New this year was the Hot Tech demos and awards, plus the Small Business Strategy Award, given to one business for entrepreneurial strategic excellence.

To get a sense of the action view the gallery of photos from our professional photographer, Jeffrey Holmes, and follow the post-event dialogue on Twitter.

Press Coverage

BAJ Design Blog – Ovation at Summit
NorthJersey.com – Tailoring Tech for Small Business
Solo Business Marketing – Summit Review
Laurie McCabe – Top Trends Most Evident at the 2010 Small Business Technology Summit
WOR NewsTalk Radio 710 – Quinn Talks Business at The Small Business Summit 2010

Press Releases

Broadlook Receives 2010 Hot Tech Award
GreenhouseIT wins 2010 Small Business Strategy Award (pdf)
Overwhelming response to the ‘HOT TECH’ Demo opportunities at Small Business Summit 2010 (pdf)
Fifth Annual Small Business Summit Presenters (pdf)
Fifth Annual Small Business Summit (pdf)

Interviews

Small Business Trends Radio

Send e-mail to info@smallbiztechsummit.com to add your name to the mailing list for an invitation to Small Business Summit 2011.

$9000 website makeover with Kutenda.
Nexus Blackberry Curve (courtesy of Sprint).
IOLO System Mechanic software cd (to clean my computer).

While she’s not yet a full-fledged entrepreneur she raked in some fabulous tech tools to help her get started and stay on track. Many other prizes were given out during the day, but Sana is the only one winning 3.

Seems like a good omen for Sana’s future.

I’m one of the 16 small business experts and I’ll be speaking on the topic, “The Leader Mindset: What is it and How do I get it?”. Some of the other topics are:

Build a Successful Referral Engine

Eight Insider Marketing Secrets

Client Retention Strategies

Top Selling Tips for a Challenging Economy

Organize With Confidence

Getting Started With Social Media

and much, much more.

You can access all 16 presentations during the week of Nov. 2 – 6 without charge. Click here to register.

It’s a virtual event, conducted over the web.  (no makeup, no shoes required) and it runs from Nov. 2 – 6th. My topic is “The Leader Mindset: What it is and How to Get it”, which will be aired on Monday, Nov. 2nd from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. Once you register you’ll have access to the entire series. Click here for the full line-up and to register.

And, the best part…  there’s no cost to attend!

Although the content is directed to business women, they tell me no one will be checking ID’s at the (virtual) door, so the men out there can listen in on the strategies that will be shared.

If you have all the business you want, no need for you to register.  If you don’t, you’ll want to register to find better ways to market, sell and propel your business to where you’d like to be.

By attending this virtual tele-summit, you’ll get loads of innovative ideas and strategies for generating new business – all from the comfort of your home or office.

Check it out for yourself.  I know you’ll agree with me.

This is a not-to-miss event!

Register now!

See you there.

The response to this call was amazing, so I know using partnerships for growth is a topic many people want to learn more about.

If you were interested but couldn’t be on the call, not to worry. Click here to listen to the tele-class. 

At the end of the call I made a Special Offer to everyone on the call. I’m leading a brand new rich-in-content 4-week tele-series, “Six Strategies to Turn Your Business Into a Fast-Track Growth Machine!” starting in October to reinforce what you learned in the tele-class, go into more depth, AND to provide you the tools and guidance to help you structure a growth-oriented partnership.

The Special Offer for the 4-week tele-series is a Savings of $50 if you sign up by midnight, Wednesday, September 30th. Use discount code BIZPC50 to capture the savings when you register. After September 30th, it’s goes back to the regular fee of $197.

With the response I’ve received so far, I expect to fill this program very quickly. I don’t want you to miss out, so I invite you to take advantage of this limited time Special Offer now.

Follow this link for details and to sign-up.

I hope you’ll be joining me for the tele-series starting on October 14th.

Led by Marian Banker, MBA, Business Leadership Coach
Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 1 – 2 pm EDT

Did you know that one of the least expensive ways to grow your business is through some form of partnership. Big businesses do it every day, in a big way. It’s one of the major ways they grow.

Dallas Business Journal reports, “American Airlines has forged a three-year marketing partnership with National Football League’s New England Patriots.” This partnership has a specific purpose and goals, as should all partnerships.

These same strategies can be applied to your small business to achieve similar results. B-U-T a good intention is not enough to make the partnership achieve the goals you and your partner both want. Actually, looking for a partner isn’t even the first step.

In this one hour teleclass we’ll be covering what you need to know in order to turn your business into a fast-track growth machine using partnerships.

Get all the details and register (FREE) at http://www.primestrategies.com/successful-partnerships-teleclass.

Here are some of the highlights.

To get a good handle on your top customers, run a sales-by-customer report sorting by the amount they spent with your company in 2008, and a second report for 2009. Compare the two reports. How many of your customers changed positions? Do you have a few new names on the top in 2009? If so, what happened to the customers that got bumped off?

Sales reports uncover trends and cycles, but only if you are looking for them. Even if your company’s sales are stable, take a look at the details—which customers are buying which products or services, and when they are buying them. Your customers should be categorized by industry in your accounting software so you can sort by that field, creating industry-specific snapshots of your market. By understanding the granular data that makes up your sales figures, you can target your marketing appropriately. Sell to your customers when they typically buy, and you should sell more.

