

Website: Sugar Creek Country Store
Facebook: Sugar Creek Country Store

SBDC advisory team

Les Streit, WU
Laurie Pieper, WU
Karl Klein, WU
Bob Washatka, WU

How Kansas SBDC helped Sugar Creek Country Store

Cash Flow Projections
Business Plan
Marketing Plan
Market Research

Kansas SBDC March 8, 2018 Leave a Comment

Wabaunsee County Signal – Enterprise

One of the events that small rural communities look forward to each week is when they get their local paper.

When residents of Wabaunsee County, Kansas read the local news, they have Lori L. Daniel – Editor, Owner, Publisher – of the Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise to thank.

Lori Daniel first began working at the Wabaunsee County’s Signal-Enterprise weekly newspaper in the late 1970’s during her junior and senior years in high school. At that time, the paper had been printing for more than 100 years in northeastern Kansas.

Apparently, during her time at the Signal-Enterprise Lori found some ‘ink in her veins.’

After high school graduation, Lori continued in the newspaper business spending the next 36 years working for the agriculture newspaper Grass & Grain published by Ag Press. At Ag Press she learned and mastered all the skills of printing and publishing including typesetting copy, building ads and even branching out into advertising sales, final page layout, and design. Lori maintained publishing software for billing, ad pricing, accounting, mailing lists – learning all aspects of the newspaper business.

In 2014 she found her way back to The Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise and worked two days each week for then owner Ervan Stuewe. Lori developed her skills as a graphic artist as well as a nice account list of commercial customers.

Over the next year of work at The Signal-Enterprise Lori became interested in doing more at the paper – she wanted to be the owner.

In early 2016 Lori met with Kansas SBDC at Washburn University (WU) advisor Les Streit and Tracy Henry, Director of Wabaunsee Economic Development. Lori already had a local bank interested in helping with the financing but needed additional funding to purchase the business. Working with the SBDC she pulled together a solid business plan to secure financing.

“Les Streit explained various options, offered support and encouragement. He also talked with me realistically about the printing and publishing business – especially newspapers,” shared Lori. “I believe he was making sure I knew what I was getting into. Then he helped me put together a business plan, complete with charts and future income projections. I believe all this made the difference in my obtaining my e-community loan. I was looking into tapping my retirement fund. I didn’t think I had any other option until I met with Les.”

Together with Lori’s own equity contribution, a commercial bank loan and a Wabaunsee County E-Community loan, the financing package was finalized and Lori became the new owner of The Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise in June 2016.

When we talked with Les Streit, Kansas SBDC at WU advisor, he attributes the successful purchase and transition of this business to Lori’s tenacity and the cohesive effort from all the financing partners as they worked together to assist in the asset purchase of the business. “The Kansas SBDC at Washburn was very honored and pleased to work with such a talented business entrepreneur and her funding partners,” said Les.

To date this 134-year-old paper continues to publish weekly in the county seat of Wabaunsee County in Alma, Kansas, population 792. In addition to Lori, the Signal-Enterprise employs two part-time staffers, two part-time reporters, and two contributing roving photographers.

More about Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise

Website: Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise

Kansas SBDC Advisor

Les Streit, WU

How Kansas SBDC helped Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise

Cash Flow Projections
Business Plan
Marketing Plan
Business Transition

Kansas SBDC March 4, 2018 Leave a Comment

KEA Advisors

KEA Advisors provide businesses with detailed analysis of business operations, with thoughtful implementation of innovative strategies that leverage current teams and systems.

KEA creates and assists in the implementation of custom plans for companies and departments, providing assistance focused on transformation and profit for the business client.

KEA began working with Kansas SBDC, at the University of Kansas (KU), with the regional director Will Katz in June of 2011. They were working through a new marketing and sales plan. KEA worked with the SBDC through advising and training and successfully rolled out a new brand one year into their work with the SBDC.

Recently we had an opportunity to sit down and talk with the team about their experience.

