Tuesday, May 1, 2012 | Edited by Daniel Moores
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5th Annual 'Rising Through the Ranks' Program Set for August 29-30 Scholarship Applications Now Being Accepted for Noted Workshop Dedicated to the Advancement of Women in Radio Sales Management The Radio Advertising Bureau, BMI, and Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio Group (MIW) will present the fifth annual "Rising Through the Ranks" seminar, August 29-30, at the BMI offices in Nashville, TN. As in years past, BMI will offer 25 scholarships for the 2012 program. These scholarships cover the cost of the training course and are designed to foster and educate emerging female radio sellers and managers within the industry. This year's workshop will primarily focus on imperative sales and management techniques, including time management skills, budget reviews and forecasting. The keynote speaker will be Katie Gambill, vice president and general manager at 5 Star Radio. Through her position at 5 Star, Katie manages four FM stations, two AM stations, and a successful local online news site called Clarksvillenow.com. Scholarship winners will also have the opportunity to hear from Liz Rose, Grammy Award-winning songwriter, publisher and owner of Liz Rose Music in Nashville and BMI's Song of the Year Co-Writer. Liz will sit down for an in-depth discussion with Penny Everhard, associate director, writer/publisher relations, at BMI on the impact and importance of mentoring throughout her career. Rose first opened an independent publishing company in 1996 before signing with Jody Williams Music. Within months, she found success with recordings and, in 2004, scored three songs on the country charts simultaneously. In 2007 she teamed with Taylor Swift, co-penning seven songs on her debut Big Machine multi-platinum-selling album that yielded #1 "Teardrops on my Guitar." Other songs crafted with Swift include "Fearless" and two #1's -- "White Horse" and "You Belong with Me." She also penned Allison Krauss's recent hit, "My Love Follows You Where You Go." Liz's latest single recorded by the Eli Young Band, "Crazy Girl," went #1, was named Billboard Country Song of the Year, and won the ACM 2012 Song of the Year. "Rising Through the Ranks" attendees will also learn from leading Radio industry executives, including: Lynn Anderson, founder and CEO, Lynn Anderson Integrated Media Group; Lindsay Cerajewski, general sales manager, WUSN CBS RADIO; Erica Farber, president and CEO, Radio Advertising Bureau; Brandeis Hall, vice president training, Radio Advertising Bureau; Kay Olin, president, Local Focus; and Alison Smith, senior vice president, performing rights, BMI. "'Rising Through the Ranks' has become a pillar of the Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio Group's annual initiatives," said Heidi Raphael, vice president, corporate communications, Greater Media, and spokesperson for the MIW Radio Group. "With the assistance of BMI and the RAB, the MIW Radio Group is able to continue to develop and help advance female sales managers to senior positions in the Radio industry." "BMI is thrilled to underwrite this important initiative," said Mike Steinberg, senior vice president, Licensing, BMI. "We continue to see the viable business impact it has within the radio industry." "I'm very proud of the annual 'Rising Through the Ranks program,'" noted Erica Farber, president and CEO, Radio Advertising Bureau. "We've seen many women come through this program and move into executive level positions, and with excellent speakers such as Katie Gambill and Liz Rose sharing their experiences and knowledge, this year's class will be poised to succeed when they return to their stations." Scholarship applications and registration details are available at www.rab.com, and will be accepted now through July 13. Because enrollment in the training course is limited, applicants are encouraged to submit their applications early in order to secure a spot. |
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Pool and Spa Industry Retailers Seeing an Improving Business Climate Many pool and spa store owners who closed shop during the economic downturn are returning to their home turfs and reopening for business. Improving economic conditions in certain areas of the nation -- especially throughout the Sunbelt states -- are inspiring retailers to take a second look at the markets they'd left, and move in before those regions become too crowded. "Guys I know who closed up shop have suddenly come back to open new stores in the same cities they left," said Bill Long, general manager at SpaScapes in Rocklin, Calif. Most retailers agree that the trouble started in early 2007 and that by summer of that year, many of their colleagues were closing their doors. "Foot traffic just literally stopped," said Jeff Hartman, president of Desert Hot Tubs in Phoenix. “At first, things were falling apart gradually, but by summer of '07, we could tell it was time to turn the lights off." Hartman was one of many spa retailers in the greater Phoenix area who closed large showrooms that year. In the early 2000s, Desert had operated four showrooms, each greater than 10,000 square feet, but as traffic declined, the company was forced to shutter those properties one by one. However, Hartman, like many other retailers, stayed in communication with his competitors -- those who had closed shop as well as the few who managed to remain in business through an increasingly tough economy. As time passed, he and his competitors began to hear tales of upticks in sales. Over the past year, they've begun returning to their old stomping grounds to open new