About
Small Business & Beyond
Welcome! Thank you for visiting Core Essentia and taking the time to explore and learn how Core Essentia can help you reach your business goals and find more work/life balance. My name is Deborah Tedder, and I have been a retail business leader for over 25 years at local, district, and divisional levels. Core Essentia originated after seeing a need in the market for a company offering comprehensive and holistic consulting for local, small businesses. Core Essentia services include business consulting, recruiting, HR support, social media support, visual merchandising assessment/guidance, and store layout/design consultations. When multiple out-sourced consulting services are used it is a more significant time investment on your end to establish alignment between consultants and loop each consultant into the specifics of your company and goals.
Additionally, I witnessed small business owners set out on their entrepreneurial dreams, soon learning that there wasn't enough time in each day to do all that running a business requires, and needing a comprehensive partner to lend an expert helping hand. I know the struggle of little to no margin in your personal life and the toll it can take on your family and you personally. That's where Core Essentia comes in to help give small business owners some breathing room.
Core Essentia's comprehensive services and holistic approach are an answer for small to medium size business owners. Recruiting services apply to all business sizes. While Core Essentia specializes in retail consulting, services apply to a wide variety of industries. All of the consultative services offered are customizable and crafted to meet your unique needs.
Bringing solutions and making a positive difference in the lives of business owners and their teams is my goal and business purpose. When you partner with me, I bring my heart and purposeful intent to help make a difference for you and your business. You won't be viewed as just another client, but as an ally that I am here to help support toward the pursuit of achieving your dreams. When you win, I win. I am Your Small Business Ally.
LOCALLY OWNED
CUSTOMIZED FOR YOU
LOCALLY OWNED
Core Essentia is Arkansas owned and operated by Deborah Tedder. Based in Little Rock, Arkansas and offering services throughout Arkansas and beyond.
CORE SERVICES
CUSTOMIZED FOR YOU
LOCALLY OWNED
Business Foundations
Company Culture
Recruiting
HR Support
Social Media Support
Merchandising
Store Layout/Design
Growth Strategies
CUSTOMIZED FOR YOU
CUSTOMIZED FOR YOU
CUSTOMIZED FOR YOU
Core Essentia meets you where you are. Services are custom-tailored to fit your unique needs.
Core Business Foundations
Core Essentia's name is built upon the belief that your business is only as strong as your vision, people, culture, and targeted business strategies. These components are your core. Just as a tree's core is what provides its stability and strength, your core foundations serve the same purpose for your business. They support you during all seasons and throughout the years. During my years in business leadership, I have been fortunate to see great core foundations and carry those learnings with me over to you. I've experienced both positive and negative company cultures, and have learned from both. Core Essentia will develop essential programs, policies, and systems that your entire team can clearly and confidently understand and embrace. Core Essentia will also evaluate product, assortment, pricing, marketing strategies, and formulate associated growth strategies for your business. I am a firm believer in going from good to great and doing so by focusing on the core of your business.
Just as tree roots dig in deep, providing nutrition and support for a tree, so are foundations needed to support your vibrancy and growth. When you invest in the core foundations of your business, you are setting yourself up for long-term stability and will create more margin to focus on other parts of your business. Truly, these foundations can even cross over and provide more margin in your personal life. Foundations create clarity and alignment, which lead to empowerment within your team. They also create order and guidelines for expected behaviors and performance from your team. When you invest in foundations, you are investing in your future and will reap rewards long-term.
Retail Store & Merchandising Expertise
My retail experience has been in big-box, small-box, specialty retail, luxury retail, and as a retail recruiter. I have worked with apparel, home furnishings, hard home goods, garden centers, food, wines and spirits, and a host of other products. During my 25 years, I gained an invaluable expanse of knowledge from each brand I worked for and each position held. My experience has been at the local store level, district, and divisional level, providing experience running brick and mortar stores up to being part of a corporate/field leadership team responsible for determining strategic company initiatives.
From supporting a new store opening to bringing a fresh set of eyes on your business, from creating core business foundations to supporting inspirational visual merchandising, or from helping you find a new Store Manager to recruiting part-time Sales Associates, Core Essentia brings the needed skills to reach your goals.
