Aren’t You a Proprietor?

Posted on October 31, 2011 by admin

Is the word Proprietor outdated, harkening back to an earlier time when most of CCPA’s members were retailers? The current membership of CCPA is made up of educated professionals from the fields of finance, law, marketing, etc. Few, if any, of the present members are wearing an apron while “minding the store.”

I have been a proud shopkeeper for over 24 years. I am intrigued by the notion that a business owner would find the title “proprietor” off putting. While it is true that most business owners do not sell a pork chop over the counter, the very qualities that make a store successful should translate to success in other endeavors. Retailers are in the business of delivering the right combination of products and services to a targeted audience at the right price. When choosing the selection of merchandise to sell the retailer must consider the best way to deliver a great product, differentiate their brand from the competition, and maintain a profitable margin. Their success depends not only on the quality and perceived value of their wares but on the consistent delivery of a level of service that meets or exceeds the expectation of its customers. Providing this service is totally dependent on how well the proprietor assembles and trains their team. What business owner does not grapple with these issues?

What matters most to our customers/clients? When they make the trip to a store, brick and mortar or virtual, they expect to find what they need. If there’s a problem, they want to know that there is someone there to fix things, someone who not only cares about their satisfaction but also has the authority to make things right. In an age when companies have layers of customer service representatives, we all crave access to the place where the buck stops. If you were in a store and had an issue to resolve, would you rather deal with a supervisor, district manager or the proprietor? Why would any businessperson not want their clients to think of them as a proprietor? Whether you are an associate lawyer or a mid-level financial consultant in a large company, your relationships with your clients are as dear to you as any shopkeepers are with their customers.

If 24 years in the Reading Terminal Market has taught me anything, it is that an unappreciated customer is a former customer. For years, the newsletter of Reading Terminal Merchants Association, a collection of 80 different proprietors, ended with the following quote. “Good will is the disposition of pleased customers to return to the place where they have been well treated”.

What business would not be well served to remember that?

Michael Holahan along with his wife Julie are the proprietors of the Pennsylvania General Store, a retail and mail order company specializing in Pennsylvania made foods and crafts. www.pageneralstore.com

FUTUREdelphia includes cheesesteaks, sidewalk cafés

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Susan Perloff

by Susan Perloff, SusanPerloffWrites

The “State of the City” event that you read about in the April 27 Inquirer was a CCPA event. We had top billing, above the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, at the April 26 breakfast meeting, which attracted 200 business folks. We heard our city described as a pastiche of blue collar and blue blood.

In addition to the hot coffee, star attractions were
• Alan Greenberger, FAIA, Philadelphia’s director of commerce and deputy mayor for planning and economic development.
• Craig Ey, editor of the Philadelphia Business Journal.
• Ahmeenah Young, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority.
• Meryl Levitz, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation.
• Jack Ferguson, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau.

When Greenberger presented the city’s sophisticated, intelligent master plan for the year 2035, I began calculating how old I would be then. I scattered my pastries creamers to the winds so I could survive. Did a pen-on-napkin calculation. Took a long time before my brain returned to the presentation. So my notes are scant. I learned that

In the 2035 plan, which uses the lovely term FUTUREdelphia, the central city spreads from Girard Avenue to Washington Avenue and West to include the University of Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia has the third-largest residential urban center in the country, following only Manhattan and Chicago.
The town of brotherly love has essentially the same size population as Adelaide, Barcelona, Milan, Munich and Prague – and needs to pull itself up to rank as a “world-class” place.
In the words of Levitz, key players in building the city over the last few decades have included 4 Rs: Willard Rouse, who dared build a tower taller than City Hall; Ed Rendell, 2-term mayor and 2-term governor; Rebecca Rimel, former director of the Pew Charitable Trusts; and Tom Ridge, former governor.
A third of the area’s jobs are in the fields of education, healthcare and medical education.

All participants received literature on tourism and conventions, and many people toured the new section of the Convention Center. Everyone left excited about the possibilities of FUTUREdelphia.

CCPA membership survey

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Audrey Julienne

by Linda Rink, RINK Consulting

In January we conducted our annual CCPA membership survey, and the results were very positive. Almost 100 members took our survey (thank you!). We contact our members each year to make sure we maximize your CCPA experience. It’s your chance to let us know which programs you liked the most and what ideas you have for other events and benefits. Here are some highlights from the survey:

• We have a lot of entrepreneurs in our midst — about 25 percent of respondents have been in business five years or less.

• Most of you have joined CCPA for networking and business development and also to learn how to grow your business: marketing, social media and sales tips are your most-requested event topics.

• The Center City Soiree received rave reviews for its big turnout and high “buzz” factor. Other favorites were the City Leaders lunches and the Apple store tour.

• Linked-In is used by most respondents (80 percent) for business. Did you know that CCPA has its own Linked-In Group? 62 percent of respondents did. But less than half (43 percent) were aware of this blog.

Many of you are not taking full advantage of free business development opportunities through CCPA. Here are some good ones:

• Become an ambassador. What better way to increase your visibility at CCPA events than to wear a special badge and officially “meet and greet” attendee?

• If you are 36 years old or younger, become involved with CCPA Young Proprietors. Make CCPA the organization you want it to be.

• Contribute to this blog. It’s a free way to increase your name awareness.

• Become active in the CCPA LinkedIn group.