Kansas SBDC: What specific challenge(s) prompted you to contact the Kansas SBDC?

KEA Advisors: Our first contact with the Kansas SBDC several years ago was focused on revenue growth and project management, as well as helping us define the leadership portion of our engagements. We have continued to work with the SBDC on building processes and procedures for our business and helping develop the structure of our business to maximize the valuation of our company. The focus has been to move our business from “entrepreneurial” to “professionally managed.”

Kansas SBDC: How did your Kansas SBDC advisor or advisor team help you overcome these challenges? What solutions did you and your advisor discover together?

KEA Advisors: The initial solutions were to attend a Profit Competencies workshop. We utilized that workshop to identify profit leaks and to start to move our company away from a lone wolf organization. We also identified cost and project management tools and marketing ideas to help the business grow. From there, we engaged with SBDC and the University of Kansas entrepreneurship class for a deep dive into our project management process. This provided us some process and project management ideas, as well as continued marketing ideas. The SBDC continued to work with us at company meetings as well as one-on-one to review financial performance and continual organizational development. Our last engagement with SBDC was to start to identify transition processes to continue the movement from entrepreneur leadership to professionally managed. This, along with transition to potential new ownership, will continue to be the basis of our relationship with SBDC.

Kansas SBDC: What specific results or outcomes have you experienced in your business since implementing these solutions? How have these results changed your business?

KEA Advisors: Improved project management and “line of sight” in terms of project status and profitability. We now develop logical and well thought out budgets for our projects and have established a pricing methodology to apply to this logic. We then are able to analyze our actual job profitability and performance.

This has helped us reduce our cost of sales as percentage of sales by two percentage points, as well as open additional capacity for our business. This equates to about $50,000+ per year. In addition, the continued defining of our organizational structure has helped us to improve the role definitions of our business. This has helped us to maintain growth in annual sales and operating profitability. Our sales have grown by 83% since 2011, and our operating income has increased by 230%+ since 2011. We have been able to improve our project quality while retaining a significant amount of our sales increase.

Kansas SBDC: When assisting you with your business, what did the Kansas SBDC do really well?

KEA Advisors: They listen very well to the concerns that we have and help us craft customized solutions unique to our firm. They have also been able to help us at various stages of our business growth and in various areas of our business.

More about KEA Advisors

Website: KEA Advisors
LinkedIn: KEA Advisors
Facebook: KEA Advisors

Kansas SBDC Advisor

Will Katz, KU

Summary of how Kansas SBDC helped KEA Advisors

Marketing Plan
Market Research
ProfitCents Analysis
Business Transition

Kansas SBDC March 4, 2018 Leave a Comment

HMC Performance Coatings

HMC Performance Coatings, a Hobby Monster Customs, LLC company is family owned and operated in Tonganoxie, Kansas.

Once a personal hobby that ‘morphed out of control’ HMC was developed as a full-service powder coating facility for custom and manufacturing projects.

In January of 2014 on the recommendation of a business acquaintance, the team at HMC contacted the Kansas SBDC at the University of Kansas (KU). Initially the big challenge was to conduct market research to test the theory that the retail business would succeed. However, as the business changed its focus, the challenge shifted from marketing to business development. As the company has grown, the challenges have shifted.

HMC is a great example of how the SBDC works with a client business as their needs change over time. The following is a short Q & A with the HMC team that highlights their experience with the SBDC team.

Kansas SBDC: What specific challenge(s) prompted you to contact the Kansas SBDC?

HMC Performance: Entrepreneurship comes with a host of challenges. We had an amazing vision, but in truth, we knew very little about planning, launching or building a business. In our search to learn more, we discovered America’s SBDC Kansas at the University of Kansas. Initially, we reached out for assistance in finalizing our business plan to obtain funding. Will Katz, our SBDC advisor helped to educate us on the vast support and resources available to entrepreneurs ready to build a successful business for little or no costs. The SBDC has become HMC’s “one stop shop” for business related resources. Despite what many might believe, the challenges of entrepreneurship do not get smaller as the business grows, however, our capacity to meet those challenges continue to develop thanks to the mentoring and coaching relationship we have with SBDC.

