Below is information from the City and County of Broomfield’s Health and Human Services Department, pertaining to the City and County’s monitoring of developments regarding the COVID-19 virus (Coronavirus):
———————————————————

Broomfield staff continues to monitor the COVID 19/novel coronavirus situation in partnership with state and federal agencies. This is a constantly evolving and complex situation. Moving forward, updates will be provided as the situation warrents.

Current situation:
• Although Colorado currently has no cases of COVID-19, and though the risk is currently low, there is evidence of some community transmission in a few states, namely in WA where, unfortunately, they have experienced six deaths.
• Preparedness is key to successfully slowing the spread of this disease if it comes to Broomfield.
• For more information please see the Mayor Hancock’s press conference from today.

What Broomfield PHE is doing to prepare:
• Broomfield Public Health and Environment (PHE) activated the Public Health Emergency Operations Plan, along with its Pandemic Response Annex and Community Containment Annex, on February 28. This takes PHE’s efforts to the next level in preparedness and allows CCOB leadership to engage in practical preparations.
• PHE is working closely with health care providers, schools, child care, assisted living/long term care facilities to ensure protocols are in place for mitigating risk as well as guidance for identifying individuals warranting referral to public health. The primary concern, as is usually the case, is with vulnerable populations – immuno-compromised individuals and older adults.
• PHE is scheduling trainings/outreach with CCOB departments that may be at higher risk of coming into contact with affected individuals or may serve vulnerable populations (Detention Center, Senior Services, Recreation Center, Library, Public Works, etc.).
• Providing extra sanitation stations at community facilities such as the Library, Recreation Center, etc.
• CCOB’s Leadership Team was briefed on March 2, 2020, and is reviewing its plans to maintain essential services to the community if staff are out sick due to an outbreak, ensuring adequate supplies are in place, and other continuity of operations planning activities.

In the event there is a confirmed case or multiple cases in Broomfield, PHE will:
• PHE will conduct contact tracing – which involves interviewing residents that were exposed to the affected person to determine the potential risk of the spread of the virus in the community.
• Depending on the level of risk, PHE may issue isolation and quarantine orders or other measures to mitigate community risk. This would be done in conjunction with CDPHE and the CCOB legal department.

What CCOB and City Council, and others, can do:
• Reinforce the message of what residents can do to prepare themselves (noted below) and not to panic.
• Send them to credible scientific agencies for more information including the CDC’s website or the CDPHE website. We will continue to post updates on Broomfieldhealth.org.

What businesses and residents can do:
• Residents and Employees can protect themselves from COVID19 or and any respiratory virus (like the flu) by:
o Frequently cleaning hands with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub. Soap and water is the most effective; alcohol-based hand rub is less effective and should only be used if soap and water is unavailable.
o Cover nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing. Use the inside of your elbow or a tissue.
o Avoid close contact with anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms.
o While there is currently not a vaccine for COVID-19, residents should still get a flu shot as people are more likely to be exposed to flu viruses than they are COVID-19.
o Members of the general public in the United States DO NOT need to use face masks to protect themselves from respiratory viruses, including COVID-19. Masks should be reserved for people who are sick, so they can protect others from getting infected
o Take proactive measures similar to planning for other situations, such as a major snowstorm. This includes: fill necessary prescriptions, plan for school and/or work closures, stock up on necessary household items, etc

• Residents and businesses can also call CDPHE’s CO Help at 303-389-1687 or 1-877-462-2911, or email COHELP@RMPDC.org, for answers in English and Spanish. Statewide information can be found on the CDPHE website. We will continue to post updates on Broomfieldhealth.org.

Next steps:
• CCOB leadership will have weekly briefings to monitor the progress of COVID-19
• PHE will continue to issue general communication to the public. A message focused on personal preparedness will go out on 3/3.

Please reach out to the Public Health Dept. with questions/concerns/suggestions – we will continue to update Broomfieldhealth.org as information is available.

