“Move(d) to Action”One of the greatest things about work-ing downtown is the energy of being in the city: the vi-

brancy of people on the go, the hustle and bustle of the workday, the hum of everyday traffic. That high-energy and optimism is still exciting after 15 years downtown. And now, our big news is that we will be building new opportu-nities in our new office space!

We have moved a short distance to a new location at 110 North 5th Street in the Wyman Partridge building (between the Loon Café and Target Field). It’s been months in planning and it’s been worth all of the effort. Now our hard working staff is organized more ef-ficiently and can communicate as teams even better!

Over the past 17 years, we all have worked hard to serve our clients, attract top talent and seek customer projects where we can add value and have fun doing them. That growth is a reason for us to move—to continue providing great service to our clients. Our business tag line is to “Move People to Action”, and in this case, we moved ourselves.

Drop in anytime to say “Hello”, or schedule a meeting with us so we can share the vibrant energy of our new location.–Paul Estenson, President/CEO

© 2011 E GROUP, INC. 110 North Fifth Street, 6th Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55401www.egroupnet.com | toll free: 888.748.7277 | fax: 612.339.4767 | newsletter@egroupnet.net

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MY POINT…

Vol. 2011-004

News & Updates from E Group

TRIV

IA

Check your answers at www.egroupnet.com/newsletter

1. What is a large group of turkeys called?

2. What is the second highest grossing commercial holiday after Christmas?

3. What holiday was the American Christmas song “Jingle Bells” actually written for?

4. If you received all of the gifts in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, how many gifts would you actually receive?

5. How many different ways can Hanukkah be spelled correctly?

Scan or click on this QR code to see some pictures of our move-in, our space and a few of the people at E Group.

There is no Pro in Procrastination; FIVE TIPS for anti-procrastination in businessAs the year begins its crest to a close, it’s common for us to look back at our to-do list and see with regret what we haven’t done. I am here to urge you that it’s not too late to begin. You might think that preparation is the antidote to procrastination, but that is often not the case. Here are five tips to help you examine the reasons your to-do list still has tasks that aren’t crossed out and how to fix that.

#1) RIP THAT BANDAGE OFF!Don’t wait for the motivation to take action; take the action and you’ll find that you’re oddly motivated.

In most cases, action precedes motivation, contrary to most conventional thinking. When you take your first step—albeit a small step, the second and third steps come rapidly and rewardingly.

#2) TAKE THE HARDEST ROUTE.By working on the hardest part first—the most undesirable part, you remove the monster staring at you

on the horizon. Again, this may seem counter-intuitive, but by getting the ugly part completed (or begun) you start to sense accomplishment and thereby are more likely to complete your project.

#3) FAIL. PLEASE FAIL.Fear of failure is the grand-daddy of all procrastination ingredients. But if you’ve got writers’ block or

some other paralyzing task, by failing, you get the junk out of your head and move yourself closer to the solu-tion you’re seeking. By writing or producing the bad stuff, you actually clear your head of the weak ideas and make way for the innovative thoughts you have inside. Blow the pipes clean!

#4) TELL THE WORLD.By coming clean and telling those around you that you will be working on a project, or hitting a deadline

(announcing opening night), you force a time to completion. If others are anticipating delivery of something you’ve promised, you’re more likely to hit the deadline. With a non-negotiable deadline, you’ll hit the mark.

#5) HELP! I NEED SOMEBODY.Delegate a task or enlist the help of someone to work through one of the confusing parts of your task.

Surely, people aren’t willing to take over your heavy load, but they inherently want to help—everyone’s got a few minutes to share an idea. You’ll find that the positive energy of working with someone will put out the procrastination inferno.

These five steps may not be new to you, but putting them into action may be. Don’t overlook them because of their seeming simplicity. There’s plenty of time before the end of the year to get through your to-do list or, at least, get a jump-start for 2012. Let us know how we can help.