Read about all six sales secrets here.

Ellen also has just posted her new white paper, The Importance of Software Training, which is an eye opener for those scrimping on training to save money.

Thanks, Ellen, for continuing to educate us.

In August, I’m offering a Business Partnership Clinic for those who are ready to actually take strategic action in their partnership. It’s conducted as 3 one-hour weekly tele-sessions. First session is August 4th. Read the details and sign up at link above.

Finally, if you haven’t already seen it, view the 4 + minute video, Shedding Light on Business Partnerships.  I didn’t create this, but it’s right on about partnerships and very well done.

If you’ve seen anything of interest on partnerships, please add in your comment.

Unfortunately, Barbara had no network. I assumed she had one, but I didn’t think to ask before we shook hands. She looked to me to create the program, develop the marketing and get people to sign up. Plus I had the business background, so she figured I should handle the books also. After being in business only about nine months, Barbara’s husband became suddenly ill and she had to take care of him round the clock. We decided to dissolve the partnership. Obviously it was headed for eventual problems, so it’s fortunate we had another reason to disband.

What I learned from that partnership was that a lot more time should have been spent upfront comparing notes, creating job roles, establishing expectations and determining if we were both going the same direction.

Amazingly, after that I started getting clients who were in partnerships. Not all, of course, but my eyes were opened to how many businesses operate as partnerships.

As I began working with partnerships I started to see similar challenges play out over and over regardless of the type of business.

Here are some of the situations I see most often.

One partner feels like he’s carrying the bulk of the workload (or a partner is falling down on the job).

This may have happened because there wasn’t an agreement about who would do what. Job roles, access to needed resources, responsibilities and accountability have not been discussed. This is bound to lead to problems.

Expectations are not being met.

Expectations may be quite different for each partner. When expectations aren’t met, it’s a set up for negative feelings. It’s important that each partner knows what to expect from the other(s).

Partner has lost interest in the business or changed thinking.

Over time new attractions and options will continue to present themselves to all partners. When a partner becomes disenchanted with how the partnership is going, she is more likely to lose interest over time. This may be a compound problem.

Can’t talk to each other.

Communication is so critical to maintaining a viable partnership. When partners get so busy doing their own thing that they can’t find time to sit down with the other(s), they will likely start to feel less engaged. An unresolved issue can also lead to partners being unable to talk about certain things.

It’s a wrong partnership.

Sometimes the partnership has been a bad match from the beginning, but it was maintained for a variety of reasons. When the primary reason for the partnership was based on personal needs more than on business needs, if those needs aren’t fulfilled, the partnership will flounder. Maybe one partner thinks and acts fast and the other wants to research things in great detail. These people may never be able to function well together. Basic behaviors and traits will not likely change even if the person tries.

Are any of these your concern? If so, how should you open the subject of improving the relationship for the good of the company? To learn the steps I recommend for making positive changes to your partnership arrangement read my article, Help! I Want to Dump My Partner. It’s the most popular article on my website.

For more information on creating a partnership that works, you’ll also want to attend my July 14th f*r*e*e webinar, How to Grow Your Business Using Partnerships.

Last month’s Brain Exchange Roundtable was especially memorable. Our guest expert was Robin Wilson, owner of Robin Wilson Home, http://robinwilsonhome.com, which provides eco-friendly design and products for residential and commercial properties.

We also had Nora Herting, a partner at ImageThink, http://imagethink.net, who created a graphic recording (meaning visually graphic) of the entire evening’s program. Pretty amazing and brand new to me. You’ll actually see some of the highlights on the recording.

Here are some of the details:

• Although she’d been in business for several years it was only after consulting with a few key associates (a banker, a marketing guru, a media connection, a coach) that her business really took off.

• With the help of her team she created a clear brand and became able to articulate it in a short elevator pitch.

• She became known as an expert in “construction management”, being able to bring jobs in under budget and under schedule.

• Her business took off primarily by word of mouth. Clients told others. She now focuses on services to first time mothers and those needing cleaner, toxic-free space for their children.

• She has had role models like Martha Stewart and Oprah whom she watches for selective guidance.

• It’s important to take care of yourself because you’ll work harder than ever in a business where your goal is “taking it to the moon”.

• She became a resource to the media and prepared yourself for TV exposure.

• She recommended 2 books worth reading, “Dreamgiver” and “101 Questions Before Starting a Partnership”.

• Also said her main allies were a good lawyer and a good bookkeeper.

Some great tips she gave were:

• Always be nice. She told the story of meeting a 22-year-old Personal Assistant at a party. While others were shunning this youngster, she befriended her and found out she worked for a celebrity…who eventually hired her for a $12 million project.

• Listen actively. Always be looking for messages from the those around you about where you should be going next.

• Get really clear about your dream and don’t let anything take you off your path.

You missed a terrific event, but we’ll be doing another Roundtable again at the end of this month. On July 29th, Galia Gichon will be our guest expert telling us how to “Take Command of Your Money”, http://primestrategies.com/bxrt-7-29-09.