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Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

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by Andrew Tellijohn
April 2007

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Human resources


Lancet HR manager
starts division to
sell services outside

The bosses at Lancet Software often shared words of praise for Susan Bjork, the person they hired to manage human resources at the Burnsville firm about five years ago.

In an article for Upsize and in other media, they talked about cost-saving and morale-boosting techniques she employed at the firm, and those efforts even garnered a national award.

Now Bjork has hired her replacement and is rolling out a new division of the Web development and business intelligence firm: Lancet HR Consulting. Bjork says she is selling software tools to help clients manage their HR practices, along with consulting services that independent contractors will provide on a project-by-project basis.

The tool, in use now by about 10 clients, takes the user through 100 areas of human resources, such as benefits administration, time off and leave, and so on. It’s aimed at small to mid-sized businesses, as is the division’s consulting work.

Bjork says the new division is an example of the entrepreneurial spirit at Lancet, where partners give new revenue ideas a try. “They said, ‘Why don’t you start up an HR consulting division?’ It says a lot about Tom and the management here.” Tom Niccum is president of Lancet. “We try things.”

She says it’s too early to share goals for the division, or how much revenue it may contribute to the firm one day.

Susan Bjork, Lancet HR Consulting: 952.230.7360; sbjork@lancetsoftware.com; www.lancetHR.com