ABS had the good fortune to have Champlain College junior Brittany Hollman intern in our office this summer. She was tasked with a wide assortment of communications, website and event planning assignments and accomplished all projects with creativity and enthusiasm.

Brittany’s talent extends to her photography hobby. She recently created an original piece of artwork (pictured below) for the ABS conference room mantel.

The entire ABS team wishes her well with her semester abroad studies in Ireland this Fall!

You never know when a business contact is going to form an impression that will impact your professional life or your client’s bottom line. The need to be proactive has never been greater. Most Social Networking Sites will post anything – whether or not it can be substantiated. It is very important to learn how to manage the message that is being sent to the world; perception is reality.

The number of Social Networking Sites continues to explode on the Internet. Did you know that Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are just three out of 350 sites (and counting) on the Internet that people use daily to get connected and share information?

It’s impossible to eliminate negative coverage once posted on the internet. But you can use ORM techniques to ensure that the right message appears on the 1st search results page… and bury negative and misleading stories by pushing them down to page five or further!

Whether its creating profiles on sites or posting new messages and blogs, ABS offers a full range of Social Media Communication and Online Reputation Management Services that can help you beat out your competition by enhancing your online presence and managing the information out there on your company.  Contact ABS to learn more about this important PR tool.

In this economy it is more important than ever to retain every association membership that is viable.  It takes two new members to replace the growth rate of one lost membership.

Many associations send two or three invoices in the mail and then deactivate the members that do not renew.  Do the members that are slow to renew mean ‘no’ or ‘not now’?  It takes a experienced professional to help determine the difference.

The bottom line is that working in the trenches of member retention is very difficult.  Association Business Solutions offers:

•          Professionals with more than 30 years working in Association retention that understand methods to remind people why they joined your organization and the many benefits of membership.

•          A staff that is comfortable in dealing with all sizes of companies and understands the needs of small business and the corporate labyrinth equally as well.

•          An understanding of methods to illustrate Return on Investment and how membership positively impacts the day to day operations of member companies.

•          We collect, review and manage member feedback to give your organization the important information you need to consider for strategic planning.

Do you have members that are 60 days late or more in renewing their membership? We are successful in bringing these former members back into the fold, even during a recession.

Imagine sharing at your next board meeting that you brought a significant number of former members back to the association. And the resources it took to do so was minimal compared to the return. As you know, internal staff time is usually stretched and ABS’ outreach complements their work. 

ABS has the patience and persistence necessary to help you improve your association’s bottom line.  Let us help you cut the deadwood while recovering every dollar possible. 

ABS contact page

Heidi Harrington

Heidi Harrington was recently promoted to the Director of Finance at ABS. She joined ABS in 2005 as Office Manager when they were located in Princeton, NJ.  She oversaw the move to the current office in Trenton, NJ April 2006.  In addition to running the office, she manages the financials for ABS and a few key clients.

Available Presentations:

Writing A Business Plan…Are You Crazy? Why Would I Do That?
Click for Handout: businessplanpresentation
Dr. Ron Cook, Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies and Director, Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Rider University

This workshop will show why writing a business plan is a valuable tool in helping entrepreneurs make better startup decisions. It will provide an outline for a business plan and identify the questions that a business plan can help answer, and the ones that it can’t.

Funding the Future: Securing Early Stage Capital
Click for Handout: earlystagecapitalpresentation
Kathleen W. Coviello- New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Director of Technology & Life Sciences

An overview of different options to fund your early stage idea/company, with tips on the do’s and don’ts for securing early stage capital.

Not Getting The All the Referrals You Want? . . . Then It’s All Your Fault!
Click for Handout:  networking-checklist
Jeff Callahan, President and Founder, Sandler Training

Fast and Furious: Using Internet Marketing to Start Your Business 
(Click “Fast and Furious” above for copy of presentation)
Alex Cohen – Manager, Online Marketing, ClickEquations

Time and money. Chances are that if you’re an entrepreneur you don’t have enough of either. The solution? Online marketing. In this session, Alex Cohen will teach you the basics of internet marketing to launch your business and run your marketing efficiently.

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Sponsored by: Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation, the National Association of Women Business Owners – Central Jersey (NAWBO), Association Business Solutions, Inc., Precision Office Assistants, A Virtual Office Company, the Uncommon Individual Foundation, and Princeton University’s Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education.

Post event attendee survey results

“Not only in New Jersey, but across the country, people are becoming increasingly unhealthy as a direct result of obesity-related conditions, ” says David Knowlton, President and CEO of the NJ Health Care Quality Institute.  “We see this as particularly problematic among children. Recent studies have indicated that if the current trends in childhood obesity continue, our next generation may have shorter life expectancies than their parents.”
 
The Mayors Wellness Campaign, or MWC, hopes by educating local public officials, such as town mayors and other decision makers, they may enact initiatives at the local community level to promote healthy and active lifestyles for everyone.  Their website offers a number of case studies and examples of towns which have successfully practiced some of these initiatives, such as the “Shapedown” at the Children’s Specialized Hospital in Mountainside, NJ, and the “Walk Metuchen” program in Metuchen, NJ.
 
“Talking about the obesity problem is not going to get people physically fit, ” says Judith Doyle, the Director for the Mayors Wellness Campaign. “We encourage the mayors of each city in New Jersey to come to our website and sign a pledge that they will try and work towards the goal of improving the health of their community.”
 
If you live in New Jersey, you can come to the MWC website home page and click on your county’s name to see if your mayor has pledged to start any healthy programs in your area.  If your city or town isn’t listed, you can ask your local mayor to visit the site and learn more about what he or she can do to promote healthy initiatives where you live.
 