Kansas SBDC: How did your Kansas SBDC advisor or advisor team help you overcome these challenges? What solutions did you and your advisor discover together?

HMC Performance: As new entrepreneurs with limited business background we understood that we had many challenges ahead of us. HMC initially launched as a ATV/UTV specialty shop, offering powder coating services to further customize the machines. Within the first few months of business, the demand for our outstanding powder coat finishes and fast-growing reputation of unbeatable customer service spread well beyond our atv/ utv enthusiasts. The revenue trend of our powder coating services continued to grow and consume all our available resources. Armed with our company’s data, HMC worked closely with the SBDC to determine which path was best for the future of Hobby Monster Customs; continue to stretch HMC resources to “stick” with the original business plan OR use our data, embrace it, and redefine who we would become. The opportunity to work closely with Will analyzing balance sheets, profit/loss statements, and further market research allowed us to become laser focused on the profitable stream of the business and develop a plan for eliminating less profitable sections of the business. This was a momentous decision with great outcomes for our business.

Kansas SBDC: What specific results or outcomes have you experienced in your business since implementing these solutions? How have these results changed your business?

HMC Performance: HMC has experienced tremendous growth since focusing solely on powder-coating and media blasting services. Our business went from one employee to one part-time and 16 fulltime employees, with an increased facility of 8,400 square feet from 3,600 square feet since our doors opened for business four years ago. HMC continues to grow and looks forward to another successful year capitalizing on low cost professional development courses and other resources of the SBDC.

More about HMC Performance Coatings

Website: HMC Performance Coatings
Facebook: HMC Performance Coatings

Kansas SBDC Advisors

Will Katz, KU
Jack Harwell, JCCC

How Kansas SBDC helped HMC Performance Coatings

Cash Flow Projections
Business Plan
Marketing Plan
Market Research
ProfitCents Analysis
Strategic Management Program

Kansas SBDC March 3, 2018 Leave a Comment

KC Restoration

In 2011, LeAnn and Bill Luemmen launched KC Restoration LLC in Olathe, Kansas, soon after moving to Johnson County to seek a better education for their daughter.

With a new move, LeAnn and Bill also made significant transformations in their careers. LeAnn transitioned from elementary school teacher to CEO, while Bill transitioned from police captain to the COO of their new venture. Together, this husband and wife team built KC Restoration, which was established to fill a niche in refinishing metal, stone, and wood. Their work can be appreciated at large and notable commercial landmarks around the Kansas City area.

With the new location, new business, and new purpose, the Luemmens wanted to ensure that they would become employers that played a role in improving the lives of their employees.

The founders of KC Restoration and their professional staff have attended nearly every business seminar offered by the Kansas SBDC at Johnson County Community College (JCCC), and they have worked with many of the center’s business advisors. Early work centered on the classification of employees vs. independent contractors, marketing, search engine optimization and staff compensation levels. LeAnn says, “The SBDC has been excellent in educating us. We had no background in business and were new to the state, so we weren’t even sure of the right questions to ask. Kansas SBDC Advisor John Addessi suggested that I take the sales tax class, and the class addressed most of our questions about taxation in Kansas.”

KC Restoration is an active participant in Kansas SBDC’s GAME program (Growth through Action Measurement and Engagement) at JCCC. Recently, the GAME cohort focused on organization and staff development, which fit in perfectly with LeAnn and Bill’s goal of being exceptional employers. They epitomize Michael Gerber’s (the author of the E-Myth Revisited) philosophy of working on their business rather than in it.

While their service already satisfies a niche, they are increasingly becoming known nationwide as unique experts in patina, a special finish for metal. KC Restoration has been gaining attention in the region, and the company was recently celebrated as one of the KC Chamber of Commerce’s Top 10 Businesses of the Year, selected out of 1,600 nominations.

