Jennifer Wilburn

I am the daughter of Tracy and Deborah Wilburn. I have two younger brothers and lots of cats. I have resided in Hayden, Al. my entire life. I love swimming, biking, scrapbooking, goofing off with baton and dance, and enjoying anything outdoors. I love being busy and staying active within my community.

The Fultondale Chamber attended the Birmingham Business Journal's breakfast and panel discussion on health care reform sponsored by Burr & Forman.

Howard Bogard mentioned this morning, Burr and Forman has composed a brief summary of what they believe to be the most important provisions of the Health Reform Bill with the greatest impact to their clients and friends, including employers, providers, group health plans, insurers, and taxpayers. Attached is an electronic version of their Health Reform Alert for those of you who were unable to attend the summary this morning or who would like an electronic version to forward to others. We hope you find the information helpful and informative.

The Birmingham region has a competitive business climate but needs to improve its education and infrastructure to become more attractive to potential business recruits, according to initial data released by the Birmingham Business Alliance.

View full article on Birmingham Business Journal

Fultondale News by Sue McKay
The North Jefferson News

We would like to thank the Fultondale Chamber of Commerce for sponsoring the Christmas tree lighting Monday night. We would also like to thank Santa for appearing, the children of Fultondale Elementary for making the ornaments and the Fultondale street department for getting the area ready. Everyone had a great time and we had a good turnout.

• The Fultondale City Council will meet on Monday at 6 p.m. The next Fultondale Chamber meeting will be an after-hours meeting on Dec. 23 at Stix Restaurant from 5 to 7 p.m.

• We would like to thank the local businesses that participated in the storefront decorating contest. The winners were: What-a-Burger, best all-around; Jernigan Healthcare, best Christian theme; Fultondale Florist, most creative; and Terry Hogeland of Walker Drive won best home decoration. Thanks to everyone who participated.

• Fultondale First Baptist Church will be having a Christmas Windows live program Dec. 18-20 at 6 p.m.The tour, a walk-through of Christ from birth to crucifixion, lasts approximately 20 minutes. Please make plans to come out and see this live program.

• I would like to send congratulations to our fire chief, Larry Holcomb, who received his bachelor's degree in Fire Science on Dec. 8.

• I would like to send a happy belated birthday wish to Scottie Fassina who turned the “big 5-0” on Nov. 19. I hope he had a wonderful birthday.

• Congratulations to Traci (Newcomb) Jones and George A Jones and big sister Lexie of Fultondale in the birth of their newest addition to the family, Lathan Alan. Lathan was born Nov. 23 at 2:30 p.m. He weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces and was 20.5-inches long. The overjoyed grandparents are Susie Newcomb, Frank and Peggy Siragusa and great-grandmother Lexie Jones. We hope this new bundle of joy brings them a lifetime of happiness.

• As we all know Christmas is just two weeks away. Because of the hustle and bustle of this time of year, this will probably be my last article until January 2010. I want to wish each and every one of you a very, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Remember the reason for the season — Christ was born on Christmas Day and he came to save us from our sins. Also remember it is better to give than to receive.

Sue McKay is The North Jefferson News correspondent for Fultondale. She can be reached at 841-6559.

Business AdVISE By Teresa Vise
The North Jefferson News

Our articles so far have centered on customer service, branding of your company and yourself, and we have also spent time discussing creativity and risk.

In the next few articles, I would like to offer a little perspective on trends around us. Specifically, I want to delve into Microtrends or small trends that can lead to big change and big business opportunities. According to Mark Penn, author of “Microtrends,” only one percent of the public, or three million people, are enough to launch a business or social movement. As we close out 2009, and prepare for the next year, what small trends are out there that we need to be on the look out for, and how could it affect our business?

I found the following insight from “Microtrends” particularly timely in the Chapter entitled “Shy Millionaires.” For me, it is a somber reminder to keep a handle on spending during the holidays. At the risk of drawing the ire of the retailers, I want to remind you to not blow your budget just because it is Christmas and the holidays. With that idea in mind, let’s let the “Shy Millionaire” give us some microtrend advice.

