PostalReporter.com published a great blog with details about H.Res. 12, calling for the USPS to do what is needed to continue delivering mail 6-days a week. Check out the blog and more details on the Resolution by clicking here.
The final 2014, Marketing for Small Business Seminar Series kicks off next week with with our Blogging class on Wednesday, October 29, 2014 between 11:30 – 1:00pm.
We have compiled results from the over 48 surveys submitted by participants since the inception of this program in July; and are proud to share the results! 90% of the respondents rated the classes as Excellent, 70% attended multiple classes within the series, and 97.3% said they would recommend classes to their friends and colleagues.
Each class covers a specific topic and is focused on teaching ways that small businesses can market using leading-edge technology without “breaking the bank” or having to hire a large staff to execute the plan. The classes (Blogging, Social Media, Two Mails: Direct Mail | e-mail, and Search Engine Optimization) are limited to a maximum of 8 people to keep interaction at a high level and allow for personalized teaching. For details and registration on the remaining classes, click here.
Our students gave specific examples of what they thought was good about the seminars. See below for a glance at a few highlights:
Our valued graduates let us know that they are looking for additional class offerings as well. We are currently creating content for the most requested subjects and will offer continuing education in the first quarter of 2015. The new curriculum will include more guest lecturers and expanded content from the our original series. In case you missed one of the original sets or would like to recommend someone, we will continue to offer the introduction of Marketing For Small Business Series once each quarter in 2015.
We look forward to working with more new companies and expanding our relationship with our existing clients through further education of Marketing for Small Business.
Thank you!
Our Fall Seminar Series on Marketing For Small Business has been awesome! We’ve met such great people and gotten to know some fabulous companies! This week’s class covered, The Two Mails: Direct Mail | e-mail. 100% of the attendees submitted a survey and 100% rated the class EXCELLENT! Thank you! See you next week for our Search Engine Optimization class hosted by our partners at Siteboxpro.
Would you like a 2015 BEB POSTAL RATE CARD? These cards are double sided with nonprofit rates on one side, and for profit Standard & First-Class rates on the other. They also include handy dimension minimums/maximums and other mailing requirements. Printed on sturdy card stock and measuring at 9″ high X 8″ wide, these cards are excellent reference material and they are FREE! If you would like one mailed to you, click here.
We’ve launched our new website, bebtexas.com, and cordially invite you to take a tour!
It’s a living site that is in a constant state of renewal. In addition to the traditional details of our service offerings, we share our rich and unique 64-year history while offering the latest postal and marketing news through our blog. There are links to our Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook pages, and we’ve added a career page too! Most important, we are connected to our clients through this interactive site and appreciate all of the feedback, suggestions and kudos received so far!
Check out some of our more popular blogs below!
We were thrilled to see that we were included in this month’s National Association of Marketing Service Providers (AMSP) publication, PostScripts!
The August edition features the year’s winners from the Awards of Excellence program. Each year the AMSP holds a gala, celebrating excellence and innovation in the marketing service provider industry, Companies across the nation compete within eight categories and are measured by an independent panel of judges. Winners are revealed and awards distributed during the association’s annual conference in June.
BEB (Business Extension Bureau) took home the top prize as we accepted a first place win for the Ed Sisk Excellence in Education Award for our internal PRC (Postal Certification Certification) program. The program’s purpose is to raise competence of postal compliance with our staff. Required participants include sales, client service representatives, operations managers and company executives. We encourage all BEB employees to enroll in the class, which is available to staff twice a year.
Recent graduate Kristin Howell (DP) shows off her framed PRC certificate. Kristin participated in the inaugural class and scored the highest within her class on the final exam!
The course covers 12 modules and classes are conducted in 10, 90-minute intervals over a period of 8 weeks. The course is completed after participants pass a 100 question written test, and an 80% accuracy rate must be met to earn a diploma.
Creation and execution of this program has brought a level of postal knowledge confidence throughout the company. Because the course is comprehensive and participants must make a significant amount of commitment time, we have a high success rate. Also, we must use the program as a means to recognize and praise our employees. Certificates are awarded in a ceremonial setting in front of the entire company and each certificate is personalized, framed, and presented by the president of the company (who also earned his certification)!
Graduates overall confidence level and comprehension of postal regulations has increased significantly. They are able to identify when to ask questions, and are comfortable with how and where to find answers. Through our increased postal expertise, our clients use us an information source more often, and we’re included earlier in the planning stages of programs.
