• Tips and Best Practices

  • The Chamber of Commerce's COVID-19 section contains many respected sources to help businesses through the emergency. At the same time, we recognize the need for those special pieces of tips, advice, and workarounds that come from actual use and experience with these tools and resources. We encourage you to send us your tips for businesses at info@chambermv.org so we can share them with others. Please also indicate if there are areas of importance to our local businesses that you think we should explore more deeply. Thank you!

  • Business Opportunties

  • Becoming a County Vendor. Santa Clara County continues to procure goods and services from vendors as it manages its COVID-19 response. Visit their Procurement Department website and register for solicitation opportunities as well as check out the various vendor resources on site.  For specific questions on the registration process, please reach out to the County's Procurement Department at vendoroutreach@prc.sccgov.org. The Chamber also encourages you to look at other government procurement sites for more business opportunities.

  • Business Tips

  • 
    Intuit is providing a recording of their recent webinar that explores ways to work with clients outside of your established business location.
     
  •  
    Things have changed dramatically for local businesses on the Peninsula because of the current health and economic crises. Your bottom line may be impacted, but you don’t have to feel powerless. Instead, now is the time to focus on what you can control like continuing to build relationships with your customers and setting yourself up for a successful reopen. (from Embarcadero Media)
     
  •  
    Nextdoor is is the neighborhood hub for trusted connections and the exchange of helpful information, goods, and services. Whether you use Nextdoor or not, many of your customers do! Check out their information and articles designed to help you manage a local business during the coronavirus outbreak.
     

  • Quick Advice and Activities

  • Promote Your Special Offers
     
    With all the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 emergency, many businesses are serving our community through discounts, new services and creative packages. If you wish to promote your business in this way, the Chamber can help through our member portal.
     
    Simply log-in and click the "Special Offers" tab on the left to add your offer. You will then see the screen below where you will click "Add Special Offer". After you save your entry, the Chamber team will be notified of your submission and it will go live on our website. It can also be posted to social media for broader exposure.
     
    We encourage you to take advantage of these special offers! Everyone benefits when you do.
    If you do not yet have a login or experience other problems, please reach out to us at info@chambermv.org
     
  • Getting Through to Banks for Loans
     
    Call Early - Really Early
    A number of businesses have reported struggles getting an online request submitted for a Payroll Protection Program loan. Several overburdened banking sites have crashed or are unavailable. Here’s a tip from the Central Business Association: set the alarm for 3am to submit the application when network traffic is lower. (From the CBA)
     

  • 90-Day Extension on Paying Sales Taxes

    Governor Newsom signed an executive order to help small businesses, granting a 90-day extension for small businesses to pay sales taxes. For information about tax deadlines being delayed, please visit the Franchise Tax Board website. 

  • Get Digital Gift Cards
     
    FROM SQUARE
    Local businesses need your support, and gift cards are a great way to help while recognizing the people you care about. If your merchant uses Square, you can purchase a digital gift card here.
    If your business does not currently offer online gift cards, you may want to consider signing up with Square for an easy and effective way to offer a great service to your customers.
     
     
    FROM YIFTEE
    We're working with Yiftee to help you weather the COVID-19 storm by selling eGift Cards. Yiftee provides a service where you can create your own custom-branded eGift Cards and sell them from your website, Facebook page, social media, email list as well as their local online Marketplace for our community. Whether you are open or closed, Yiftee will send you the card sale funds up front, when they are sold. 
     
    Yiftee is waiving your monthly subscription fees through Sept 30, so there is no cost to you now, and no obligation going forward except to redeem the cards you’ve sold.