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Peter C. King, CEO
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| Benefiting from the Digital Business Explosion
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On average, the businesses that produce profit margins of more than 10 points higher and growth rates almost 20 points higher than their best competition are the ones that exemplify the digital business design. In other words, they integrate a smart business model with business-driven exploitation of digital options – e-business. These differences in results are staggering; and the gap may grow wider as the early advantages that these leading companies have gained by digital reinventors ar
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| Having Your Business Stand Above the Rest
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What gives one business an advantage of another? The ability to turn insight of a market into innovation; in other words, you have the knowledge that a competitor doesn’t have and use it to your advantage before someone else does. Just look at the leaders of such companies as Dell or EBay. These people had a pulse on the market due to being a part of it, seeing that the customer’s needs must come first. This mentality allowed all the pieces of the puzzle to fall into place as a resul
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| Striving to Make a Difference as a Business Owner
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Consider
this synopsis: You’re an owner of a $30-million-a-year fee-based professional
service business that grew 20 percent last year; but you’re frustrated with the
results. The issue isn’t a monetary or revenue issue, but a performance one,
where your staff isn’t performing at the level it could be.
You want
to motivate your staff who you feel are under-performing. The question is, “How
do you do that, and have them do it throughout the course of the
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| Generating Powerful Brands in Business to Sell Effectively
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Many
businesses realize that creating a successful brand franchise involves
mobilizing the entire organization. Every aspect from the premises through the
employees’ conduct (such as with customer relations) to company letterheads and
formal marketing communications should reflect the values of the brand.
A leading
supplier of accounting and payroll software, Sage has a brand identity that
communicates a feeling of confident control that leads to piece of mind; unlike
most
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| Focusing on Organic Business Growth
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Businesses
exist in a rapidly-changing environment that can and will lead to radical
responses and strategic planning. There are many challenges that one
organization can have with the daily grind of responsibilities that despite
attempts to push forward, the shareholder value drops. Therefore, the solution
lies not to focus on improving the current situation but rather in taking the
necessary steps to realize what it takes for a business to succeed in sales.
COMPREHENDING THE SITUA
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| Asking for Referrals from Prospects to Elevate Your Business
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So, you’ve
met new people, focused on their interests and how you could add value to their
lives – but not yet through buying your business products or services. The
relationship should be at the point now where they feel good about you – they
know, like and trust you; open to doing business with you directly or at least
referring you to others that could provide you with more sales.
If the
person is a direct prospect, make the appointment. Once you’ve help
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| Following Up on Your New Referrals
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Say you’ve attended a conference, event or trade show and you’ve just finished meeting some nice people that may be prime candidates for business referrals. And you did this while not hitting anybody over the head with your sales pitch regarding your products and services. Instead, you focused on them, asked questions that made them feel good about themselves and introduced them to other people that you’ve met.
Through this low-key and unassuming approach, you positioned yo
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| Building Upon Your Referral Relationships for Your Business
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So you’re at a conference,
trade show or event and have met a contact that would be a great contributor to
your business in some shape or form. You’ve established initial rapport; let
them talk about themselves and their business instead of you pitching your
intentions. By the time that you received their business card at the end, they
were impressed with you to where the follow-up meeting will make for an
excellent situation to take your new relationship to the next level.
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| Farming a Continual Network of Referrals for Your Business
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Like any farmer, as a business owner, you want to be continually planting seeds to further develop your network. If you are harvesting your latest crop of potatoes, you want to be preparing for the next sowing. You’re not going to sit and not grow anything further while other farmers are already at work for the next season. You need to be ahead of the game.
You need to have this mentality as a responsible and bona-fide business owner. Sure, you may be committed to your customers and c
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| Due Diligence in Knowing Internet Laws and Regulations for Your Business
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Regardless
of the business that you are in, you must know and understand the various laws
and regulations that apply to the Internet. Not only do you want to pay attention to any copyrighted and trademarked material that you may have on your web site without proper consent, you want to give due diligence to a variety of other factors:
The various types of web sites;
Libelous content;
Legality of selling certain types of products on a web site.
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| Having a Systematic PR Plan Will Raise Exposure for Your Business
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In order
to use public relations effectively for your business, you need to learn to
anticipate the company's future. Regardless of if you want to sell your
business or where your product or service is positioned, you need to be able to
define potential problems and adopt a strategy to evaluate customer feedback.
This will put you on the road to a more successful and profitable business in
the long term.
By itself,
a systematic approach to public relations doesn't guarantee a succe
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| The Make-up of a Successful Business Owner
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With any
profession, there are characteristics that allow certain people to excel in
their business over others who do not posses such traits. The world of
entrepreneurship is no different. There are key characteristics that allow
business owners to make their companies profitable, earn the respect of their
employees, and maintain success over a long period through selling their
products and services. It’s the reason why those owners will be able to sell
their businesses for the max
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| Dealing with the Ethical Saga in Business
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Given the
increasing social impact of business, ethics has emerged as a discrete subject
over the last 20 years. Business ethics is concerned with exploring the moral
principles by that we can evaluate business organizations in relation to their
impact on people and the environment.