Jason Vahling, Public Health Director
Health and Human Services

Governor Jared Polis, Lt. Governor Dianne Primavera, State Representative Matt Gray and Broomfield Mayor Pat Quinn all addressed a full house at the Broomfield Chamber’s 2020 Annual Membership Meeting.

In addition, the 2020 Broomfield Chamber Board was introduced, and new Board Chair Seth Patterson presented past President Grayson Hofferbar with a token of appreciation for his service.

Read the Broomfield Enterprise article here, and see the new Board members here.

Thank you to all of our members, sponsors volunteers and supporters for a great 2019. We’re looking forward to an even better 2020!

Annual Meeting Sponsors

Presenting Partner

Director’s Table Partner

Chairman’s Table Partner

Friends of the Chamber Partner: Code Blue Computing

Event Photos:

by Christina R. Green

If you’re a chamber member, you may not give a lot of thought as to what that means for your employees but there are a lot of benefits for them as well.

1.      Lunch and Learns

Chambers host Lunch and Learns and other seminars on topics such as social media and personal branding. These topics can be worthwhile for your employees. You can even use it as a free or inexpensive form of professional development.

Don’t assume your employees know about these perks. Circulate the learning schedule among your employees. This is an effective way to get even more value from your chamber membership. Many younger employees are looking for ways to boost their skills and these sessions are a quick and easy source for learning.

2.      Discounts on Events

Another benefit your employees may not be aware of is discounts on tickets to chamber events. Oftentimes, the chamber offers discounts to members on their event tickets. Speaking of discounts…

3.      Member to Member Discounts

If your chamber offers member to member discounts you want to make sure your employees know about them. This can be a considerable cost savings to your employees and a nice perk you can pass on when someone joins your company.

4.      A Way to Meet People in the Community

If you recruit outside of your community and bring people in from other towns or states, they may wish they knew more people in town. Sure, you can introduce them to other employees but it’s nice for them to get to know people outside your company as well.

For people from your community, the chamber offers them an opportunity to brush up on their networking skills, which is critical to professional development.

5.      The Ability to Shine

Another benefit of chamber membership for your employees is a golden moment where they can shine. This may be the chamber picking up a social media post of theirs, the chamber accepting a guest blog from them, or a speaking opportunity to showcase what they know. This gives your employees a time to shine as well as represent your company proudly.

Some business owners only use the chamber membership themselves and forget to tell their employees that they can use it as well. There are many reasons that it benefits you to do so, but one that is important to your business is getting your employees out in the community. It not only gets your name out there but shows that your company and company culture think community involvement is important. This is the type of thing that makes a big impression on customers and potential customers who begin to know, like, and trust you when they see you contributing.

Christina R. Green teaches small businesses, chambers, and associations how to connect through content. Her articles have appeared in the Midwest Society of Association Executives’ Magazine, NTEN.org, AssociationTech, and Socialfish. She is a regular blogger at Frankjkenny.com and the Event Manager Blog.

by Christina R. Green

Sales could always be better, right? Here are a few tips on how you can turn things around fast.

Are you dissatisfied with the number of customers that you have? No, this isn’t some sort of infomercial selling a sales technique. The number of customers you have, or lack thereof, may be directly attributable to something you are or aren’t doing, not because your business isn’t viable.

No blaming here. I’m simply saying there could be a quick resolution to getting you more customers. Here are a few ideas:

Your Hours

If your business hours are inconsistent or inconvenient, customers may not do business with you. This is true whether you are a brick and mortar store or you’re operating online. If they don’t know when you’re open or they can’t get in touch with you, the average person will go elsewhere.

You need to ensure your ideal audience knows when you’re open. But it’s also important that you are open when they need you to be. Think of this as a new way of personalizing your offerings to them. For instance, if you sell something that busy working parents need and it’s the type of object that they would come in and pick up on the way to school, you may be well served to open early. However, as convenient as those early hours are for working parents, if you don’t market them they won’t know that they can stop in at seven in the morning to pick up that last-minute item.

