Small business center has three-hour course on three-year vision

BOULDER — The Boulder Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is introducing a new class this fall designed to help business owners diagnose their businesses.

“The course is built to help business owners take the pulse of where their business is today — kind of a diagnostic tool they can use to get a feel for where their business is now,´ said Cathleen Ryckman Hight, owner of HIGHTec Consulting Inc. in Superior and an SBDC instructor. “It’s also a nice introduction for business owners who get a better idea if they want to pursue further courses instead of jumping into a full-blown nine- or 11-week course right at the start.”

The course, called “Listening to Your Business,” lasts just three hours — by design.

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“It seems like everyone we talk to is pressured for time these days, so we needed to address that,” Hight said.

“Listening to Your Business,” which will be offered monthly at the Boulder Chamber of Commerce from 2 to 5 p.m., is tailored to specifically address the needs of Boulder-area businesses, said Marilynn Force, SBDC director.

“The course reflects the market changes in Boulder, so the course will cover what’s applicable in this market,” Force said.

The course is the newest product from FastTrac, a series of entrepreneurial training courses that come from the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership in Kansas City.

“We beta tested the concept here at the SBDC. The Kauffman Center then refined it, and it’s now being rolled out nationally through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,” Force said.

Boulder was one of the first cities in the country to host the new course, when it held the first class on Sept. 24.

A key component of the course is to help students assess their businesses via five questions: What is my three-year vision? Where is my business today? What are my visioning gaps? Where does my business fit in the business cycle? What are my business life cycle challenges and transitions?

Instructors take students through planning and competency assessments and then help them create a three-year vision. Force said this kind of training is good for businesses because change is so common.

“The economy right now is slow, and businesses sometimes need to step back, reassess and refocus where they are,” Force said. “I think part of our job is to help businesses through economic tough times.”

Hight agreed with Force.

“When the economy is strong, everyone does great, but when things start to slow down, that’s when business owners really need to take a step back and be smarter about what they do,” Hight said.

The city of Boulder gave the SBDC a $10,000 grant to help the center buy new materials from the Kaufman Center. It’s the first time the city has given a grant to the SBDC.

Force said the SBDC is taking a break from offering its other FastTrac courses this fall to redefine training needs for SBDC students and chamber members. Boulder’s SBDC has been offering FastTrac classes for the last four and a half years and has graduated more than 360 people from the program. The SBDC has recently renamed and revamped the FastTrac classes.

FastTrac I is now called FastTrac New Ventures, a nine-session course for those considering starting a business. FastTrac II is now FastTrac Planning, an 11-session course for small business owners who want to refine their management strengths to take their business to another level of growth.

A new FastTrac product called The Business Mentor, a business planning CD-ROM, is now for sale at the SBDC for $59. Users can assess business needs, conduct a feasibility plan for a new venture, prepare financial projections and study business strategies. It also has video clips of entrepreneur success stories revealing best practices businesses can learn from. The SBDC plans to sell the CD by itself as well as use it as an addition to the center’s Writing a Winning Business Plan class.

Force said the SBDC also offers additional modules for specific needs such as high tech, finance and marketing. A course the SBDC will be offering this October is called Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Attracting and Retaining Customers, which Hight will teach.

“CRM is a strategy that companies often overlook that will make you more profitable in the long run,´ said Hight.

Hight said the two-session class is designed to help small business owners develop new strategies that can be implemented easily and cost-effectively. Session one will be held Oct. 16 from 3 to 5 p.m. and will cover the following areas: The customer experience cycle, understanding your customer, customer buying cycles, determining customer needs and interaction opportunities.

Session two will be Oct. 17 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and will cover these areas: customer loyalty and referrals, 100 ideas to make customers happy and increase your bottom line, using databases, data mining, customer care applications, understanding CRM technology and enhancing your CRM system.

Cost is $125 to $145 per business, with discounts for chamber members.

“I think the course will go far in helping students determine their customer mix and understanding those customers better — why they buy from you and how to develop loyalty,” Hight said. “And of course the technology portion should help them understand the role technology plays in managing sales, servicing and marketing to your customers.”

The SBDC is a joint venture between the Boulder Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Small Business Administration designed to help people start and grow businesses. The SBDC offers 77 classes and programs a year designed specifically for small business owners. Topics such as marketing, selling, growth management, entrepreneurial training, writing and implementing a business plan, evaluation, and customer service are offered.

All courses are offered at the Chamber of Commerce, 2440 Pearl St. in Boulder. For more information about the SBDC and its course offerings, call Force at (303) 442-1044 or visit www.boulderchamber.com.