09/29/09 Dave Chambless of Abraxas Business Services and attorney Justin Daniels
What’s Your Exit Strategy? We discussed what do business owners do when its time to leave.
Dave Chambless of Abraxas Business Services explains that what an exit strategy does is provide a series of steps to optimize the value of the business. Dave advises that the first thing that business owners should do is think about their cash model. Its all about the cash in and cash out. When a buyer wants to look at a business, the first thing that is asked for is the financial statements. Dave encourages business owners to optimize their operations, look at their suppliers and get the best deals, and look at their accounts receivable to speed up the collections. To have a successful exit strategy, business owners should be working on the business not in the business so that when it is time for the owner to leave, they have strength in their management team.
We also talked with attorney Justin Daniels who discussed how business owners can get in to trouble when they decide to sell their business if their business is based on the relationships of the owner with the suppliers and customers. No reasonable buyer is going to let the owner just walk away from the business. The most common mistake is not preparing the business to be transitioned over to a buyer. If an entrepreneur wants to have their exit strategy, to get to that next level, the entrepreneur has to step back and be smart about putting the right people in the right places.
After talking about ways to get out of your business, we discussed what to look for when buying a business. Justin and Dave share some basic mistakes that people make when purchasing a business. This podcast is a must-listen!
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09/15/09: Paul Rosenfeld, CEO of Fanminder and Mike Cleary of Abcom, Inc.
Today we talked to Paul Rosenfeld, with Fanminder, about how small businesses can leverage text/SMS marketing to grow their business. Fanminder is an online service that enables small business owners to easily and quickly send and receive all types of text messages to their customers.
Although historically leveraged by larger business, Paul believes that small business can use SMS technology to relay information, promotions, or updates to their customers and texting can be used effectively as a tool for retaining customers. Whether you are the corner coffee shop promoting an event, a restaurant advertising a lunch special, or the salon down the street with an open appointment slot, text marketing is a quick and easy way to reach your clients.
Paul also gave us an example of ways that text can be leveraged effectively as an internal communications tool, discussing the case of a gymnastics studio that used SMS among their staff to relay important updates with their schedules.
After talking to Paul about talking to people through their phones, we talked to Mike Cleary, vice president of Abcom, Inc., about face-to-face marketing. Abcom works directly with organizations or with their marketing agencies on the specialty area of face-to-face marketing, including trade shows and events.
With the downturn in the economy along with the rise of social media and online collaboration it should be no surprise that trade show attendance has been in decline for several years. However, as the tradeshows have gotten smaller, Mike says that the shows have become more efficient stages for selling as a higher percentage of attendees are qualified buyers.
Mike also shared some interesting information about selling at trade shows. For example, at a trade show, you have three to six seconds to stop someone and effectively communicate what you do or what you are offering. Mike advised that, instead of trying to say everything all at once, you zero in on the one thing that your target audience needs to see to stop them and bring them into your booth.
Thanks so much to Paul Rosenfeld and Mike Cleary for joining us!
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9/1/09 - Riding Resource + Interviews from the Pam Slim Event
Today we had the pleasure of speaking with Erik Jacobs of Riding Resource who we met at the Pam Slim event a few weeks ago. Riding Resource is a website that enables equestrians to search for all things riding related or as their website says,
“Riding Resource is the only fully-searchable online database of riding stables and tack stores that lets you find exactly what you’re looking for. Founded in 2007 as a way to help riders connect with local facilities, Riding Resource is unique in that our visitors can fine-tune their searches with specific criteria in regards to location and services offered.”
Ainsley Hyman (who could not join us this time) and Erik built the site due not only to their love of riding but also because they saw that such a service was lacking within the riding community. Many of the over 13,000 database entries were painstakingly researched and added by hand by Ainsley herself. It is through their dedication and hard work that Riding Resource has become THE place for finding everything from stables, breeders, vets and beyond.
A big thanks to Erik for joining us and we’ll have him (and Ainsley!) back in a few months to check up on them and see how things are going.
For the second part of our show, we did a few interviews at the Pam Slim event. Again, that was a great event so definitely check out what people had to say if you weren’t able to attend. We hope Pam will make it back to Atlanta sometime soon!
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