WOMEN in BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - (Page 36) B u s i n E ss s p ot l i g h t Customer Loyalty Personal Contact through Elaine Merritt took a personal experience with coffee grounds and used it as the basis to build a growing small business. writ ten by KAthlEEn lEighton what began as a hunch for elaine merritt less than a year ago has turned into a thriving business. merritt launched the business Development Center in muncie, indiana, with just one employee, and now she has ten people working for her, with plans to hire more. For the first 20 years of her career, merritt sold radio advertising and traveled across the country training sales representatives for radio stations. she also began doing marketing and advertising seminars. “when i was finished giving a seminar, people would come up to me and say that their customers weren’t loyal,” she said. “that idea kept me up at night. i mean, i’m loyal. i go to the same restaurants and order the same things. i wondered why this was a problem.” Her “a-ha” moment came after a weekly run with pals. the group always stopped at the same coffee shop, but on this particular morning, there were grounds in the coffee. the next week, same thing—grounds in the coffee. merritt’s group tried another coffee shop the third week. then she ran into the owner of the first shop and told him why she hadn’t been in. “He told me they had bought the wrong filters,” she said. “And then it occurred to me that most customers don’t tell you when something is wrong; they just go somewhere else. we need to tell people about the grounds in our coffee.” 36 w o m e n i n b us i n e s s F E B / M A R 2 0 0 9
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 Contents ABWA Member Benefits Letter from the Executive Director Letter from CEO ABWA Board News A New Era Unfolds Money Matters ABWA Announcements Personal Skills Style Breaking Down Barriers Legal Matters Business Spotlight Workplace: Working Online to Build ABWA Teams Mind & Body Workplace IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 (Page Cover1) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 (Page Cover2) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 (Page 1) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Contents (Page 2) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Contents (Page 3) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - ABWA Member Benefits (Page 4) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - ABWA Member Benefits (Page 5) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Letter from the Executive Director (Page 6) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Letter from CEO (Page 7) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - ABWA Board News (Page 8) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - ABWA Board News (Page 9) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - A New Era Unfolds (Page 10) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - A New Era Unfolds (Page 11) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - A New Era Unfolds (Page 12) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - A New Era Unfolds (Page 13) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Money Matters (Page 14) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Money Matters (Page 15) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Money Matters (Page 16) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Money Matters (Page 17) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Money Matters (Page 18) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Money Matters (Page 19) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Money Matters (Page 20) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Money Matters (Page 21) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Money Matters (Page 22) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Money Matters (Page 23) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Money Matters (Page 24) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Money Matters (Page 25) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - ABWA Announcements (Page 26) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - ABWA Announcements (Page 27) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Personal Skills (Page 28) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Style (Page 29) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Breaking Down Barriers (Page 30) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Breaking Down Barriers (Page 31) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Breaking Down Barriers (Page 32) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Breaking Down Barriers (Page 33) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Legal Matters (Page 34) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Legal Matters (Page 35) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Business Spotlight (Page 36) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Business Spotlight (Page 37) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Workplace: Working Online to Build ABWA Teams (Page 38) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Workplace: Working Online to Build ABWA Teams (Page 39) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Mind & Body (Page 40) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Mind & Body (Page 41) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Workplace (Page 42) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Workplace (Page 43) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Workplace (Page 44) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Workplace (Page Cover3) IN BUSINESS - February/March 2009 - Workplace (Page Cover4)
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.