Current surveys show that only about 4 percent of households have a net worth of more than $1 million. That is about nine million people. What does this person look like?

First, let me tell you what they are not. It is not someone who inherited it or came upon it by privileged circumstance. According to the book, “The Millionaire Next Door,” the average millionaire went to public school, drives an older American made car and received zero inheritance. There are actually six different types of millionaires: the Deal Master at 11 percent; the Altruistic Achiever at 17 percent; the Secret Succeeder at 17 percent; the Status Chaser at 18 percent; the Disengaged Inheritors at 13 percent; and the biggest group at 24 percent are called Satisfied Savers. Let’s see what the Satisfied Saver and Secret Succeeder can teach us. Together these two groups make up 41 percent of millionaires.

The Satisfied Saver group has worked hard, saved much, and lives below their means. They identify with Ford over Mercedes; they aspire not to material gain, but to long, healthy life; they splurge on very little.

These people are not heirs to some vast fortune, but contractors, pharmacists, and pest controllers. They became rich by investing and being frugal, and they live that way now.

The Secret Succeeder group did not expect wealth and fear that they will lose it. They also are concerned that someone will find out that they have wealth. These are certainly interesting people, but what does this mean to a business owner, and also to the interested politician or pollster?

First, class warfare just will not work for this group. This type of rhetoric falls on deaf ears to a group for whom equal opportunity and the American dream are cherished values. Recent verbiage about “spending our way out of a recession” may leave this group mistrusting, disinterested and keeping a tight hold on to their own “change.” Also, this group is not a good target for opulent jewelry, designer clothing or luxury cars. But they are a great target for investing and financial services.

Second, these people invest in private school. Again, according to the above referenced books, only 17 percent of millionaires attended private school, but more than 50 percent send their children to one.

Third, the shy millionaire gives to charity. Just because the class warfare rhetoric does not work on this group does not mean that they are disinterested in helping others out.

This is a fascinating trend in demographics with a potential impact on business and the shy millionaire next door could be looking for YOU. He or she is looking for financial services, schools, and non-profits who share her regard for hard work, discipline and the value of the dollar. If you know someone like this, seek them out for wisdom and insight. I bet they can tell you where all the real holiday deals are for Christmas gift giving.

Enjoy brushing off your more frugal side this holiday season. And remember, take care of your customers, or someone else will.

Teresa Vise is the marketing, growth, events and special projects co-director for the Fultondale Chamber of Commerce. She received her MBA from Samford University and is a speciality sales professional with Sanofi Aventis. She can be reached at teresa.vise@sanofi-aventis.com.

Business AdVISE By Teresa Vise
Special to The North Jefferson News

Bruce Lee, $1 million.

James Dean, $5 million.

Elvis Presley, $52 million.

According to the Wall Street Journal, these are just a few examples of the brand value of a name.

Our last articles have concentrated on the concept of branding and how it affects company image, positions marketing message and potentially drives sales. Have you stopped to think about your own personal brand image? I don’t mean the brand image of your company, but I mean YOUR brand image.

What works for products, goes for people too. Just as you can develop a brand image for your company, you can also build a strong brand identity for yourself. To brand yourself, you need to take an honest and heartfelt look at what is important to you. What are your core values and beliefs?

A “Brand You” is a distillation of who you really are and how you want to appear to your customers, employees and management. This kind of clear bottom line definition will help to insure that you show and tell, not just tell, your story.

Examples that quickly come to mind are Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, and Mr. Sam Walton of Walmart legend. When we think of their products, we tend to think of an image of not just ownership in the company, but participation with the customer.

Try to discern what makes you unique and hard to replicate. This type of thinking is exactly what we discussed earlier in developing a brand strategy for your company, so now let’s bring it down to the bottom line YOU.

A company is only going to be as solid as the person out in the front. If you are the business owner calling the shots, it is important to keep the shots in line with the core values of the organization and you.

Think about it. You cannot lead, where you cannot go. Think about the tag line, “In the long run, it’s Long-Lewis.” This slogan has told Birminghamians for years that they could rely on the name and the purchase.