KC Restoration continues to grow through careful planning and continued collaboration with the Kansas SBDC. KC Restoration currently employs 11 fulltime and four part-time employees. In 2018, they were honored as one of the 25 outstanding businesses in the Kansas City region with under 25 employees.

The Kansas SBDC at JCCC is proud to work with such a determined, dedicated team of lifelong learners as they work toward a shining future.

More about KC Restoration

Website: KC Restoration
LinkedIn: KC RESTORATION, LLC
Pinterest: KC Restoration LLC
Twitter: @restoration_kc

Kansas SBDC Advisors

John Addessi, JCCC
Stephanie Landis, JCCC

How Kansas SBDC helped KC Restoration

Cash Flow Projections
Marketing Plan
ProfitCents Analysis

Kansas SBDC March 2, 2018 Leave a Comment

Double D Family Mat Shop

In 1995 when Dale Goetz began using old tires as door mats on his family farm in Park, Kansas, he didn’t know it at the time, but he was laying the groundwork for what would become Double D Family Mat Shop Inc.

While Dale had created a pragmatic solution out of old tires, a fellow feedlot owner from St. Francis noticed a different opportunity. He noticed the tire treads being discarded to make the door mats and asked Dale if it would be possible to produce mats from the treads to be used in the feedlots.

This made total sense to Dale. Tire tread was an effective and durable anti-slip surface. By applying the material attributes of treads, Dale could develop mats that could be used to protect his cattle from injury. ‘‘I fed cattle my whole life,” shared Dale. “I noticed that they would slip, fall and get hurt in our feedlot. Those injuries were costing us a lot of money. The concrete surface was uncomfortable for them, and it made the processing area very noisy.” Dale cut the sidewalls out of the tires and created a machine that would cross cut the tread so that it was able to lay flat. To create the mats he would manually assemble basket-weave style mats cattle could walk on.

Curious about performance of the mats, Dale tested several at a St. Francis feedlot.

After seeing the mats in action at the feedlot, farmers and feedlot owners from surrounding towns began contacting Dale to purchase his mats proving the concept of the product.

Dale and his wife Dena decided to officially launch their cattle mats manufacturing business in 1995.

Since that time their journey has been full of successes both domestically and internationally. In 2014, the company decided to enter the global market. Their first major international order came from Mort & Co., feeding lot specialists in Australia.

‘’In the beginning, it was difficult and scary because we had no exporting experience’’ says Christin Merwald, marketing director of the company. ‘‘That is when we decided to contact the Kansas SBDC. The SBDC was very helpful in providing initial export guidance on how to correctly file export documentation. They referred us to the right resources – like the International Trade Administration and the U.S. Commercial Service – who helped us participate in the Alberta Beef Industry Conference in Canada. We generated $10,000 in sales from this connection. They also guided us in the process of obtaining a D.U.N.S. number and provided us with a list of potential local customers in a 100 miles radius.’’

The company has successfully entered the Canadian and Australian markets. In three years, they have shipped over $270,000 worth of products. Currently, they ship annually three containers to Australia and an average of 10 pallets to Canada. ‘‘We are looking forward to continuing our work with the Kansas SBDC and Mariel, our advisor, to help us find distributors in Australia and Canada, and develop an international business and marketing plan that will allows us to successfully enter new markets in South America, Central America and Asia.’’ says Amber Hutchison, Double D Family Mat Shop’s COO.

Dale’s advice to someone thinking about starting a business is to ‘’Go for it. Whatever your idea is, don’t be scared. But always be careful who you let in the door. Protect your secret of success, and take the time to find and use the resources available to help you grow.’’

This year, Double D Family Mat Shop celebrates 22 years of manufacturing custom-built, heavy-duty livestock slip reduction mats.

