According to Kristen Hooper, PMSA executive director, the online training, known as ?Destination University? (www.DestinationUniversity.com), was created by Jon Schallert, an internationally recognized speaker and small-business consultant who teaches businesses how to turn themselves into ?consumer destinations.?
The Kansas Main Street Program contracted with Schallert to bring the customized trainings to Kansas?s Main Street businesses.
The online trainings will consist of eight one-hour workshops, one per month for eight months. Workshop topics include ?Creating an Annual Marketing Plan,? ?Increasing Web-site Profitability? and ?Building Word-of-Mouth Marketing.?
Each month, owners will be able to listen online to top business authors discussing similar marketing topics that tie into the specific workshop of the month.
?Online rich-media training of this type is typically reserved for large corporations with massive information technology budgets,? Schallert said. ?Peabody?s downtown owners will be the first in America who have access to these workshops, with this technology, thanks to the Kansas Main Street Program.?
Schallert said the online trainings are designed to accommodate the schedules of busy independent business owners.
?Owners will be able to view these online trainings 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at their convenience,? he said. ?No longer will an owner have to spend money and valuable time away from their location to receive world-class business assistance.?
Schallert, president of The Schallert Group Inc. of Longmont, Colo., speaks to thousands annually on his ?Destination Business? processes, which he developed after 21 years of working with small businesses, including 10 years with Hallmark Cards.
The Kansas Main Street Program is a technical assistance program that targets preservation and revitalization of historic downtown districts.
The program offers management training, design assistance, business enhancement strategies and training opportunities to designated communities of less than 50,000 in population.
