Chamber Business Seminar: eCommerce and Your Business by Berkshire Direct

Date: Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Time: 8am-930am
Place: The Orchards, Adams Road, Williamstown
Speakers: Kevin Ellingwood, Jeff Stripp, and Allen Jezouit
Cost: FREE for Chamber Members

The team from Berkshire Direct will conduct another Chamber Business Seminar on Tuesday, February 22nd at the beautiful Orchards Hotel to talk about making the web work for your business. This presentation will focus on conducting sales transactions online, walking through the strategies and tactics required to be successful. Reservations are requested. Please call (413) 458-9077 or email info@williamstownchamber.com.

Berkshire Direct's newest partner, Kevin Ellingwood, ran Victoria Secret's website business for 5 years and followed that up with a stretch running the website and marketing for a successful online medical durable goods marketer. When combined with the Berkshire Direct team's other experiences in the online world, this seminar will bring you valuable perspectives on the strategies and tactics required for successful eCommerce in 2011 and beyond. The seminar will be relevant for folks considering the move to online sales as well as folks already selling online who are looking to grow their business.

Please contact Judy Giamborino at the Williamstown Chamber at (413) 458-9077 or via email at info@williamstownchamber.com to confirm your seat.

The new year is certainly off to a positive start best we can tell. People are clearly back to investing in growing their businesses. We have seen a healthy uptick in inbound calls, leads, RFP's, etc. Very exciting for a small business like ours.

If you're a small business owner, you've got to be thinking about ways to expand your reach and grow your business without adding costs. In 2011, the right way to go is partnerships and collaborations. Let me give you an example.

At Berkshire Direct, We're super excited about our continued partnership with Miller Print & Litho and our new partnership with Zip'n Sort. Together we are able to provide the fully integrated services many customers want and we're able to use mutual referrals among our three customer lists to grow our businesses - yet we haven't had to take on any additional overhead or invest in any new equipment. That's a powerful combination.

Do you have any opportunities to partner with companies that are adjacent to your business whose offerings woud complement yours? 2011 is a time to explore those potentials. Leave no stone unturned.

Read entire story from yesterday's WSJ here

Massachusetts is facing the loss of one House seat and New York will lose at least one and possibly two according to estimates based upon the latest census results.

"These states are still holding onto memories of an earlier era when the Northeast was a dominant power in politics," said Julian Zelizer, a congressional historian at Princeton University. "The Sun Belt is where the action is now."

My Two Cents ...

People aren't only leaving Massachusetts and New York because of the weather. Tax rates have a lot to do with it, too. Yet, both legislatures can't seem to figure it out, with 2011 deficits predicted to grow exponentially versus prior years. What a mess!

Our good friend Amber Chand of the Women’s Peace Collection forwarded us this article from Mashable about maximizing revenue in your online store during the holidays. The article is full of good tips to take on matters ranging from quality control to security to promotions. Well worth the read for anyone in the e-commerce business.

Read the entire article here.

Found this great story on Mashable ... be sure to check it out. Learn about these five sites:

- Hashable

- Stipple

- Qwiki

- Storify

- Marginize