You asked, we listened- five new classes coming your way in 2014!
Last year, the Alaska SBDC was on a mission to learn what types of classes our clients were looking for and then search the community for qualified presenters to bring that information to them. Through social media, workshop evaluations and surveys we have learned that there are three areas of interest that most small business owners are looking to learn more about:
- Marketing
- Human Resources
- Quickbooks
We took this information and created five new classes for you starting in January 2014! Here’s a bit of information about the new classes and how they can help you boost your business this year. For more information or to reserve a spot in the class, click on the title.
10 Things You Don’t Know About SEO : SEO (or search engine optimization) is becoming more and more important for small business owners. Think about it- how often do you do a Google search and look at the results past the first few pages? This class, presented by BuzzBizz Studios owner Michael Buzinski, will teach you how to get your website higher on the list so that customers get to you before your competitor!
Building the Best Team in Your Business : Hiring and engaging the right employees can take a good business and make it great. In this class, Eden Lovejoy, owner of Your Business Lifestyle, will go over what makes a team work and how you can get to workplace nirvana.
Understanding & Communicating with People : Greg Gillquist is a founding shareholder at Cornerstone Credit Services and as worked in the collections industry for long enough to become an expert on the art of communicating with clients. The way a business owner and it’s employees interact with clients is essential in world with social media marketing, where one client’s bad experience could haunt the reviews forever. This class is great for business owners as well as employees who work directly with customers on a daily basis. Make sure to sign your workforce up for this class and see how easy it is to take your customer service to the next level with a few easy tricks!
Asking for Referrals is Not as Hard as You Think: Word of mouth marketing has been proven time and again to be an extremely effective way to bring in new business. Cat Mason, owner of CM&A Consulting will take you through some tips that will make it easier for you to motivate the right people to refer business to you. Learn the best ways to do business by relationship and create brand evangelists.
QuickBooks 2013 – Beginners: Learn how to use QuickBooks to it’s full extent and make it work for your business. This class is a hands on 6 hour course that goes over the basics of the QuickBooks 2013 program, setting it up and working with lists and accounts. Taught by AK SBDC Business Adviser and Certified Quickbooks ProAdviser Mark Malagodi.
QuickBooks 2013 – Intermediate: Available to those who have taken QuickBooks 2013 Beginners or those who have utilized the Quickbooks software to some capacity for their business. Also presented by Mark Malagodi, the Intermediate session goes over entering sales information, receiving payments, making deposits, entering/paying bills, analyzing financial data, setting up inventory, tracking and paying sales tax, estimating and progress invoicing, customizing forms and writing QB letters.