CCPA’s brand promise

Posted on August 4, 2009 by Audrey Julienne

CCPA promises

To make small business easy. In-person and online, CCPA offers a variety of resources, events, contacts, benefits and discounts – all at a great value. Our board members, volunteers and staff are eager to help make doing business in Center City more fun, affordable and easier than ever.
To create a community for growth. CCPA offers exceptional opportunities for professional and personal growth through educational workshops and seminars; online resources and contacts; and access to business, cultural, political and industry leaders.
To provide a provide a place to know people, not just meet people. CCPA provides connections, events and setting to get you involved. We are an approachable way (network/community) to make the personal contacts you need and want, through a variety of networking opportunities such as Lunch with the City Leaders, committees, task forces and braintrusts.

We are a community of small businesses

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Audrey Julienne

In 2009 CCPA asked Linda Rink, from Rink Consulting, to survey members to understand better how its members see the association, what benefit they draw from it and what our areas of improvement are. Here are the results:

Snapshot of respondents ( Total = 154)
(Note: these results reflect only the respondent sample, not total CCPA membership.)

64% are business or professional services.
They are small businesses. Most are well established: 71% have been in business more than 10 years. 41% are women-owned; 17% are minority-owned.
Only half are located in Center City. Their customer base, however, is in Center City or Greater Philadelphia (62%).
Respondents belong to a wide range of other business and professional organizations.
Most respondents heard of CCPA through another member or networking (60%).
“Networking” and “business development” are the most common reasons for joining, followed closely by “information about the city.”
Over half the respondents have not attended an event in the past 6 months.
Of the suggested event topics, marketing and sales tips were ranked highest, along with regional economic information.
Only 18% of respondents receive health benefits through CCPA.

What is our brand promise?

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Audrey Julienne

Promise cloud

Who is CCPA? What makes it different from other business association? What’s our “30-second elevator speech”?

CCPA’s mission is clearly defined: “To foster communications, cooperation, education and services among the small businesses of Center City Philadelphia; and to maintain, promote and improve the commercial vitality of Center City Philadelphia.” But…

What is our brand promise? CCPA meets a need for smaller businesses that other business association don’t, because CCPA is about:

Small businesses.
Making accessible, approachable connections.
Variety of members and functions.
Center City Philadelphia.
Culture.
Networking.
Value (small investment).
Involvement.
Intimacy.

We promise small business owners and representative a community for growth; a place to know people instead of meet people; a place where small business is made easy.

If you want to make a cool keywords cloud like ours above, check out Wordle in CCPA’s toolbox!

My 5 lame excuses for not attending CCPA events

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Audrey Julienne

by Brendon Shank

Every week or so, I get emails from CCPA about events. And every time I read them, I come up with the same reasons for why I can’t go. But the reality is, I usually can go. Moreover, I should go. The meetings rarely disappoint, and many events have been part of my business success over the last few years. And, just as importantly, I’ve made some great friends along the way.

So in the spirit of encouraging myself – and you – to come to CCPA events, I’m posting my 5lame excuses I tell myself every time I hear event that I should go to:

1. “I’m too busy.” And taking two hours out of my day to attend a CCPA event usually doesn’t make me any more busy than I already was. Plus CCPA and its members are often one of the reasons that I continue to be happily busy with client work. So going to CCPA events is a good way to keep the pipeline full and keep me busy in the months and years to come.

“I’m not interested.” Okay, I’ll admit it. There are some topics I’m just not that into. Trends in disability insurance? Not so much. Drafting a better contract? Meh. But the topics I’m not interested in are precisely the topics I should know more about. Even if they don’t get me fired up, they probably have an impact on my business. And that does get me fired up.

“I already know all about it.” This is the polar opposite of “I’m not interested,” and it’s a bonehead excuse for two reasons. First, I never know all about a topic, so I’m bound to learn something. Second, the people who attend these events are – by definition – good client prospects for me, so it’s a prime networking opportunity.

“I already know everybody.” What’s more fun than going to a party where you know everybody already? Just because I know most of the people going to a CCPA event doesn’t mean I can’t deepen relationships, find out about new projects and catch up with friends.

“I won’t know anybody.” I pull this excuse out when I’m feeling shy. But I have yet to go to a CCPA event where I didn’t know one face in the crowd. And the more events I go to, the more people I know. Plus, CCPA folks are friendly. I remember feeling welcome at my first CCPA events, so this excuse is potentially the lamest of all.

If you commit to not using these excuses (okay, just using them less), so will I.

Philadelphia Magazine

Posted on April 3, 2009 by Audrey Julienne

A 2009 CCPA Lunch with the City’s Leaders, at Center City’s posh Le Bec Fin, covered Philadelphia Magazine, print media and other topics of interest. David H. Lipson, Jr., president of Metro Corp., which publishes Philadelphia, Boston and other publications; and Larry Platt, edited Philadelphia for 8 years, until June 2010, discussed these and other points about the magazine.

Its mission is to bring information to people living in the Philadelphia area. Platt said each issue had to pass the “time-capsule test”: “If you retrieved it 25 years from now, would it reveal the ‘soul’ of the time?”

Lipson considers the magazine a brand that possesses a tony, upscale lifestyle.

Lipson said there will always be a need for print media. Print works best for 5,000-word stories. He thinks the future will contain less free information.

Please blog

Posted on February 4, 2009 by Audrey Julienne

CCPA’s blog gives CCPA members a place to share information, knowledge and tips and to interact with each other. You are a perfect candidate if you would like to:

Share your experience and knowledge with fellow business owners.
Educate people on your area of expertise.
Express an opinion, give advice and interact with other CCPA members.
Write fewer than 400 words.

If you would like to blog for CCPA, please send a note to CCPA@centercityproprietors.org.