More about Double D Family Mat Shop

Website: Double D Family Mat Shop
Facebook: Double D Family Mat Shop

Kansas SBDC Advisor

Mariel Huasanga, FHSU

How Kansas SBDC helped Double D Family Mat Shop

Business Plan
Marketing Plan
Market Research
Export

Kansas SBDC March 2, 2018 1 Comment

KYVZ Super Hits 106.1

KYVZ super hits 1061 fm business award

Broadcasting was something Joe Vyzourek knew he wanted to do since he was a kid.

Joe’s idea to manage his own business came from a conversation with his dad years ago.

‘’My dad and I were listening to a baseball game on the radio. During a pitching change, we started talking about working for yourself,” shared Joe Vyzourek, owner of KYVZ radio in Atwood, Kansas. “My father has been working for himself for over 40 years as a farmer. He told me that as long as you work for someone else, that person will always determine your pay and hours. When you work for yourself, hard work will pay off.’’

What you may not know about Joe Vyzourek is that he’s visually impaired. Joe never let his visual impairment stop him from achieving his goals.

After receiving his degree in broadcasting from Colby Community College, Joe landed a job at Colby’s local radio station KXXX. Joe was recognized multiple times as one of the main radio personalities of the network.

One evening in September of 2013, Joe was reading information on the FCC website, and noticed an upcoming auction for a construction permit for a radio station in his hometown. Joe recalled that day. ‘’My mind went back to when I was a kid. I jumped at the chance and purchased the construction permit while dreaming of the day I would turn on the transmitter for my own radio station.”

Vyzourek was excited with the possibility of making his dream come true, but he knew he needed business assistance to be able to obtain the funds required to make it happen. ‘’My banker told me to contact the Kansas SBDC to help me put together a loan package,” said Joe. “My consultant at that time helped me develop a strong business plan and effective financial projections. The result was that I was approved for a commercial loan and an e-community loan; and when we first went on the air, we were already cash flow positive.’’

Joe had to overcome multiple challenges along the way that tested his perseverance and confidence on his project. ‘’The largest challenge I faced was finding a tower. I worked for several months trying to find a tower owner that would rent tower space to a small radio station in this area. Finally in March 2015, I thought I caught a break. The Kansas Department of Transportation had a tower 12 miles west of Atwood and gave me a reasonable quote. Unfortunately, they had some internal changes over the following weeks, and no longer were willing to rent tower space for my antenna. By then, I had already quit my full time job in Colby.’’

Joe did not let that event discourage him from pursuing his dream of having his station on air by the end of 2015. He actively continued to look for a tower to purchase. A few months into his search he found a small tower company in Texas that was able to provide a tower and travel to Atwood to install it. His parents provided the funds and let him use part of their land to build the tower. ‘’My parents, my wife Becca and our marketing coordinator, Chelsea, were my strongest support during the journey, I wouldn’t have done it without them.’’

In 2016 Joe spent the last months filling out the required paperwork, getting the station ready and supervising the tower construction. Finally, on March 17th, 2016, KYVZ radio went on the air.

Running the only locally-owned and operated radio station in Western Kansas and Southwest Nebraska, and being recognized as an example of entrepreneurship in the region, are only a couple of Joe’s successes. If you ask Joe one of his biggest accomplishments is in the support and what he’s been able to give back to his community. ‘’It is gratifying to me that our station can support area projects. We have been able to donate to the local 4H dog training, playground equipment, local cheer squad, high school sports clubs, and other projects that help our small town move forward.’’

Joe believes that his secret of success lies in patience and planning to fail. ‘’Honestly, I think a lot before investing, I did a lot of research on equipment, I was able to purchase good used equipment and that saved me a lot of money. I look for alternatives, talk to other independent radio owners to get their opinions and make more informative decisions. Also, I have always been told to plan to fail, never fail to plan. Looking back to when this journey started, I am glad I did.’’