Parking

If it is difficult to find parking around your place of business people may decide not to do business with you. While circling a block for a parking space may not seem like a reason to forgo doing business with someone, when mega-retailers like Amazon can deliver something the same day (sometimes within two hours of placing the order) it is difficult to convince people that looking for a parking space is worth the effort.

Another factor that may be limiting your business is having to pay for parking. Some businesses with paid parking validate. A shopping area near Dallas took a cue from tech companies and has paid parking meters that use the pay what you think it’s worth idea. There are no tickets issued. Visitors just pay what they want. This type of creative parking brings in revenue without people feeling like they had to overpay.

Slow Website

The virtual side of paid parking is a slow website. A slow website is a deterrent to doing business with you online.

Again, what’s a little wait?

But to the customer who wants to get something done in a hurry, this is bothersome. Whether they are circling the block looking for a parking space or sitting on their phone waiting for your site to load, these situations detract from your offerings and make them want to go someplace where they can purchase goods or services faster.

Nobody Knows You

Marketing is essential to all businesses. However, the kind of marketing you use is important too. You need to market your business but you also need to encourage word of mouth marketing by your existing customers. That means making it easy for them to talk about you.

You can do this by asking for reviews, by creating QR codes that you place on business collaterals so people can scan them and be redirected to a popular review site, or you can send out an email campaign after someone purchases from you and ask they review you.

Another popular tactic is to listen to people talking about you online. When they do, thank them for mentioning you. Regardless of whether the comment is complimentary or critical, you should always thank them for their review. If there’s something that needs to be addressed do so in a semi-public way. For instance, if someone complains about your service, thank them for bringing it to your attention and ask how you may contact them to help remedy the situation. That way everyone who stumbles across the conversation can see you handled it without seeing the details of the solution.

Nobody Knows What You Do

Most of us have a personal and professional network. But you might be surprised by the percentage of those groups that don’t know exactly what you do. They may know that you have something to do with catering or they may know that you have some sort of store. But they may not know the details of what you do and who you best serve.

It is not bragging to talk about your business. You could be in a position to solve a problem for your network so you should make sure they know what you specialize in.

It can be hard to talk about yourself. If it feels that way, show your network what you do. For instance, consider sponsoring an event for a group you are involved with like your child’s sports team, the PTA, the Chamber of Commerce, or a community event. By doing so, you are bringing attention to what it is that you do and you’re showing that you care about your community. People want to do business with those they know, like, and trust. These types of local sponsorships are a good way of establishing those success measures.

Value

Do you provide something of value to your ideal customer? Are you giving them a product or service that is different than the competition? For example, some stores offer childcare while the parents browse. Several grocery stores offer a free snack for children as their parents shop.

These types of examples help solve a problem for their ideal customer–parents of screaming children can’t shop. Providing childcare or a snack is a small price to pay for their ideal customer to be able to spend some money in the store. These types of benefits bring their ideal customers into their store even if their prices are slightly higher than the competition because these stores do something to make their ideal customers’ lives easier and solve a problem (what to do with the kids when you need to shop). What can you do for your customers that makes your business invaluable to them?

If you’re unhappy with the number of customers you currently have you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars in advertising to remedy this. In today’s market that may not even be the most effective way to reach your audience. Instead, look for reasons why they may not currently be doing business with you.

Most businesses’ initial reaction to a slump in sales is to lower prices. However, if you do something that no one else does for them (and that they need or like), price becomes less of a factor. Before you lower your price, see if these easy adjustments don’t help you increase the number of customers you have.

Christina R. Green teaches small businesses, chambers, and associations how to connect through content. Her articles have appeared in the Midwest Society of Association Executives’ Magazine, NTEN.org, AssociationTech, Event Managers Blog, and WritersWeekly. She is a regular blogger at Frankjkenny.com.