evylktri.info

Lately, I’ve been writing about different tactics businesses can use to get their prospects and customers to opt-in to their email list. There are many different ways to entice prospects, customers, and clients to submit their names and email addresses and one of those ways is by offering them a free consultation when they do so.

In this scenario, a prospect or customer surfs the internet looking for the type of product or service you sell in your store. They come across your website and click the link to take them to it. Once there, the first thing they see is a box asking them if they’d like to consult with you about their needs at absolutely no cost to them. You might use a headline in the box like, “Get Your Free 15 Minute Consultation Now,” or, “Here’s How to Get Your FREE 20 Minute Consultation.”

This person is excited because not only can they go ahead and look around your website to see what you have to offer and what you’re all about, but they can actually arrange to speak with you and find out some of the things they desperately want to know before investing in a product or service like yours. So, they enter their name and email and click the submit button and you now have another name you can add to the list of people whom you send your newsletter or special events and sales to.

Now, you have an email set up in your autoresponder that goes out to them and asks them to contact you to set a convenient time for the two of you to talk.

Think you don’t have anything to offer people in the way of a one on one conversation with them? Think again. Every day you’re open for business, you have conversions with your customers and with the prospects who come into your place of business to see what you have to offer them. Think about the many questions you get asked on a daily or weekly basis and make a list of them.

Come up with four or five of the most common questions people want to know about the business you’re in, and viola! You can speak to an individual, either on the phone or over an instant messaging program, for three to five minutes about each of those questions and you’ve given them 15-20 minutes of your valuable time.

Plus, most importantly, you’ve added another name to your list and, because these people had a personal conversation with you, they already know, like, and trust you. So, they’re less likely to unsubscribe from your list.

Using your home page to offer your customers and prospects a free consultation is a good idea for three reasons. First, as I said, they get to speak directly with you; going a long way towards helping them know, like, and trust you. Second, while speaking with you they start to get the idea that you know what you’re talking about when it comes to your industry; making them more likely to buy from you instead of one of your competitors. And third, The fact that you’re willing to take time out of your busy day to speak with them one on one, lets them know that you actually care about them getting the information they want and need and not just about making a sale.

And now, I’d like to invite you to visit: [http://www.rgmarketingandmore.com] to get your free 15 minute consultation with Jessica Martinez; the online marketer for offline businesses. During your time together, Jessica will find out some details about your industry and about the customers you serve. Then, she’ll spend the rest of the time helping you come up with some topics you could easily use and turn into a freebie for your customers in exchange for their names and email addresses.

Business consulting provides advice and experience as a valuable resource for every country and every industry. There are several different areas in which this position applies, such as organizational development, technology, e-business, operations, communications, human resources, marketing, strategic planning, small business and other organizations that find the advice of professionals necessary for their growth. When this professional advice is needed, executives turn to analysts for their expertise to help them find ways to manage obstacles and create solutions to increase productivity and efficiency.

This consulting is provided with the receipt of a lot of respect in their area of expertise and is heavily relied upon for its skills and talents in every country and in every industry. Their independence is admired because it creates a flexibility when working with clients to meet their needs at a time that is convenient to the client.

It is also known as management consulting as well, and provides problem solving as well as plans and goals to help companies achieve success. In the United States, this position generates in the area of $100 billion each year. Even if the economy is slow and suffering, these specialists are needed to increase profitability for a company.

As an example of the extensive work that is involved in the process to assist clients with their needs, business consulting requires a needs analysis for clients to help them determine their goals and what areas the company needs to focus on for improvement. Once a plan has been laid out, the specifics of the project, the team that will be needed to implement the process, a timeline for results and the budget required to obtain those results will be outlined.

Business consulting is then implemented through the identification of solutions by presenting recommendations through a presentation and then implementation of the recommendations are covered. Once the process has been put in place, clients are encouraged to provide their feed back in a post-project review. This is only a very simplified version of what occurs during a consultation and the actual process includes much more.

Business consulting also includes the qualitative and quantitative ability to research and gather information when completing projects. The techniques used in the implementation of tools to complete projects are interviews, observation, focus groups and case studies, as well as surveys that allow an analyst to determine what the best route to follow will be in helping clients to achieve their goals.

