SANDWICH BUSINESS GROUP

MINUTES

October 4, 2010

ATTENDING 
Becca Boyden, Don Brown, Patsy Carega, Susan Davies, Julie Deak, Bob MacArthur, Don Sutton, Mark Woollett 

CALL TO ORDER
President Don Brown called the meeting to order at 8:36 a.m. at Mocha Rizing.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of the September 13^th meeting were approved. 

TREASURER’S REPORT
Julie reported a balance of $1,696.48 as of September 28, 2010.   The Treasurer’s report was accepted.  

ONGOING BUSINESS

Fall/Winter Events

• Sandwich Fair
• We are not paying to have a table at the Fair this year and will rely instead on individual businesses distributing our Discover Sandwich brochures. 
• Halloween Hauntings
• We agreed to support the event by providing up to $100 for candy.
• Christmas in the Village
• We are receptive to considering some support for the wagon rides this year, pending a request from the Sandwich Crafters. 
• We have secured the lobby display area at the Center Harbor branch of the Meredith Village Savings Bank to advertise Christmas in the Village during the period Nov 15^th – December 3^rd.   Don B, Don S, Patsy and Susan agreed to create the display.

MARKETING INTITIATIVES

Marketing Committee
We agreed that a marketing committee of the whole will meet Friday October 22 at 10:00 at the Corner House to deal with the following agenda. 

• Discover Sandwich Brochure
• We agreed that the new format was very appealing and contributed to a larger distribution this year. 
• Internet
• We have talked about involving paid help to enhance our internet presence.  We would also have to figure out how to pay for such help.
• Which collaborative ads should we continue and discontinue?
• Affiliation with local chambers.
• Can we get some mileage out of the Yankee Magazine ranking?
• Jim Saunderson, the head of the Division of Travel and Tourism of the State of NH Department of Resources Economic Development is coming to Sandwich the Saturday of Fair weekend to gather information for promotional efforts to prospects in the UK and Ireland.  He is currently scheduled to have lunch at the Corner House with visits to the League of NH craftsmen, Patsy Carega Gallery and Sandwich Creamery.
• SBG Bumper Stickers
• We are considering the broader focus of Discover Sandwich rather than the more limited purpose of identifying SBG membership.  We are considering selling the bumper stickers to the general public.
• Discover Sandwich Directional Signs
• We will follow up with a design for the sign that we have permission to display at the parking lot at the Moultonborough Country Store.   We will also continue to explore other locations and other options.

Membership Recruitment for 2011
We discussed several issues related to attracting a larger SBG membership.  Among the topics we identified were the following: How can we better serve our members?  Should we take into account two categories of businesses to focus on; those who are former members and have chosen not to renew in the past and other businesses that have not been members?  Should we differentiate our efforts into two goals: attracting customers from out of town and promoting local businesses for local customers?  The timing of our meetings may need to change, if we seek to attract those businesses that cannot attend a morning meeting.  Could we redesign our annual meeting and or conduct other events to incorporate outreach to potential new members? Should we fold membership recruiting into the marketing committee’s overall charge?

We agreed to continue this discussion at the marketing committee meeting October 22.    

Nominating Committee
Don S and Patsy will continue to serve on the committee.  Don B will seek additional members to the committee from non-participating businesses.   Julie agreed to serve as Treasurer again. 

Second Cup Topics
We engaged in a lengthy discussion of possible topics, which in itself approached the essence of a second cup conversation.  We revisited our marketing discussion.  If we seek to create greater visibility and voice for our work, sponsorships of town athletic/recreation teams was suggested as an effective return on investment.  It was suggested that we survey our current members and non-member businesses to determine their most pressing needs.  Before concluding we agreed to define topics next meeting for a conversation with town officials for the December meeting. 

NEXT MEETING
The next SBG meeting will be November 1, 2010 at 8:30 a.m. at Mocha Rizing. 

ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 10:05 a.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Bob MacArthur

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