Production, planning and content management of the new MWC website was provided by Trenton-based Association Business Solutions, http://www.absnj.com.  The website was designed and programmed by local New Jersey web design and marketing company, ITCN, located on the web at http://www.itcn.com.  

Founded in 1997 and partially funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the NJHCQI brings together all key stakeholders to make real and measurable improvements in New Jersey’s health care system. NJHCQI seeks to empower health care purchasers and consumers by publishing the results of objective research, comparative data on providers, and other pertinent educational information so that purchasers and consumers may adopt value-based purchasing practices and be able to make informed decisions on the merits of various health care programs, treatments and services. NJHCQI was designated as the lead agency in New Jersey for the national Leapfrog Group effort in April 2002.

Jespersen comes to ABS with more than 10 years of experience in the association management profession, most recently serving as Director of Membership Development for New Jersey Business Industry Association.

In her new position at ABS, Jespersen will be responsible for business development and will oversee The Municipal Monitor TM, a local government monitoring service.

“Jeanne has the experience and the enthusiasm ABS needs in this leadership position to continue to meet our clients’ expectations,” said Karla Pollack, ABS co-founder. “Our clients will benefit from Jeanne’s insight and creativity.”

“The rising popularity of associations hiring an AMC is not surprising,” continued ABS co-founder Paula Hartman. “We are seeing more and more elected leaders with limited time to run their associations turning to ABS for financial management, writing services, event sponsorship outreach, and membership development.”

Prior to her work with the NJBIA, Jespersen owned and operated a profitable retail artist materials store for 20 years where she gained her foundational knowledge of effective business management and client relations.

The Association Business Solutions has a staff of eight and is headquartered in Trenton, NJ. ABS currently serves nine national and regional organizations on a full-service or project basis.

ABS, Inc.
247 East Front Street, Trenton, NJ 08611
609-392-3800 – 609-392-0244 – www.absnj.com

 According to the AMC Institute, U.S. associations and nonprofits contribute approximately 10 percent to the Gross Domestic Product. And nine out of 10 adult Americans now belong to at least one association. Association Management Companies (AMCs) are for-profit businesses that provide professional management and administrative services to tax-exempt or nonprofit organizations.

 The AMC industry (number of firms) has grown by 150 percent since 1986 and now encompasses more than 670 association management companies across the U.S. and beyond. In addition, AMCs collectively manage annual budgets exceeding $3.4 billion, represent more than 4,600 clients and employ 7,600 association management professionals. The average AMC-managed association budget is $677,000 with the range anywhere from $50,000 to more than $16 million annually. The AMC industry is also a conventions powerhouse, booking nearly 2 million room nights and $1 billion in meetings and conventions services annually.

Association Business Solutions (ABS) is a member of the AMC Institute (www.AMCInstitute.org)

Association Business Solutions, or ABS, incorporated in January with one goal in mind – help professional associations and other nonprofit organizations become the vibrant, dynamic and growing institutions their founders envisioned.

ABS of Princeton is run by two principals, Paula Hartman and Karla Pollack, who between them have 25 years of experience working for or with associations. Now, they are offering their services on everything from maintaining membership databases to planning a full convention or trade show from start to finish.   

According to a poll by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), nearly three of five small employers are members in at least one business organization, either personally or through their firms.   New Jersey alone is home to about 1,000 professional associations, many of which have formed since 1990 to bring like-minded professionals together to talk shop, share notes and promote their special skills.   Most associations have something else in common.   They are losing members. 

“People create professional associations with good intentions, but they don’t realize the amount of work involved,” says Hartman.   “The day to day operation of running an association is time-consuming and expensive.   To do it right, they’re taking time and energy away from their own businesses or jobs, so most just do what they can.   As a result, the association stagnates and members lose interest.”

“Our goal at ABS is to provide associations with the support they need to thrive,” adds Karla Pollack.   “Paula and I have years of experience running association membership campaigns, events, meetings, and conventions. “We’ve already figured out the best way to get things done.   And chances are, we can do it for less than it would cost an association to do the same tasks in-house.”

ABS can be surprisingly cost-effective. For one, associations will only pay for the specific services they need, instead of keeping on extra staff because they need help planning the annual dinner.   Additionally, associations will benefit by sharing overhead costs, office space and equipment and other expenses.  

Where most marketing firms or temp agencies service for-profit businesses, ABS is set up to address the unique needs of professional associations and nonprofit organizations.   Businesses are mostly interested in increasing sales and profits.   But an association could be formed to promote a positive image for its industry, lobby state or local governments, or simply provide professional development opportunities to its members.

“We see each association as having its own individual personality,” Hartman says.   “First, we make sure we understand what makes an individual association unique.   Then we work with them to accomplish their specific goals.”

“Between us, we know what to do and what not to do when it comes to managing an association and planning events,” Pollack says.   “We have an extensive collection of best-practice models that we developed through years of experience.”

Among the services that ABS provides:

• administrative services, including everything from answering the phone to maintaining the membership database;
• membership development, such as designing a marketing campaign or coordinating fund-raising and sponsorship solicitations;
• meeting planning for trade shows, conventions or other public meetings, as well as private events such as banquets or board meetings; and
• communications, including newsletters, press releases, member surveys, publications, and marketing brochures.

While headquartered in Princeton, ABS has meeting facilities in Trenton, Bridgewater, Rutherford and Mount Laurel.

www.absnj.com