Uma Ilango is a programmer from profession. Has lots of interest in non-technical writing too. She has written articles in several topics. Her hobbies include reading, surfing, writing and playing chess. She writes regulary at Bigarticlepool.com [http://www.bigarticlepool.com]. Bigarticlepool.com is a source of expert content in the form of short, informative and educational or entertaining articles. We provide experts in hundreds of different niches from around the world. Thousands of new articles [http://www.bigarticlepool.com] are added every month.

Have you been wondering how you know if you need a feng shui consultation? When is the best time to have a consultation? Let’s think about it for a few moments.

How are things going in your life? Are you generally healthy? How is your personal life with your family, friends and mate? Is your professional life and wealth up to your satisfaction? Most issues originate in one or more of these parts of your life. Without health it is difficult to enjoy your life. Without happy relationships your life will be less than it can be. After all money can’t buy you real love. Of course money is important and makes the rest of your life more enjoyable. Do you have problems in any of these areas?

Each section of your house relates to parts of your body. If your house has problems or a sha in the section that relates to your legs for instance, then you may have trouble with your legs too. The rotating energies of the year, month and day can join together in supportive or non supportive ways. When they meet they can create opportunities for legal problems, gossiping or relationship problems. They might also create opportunities for new romance or make it easier to get and keep money.

Knowing more about your house and its surroundings can help you to explain past problems and more importantly help you avoid or diminish future conditions that are detrimental. You will also be better able to take advantage of locations in your home and the timing of good energies to advance your life’s plan.

So if you have problems you would like to eliminate or improve, you should consider a feng shui consultation. Your life might be going along well but you feel it could even be better, then you might consider a feng shui consultation.

What is the bet time for a consultation? Now, especially if you are starting a new building project. When you know what type of land to buy you can avoid many serious problems from the beginning. Maybe you already have land. Now is still the time. You will be able to make best use of the property and improve upon any conditions that are not optimum before you build. Oh, so you already have a building. Now is still the time. You can make the best use of what you have by employing feng shui to choose the best locations for your bedroom, office and other living spaces. Are you renovating? Now is the time to have a feng shui consultation to make sure you are not creating problems.

As you see, now is the time to take advantage of a feng shui consultation to improve your life.

Diane Kern has been trained in the ancient art of Feng Shui in the traditional method. The knowledge has been transmitted through 13 generations from Masters to student via an apprenticeship of extensive study and practical field experience. Ms. Kern was included in a small group of students selected by her Master for advanced training. She is a member of an international team of experts, Alliance Feng Shui, whose resources can be called upon to accomplish your goals.

Here’s how you can get started in the consulting business:

1. Choose your audience. The first thing that you need to do is to choose the people that you would like to serve while keeping your skills and abilities into consideration. You may want to serve those people who would like to expand their knowledge on global customer service or those who would like to learn the ropes of making money online. Just make sure that you are expert on the niche that you would like to target as you need to be a great source of information to your clients.

2. Say no to stiff competition. When choosing the niche to target, it will be beneficial for you if you stay away from stiff competition so you will not have a hard time getting people to sign up to your services. Do a keyword analysis and figure out how many people from across the globe who is offering similar consulting services. Then, study the supply and demand. Target those niches that are popular but not very saturated.

3. Promote your consulting services. After choosing the niche and the people to target, it’s high time that you promote your services online. Start by understanding the online behavior of your potential clients to make it easier for you to connect with them. Know the various keywords that they are using on search engines and target these keywords on your ads and on your content base marketing solutions. Then, identify the websites that they usually visit. These are the sites where you should post your banner ads and paid links to in order to easily attract interested parties to your website.

4. Personalize your consulting services. Although you will serve clients who have the same problems and aspirations, keep in mind that these people will require different information as their skill level and level of comprehension vary. As such, you will need to personalize your consulting services for each of your clients to make sure that you’ll be able to effectively offer them what they exactly looking for.

5. Don’t forget to solicit feedback. To stay on top of the game, you need to figure out the rough edges that you need to patch up to better serve your clients. Make it a habit to solicit feedback from all your clients after each transaction so you’ll know what you are doing well and the things that you need to improve on.

Loss Mitigation Consultants are the people that work for you in order to help you avoid foreclosure and get your loan issues settled with your lender. These professionals study your case thoroughly and then speak to your lender for a loan workout which would allow you to stay in your home and bank would get it’s monthly payments of your existing loan.