Possessing a natural talent for merchandising and design, while also spending the last 12 years in high-end home furnishings, I bring essential experience gained from some of the most admired, specialty and luxury home furnishings and interior design retailers in the industry. Furthermore, my 14 years in big-box retail garnered unmatched growth and experience working with a variety of products and a high turn of goods.
Whether you need a seasonal store reset, a complete overhaul, store relocation, or are opening a new store, Core Essentia can support the process, helping to create the visual workflow and store layout/design. Core Essentia exists for you and meets you where you are. If you are a local, retail store owner and need help, I would love to connect and discuss your needs.
Sales & Service
Bringing over 25 years of customer service experience gained from top companies known for their world-class service, I also bring my standards and moral code of ethics with me wherever I go. I was raised to respect others and respect our differences. I know the value of losing the battle to win the war and learned early on that you would be wise not to judge a book by its cover.
Excellent customer service always has behind it integrity, ethics, and sincerity for the fellow man. When you serve that way, you will always win. It doesn't matter what industry you are in; if you don't make sure your customers know they come first, they will find another company that will.
My success has come from investing in and putting people first, both internally and externally. It's the core of who I am and is essential to winning in business. I couldn't do life or business any other way. I believe in following the Golden Rule and treating others the way you want to be treated, and believe it is a crucial ingredient needed in any company's culture. Every successful business needs clear service expectations that are valued and embraced by their team. Your team's performance is your performance. Their service standards define your business, and the experience they create can either build or lose loyal customers.
PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST
PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST
PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST
This is my motto, "Put people first and success will follow." While you need accurately defined branding, quality product & services, the right prices, and strategic marketing initiatives for success, your people and their customer engagement is a core foundation to your success. Keeping people first as your focus and priority is a winning strategy.
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST
PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST
Customers crave and demand a positive emotional charge from their experience with your business. A team of the right people, in the right positions, and aligned together on a mission can change the world and bring a positive impact to your customers' lives. Your customer experience is everything.
THE ART OF SELLING
PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST
THE ART OF SELLING
Selling skills are essential to any successful business. At the root of any interaction, the goal should be to sincerely help your customer. Core Essentia can help build a culture focused on what's most important - customer engagement and business strategies guided by doing what is right, and focusing on how products and services benefit your customers.
The People Factor
People are a core foundation of your company. If you have read any of the material on the website, you know my belief is that your people and their service is a foundational part of your core that is directly tied to your success. The people you hire define you.
Sourcing and recruitment, people development, and performance management are areas of expertise that I have developed over my 25 years in people leadership. I am inherently curious, intuitive, and am passionate about the motivation behind human behavior. What I have learned in the field is varied and invaluable. From team building to managing conflict, from leading change initiatives to building new company culture, I've had exposure working in different arenas, each having their unique customer profile. Core Essentia offers Human Resource support services, as well as the establishment of core HR programs such as a performance management program, year-end review process, onboarding guide, new hire training curriculum, on-going training, leadership development, and company-specific needed programs.
The people you hire define you and are directly linked to your success. It is imperative that you know who you are as a brand and then hire the "right" people for your brand. Ascertaining that information must be done with intentionality during the sourcing and interviewing process. Core Essentia will operate as a brand ambassador championing your brand and staying clear to the mission of matching the "right" talent to your brand and open positions.
Going beyond brand fit alone, finding the "right" candidate for any given team and role is equally important. Too many team members with the same strengths leave gaping holes of weak spots, and knowing what is missing and needed within the team is key to making the "right" hire. Core Essentia can help you conduct a team assessment to support future hiring and identify individual training needs within your team.
Social Media
Today's business world has expanded to digital consumerism, and businesses benefit from having an online presence and online community of followers. Once a loyal following has been established this becomes an avenue for free advertising and a daily opportunity to put your message in front of your core customers who have opened the door to digital engagement with you. It makes good business sense to take full advantage of the online arena. Let's face it, a lot of people like to scroll social media and shop in their pajamas! Why risk giving their business away to online competitors?
Whether you need an initial set-up of your social channels, a company website, content development (written and graphic imaging), blog curation, or need daily management of your social channels, Core Essentia is here to assist and will create a Social Media Strategy to meet your specific business needs.