There
are four types of ethical problems that are common in business organizations - human resorting, conflicts of interest, customer confidence and misuse of corporate resources.
Human-Resorting Et
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| Mistakes to Avoid When Approaching E-Commerce Law
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Many small
business owners will make some serious errors in regards to paying attention to
e-commerce law. Knowing the key legal issues such as copyright and libel to
restrictions regarding product sales is imperative for you to know that will
keep you from having to enter a courthouse. From thinking the law is too complex or that it doesn't apply to your business to procrastinating when hit with a libel suit,
owners too often make the mistake of ignoring the issues that fall on their doo
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| Avoiding the Top Five Most Common Business Scams
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Scam
artists have become more adept at exploiting the weaknesses of small
businesses. While some of these business scams are golden oldies, they’re still
putting money into the scammer’s pocket – effectively taking it out of the pockets of
many small business owners. The best
defense against these is awareness and vigilance.
Here are
five of the most common small business scams and how to avoid them:
1. Advance Fee Loan Scams
Whether
it’s offered
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| Franchising Your Business
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Franchising is the technique for any business regardless of its size to expand its operation into other branches. This process is regarded as one of the safest means of accomplishing growth. However, it requires careful planning to be successful. If you can set up your course of action appropriately, there are many advantages to going this route that includes:
Providing an affordable means of increasing the scope of your business;
Dispersing the financial risk of expansion to a large
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| Obtaining a Great Return from a Venture Capital Investment
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Any private equity or venture capital investor will seek a high return on its capital. They don’t purchase debt instruments simply to obtain a yield on interest. On the contrary, the main goal of PE/VC transaction is to obtain geometric returns when success has happened for the portfolio business that results in dramatic rise in their common stock value.
Therefore, a PE/VC transaction generally involves buying of one or more of the following:
Common stock;
Conve
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| VR Welcomes New Owners
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It is an exciting
time for our company as we welcome several new owners that have joined VR
domestically and internationally. These new additions to VR will help
elevate us to the next level of business sales.
Jay Cremer - North Fort Lauderdale, FL;
Brad Elliott - New Jersey;
Omar Garcia - San Antonio, TX;
Larry Lane - McKinney, TX;
Joe Perlman - St. Petersburg, FL;
Joel Soorenko - Naples, FL;
Angel Redondo Vega, Ju
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| Distinguishing Private Equity/Venture Capital Investing from Others
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There are
a few features that distinguish PE/VC investing from other types when buying a business. It’s important to pay attention to these differences. Knowing
these facts will save you from a lot of wasted time and frustration and avoid
going down the wrong path.
Active Involvement in Overall
Investment Process
The PE/VC
professional will be actively involved in identifying the investment,
negotiating and structuring the sale and monitoring the portfolio business
after
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| What Makes Up the Private Equity and Venture Capital Investment Community
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The
community that composes private equity and venture capital investing is
composed of merchant banking subsidiaries or divisions of large institutions.
These
include:
Bank Holding Companies;
Insurance Companies;
Large Industrial Corporations;
Investment Banks.
In
addition, there are many free-standing specialized investment bodies that form
solely for PE/VC investments. Some of these include publicly or privately-hel
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| Avoiding Common Mistakes When Valuating Your Business
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As important as valuating your business is before you decide to sell, you don’t want to run into making some common mistakes when you’re trying to estimate.
Make sure that you pay attention to the many factors that exist if you are going to be selling. Specifically, you wantto avoid doing the following:
Projecting Unrealistic Growth
This is the most common mistake that’s made when a business determinestheir business valuation. If you are projectingaggressive growth
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| Choosing the Business that’s Right for You
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When
you’ve decided to go into ownership, you need to know what type of business
that you want to pursue. You should start
by identifying the products and services that you intend to deliver. You can
easily narrow down your choices by looking at the following factors:
Researching Costs
Examine the costs of businesses in different industries and regions.
Look into Imported Goods
Identify
which goods and services that local companies and other organizations buy fro
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| Appraising Your Business’ Intellectual Property
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Intellectual property has become a hot topic. Make no
mistake that patents, trademarks and copyrights can become a valuable asset in
the portfolio of your small business, and should be managed prudently.
It’s always an ongoing and daunting question for a business
owner to face when the time comes to sell – “What do I have to sell?” Believe
it or not, the main asset that you have to market is goodwill aside from the
phone number, address and equipment. Yet de
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| Considering Whether to Own a Business
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It’s
always a big decision when you decide to go into business ownership. There are
many variables that come into play that you need to consider before taking this
step. Not every person out there is cut out to be one. Some have the attributes
and qualities necessary to become a successful entrepreneur while others can
hit the skids within six months.