Joe’s advice to entrepreneurs and small business owners is to “get ready for an emotional rollercoaster ride. One day you are full of excitement, and another day you ask yourself why you are doing this. You are going to face many obstacles, but never give up. Remember to do your research, and then when you think you are done, do more research. Talk to as many people as you can that are doing what you are trying to accomplish. Fight the battles that you can’t afford to lose. If you know that the future of your business depends on you doing a project, make it happen, don’t be afraid to go out on a limb from time to time; but at the same time, learn to know when it’s the right moment, both financially and strategically, and for that you have to be patient.’’ In a challenging industry, KYVZ radio continues to grow. ‘’I plan to keep growing, add more employees and features. I want it to be the best independently-owned radio station that I can make it to be.’’

Currently, Joe and his Kansas SBDC advisor are working on a website where people will be able to listen to his station live while reading the latest local and state news. ‘’I believe that the future of broadcasting goes hand-in-hand with the internet. You need to make yourself available for listeners on computers and smartphones. I think it helps with the exposure of the radio as an important communication medium.’’ Joe and his advisor have already planned their next project, the KYVZ Android/iOS app.

More about KYVZ Radio

Website: KYVZ Radio 106.1
Facebook: KYVZ Radio 106.1

Kansas SBDC Advisor

Mariel Huasanga, FHSU

How Kansas SBDC help KYVZ

Marketing plan
Market Research
Website Development, Photoshop, HTML coding

Kansas SBDC February 1, 2018 Leave a Comment

Kansas SBDC Marketing

KANSAS SBDC MARKETING Often our clients are frustrated with trying to evaluate marketing options on their own.

THEY WANT increased sales, improved marketing results

WE PROVIDE marketing planning, website development, e-commerce development, social media marketing

THEY BENEFIT We help them weigh the options to make eﬀective decisions that can help their businesses succeed.

Do you need help weighing your options? We invite you to contact a location near you when you are ready for assistance.

Business advising is confidential and at no cost to the owner. SBDC services are made available to you and your business by funding from the U.S. SBA, Kansas Department of Commerce, and university hosts and other partners. Curious? Read our FAQs.

So, how does this work?

First, to become a client, you sign up online. Next, a center rep near you will contact you to cover your next steps. Next steps may include an online assessment, training, or it may be a one-on-one meeting with a business advisor.

When you meet with a business advisor the advisor’s role is to listen to you and learn about your marketing challenges in a judgement-free environment. The advisor will ask about your goals, your needs, and your expectations. They’ll ask about the implications that your marketing has on other aspects of your business. We know that marketing doesn’t exist on its own, so to really help your business, we like to look at the whole picture.

When you and your advisor agree on a plan of action, we’ll proceed.

What you might discover

You might find that we work best as objective outsider that can be there to talk through ideas or to serve as a sounding board. Or you may need us to dig in and help you prepare or revise a marketing plan. Or you may find that you need us to get deep into the details and work together to develop strategies and tactics to test for a specific product or for your overall brand. Whatever approach works best for you, we’re here to assist.

If we discover that what you need is beyond our scope, we can refer you to great developers and designers operating as other small businesses in Kansas. Even if we refer you to outside resources, you’ll find that we willing to be there to work with you as you implement new programs in your business.

Want to get started? Sign up online.

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Kansas SBDC January 18, 2018 Leave a Comment

Business Services in Kansas

Services

By guiding small businesses through our services including strategic planning, market evaluation, and more, our clients have reported a significant impact on their business in the form of profitable business expansion, increased sales, as well as job expansion and retention – outcomes that show in our clients’ success.

This year you can learn more about the services our clients use by typing in the service (i.e. market research) in the search box on any page of our website to connect with more stories and resources.

Some of the key areas where we consistently help our clients are the areas of marketing, business planning, and financial analysis. In addition to advising, we refer and connect businesses to the resources they need to succeed. Our clients include business service providers, retailers, and others in business-to-consumer B2C and business-to-business B2B entities.

Any business can access any of our services no matter where they are located in Kansas.

Kansas SBDC Core Services

Marketing

For Kansas SBDC business clients, we help them get their hands around ‘all things marketing.’ We make it manageable for businesses to evaluate their advertising, promotion, and sales efforts.