Perhaps this is a new way of thinking for you, but it may help to start to realize that you are already a brand. Your brand is comprised of your experience, skills, behaviors and even your name. When you get your arms around these facts, you will be better prepared to develop a strategy that has roots in your personal purpose and principles.

Whether you have created your own business, bought a franchise or work for someone else, work to create the mind set of the entrepreneur into your branding strategy. Entrepreneurial thinkers are true problem solvers, and critical to the health of an organization.

Workers, be they employees or employers, that think this way create value because they ARE value. This type of mindset has been discussed to be a key resource in previous articles written here on customer service.

Companies like Chick-fil-A empower front line employees to solve a problem immediately by empowering them with the power to say “Yes” to a customer request. Taking ownership of a task is the key to their success and repeat business.

Take the time this week to jot down some key ideas about yourself as you work toward your own personal brand. Some questions to ask are:

• What product or service can I uniquely offer?

• What is the quality of that I offer as a standard?

• What are my core values?

• What is my personal mission?

• What do I specialize in?

• What do these answers say about the personality and character that you portray? Is it innovative? Creative? Energetic? Sophisticated?

Good luck this week with developing a higher level of brand strategy for you. I know it will help you keep on target with the broader corporate message of your company.

Remember, take care of your customers, or someone else will.

Teresa Vise is the marketing, growth, events and special projects co-director for the Fultondale Chamber of Commerce. She received her MBA from Samford University and is a speciality sales professional with Sanofi Aventis. She can be reached at teresa.vise@sanofi-aventis.com.

Commentary By Teresa Vise

The North Jefferson News

As individuals, we often like to say that our strongest asset is our reputation. The same is true of organizations.

A product, and the company behind it, forms the brand. A brand that is recognized can go a long way toward making or breaking a company’s reputation.

A strong brand identity backed by superior quality offers important strategic advantages for a firm. First, it increases the likelihood that consumers will recognize the firm’s product or product line when they make purchase decisions. Second, a strong brand identity can contribute to buyers’ perceptions of product quality.

Branding can also reinforce customer loyalty and repeat purchases. A consumer who tries a brand and likes it will likely look for that brand on future store visits. All of these benefits contribute to a valuable form of competitive advantage called brand equity.

Brand equity refers to the added value that a certain brand name gives to a product. Brands with high brand equity confer financial advantages on a firm because they often command high market shares, and consumers pay less attention to product price. Got high equity? You probably also have higher profits and better stock returns.

Who were the top Global brands for 2009? According to Interbrand Corporation published in this week’s Business Week you will find Coca-cola, IBM, Microsoft, GE and Nokia as number one through five respectively. Coca-cola remains the most valued and highly recognized brand in the world.

In spite of the recession presenting marketers with the toughest challenges in several years, these companies retained their position from 2008. But, how do they pick the winner? It is way more than just name recognition.

A firm builds brand equity on four measurable dimensions of its brand personality. These four dimensions are Differentiation, Relevance, Esteem and Knowledge.

• Differentiation refers to a brands ability to stand apart from the competition. Brands like Porsche and Victoria’s Secret stand out in consumers’ minds as unique products.

• Relevance refers to a brands ability to be meaningful to a market segment. Brands like AT&T and Hallmark have high relevance.

• Esteem is a combination of perceived quality and consumer perceptions about popularity. Starbucks is a high esteem product.

• Knowledge refers to a customer’s awareness of the brand and understanding of what it stands for. Knowledge implies an intimate relationship with the brand such as Jell-O or Band-Aid.

Understanding how your product measures up against your competition in the areas of differentiation, relevance, esteem and knowledge will help you to understand how to meet your customer at a very high level. As we discussed last week, insuring that your product fits into the experience desired by your customer will help you to understand how to motivate that customer to act on a purchase.

Take some time this week to evaluate how your product measures up against similar offerings in your marketplace with respect to brand equity. While our businesses in the area may not be as large as Coca-cola or GE, they still bring serious brand equity to the competitive table.

How many of us steer out of the way to insure that we get the perfect doughnut from Fultondale Bakery? For the North Jefferson market segment, this business offers a product that is highly relevant to our community and offers a unique, high quality product.

