As businesses adjust to the “new economy,” making the sale and closing the deal
has become more challenging – but not impossible. Join us for this incredible
opportunity to hear from the Cincinnati USA’s key leaders in the sales arena.

Each will share their top 3 strategies for sales in the “new economy.” The panel
will feature:

Pam Beigh – president, SALESCORE

SALESCORE works with small to mid-sized businesses, creating customized
strategies to ensure profitable sales. Pam’s strength is her strategic, measurable
approach. Working directly with company presidents and vice presidents of sales,
she analyzes the sales structure, designs the solution, creates a foundation and
supplies the tools for ongoing success.

Lynn McInturf – president, Lynn McInturf Associates (LMA)

LMA is a Cincinnati, Ohio based sales training and development organization, and
a Sandler Sales Institute franchise. LMA specializes in sales force evaluations,
business development strategies, sales productivity training, strategic sales
management, executive coaching, and recruiting and hiring.

Bob Riess – Your B2B Sales Coach

Bob’s business development and training management experience with both small
and Fortune 500 organizations gives him a unique perspective on how to improve
organizational performance. Bob provides coaching that is customized for
individuals and groups and will contribute to your sales success.

Facilitated by Crystal Kendrick, president, The Voice of Your Customer

REGISTER TODAY!
Visit cincinnatichamber.com or call 513.579.3111

Every year, NMSDC-certified Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American businesses are evaluated on the basis of business growth, development and performance, community service and the ability to overcome challenges brought on by the company owner’s heritage or background. As the 2008 South Central Ohio Minority Supplier Development Council (SCOMSDC) MBE of the Year, The Voice of Your Customer was selected as a regional supplier of the year from more than 80 nominees nationwide representing a broad range of industries. The company was elevated to National Supplier of the Year at the conference awards banquet.

“Small business is the engine that drives the economy and NMSDC’s award-winning suppliers are proof of that,” said Harriet R. Michel, NMSDC president. “During a challenging economy, major corporations have counted on excellent minority suppliers like The Voice of Your Customer to deliver great products, cost savings, quality service and innovative solutions. This level of performance will be increasingly valuable to more corporations as the economy recovers.”

At the same event, RCF Services, a facilities management firm in West Chester, Ohio, was named a 2009 Regional Minority Supplier of the Year in the category for companies with annual sales between $10 million and $50 million.

About The Voice of Your Customer

Crystal L. Kendrick is president of The Voice of Your Customer, a Black-owned marketing and consulting firm that assists clients to penetrate hard to reach, niche and underserved markets using survey research, focus groups, secret shopping, business training, and media campaigns. The Voice of Your Customer was also named the 2009 Cincinnati PRSA Small Agency of the Year, 2009 Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce 10 under 10, and the 2009 US SBA Home Based Business Champion of the Year. For more information, call (513) 281-3228, visit www.thevoiceofyourcustomer.com, or email info@thevoiceofyourcustomer.com.

Cincinnati, OH – The National Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc (NMSDC) selected The Voice of Your Customer, a marketing consulting firm in Cincinnati, and RCF Services, a facilities management firm in West Chester, as 2009 Regional Minority Supplier of the Year winners.   The businesses were selected from more than 15, 000 certified minority businesses and 80 nominees from across the country.

Benefits of a Minority Business Certification

NMSDC-certified Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American businesses are evaluated on the basis of business growth, development and performance, community service and the ability to overcome challenges brought on by the company owner’s heritage or background.  Sixteen regional winners are divided into four classes based on annual sales, and are nominated by their corporate customers.

“Small business is the engine that drives the economy and these regional winners are proof of that,” said NMSDC President Harriet R. Michel. “Despite the challenging economy, corporations have counted on minority businesses to deliver great products, cost savings, quality service and innovative solutions. This performance will be valuable to corporations as the economy recovers, based on the strength of outstanding small and minority-owned businesses.”

Become a Certified Minority Owned Business

The Voice of Your Customer represents Category I, with annual sales of less than $1 million.  RCF Services represents Category III with annual sales between $10 million and $50 million.  Both firms are active members of NSMDC’s local affiliate, the South Central Ohio Minority Supplier Development Council (SCOMSDC) and competed against minority businesses from Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia for the regional honors.

One regional winner from each of the four classes will be named a National Winner at the Awards Banquet on Wednesday, October 28, at the 2009 NMSDC Conference and Business Opportunity Fair in New Orleans, Louisiana.