Often our clients come to us looking for help with marketing choices and are frustrated with trying to evaluate options on their own. We help them weigh the options to make effective decisions that in turn can help their businesses succeed.

Business Planning

For Kansas SBDC business clients, we help them develop business plans that make sense. We help business owners that are expanding, reorganizing, or just starting.

Often our clients come to us looking for help with the idea of developing or modifying a business plan. We help them cut through the extras, dive deeper into the analysis, and focus on what they really need to develop a workable plan.

In addition to assisting with business plan development, we help with other organizational choices. Our goal is to make it manageable for businesses to evaluate their market opportunities, project cash flow, and leverage the right financing.

Read more about Kansas SBDC Business Planning

Financial Analysis

For Kansas SBDC business clients, we help them make sense of their numbers. We help business owners that are scaling up, reorganizing, or just starting.

Our clients come to us often looking for help with the data they need to be watching and what cash demand can mean to their business, . In other words, we help them focus on managing by the numbers instead of having them numbers manage them.

As the needs of small business owners have changed, we’ve kept our core services while adding specialized assistance to keep up with their needs.

The following are specialty services we offer at the Kansas SBDC. Advising is offered at no cost to the business. Fee-based consulting is offered for businesses that need a more hands on approach. In all areas we advise, refer, and connect businesses to the resources they need to succeed.

Read more about Kansas SBDC Financial Analysis

Kansas SBDC Specialized Services

Cyber security

For Kansas SBDC business clients, we break down the complexity of cyber security. We make it possible for all businesses to reduce their risks in real time. We advise, refer, and connect businesses to the resources they need to succeed.

We help business owners and decision makers faced with HIPAA and other regulations and businesses that need to comply with new NIST cybersecurity framework and standards to continue doing business with the federal government. Our clients include pharmacies, manufacturers, and business services. Our clients are trying to comply with regulations on their own so we assist them to ensure they are not only in compliance, but more importantly, pull together a manageable plan to protect their businesses.

Read more about Kansas SBDC Cyber security

Technology Commercialization

For Kansas SBDC innovators, we break down the complexity of commercialization. We make it manageable for businesses to run their existing business while expanding through research and development. We advise, refer, and connect businesses to the resources they need to succeed and ensure the engagement on both sides of the table is more productive.

We help innovators interested in working with the U.S. government and private enterprise by connecting the idea people with the people that need the ideas. Our clients include individual developers as well as industries such as biomedical, software development, and UAS. We help our clients make meaningful connections to take the next steps in commercialization.

Succession and Exit Planning

For Kansas SBDC business clients, we help them through the challenge of leaving their business. We make it manageable for business owners to evaluate their options with confidence.

We help business owners who are interested in selling their business to internal or external buyers. By working with owners on how to make the most of their business value, we address their retirement or exit financial needs, and plan for what happens after they sell. Our advising helps reduce the stress of the process.

Our clients include business owners in a variety of industries that want to transition their business to their children, to employees, or to partners as well as sell the business on the market to an outside buyer. Our clients are often unsure of what steps to take to make a smooth transition so we help them plan for a future with which they can be comfortable.

Exporting and International Business

For Kansas SBDC business clients we make it manageable for small businesses to thrive locally while expanding globally. We advise, refer, and connect businesses to the resources they need to succeed.

We help business owners who are interested in expanding their sales to new overseas markets. They may just be trying to find buyers for their products or deciding on which markets to enter. Our clients include business services, resellers, and manufacturers. Business owners are often unsure about the processes, rules, and regulations as well as the time and effort it will take to explore new markets. We help them determine if and how exporting fits with their overall business, how to find the right markets, establish the right distribution chains, and price effectively to preserve profits.

Market Research

For Kansas SBDC business clients we break down the complexity of market research. We make it manageable for small businesses to stay focused on their current day-to-day operations while helping them develop plans for the future.

