Get ready to do business with NBA today!

Hello, and welcome to the website of Northern Business Associates.  Here you will find information about our members and all that they do in and for the community.

NBA Meets at Country Waffles Restaurant every Tuesday at 7:00 a.m. Perhaps a bit early for some, but we enjoy beginning the day with like-minded, motivated business types who get their workday off to a great rolling start! Country Waffles – 2300 Athens Avenue, Redding, CA.

Imagine a business where the service you receive is personalized, the products uniquely meet your needs, the experience greatly exceeds your expectations, and the people remember you. Imagine doing business with someone you know and trust.  The members of Northern Business Associates are small businesses, the backbone of the community. We are parents, volunteers, neighbors and employers. It is our goal to contribute products and services with quality and integrity in a professional, yet very personalized manner.

Please feel free to comment on any business profile or other post on this website.  As business owners and managers, we particularly appreciate any and all testimonials from our valued customers and clients!

This is where NBA will publish articles for the benefit of the community. Here you will find timely information about local business opportunities, great tips for business and personal success, as well as moderated public comments. Thanks for visiting the NBA Blog! If you would like to receive an automatic feed of any posts or comments to this blog, you can click the RSS links here in the lower right. RSS means “Really Simple Syndication”. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please feel free to enter your own comment below.
Thanks!

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Redding Ducks Swim On!

Recently Northern Business Associates were pleased to support the Redding Swim Team as a Gold Medal Sponsor.  We received a nice letter from Head Coach Mark Wagner.  Click here to read it.  If you would like to follow our example, just go to: www.reddingswimteam.com and check out their fantastic opportunities to make a difference in our fine community!  Last one into the pool is a rotten egg!

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Choose The Right

This story was told to me by my (now deceased) friend Elmer Davis:

A man was deer hunting in the Manton area in the  ‘40s when Elmer was the Sheriff’s deputy there.  He brought his car, a Rolls-Royce touring model.  This guy got the front of the car in some kind of a rut, and broke the front axle – snapped it in two.  The closest Rolls-Royce shop was in San Francisco, so the car was trailered & driven to the dealership to be repaired.  They knew it was coming, and were ready with parts.  The car was checked in, the gentleman was told to go and tour around the city for the day – come back at closing time to pick up his car.  He did just that, and the car was ready, with new axle installed. He asked for the bill, so he could settle up. They said “No Charge!”, he asked why – explaining that the axle was broken and that they had repaired it.  He was told that Rolls-Royce axles do not break, he must be mistaken.  They apologized for him having to bring his car in for service, and was told to go back and finish his hunting trip, and Thank You for coming by.

As far as I know, this is a true story, told to me by our long-time family friend back in 1973, during an interview I did for a history class when I was a senior in High School in Red Bluff.   I wish service was still that way.  But, the margins are so slim these days, considering the nature of commodity buying that nobody can afford to do that.

We all get up in the morning (or whenever during the day) to go to work for one reason – to earn money to support our households, and to provide for our retirement or for our kid’s education, or to pay our tithing, and of course to pay the IRS to waste our money.  There are many reasons to go to work, and most of us are driven to do so.  The point is that we go to work to earn.

We all expect to be paid fairly for our time.  The mechanics in the story were paid by the dealership, who was paid by Rolls-Royce to do the repair, and to keep the client happy. You can bet that this person spent a lot of money on that touring car when he purchased it, and his loyalty took a HUGE jump up when they fixed his car for free.   To him, I bet that car was suddenly worth multiple times what he paid for it.

We all try to do the best we can for our clients, although we cannot always rise to the standard of the shop in the story.  All we can do is try to “Choose The Right” at every turn, and I encourage all to CTR at every opportunity.

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Six Good Rules In Business

1. Always say “Thank you” for opportunities even if they don’t result in a sale.

2. Return every phone call promptly.

3. Return every email promptly (as difficult as this can be)

4. Always focus on the needs of the customer and build your processes around them

5. Always stick to your principles even if it means losing a sale.

6. Treat everyone with respect.

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Shine The Light On Jim!

Imagine a business where the service you receive is personalized, the products uniquely meet your needs, the experience greatly exceeds your expectations, and the people remember you. Imagine doing business with someone you know and trust. The members of Northern Business Associates are small businesses, the backbone of the community. They are parents, volunteers, neighbors and employers. It is their goal to contribute products and services with quality and integrity in a professional, yet very personalized manner.

One of the key members of the association is Jim Blasquez of Indigo ImagesClick here to view an NBA video he recently produced. Jim’s attitude about customer service is exemplary, as evidenced by the many testimonials on Jim’s website: www.indigo-images.com. The following is a testimonial from Rotary International’s Youth Leadership Training. Now when you can “blow away” a client like a former Director of IBM Marketing Services, you have truly done something extraordinary! Way to go Jim!

“Jim, I am blown away! You did a terrific job of capturing the experience and your voice-over commentary tied the whole thing together nicely. It gives us just what we wanted…”

 

Joseph P. Donohue – Rotary International
Former Director, IBM Marketing & Services

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How to avoid spammy looking email

We all hate spam and get way too much of it. Now that we have that out of the way it is important to realize that to minimize spam, if your email is spammy you risk your email not getting through to the intended party.

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How to Avoid the New Year’s Top Scams

A great article from CBS Money Watch.com

Critics and pundits have already had their say about the Top (and Bottom) Tens and Twenties of 2010 – movies, intriguing people, restaurants, books, songs, TV shows, political moves and so on. All of it is now old news. But lists of 2010’s top scams are worth hanging onto since none of them is likely to disappear in 2011. Some are novel, but most are golden oldies — time-tested rip-offs with a new twist that cruelly capitalizes on people’s current financial distress. Read entire article here>

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Marketing Factoids

Adoption of LinkedIn, Yelp and Bing Outpaced Facebook in Q3; Social Media Marketing Continues to Soar Among SMBs

Online marketing methods have continued to see quarterly growth. 56% of merchants have now created a social networking profile versus 48% in Q2 and Q1 of 2010.

When asked about the services they use to promote their businesses in Q3, 33% of merchants used Bing (versus 23% in Q2 2010), 55% used LinkedIn (versus 43% in Q2) and 32% used Yelp (versus 22% in Q2).

Facebook usage among small businesses jumped from 60% to 69% over the last quarter.44% have undertaken email marketing campaigns versus 38% in July 2010. 13% have used online video versus 11% last quarter, and 19% plan to use online video in the next quarter.

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Goals Tracking

One of the easiest ways that you can feel more calm, in control and happy with your life is to regularly set goals for yourself. These goals may be related to specific projects, be about work in general or have something to do with a personal aspect of your life such as fitness or education. Although most of us do know how to sit down and identify our goals, a number of us have difficulty with making goals measurable and then tracking those goals to see that we’re making progress. Those people who are successful not only at setting goals but also at monitoring their goals are the people who are most likely to achieve the things that they set out to do in their lives.

There are several goals tracking programs online. Some are free. You might like goalhappy.comClick here to read the entire article and learn more about all the goal programs!

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