About Minority Owned Businesses

According to the 2007 Small Business Research Summary released by the SBA Office of Advocacy, in 2002, minorities owned approximately 18 percent of the 23 million U.S. Firms.

View This Poll

Using a proxy for measuring minority business growth for several measures between 1997 and 2002, Blacks owned 5.0 percent of all U.S. firms (almost 1.2 million), 45.4 percent of the total number of minority owned firm, and 24.5 percent of total receipts for minority owned firms.

The 2007 report also indicated that more than half of Black-owned businesses had less than $10,000 in business receipts in 2002, compared with one-third of White-owned firms and 28.8 percent of Asian-owned firms.  What is more, on average, for every dollar that a White-owned firm made, Pacific Islander-owned firms made about 59 cents, Hispanic-, Native American-, and Asian owned businesses made 56 cents, and Black-owned businesses made 43 cents.

Percentages of minority women owning businesses rose from 1997 to 2002.   In 2002, 29 percent of Black employer firms and 47 percent of Black non-employer firms were women-owned.   In contrast, women owned 17 percent of White employer firms and 31 percent of White non-employer firms.

About The Voice of Your Customer

Crystal L. Kendrick is president of The Voice of Your Customer, a Black-owned marketing and consulting firm that assists clients to penetrate niche markets using survey research, focus groups, secret shopping, business training, and media campaigns.  For more information, call (513) 281-3228, visit www.thevoiceofyourcustomer.com, or email info@thevoiceofyourcustomer.com.

About RCF Services

Carl Satterwhite is the president of River City Furniture, a Black-owned distributor and facility service provider. The company is an NMSDC Corporate Plus(R) member that offers a number of services, including commercial furnishing, design, space planning, delivery and installation, warehousing, move and asset management and landscaping. For more information, call (513) 612-7303 or visit www.r-c-f.com.

Crystal L. Kendrick, President

The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber presents Finding Difference in the Sameness Era, a Sales & Marketing Luncheon. 

In this age, your competitors can mimic anything you do.  Messages get lost in the clutter. Parity rules. Standing out can seem not just difficult, but impossible.  If your brand is seen as “the same as the rest,” that means you’re working harder for less reward. Creating meaningful difference, on the other hand, is the proven path to customer loyalty, sales and profit.

Facilitated by Crystal Kendrick, president of The Voice of Your Customer

Join Matthew Fenton, president of Three Deuce Branding, to discover how you can be different. Participants in this program will learn:
 Five focused areas to help you define your brand’s difference
 Six key reminders to help you create and live your difference for the future
 Real world examples from brands big and small

Thursday, October 8, 2009
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber
300 Carew Tower, 441 Vine Street, Downtown Cincinnati
Cost: $25 members, includes lunch

About the Presenter

Matthew Fenton is founder and president of Three Deuce Branding, a Cincinnati based consultancy with a mission to “help good people build great brands.” Since 1997, the company has helped major brands like Wrigley, Valvoline and Fidelity Investments achieve “brand clarity” with positioning, strategy and ideation.  Fenton authors “That Branding Thing” blog and has been named among Cincinnati’s “Creative Class” and “Forty Under 40.”  For more information, visit www.threedeuce.com.

About the Facilitator

Crystal Kendrick is the president of The Voice of Your Customer, a  marketing firm based in Cincinnati that specializes in penetrating niche populations.   Since 2007, the minority owned company has helped to develop brands for the state of Ohio, the Metropolitan Sewer District, and the African American Chamber of Commerce using social marketing strategies.  The Voice of Your Customer has been named a 2009 NMSDC Regional MBE of the Year, 2009 Cincinnati PRSA Small Agency of the Year, and a 2009 Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce 10 Under 10 Award Winner.  For more information, visit www.thevoiceofyourcustomer.com.

To register for the session, visit cincinnatichamber.com or call 513.579.3111 .

The Voice of Your Customer, a certified minority owned marketing firm located in the Walnut Hills, participated in Mayor Mallory’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP).   The program is designed to give 400 income eligible youth in Cincinnati ages 14-18 an entry level job with community-based organizations, government agencies, corporations, law firms, health care facilities, and small businesses.  Students worked 15 hours per week for eight consecutive weeks beginning on June 15.   Participants were asked to provide students with meaningful work experiences, mentoring, and a safe environment.