The Postal Service announced today that in light of the PRC (Postal Regulatory Commission) June 10 decision and the current financial condition of the USPS, they will not proceed with the Technical Credit Promotion.
Joy Zerbach, VP
I’m a fan of our current US Postmaster General Pat Donahoe. It’s not often that a USPS ‘guy’ is willing to think out of the box or make bold moves, especially if those moves may be unpopular or painful. I’ve heard some say that he lacks long-term vision. However, Donahoe has some big and immediate problems to solve before he can communicate in detail, what he foresees as the sustainable USPS of the future. I worry that he will grow tired of constant push back from Congress about the most basic, common sense and simplistic changes and surrender his noble fight for reform by resigning.
From L-R Karen DeWolfe (InterlinkOne), USPMG Patrick Donahoe and Joy Z
Rumors are already buzzing in Washington that the 57-year old Donahoe will retire this summer and speculation is that Deputy Postmaster General Ron Stroman will step into Donahoe’s spot. Let’s hope that Mr. Donahoe keeps the boxing gloves on and continues to fight for the needed changes to our current postal service. He is well-spoken, has the ability to communicate clearly to the masses and he certainly has more patience that I could (ever) hope! He’s also getting the word out to the public and is leading the charge for change. I hope he stays around a while longer!
We attended today’s Houston Postal Customer Council Meeting held at the downtown USPS facility. The focus was on the upcoming prmotional programs hosted by the Postal Service. The first slide of the presentation read: “The report of our death is greatly exagerrated.”
So said Mark Twain, and so says Kathy Hall of the USPS, today’s featured speaker. In addition to outlining upcoming programs such as Emerging Technologies and Earned Value Reply Mail, Kathey discussed the difference between mobile friendly and mobile optimization. She also educated attendees on Augmented Reality. We were excited to receive credit for introducing the USPS crew to String Augmented Reality and had fun showing off the animated features using their free app. 
Kathy finished with a peek into the 2014 promotions which included mobile wallet, NFC, Green Advertising Mail and Color in Transactional Mail. We will (of course) keep you informed of details on current and upcoming USPS promotions.
We are already at the start of the second quarter of 2013…that is hard to believe. January has brought our semi-annual BEB Summit meeting where the executives of BEB meet to plan a strategy for the future. We examine where the marketplace is going five-years out, review technology changes that impact our business and conduct a client review to determined how we can better serve our existing clients and where to find new business. Our plan to add a second digital press in the first quarter has already come to pass. Other items for the coming year include expansion and upgrade of our 15,000 square ft facility, Postal Reform and the enhancement to direct mail with online interaction.
This year’s summit was very informative and we look forward to the coming year as we find better ways to serve our clients by planning for the future. Our first ever BEB Calendar has been a big hit with customers and vendors alike! Don’t forget, in addition to the beautiful photos (featuring our great state), we highlighted events unique to Texas and added a QR Code for each month. The QR Code will take you to a landing page that has fun videos or photos specific to the month. We hope you enjoy the interactive experience throughout the year.
January and February brought appointments with our clients as we were invited to conduct our POSTAL 101 class several times. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and we’ve managed to keep the presentation down to 30-minutes! We cover the new postal regulations surrounding the FSM (Folded Sel-Mailer), review the new rates and want to expect in Washing with Postal Reform. We’ve created several classes with content geared specifically toward individual companies and provided “cheat sheets” branded with their logos that will allow our customers to distribute the reference materials as their own. Business Extension Bureau “hit the road” in February too. Joy Zehrbach, our VP of Marketing traveled to Florida for the annual AMSP (Association of Marketing Service Providers) Mid-Winter Conference. She participated on a panel discussion covering the emergence of cross media marketing, conducted a round-table on self-promotion and even though she is a newly elected Director on the nation Board, was invited to join the Government Affairs Committee. Our sister company, BEBdata (one of the largest bankruptcy data compilers in the nation) was in Florida last month attending the National Automobile Dealers Association’s annual conference. We mixed and mingled with several of our valued clients and got a chance to meet some new ones too! We are always looking for ways to connect with you clients in a face-to-face manner and we managed close a deal with a new client just a few days after the show. It was a great success and we look forward to participating again next year!
Ron Royall