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS

© 2011 E GROUP, INC. 110 North Fifth Street, 6th Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55401 www.egroupnet.com | toll free: 888.748.7277 | fax: 612.339.4767 | newsletter@egroupnet.net

Vol. 2011-004

News & Updates from E Group

BIRTHDAY: PAUL E. // 10/5

BIRTHDAY: DAVE B. // 10/5

COLUMBUS DAY // 10/10

BIRTHDAY: JAMIE M. // 10/14

BIRTHDAY: CORY D. // 10/27

HALLOWEEN // 10/31

DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME ENDS // 11/6

VETERANS DAY // 11/11

THANKSGIVING // 11/24

BIRTHDAY: AUREA K. // 11/28

FIRST DAY OF HANUKKAH // 12/21

CHRISTMAS DAY // 12/25

NEW YEAR’S EVE // 12/31

Edelbrock Merchandise eStoreSITUATIONEdelbrock is an automotive aftermarket manufacturer that is an all-American icon for automotive en-thusiasts around the world. The California based company has vast manufacturing facilities along with two aluminum foundries in which they make performance-enhancing parts for street rods, muscle cars, hot rods, and motorcycles. The company sells its parts through a familiar distributor-to-retail model, ultimately through automotive chain stores, online dealers, mail-order houses, and warehouse distributors. The 73-year old company is still family-run, under the guidance of the founder’s son and Chairman of the Board, Vic Edelbrock Jr. The family legacy continues through today’s generation with the marketing guidance of Vic Jr.’s daughter, Christi Edelbrock—a championship winning racer and business woman in her own right.

Edelbrock operates an eCommerce site for vast information and for liquidating excess inventory and overstock of its automotive parts (hard-parts). The desirable and iconic Edelbrock brand has gen-erated a line of sportswear, novelties, and merchandise which is available online, direct from Edel-brock. This product segment has historically been marketed and managed in-house; yet, since this is not the core Edelbrock product line, over time it had resulted in the following:

• Flattening sales growth, in part, caused by economic pressures• Need for trend-forward product sourcing and designs• Reduced marketing effort as it’s secondary to the primary business• Limited cross-selling and up-selling as complementary to their main line products

OPPORTUNITY• Improve operational costs and improve sales• Free internal staff to focus on core business• Streamline process from sourcing to fulfillment• More fully engage existing clients with CRM initiative• Expand branded merchandise penetration into hard-parts customers’ universe• Attract new Edelbrock customers through the merchandise store and migrate to hard-parts sales

SOLUTION• Create lifestyle brand with trend forward sourcing—outside of the garage• Expand inventory• Create store brand with unique characteristics and more retail merchandising• Increase promotion via social media• Expand sales to premium mass-market retailers • Increase use of one-offs to integrate with Edelbrock parts marketing initiatives• Develop seasonal (e.g. holiday line) and other time/event specific themes

RESULTS• Placed Edelbrock branded tee shirts into a mass-market retail chain for a test market• Month-over-month sales increase has doubled consecutively since re-launch• Web traffic has doubled• Almost 90% of site traffic is new visitors

CASE STUDY

“Our partner, E Group has supported us in our focus to bring our brand to our fans and enthusiasts front and center. Providing a resource for them to shop everything Edelbrock, and show their pride and passion for America’s automotive culture!”

- Christi Edelbrock

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© 2011 E GROUP, INC. 110 North Fifth Street, 6th Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55401 www.egroupnet.com | toll free: 888.748.7277 | fax: 612.339.4767 | newsletter@egroupnet.net

Vol. 2011-004

News & Updates from E Group

FEATURED EMPLOYEE

Little did we know, all was about to change… Newly created,

white t-shirts, fresh air surrounding, ready for the beginning of a beautiful day, we listened as

mud-stained passers-by relived the perilous initial obstacle, but our journey had not yet begun.

With the sound of a fog horn and the blast of 10-foot blow torches, the race commenced and E

Group’s participation in the 2011 Warrior Dash was on its way. Running up summer landscapes

of winter ski slopes, jumping over cars, getting tangled in rope climbs, and scaling 18-foot walls,

the beautiful day quickly turned to blurriness. Our muscles ached, our breath became short,

yet six warriors encouraging one another and working in tandem overcame the obstacles. We

weathered through the fire hose water spray, the treacherous uphill climbs, through the mid-

night tents, over literal pits of fire, and under barbed wire in the 3-foot mud pool. Our white

shirts, well let’s just say… our newly created, black t-shirts had rips, tears and had changed form

and color. Regardless, we all crossed the 5k finish line receiving our medal that appropriately

read, “I survived”. Just another day, so we thought. That day… was anything but!

Q&A

Q: Are there any vegetables that you hated as a child?A: One thing I did carry over from my childhood was my dislike of most vegetables. If they are hidden within a burger, then I might eat them. Peas would top the most hated list.

Q: What is your favorite holiday food?A: Anything that I don’t have to cook.