I may not feel esteem after one of their pastries, but I sure feel good.

Remember to take care of your customers or someone else will.

Teresa Vise is the marketing, growth, events and special projects co-director for the Fultondale Chamber of Commerce. She received her MBA from Samford University and is a speciality sales professional with Sanofi Aventis. She can be reached at teresa.vise@sanofi-aventis.com.

Fultondale News By Sue McKay
The North Jefferson News

We would like to thank everyone that attended the chamber of com-merce meeting this past Wednes-day to hear Lt. Governor Folsom speak. We had a great crowd and everyone seemed to enjoy the speech and the fellowship with each other.

• City hall and the gas department will be closed Monday in observance of Columbus Day.

• The Fultondale Chamber of Commerce will host an after-hours event Oct. 28 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Sips and Strokes in Walker Chapel Plaza.

• The ribbon cutting for Norwood Clinic Imaging Center in Fultondale will be Oct. 19 at 9 a.m.

• Happy Birthday to my friend and co-worker, building inspector Darryl Aldrich, on Oct. 14.

• Happy belated birthday to my long-time friend and co-worker, Kathy (Smith) Taylor on Oct. 5. • Also, a happy belated birthday wish to my good friend and former resident of Fultondale, Mrs. Nema Thrasher on Oct. 8. • I would like to welcome Dannelle Ellison to Fultondale. She is the new owner of Radiance Hair Salon. Try to make her welcome in Fultondale.

Sue McKay is The North Jefferson News correspondent for Fultondale. She can be reached at 841-6559.

The North Jefferson News

How much do you really know about your customers?

Some businesses really do have this down to a science. They could tell you the average age, income, demographics and preferred common purchases and many more facts that would surprise and amaze you when it comes to their target customer market.

To put this into context, it is important to remember Pareto’s Principle, also called Pareto’s Law. This idea was pinned in 1906 by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto who created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country. He observed that 80 percent of the wealth was owned by 20 percent of the people.

In the 1930s quality management thinker, Dr. Joseph Juran, recognized the principle which he called the “vital few and trivial many,” which was attributed to Pareto.

As a result, Dr. Juran’s observation of the “vital few and trivial many”, the principle that 20 percent of something always are responsible for 80 percent of the results, became known as Pareto’s Principle or the 80/20 rule.

The bottom line is this: Relatively few heavy users of a product can account for much of its consumption. You can apply this science to almost anything from management to the physical world.

Think about your own business and how you run it. Does 20 percent of your stock take up 80 percent of your warehouse space? Does 80 percent of your stock come from 20 percent of your suppliers?

How about your sales? Do 80 percent of your sales come from 20 percent of your sales staff? Does 20 percent of your staff cause 80 percent of your problems, while another 20 percent of your staff provides 80 percent of your production?

This is the real challenge in problem solving for leadership and management. You need to tease through the activities and noise to drill down to the elements that will be worth paying attention too. Once found, those elements will need to be changed or enhanced depending on your finds.

Once you find a nugget that merits your attention, remember that altering the way we approach our customers begins with our attitudes and mindset. We all understand that a changing business environment requires a new and more sophisticated mix of expertise and innovation.

Do you spend time training, assessing and cultivating how you want your employees to interact with your customers? Here are a few ideas on developing your own goals to enhance the strategy by which you train your employees in customer service. It is called SMART and is a common sense tool for goal setting.

• S: Specific direction is needed. It should be clear, easy to describe and remain in line with your objectives

• M: Measure your specific outcome against your objective

• A: Align the employees goal with that of management and broader strategies

• R: Results are the ultimate goal of this or any change

• T: Timeline for an end date that lets your work backward in planning to keep you on track. (Sanofi-Aventis Training, 2009)

As you work through this process, think about how you will allow your employees to infuse their own level of creativity in the process. This will give them the courage to produce valuable marketplace solutions for you.

Lastly, think about stretch goals in this process because it is within the stretch goal that real change takes place. Ask yourself or your employees: If I achieve this goal will I ...

• Develop a new skill?