Crystal L. Kendrick, President of The Voice of Your Customer stated, “Marketing, advertising, and public relations lack the breadth and depth of diversity enjoyed by other industries. In addition to assisting many African American and Hispanic students to identify scholarships for college, we wanted to participate in the employment program so that we could offer practical business experiences to income eligible youth as well.”

The Voice of Your Customer welcomed 17 year -old Morgan Williams as an intern this summer based on her desire to be in a business atmosphere.  Morgan is a student in the Cincinnati Public Schools and is a senior at Shroder High School.  She resides in the neighborhood of Roselawn with her parents and two younger sisters.  As an intern, Morgan supported direct mail initiatives, email blasts, social media updates, and an office move.  She also attended several sales trainings, business meetings, and awards luncheons.

Morgan Williams stated, “I am glad that I had the opportunity to work at The Voice of Your Customer this summer.   I learned a lot about marketing, customer service, and being a small business owner.”

Morgan will transition from the SYEP program to a part-time employee of The Voice of Your Customer and will be trained as a secret shopper and customer service representative.

About Teen Unemployment

According to the Employment Policies Institute (EPI), teen unemployment rates may increase because high minimum wage rates price teens out of jobs and/or employers are unable to afford to hire unskilled and inexperienced workers when the minimum wage increases. Department of Labor 2009 statistics indicate that teen unemployment is three times the national unemployment rate and economic studies have found that minority teens are most negatively affected by high minimum wage rates and the resulting unemployment.

About the Cincinnati Summer Youth Employment Program

The City of Cincinnati awarded stewardship of the 2009 Summer Youth Employment Program to the Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action Agency (CAA).   To place the students, CAA helped each youth outline personal career ambitions and the steps necessary to achieve them.  In addition to giving the students employment that pays $7.30 an hour, CAA administered a series of weekly trainings on topics such as: interviewing, creating a resume, developing interpersonal skills, and financial management.

About The Voice of Your Customer

The Voice of Your Customer assists clients to penetrate niche markets using survey research, focus groups, secret shopping, business training, and media campaigns.  Located in a federally qualified HUBZone in Cincinnati, Ohio, The Voice of Your Customer holds the following certifications: 8(A), MBE, WBE, SBE and DBE.  For more information, call (513) 281-3228, visit www.thevoiceofyourcustomer.com, or email info@thevoiceofyourcustomer.com.

Crystal L. Kendrick, President

Hamilton County, OH – The Cincinnati Minority Contractors Business Assistance Program(MCBAP) cordially invites you to participate in the 2009 Annual “A Piece of the Action” Awards Luncheon at the Embassy Suites Hotel – Blue Ashon August 5 at 12:00 p.m.  In conjunction with the annual MCBAP Annual Conference for Minority and Small Businesses, the awards luncheon recognizes the many accomplishments of business owners and advocates in the small and minority business community.  Crystal Kendrick, President of The Voice of Your Customer, is the Master of Ceremony.

Congressman Steve Driehaus, member of Congress for Ohio’s First District, is the keynote speaker.  Representative Driehaus sits on the House Financial Services and Oversight and Government Reform Committees, and has begun to improve the First District’s aging infrastructure, to bring sensible ideas to the country’s mortgage crisis, and to reverse the nation’s economic decline.

Special guests include:  Senator Eric Kearney, representing Ohio’s 1^stCongressional District; Kay Geiger, CEO of PNC Bank; and Philip Shotwell, Director of the Division of Minority Business Affairs within the Ohio Department of Development, are confirmed.

The Minority Contractors Assistance Program (MCAP) was founded in Cincinnati in the fall of 1976, and began providing services in May of 1977.   After providing services for approximately two years, the name was changed by adding “Business” to indicate that services were available to the entire business community, not just construction contractors.  Today, there are eight MCBAP offices providing one-on-one counseling to minority businesses in the major metropolitan areas of the state.

For information about A Piece of the Action 2009, call (513) 631.7666, email omartin@mcbap.biz or visit www.mcbap.biz.

About The Voice of Your Customer:

The Voice of Your Customer is a minority owned marketing firm that assists clients to penetrate niche markets using survey research, focus groups, secret shopping, business training, and media campaigns. Located in a federally qualified HUB Zone in Cincinnati, Ohio, The Voice of Your Customer holds the following certifications: 8(A), MBE, WBE, SBE and DBE.