We help business decision makers from the operations, sales, or marketing side of business by finding the data they need to make critical marketing decisions. By providing our clients with research they can use, we help our clients break down the complex data into actionable information. Our clients often couldn’t afford extensive research and became overwhelmed when deciding what data to use. Using our research with our one-on-one advising we’ve helped our clients determine where to locate, which markets to pursue, and which markets to avoid.

Read more about Kansas SBDC Market Research

Strategic Planning

For Kansas SBDC business clients, we break down the complexity of strategic planning. We make it manageable for small businesses to stay focused on their current day-to-day operations while helping them develop plans for the future. We advise, refer, and connect businesses to the resources they need to succeed.

We make it manageable by providing a customizable approach to fit their specific needs. Our clients include business service providers, manufacturing, retail, ecommerce, and high tech. Our clients come to us at a point where they need a team from the outside to provide a fresh look into their businesses. So we help our clients develop strategies they can live and work with while meeting their current obligations and future goals.

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Kansas SBDC June 26, 2014 Leave a Comment

Giveaways, Events, and Promos

Sometimes it’s difficult to create fresh ideas to get customers involved with your small business brand.

To build excitement many business-to-consumer brands and occasionally business-to-business brands turn to giveaways, events, and promotions. Sounds fun, right?

But before you get started, make sure your contest will be beneficial for both you and your customer. Only mutual wins make for a good game. If you wear out your employees trying to run a contest that doesn’t really connect with your clients, was the whole thing worth it?

Here are three quick things to consider before you start the party:

Decide ahead of time what resources you’ll need to conduct a successful promotion – employee hours, money to buy prizes, time for follow up, etc.
Know what’s important to your customers. If you offer something of high value to your business but low value to your customer, you may have done more harm than good with a promotion or contest.
And like anything involving your business, determine what your goals are and how you’ll measure success – this includes success for your customer as well as your business.

If you decide that promotion in the form of giveaways, events or contests is right for your business, then take a quick peek at this short list of ideas to get the party started:

Photo contests

We love pictures – pictures with your products, at your establishment, pictures to complete a scavenger hunt of things in your stores, etc. Invite your customers to share pictures and then post the best, the first to finish a challenge, the picture voted top on your page. Share photos taken by customers in your next e-mail, as your next profile picture, on your website, and more. Here’s some additional insight from Jeff Bullas on how to run a successful photo contest on Facebook.

Scavenger hunts

Compose a list of items – in your community, at your locations, of specific activities to capture (i.e. a Kansas sunset), or even a scavenger hunt for items hidden in your store. Take your list and publish it telling your fans, customers, and others that the first person to find all of these items and submit pictures of themselves next to, doing, or completing each item on the list will win a prize. Provide gifts for the next place winners or ask contestants to stay tuned for another contest at a later date.

Tony Hawk did a great job with his scavenger hunt and has now turned it into an annual event. Think about how a successful hunt might turn into an annual event for your small business.

Crowdsource contests

Ask fans and customers to come up with different ways to wear, eat, or use your products. Have them submit ideas to you and allow other fans to vote. Large brands have begun using these ideas to create some incredible marketing for their businesses. Small businesses can too. Check out these clever crowdsourcing campaigns.

P.S. Don’t forget the rules. When using social media, each channel has their own rules for contests. Study these first. Additionally, states like Kansas have additional laws that restrict you from operating the appearance of a lottery. For more about social media promotion law, click here.

Also check out our previous post on Social Media Do’s and Don’ts!

About our Author

Logan Hildebrand is an aspiring intern at the Kansas SBDC and is currently attending Washburn University in pursuit of three degrees: business marketing, management, and entrepreneurship. She has a passion for capturing the awes of consumers through social media and marketing, and has been interning at the state office and the Kansas SBDC at WU for the past 2 years in order to develop her experiences. Adapting to the ever-changing field of marketing and social media is a strength of hers, as well as making a delicious cup of coffee. Her dream is to one day open her own coffee shop and continue her marketing aspirations through that venture. Until then, she will be providing this blog with insightful, interesting, and useful posts to help aid in the development of marketing in businesses that need assistance.

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