• Step out of my comfort zone?

• Challenge the status quo?

• Partner with another key stakeholder to achieve this objective?

• Contribute greatly to my/our business success?

I will leave you with this last thought and case study example. If you have ever had a visit to Gardendale Chiropractic Clinic, you have certainly met their friendly staff. You have also been introduced to their complete facility, watched a video on the holistic approach to Chiropractic Care, and had a one-on-one discussion with Dr. Jim Fox, prior to any treatment decisions being made.

This clinic takes and receives feedback very seriously, and to that end they meet weekly as group for an hour or more to discuss how things are going for the clinic. These meetings include, but are not limited to the usual policy and procedure items.

According to Dr. Fox, these meetings are key to keeping them on track as a health care contributor to the North Jefferson community. Discussions at their meetings include patient cases (their external customer) which are going well, and those that are more difficult. This also provides a time to address employee (internal customer) opportunities and concerns.

The pay off, according to Dr. Fox, has been big. Focus on the external customer, the patient, allows them to “see the rose open” in terms of a patients potential return to physical, emotional and spiritual well being. By creating an opportunity to focus on the internal customer, the employee, they keep turn over to a bare minimum.

Good luck this week with your business endeavors. Remember, if you don’t take care of your customers, someone else surely will.

Teresa Vise is the marketing, growth, events and special projects co-director for the Fultondale Chamber of Commerce. She received her MBA from Samford University and is a speciality sales professional with Sanofi Aventis. She can be reached at teresa.vise@sanofi-aventis.com.

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By Teresa Vise
Special to The North Jefferson News

On the theme of taking charge of things in your business that you can control, let’s dig a little deeper into the realm of customer service.

In a recent review article titled “What Service Customers Really Want” by Dougherty and Murthy in the Harvard Business Review (Sept. 2009), we find a discussion of the extent to which the consumer landscape has shifted.

Dougherty and Murthy discuss that while superior customer service is essential as companies emerge from the recession, it is important to understand how the consumer has changed. They point out that brands have weakened, customers have easy access to vendor information, and the barriers to switching among competing products have eroded.

When a customer contacts a company for service, they care most about two things: Is the frontline employee knowledgeable? Can the problem be resolved on the first call?

As the owner, manager or leader, ask yourself this question: Do I measure my service by speed or hold time? If so, you may be rushing your front line person too much and succeeding in your eyes, but failing in the eyes of your customer. Customers want to know that their service will be efficient and thorough, and that time will be taken to handle their issue.

This article continues to suggest a few ways to assess and understand what your customers are experiencing. A manager can draw on a variety of information to include customer service surveys and even recording customer-agent conversations for training purposes.

As you create your own vision of customer service, think about the following. I call it my “Top Ten Ways to Improve Customer Service.”

10) Enjoy your work. Specify what your drivers are in business. For example, my drivers are leadership, learning and fun.

9) Work in such a manner that even your competition will speak highly of you

8) Be honest and clear about what you can (and can not) deliver

7) Be faithful to your work and give your best

6) Get and take customer feedback seriously. Don’t put the “cuss” in customer service

5) Take care of the person in charge, and remember to thank the person, big or little, who ensures that things get done

4) Take time to study and prepare

3) Speak well of others or not at all; stay away from office politics

2) Have a mentor and bug them to death

1) Support something bigger than yourself and share a common goal with your customers

I will leave you with this last thought and case study example: Think about the last time you went to Chick-Fil-A in Gardendale or Fultondale.

This company trains their employees on customer service as rigorously as they train their employees in product preparation. It is no rare event to have someone say “It’s my pleasure!” as they give you your change, or deliver your meal.

According to manager Mike Holmes, empowering the employee to handle a customer issue immediately is part of their success and training them how is part of their strategy.

I hope these ideas will be of assistance to you this week. Sharing a few ideas on improving customer service has been my pleasure!

Teresa Vise is the marketing, growth, events and special projects co-director for the Fultondale Chamber of Commerce. She received her MBA from Samford University and is a speciality sales professional with Sanofi Aventis. She can be reached at teresa.vise@sanofi-aventis.com.