Presented by: Crystal Kendrick, President – The Voice of Your Customer
TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2009 | 8:30 AM – 10:30 AM
Kingsgate Marriott Conference Hotel
151 Goodman Drive | Cincinnati, OH 45219

At this workshop you will learn how to effectively manage your e-brand in the world of global competition, networking sites and search engine optimization. You will also learn to leverage new tools and traditional marketing strategies to create a competitive advantage for your small business.

TOPICS INCLUDE:

Know Your Business Model | Determine Your Online Reputation | Identify Meaningful Keywords | Manage Public Databases | Use Social Media to Grow Your Business | Use Your Website as a Sales Tool | Improve Your Ranking with Search Engines | Drive Traffic to Your Website | Establish a Plan

Hear what course participants have said:

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Crystal L. Kendrick, President – The Voice of Your Customer, will outline e-branding strategies she uses to secure new clients, identify new vendors and identify emerging trends in business, and she’ll discuss how you can adapt these strategies to your business. The Voice of Your Customer has been recognized by the Small Business Administration, the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, the South Central Ohio Minority Supplier Development Council, Women’s Business Enterprise Council – Southeast, and the Public Relations Society of America – Cincinnati Chapter. For more information, visit: www.thevoiceofyourcustomer.com.

Business Development Institute (BDI) workshops are free to members and $15 for non-members.

TO REGISTER, CONTACT THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CHAMBER AT 513.751.9900 OR VIA EMAIL AT LESLIE@AFRICAN-AMERICANCHAMBER.COM.

At the start of the project, The Voice of Your Customer maintained a content heavy website and a series of scarcely populated networking sites. Today, with the help of the student intern, The Voice of Your Customer has well defined key words, improved search engine ranking, website visitor trend data, and a strategy to effectively use social media.

Crystal L. Kendrick, President of The Voice of Your Customer stated, “The 2009 UC MS Capstone Project was an outstanding experience for The Voice of Your Customer and our intern, Ankita Sahni. Her work made a measurable impact on our business in 16 short weeks. UC is not just developing students; they are impacting the local business community.”

Ankita Sahni completed her undergraduate degree in Economics from Delhi University in India and enrolled in the University of Cincinnati MBA Program in 2007. Ankita launched her career as a business developer in a family-owned business – Shiv Enterprises and has completed internships in financial services and human resources. Since October 2008, she has been working as a marketing intern at a local research firm.

“The project has really provided the value addition I was looking for in an academic setting. The pedagogical course undertaken for the capstone and the MS-Marketing program as a whole has been a great learning source for me. The project opened up a new arena in marketing that I can explore as a career path and thus was beneficial for me,” stated Ankita Sahni, MS-Marketing Graduate 2009.

The Voice of Your Customer website and social media profiles were again launched on July 1, 2009.

The Voice of Your Customer is a minority owned marketing firm that assists clients to penetrate niche markets using survey research, focus groups, secret shopping, business training, and media campaigns. Located in a federally qualified HUB Zone in Cincinnati, Ohio, The Voice of Your Customer holds the following certifications: 8(A), MBE, WBE, SBE and DBE. For more information, visit www.thevoiceofyourcustomer.com.

Crystal Kendrick, President of The Voice of Your Customer, presents

Are Your Customers Always Delighted?

A Lunch and Learn Session

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

11:00 a.m. – 1:00 PM

Madeira City Hall Council Chambers

7141 Miami Ave

Cincinnati, OH 45243

Whether your organization calls it customer surveys, secret shopping, focus groups or compliance monitoring, Crystal Kendrick is in the business of finding out what customers really think.  Using a variety of techniques, she gets the inside story on service delivery, customer expectations, additional product interests, and reactions to marketing efforts.

Find out what customers typically tell Crystal but probably never tell you personally, including the top complaints she hears.  Use that knowledge to design ways to outdo your competition in starting great relationships, maintaining quality service, and improving customer satisfaction with your business.

Please RSVP to Bruce Strickland at Bruce@vipbackrubs.com or 513-503-4404. 

Note, we will have a light lunch available for you and ask a donation of $5 to cover the cost of the lunch.

For a complete listing and schedule of trainings presented by The Voice of Your Customer and Crystal L. Kendrick, visit http://www.thevoiceofyourcustomer.com/calendar.htm.