You need
to ask yourself what are you looking for by going into ownership – freedom,
fortune, a chance to leave the co
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| Enhancing Your Mailing List Increases Your Campaign Effectiveness
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Getting
the mailing list right is vital. Basic mailing lists simply include names,
addresses, job titles, and telephone numbers of customers and prospects. The
basic list can be refined by adding information about buying patterns,
lifestyle, and many other factors. This will provide a comprehensive picture of
customers and prospects.
Verify All Internal Sources of
Information
Your
customer records are probably your most valuable asset as they invariably
generate the highe
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| Buying and Selling Business in the Middle Market
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VR defines
the middle market as a realm of businesses that have grown beyond single
management entities to significant regional or national stature with revenues
between $10 million and $200 million.
However,
the majority of the middle market is made up of businesses that are built
around a single product area and its natural extensions. Normally, they are not
comprised of multi-market corporations with a group of divisions. Therefore, the
enterprise is an integral unit that does n
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| Enhancing Direct Mail Response Will Bring More Revenue
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The
simplest and most immediate measure of a direct marketing campaign for your business is the
response level that it achieves. Many different factors can affect these rates,
so it is important to test all the variables before committing all your
resources to this particular approach. Also keep in mind that you must aim for
a realistic figure that is within your budget.
Remember
that your response rates will be greater when you define your target market as
precisely as possible.
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| How to Finance Buying a Business
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In this day
and age, more people that have found themselves out of work are going into
entrepreneurship, specifically buying an already existing business. What you
may not know is that obtaining the necessary funds is easier than you think; you
just need to be aware of the options that you have available.
Stay Clear of the Bank
In most
cases, you won’t be able to find funding from traditional lenders such as banks.
They are not business or client friendly, no matter how muc
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| Offer Seller Financing when Putting a Business on the Market
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If you’re deciding to sell a business, there are a number of questions that you need to consider. Seller financing is the most important one that you should be answering “yes” to after reviewing all the advantages.
Greater Chance of Selling Your Business
When you agree to terms, a business has a greater likelihood of selling than in an all-cash scenario.
A buyer can purchase with limited funds when a business for sale is offered with terms. Although, a few buyer
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| Obtaining a Fair Market Price when Selling Your Business
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Business
owners face a myriad of challenges on a daily basis. One challenge that no
owner wants to grapple with is financial distress. If you’ve struggled with such
problems as declining profits, rising costs, fierce competition with no sign
that the situation will improve, selling may be the best solution. There are
steps that you can take to help maximize your business’ value and get a
relatively fair sale price.
Valuating Your Business
It’s never
an ea
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| Better to Sell Your Business to a Strategic instead of a Financial Buyer
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During a period of economic uncertainty, many entrepreneurs love to hear reports of businesses being sold to strategic buyers for apparently large sums. The truth is the investors that are strategically-inclined will recognize higher valuations with potential investments than those that are financially-oriented venture capitalists. Additionally, strategic investors can provide validation for financial investors, and influence them to recognize a higher valuation.
Strategic vs. Financial Bu
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| Awareness and Accolades Highlight VR's 2009 Regional Meeting in California
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VR
took over the Shoreline Yacht Club in Long Beach, California for their
Regional Meeting. Action, awareness and awards were the three keywords
for this event that saw a tremendous amount of excitement, interest and
invigorating motivation in increasing more business transactions.
I partook in the proceedings to help generate fervor
for creating and enhancing existing content for the VR office and
business-for-sale websites as well as other marketing material provided
in the VR
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| Setting the Record Straight on Business Valuation
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Many people can become incredibly confused about understanding what business valuation means. Many misnomers exist regarding the subject, which canbe a complex financial discipline that consists of unintelligiblejargon, reason and underlying mathematics to any outsider who maybe looking to buy or sell.
Therefore, let’sreveal the truth behind afew myths of business valuation.
1.) Net income and net free cash flow are identical
First of all, there is nothing remotely similar to th
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| 2008 VR Annual Awards Winners
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We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2008 Annual Awards for their great success in business sales. We take great pride and consideration in choosing these select business intermediaries that have moved ahead of the pack, and continue to have our company be the leader in business sales and mergers & acquisitions.
This year, the VR Annual Award Winners are:
2008
Top 10 VR Offices
1.) Artesia, CA
(William Park - Owner)
2.) Charlotte, NC
(Brad & Jay Offerdahl - Owners)
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| Finding the Cutting-Edge Strategy
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Every company has to have a strategy. Specifically, you need one that is effective and will create a buzz in the marketplace without the complexities and the numerous graphs. A successful strategy should create significant value and lead to sustained growth and returns, investor enthusiasm as well as customer fanaticism.
First and foremost, strategy should generate a unique value. This is especially important in crowded markets, where competition is widespread and the numerous choices can ove
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