Q: What is the greatest part of having a new addition to your family?A: There are too many things to list. There is nothing better to come home from work to a smiling and loving baby. My yellow lab has adjusted to being the big sister.

Q: Typically, how do you spend the holidays?A: I wish I could say Hawaii, but we’re usually driving from family to family in the cold Twin Cities.

Steve RyanSTART DATE: JULY 15, 2002

I’m lucky in that I get to work directly with our customers in helping them drive business through marketing programs, incentives and strate-gic promotions. It’s fun to work with all types of companies and people.

SHARE WITH USSubmit your story for a chance to get published in The Gist! In our last newsletter, we talked about enhancing our work culture, and now we want to know what it is that bright-ens your workplace. We all know how hard you work, but what is it that your company does for fun? Send us sto-ries/photos of your company events by emailing them to: newsletter@egroupnet.com. Even if you don’t want your story published, we still want to hear it! – Just mention ‘Don’t publish’ in your email. We look forward to reading all about your experiences.

CALL TO ACTION

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© 2011 E GROUP, INC. 110 North Fifth Street, 6th Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55401 www.egroupnet.com | toll free: 888.748.7277 | fax: 612.339.4767 | newsletter@egroupnet.net

Vol. 2011-004

News & Updates from E GroupD

ID Y

OU

KN

OW

? BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WANTED THE TURKEY TO BE THE NATIONAL BIRD OF THE

UNITED STATES.

Since the 1970’s, the Kennedy Space Center has made their shuttle landing facility available for emergency

landing by Santa Claus should problems develop dur-ing his annual visit to children around the world!

During the pre-Halloween celebration of Samhain, fires were lit to ensure the sun would return after the long, hard winter. Often Druid priests would throw the

bones of cattle into the flames and, hence, “bone fire” became “bonfire.”

ONE PLAIN MILK CHOCOLATE CANDY BAR HAS MORE

PROTEIN THAN A BANANA.

After a turkey gets pardoned by the President, it gets flown to Disneyland to take part in the

Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Social Media Marketing = Relationship BuildingWe can think of Social Media as a social event, such as a dinner party or gathering. It’s a place to engage with friends, get information from others and share our knowledge. Just as you might cringe when a telemarketer calls you at dinnertime, social media users don’t want ads and mar-keting ploys flooding their news feed. Competing interests, along with privacy settings, have made it more difficult to reach your target audience, so you must find creative ways to get your audience to listen to and see you.

HOW DO YOU GET THROUGH? Add Value. People want to connect with things that are fulfill-ing. Here is a short list of tips to make your next campaign successful:1. ASK QUESTIONS // This is the easiest way to provide an opportunity for engagement and for

you to learn about your audience. People want to be heard and to think they are making a dif-ference. Feel free to have fun with it. If you just launched a new product, ask what your fans think.

2. POST LISTS // People love lists and how-to’s. Post a “10 Steps …” or “3 easy ways…” for something you are an ‘expert’ in. Be creative!

3. GIVE-AWAYS // Who doesn’t like free stuff?! And why not get your name closer to your cus-tomer with a fun gift? Hold a contest/tweetstakes; or offer a free gift with subscription to your newsletter/blog. This could be a tangible object, price discount, or a white-paper.

4. POST PHOTOS/VIDEOS // Photos/videos increase your visibility. Post an instructional video to show functionality of a new product or upload photos from your last company event to show off your personality.

5. SHARE (AND RE-SHARE) EXPERT CONTENT // By doing this, people will see that you are on top of industry news, and you will be perceived as a thought leader. If you have an interesting and valuable piece of knowledge, post it. Along with that, if you like something by another ‘expert’, share it with your audience (and don’t forget to give them credit!).

To have a successful social media marketing campaign and to stand out above the fluff, your goal should be to build connections and nurture relationships with your current and potential customers. In doing so, you will increase your exposure and your possibility for future business.

FRIEND? OR FAUX?

ARE YOU CONNECTING WITH YOUR AUDIENCE AND ADDING VALUE? OR PUSHING PRODUCTS AND SALES? IN SOCIAL MEDIA, YOUR AUDIENCE IS YOUR FRIEND. SO BE GENUINE! ENCOURAGE LIKES AND FOLLOWS BY FOLLOWING THESE 3 SIMPLE RULES:

>> Use a friendly, casual voice

>> Be transparent and relevant

>> Only do self-promos 1 out of every 10 posts (or less)