The PCC CLIMB Center is a proud sponsor of Portland Radio Project's Biz503 show - the new Portland-centric startup and small business talk show on PRP.fm. 

As a food entrepreneur (even an aspiring one) you already know that you belong to a creative group that's always looking for new flavors to love, restaurants ready with a fresh take on favorites, and the best sources to provide only the best ingredients. Foodies are resourceful and innovative, and food entrepreneurs have a can-do attitude and a devotion to sharing delectable experiences, great and small, that are practically contagious. Unfortunately, being good with food and having the bold desire to bring your food to the marketplace isn't enough to translate into a successful business.

Fortunately, PCC Small Business Development Center offers a 14-week intensive program to help you do just that—Getting Your Recipe to Market. In today's post, we'll explore an important part of how to grow your food business, which you'll learn about as a part of the course's market readiness training: horizontal and vertical growth strategies. Both are valuable methods for growing a business through the development of brands, products, production and distribution channels, and business partnerships, but we generally recommend one over the other when first starting your business.

As a business owner, you’re constantly monitoring different metrics and figures to see how your operations are performing, and what you can improve upon.

But did you know there is one number that virtually every business should know if they want to be successful? No matter what kind of products or services you provide, cost of goods sold (“COGS” for short) is the one number that you need to pay attention to. Your COGS basically tells you how much you are spending to produce each unit of whatever it is you sell.

The PCC CLIMB Center is a proud sponsor of Portland Radio Project's Biz503 show - the new Portland-centric startup and small business talk show on PRP.fm. 

Starting out and developing a small business is no easy task, especially when it comes to developing your presence online. More than likely you’ve already designed a website and started to generate some traffic, perhaps even some sales.

But as your journey continues, you’ll want to be updating and upgrading your digital storefront on a regular basis. And that’s why we’re here, to provide some tips and tricks that business owners like you can apply to your website that will not only make your brand look and feel more attractive, but will also increase online sales. Ready to get started?

It might be counterintuitive, but price is often not a significant factor to your very best customers. Creating value around your brand and providing great customer service actually tend to be more influential on whether or not people remain customers or decide to go elsewhere.

Creating a positive customer experience can yield more positive results for your business than simply adjusting prices, because the customers you value most will be the ones to stick around for the long term. One study found that 87% of customers felt that brands need to put more effort into their customer experience, showing that it’s an area that businesses can improve upon before they start slashing prices.

While running a business, you've likely come to understand the importance of having a functioning, informative, and easily found website. Of course, just having a website isn't enough — you need to be using it to reach your sales goals and to bring in more customers.

As with most things in business, integration is key. Despite the fact that 95% of retailers agree that digital and physical consumer experiences must be interconnected for one seamless experience across multiple channels, many stores still act like online and in-store activities are separate. Consumers already expect this intuitive level of convergence. Some aspects of this convergence may sit outside your reach for now (i.e., a new POS system that offers real time understanding of in-store and online purchases and stock inventory), but in this article, we're going to focus on in-store and online. 

First impressions are everything. An inviting and well maintained store can help drive traffic and encourage sales. In this post we’ll look at six tips you can use to create a welcoming retail environment for your shoppers.

Utilize the tips below to make your retail store an inviting consumer utopia. Are you ready to take your retail business to the next level? Check out PCC SBDC's Retail Business Builders program to launch (or re-launch) your retail business with confidence. 

Are you wondering how to increase foot traffic to your retail store? Winning the loyalty of customers can be challenging, but it isn’t impossible. With a strong online presence, inviting store-front appearance, and excellent customer service, your retail business can begin to see a significant increase in customers and sales. The following best practices for increasing foot traffic can help you get started.

If you own a retail business, you understand how important sales are. They literally define your bottom line. But have you sat down and considered how important your retail sales team is? Today's article is going to talk about how your sales team affects your bottom line and touch on how to find the best salespeople.