showrooms. "We learned that our competitors were having some pretty good months," Hartman said. "So I said, 'You know what? We're missing out. We need to get serious and open some locations.'" In fact, positive economic signs have proven tempting even for retailers who had retired from the industry years ago. Todd Smith, president of Hot Tub Emporium in Sacramento, Calif., had sold his business back in 2004, but found himself drawn back to his old neighborhood as foot traffic at his former competitors' stores began to increase. "People don't seem to be as worried about the economy and what's around the next corner," he said. "The overall attitude just seems a lot more positive than in previous years." Hartman, meanwhile, expressed a more cautious optimism. But it's becoming clear that even hard-hit markets such as Phoenix hold opportunity for pool companies bold enough to step up and claim a piece of the action. "My factory representative just sent me my year-to-date numbers vs. last year, and we're doing nearly four times what we were then," Hartman said. Though none of these retailers feels confident predicting exactly what the future will hold, it's hard to ignore the numbers. As far as this year's swim season goes, things are unquestionably looking up. (Source: Pool & Spa News, 04/27/12) |
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To Counter Frustration with Fees, Banks Work On Other Areas of Customer Service While consumers are growing increasingly dissatisfied with fees, banks are able to offset these feelings of frustration with higher satisfaction in other areas, such as banking facilities, account activities, and problem resolution, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study. The study, now in its seventh year, finds that overall retail banking customer satisfaction has improved by one index point in 2012 to an average of 753 (on a 1,000-point scale) from 2011. Customer satisfaction with the retail banking experience is measured in six factors: account activities; account information; facility; fees; problem resolution; and product offerings. Satisfaction with fees has declined to 609, down significantly from 625 in 2011 and from 656 in 2010. Monthly maintenance fees have the most significant negative impact on fees satisfaction this year -- more so than in the 2011 and 2010 studies -- while fees assessed for ATMs and debit cards have less negative impacts on fees satisfaction. "The negative reaction to fees reflects customers' irritation about paying for something they didn't have to pay for in the past," said Michael Beird, director of banking services at J.D. Power and Associates. "It also reflects a lack of their complete understanding about what they're getting for those fees. Customers understand why they're being charged for ATM and debit card use, but are not clear on what they're getting for monthly maintenance fees, which drives the bigger drop in satisfaction with those fees." The study finds that despite the decline in fee satisfaction, banks, on average, are able to offset that negative impact on customer satisfaction in other areas, such as facilities and routine transactions. Customer satisfaction with bank facilities -- branch and ATM locations, appearance and hours of operation -- has improved this year to 779, compared with 771 in 2011 and 765 in 2010. One behavior helping to increase satisfaction with the branch is that 76 percent of customers say they are greeted by a bank employee when they enter the bank, an increase from 68 percent in the 2010 study. In addition, customer satisfaction with the reliability and ease of using ATM machines has increased to 815 from 795 in 2011. "Satisfaction with ATMs is driven by the increased reliability, user friendliness and functionality found in the newer generation of ATMs in which many banks have invested the past few years," said Beird. "One of the most pertinent metrics is the percentage of customers who use ATMs to make deposits has more than doubled over the past four years, from 19 percent in 2008 to 40 percent in 2012." When looking at banks in aggregate by relative size, satisfaction with big banks is 743, a two-point increase from 2011, while satisfaction with midsize banks is up four points to 781. Regional banks experience a slight dip in overall satisfaction, to 759 from 760 in 2011. "Big banks continue to lag the other banks in overall satisfaction, but they have made significant improvements in reducing the number of problems customers experience and in problem resolution, specifically resolving problems on first contact," said Beird. The study also finds mobile banking, while still used by a relatively small proportion of customers, is increasing. Nearly one-fifth (16%) of customers cite using some mobile banking, compared with 10 percent in 2011. Among these customers, 11 percent use smartphone apps; five percent use texting for mobile interactions; and six percent use a mobile browser to access their bank. Smartphone apps are used most frequently to check account balances (74%) and transfer funds (47%). In addition, 18 percent of mobile banking customers use a smartphone to make deposits. "Despite the progression in mobile banking, it still represents a small proportion of customers who regularly rely on the technology," Beird said. "What is interesting is that only one-half of customers using mobile banking report that they fully understand the capability of the technology. This represents an opportunity for banks to educate their customers, increase usage and potentially deepen customer share of wallet." (Source: J.D. Power and Associates, 04/19/12) |
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