Their prime focus is to prevent your home by approaching your lender with their loss mitigation techniques, which helps the bank find solutions to avoid foreclosure. In this process, customer’s situation is thoroughly examined and mortgage is restructured in a way where in the lender is also not in loss and you can also continue with the home ownership. Loss mitigation consultants charge fees from you after your case is solved.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when approaching a Loss Mitigation Consultant:

· First of all gather full information about the consultant and his form. Check the background of the company in loss mitigation through internet. To know this is very crucial, or else he can fool you.

· Ask for the website and check the accreditation and certification of the person. Also check his/her license to work before you proceed further.

· Check BBB (better business bureau) for complaints filed against the firm. This will give you a better idea about the authenticity of the company and you will also get some clues about how to save your case from getting dumped.

· You can also take reference from the existing clients of the consultant about the working criteria of the consultant. For e.g. is it beneficial to approach him, guidance about the techniques he used in their cases and many other reasonable things.

· Always inquire about the fees that the loss mitigation consultant is going to charge and take it in writing to avoid any issues later.

· Do not ever pay any upfront fee in the beginning. You only have to pay these people after your work is done and get your agreement with him in writing. This is for your own safety as you have a proof with you if any thing happens later.

The format of a Business Plan is … that has been … and refined over the years and is … that should not be changed. Like a good recipe, a business plan needs to include certain

The format of a Business Plan is something that has been
developed and refined over the years and is something that should
not be changed. Like a good recipe,Guest Posting a business plan needs to
include certain ingredients to make it work.

When you create a business plan, don’t attempt to recreate its
format. Those reviewing this type of document have expectations
you must meet. If they do not see those crucial decision-making
components, they’ll see no reason to proceed with their review of
your business plan, no matter how great your business idea.

Executive Summary Section

Every business plan must begin with an Executive Summary section.
A well-written Executive Summary is critical to the success of
the rest of the document. Here is where you need to capture the
attention of your audience so that they will be compelled to read
on. Remember, it’s a summary, so each and every word must be
carefully selected and presented.

Use the Executive Summary section of your business plan to
accurately describe the nature of your business venture including
the need that you plan to fill. Show the reasons why people need
your product or service. Show this by including a brief analysis
of the characteristics of your potential market.

Describe the organization of your business including your
management team. Also, briefly describe your sales and marketing
plan or approach. Finally include the numbers that those
reviewing your business plan want to see – the amount of capital
you seek, the carefully calculated sales projections and your
plan to repay the loan.

If you’ve captured your audience so far they’ll read on.
Otherwise, they’ll close the document and add your business plan
to the heap of other rejected ideas.

Devote the balance of your business plan to providing details of
the items outlined in the Executive Summary.

The Business Section

Be sure to include the legal name, physical address and detailed
description of the nature of your business. It’s important to
keep the description easy to read using common terminology. Never
assume that those reading your business plan have the same level
of technical knowledge that you do. Describe how you plan to
better serve your market than your competition is currently
doing.

Market Analysis Section

An analysis of the market shows that you have done your homework.
This section is basically a summary of your Marketing Plan. It
needs to show the demand for your product or service, the
proposed market, trends within the industry, a description of
your pricing plan and packaging and a description of your company
policies.

Financing Section

The Financing section must show that you are as committed to your
business venture as you expect those reading your business plan
to be. Show the amount of personal funds you are contributing and
their source. Also include the amount of capital you need and
your plan to repay this debt. Include all pertinent financial
worksheets in this section: annual income projections, a
break-even worksheet, projected cash flow statements and a
balance sheet.

Management Section

Outline your organizational structure and management team here.
Include the legal structure of your business whether it is a
partnership, corporation or limited liability corporation.
Include resumes and biographies of key players on your management
team. Show staffing projection data for the next few years.

By now you’re probably thinking that you don’t need Business Plan
just yet. Well you do, and there is business plan building
software that can help you through this immense project. These
software packages are easy to use and affordable. Use one today
and produce a professional-quality Business Plan – including all
critical components – tomorrow!

SELLING YOU ON YOUR BUSINESS You’ve probably heard it said that a business plan is a selling … While it is very true that your business plan will be an … aid to you in selling your bu

SELLING YOU ON YOUR BUSINESS You’ve probably heard it said that a business plan is a selling document. While it is very true that your business plan will be an invaluable aid to you in selling your business to others,Guest Posting you may not have considered that it can be a great way to sell or re-sell YOU on the business you have started. By examining how your ideas and products fit into the competitive environment, you can get excited about the potential of your business and become reinvigorated. A business plan can also be a good way to determine new directions your business should go. As you delve into the marketplace, examining your competitors and their products, and consider market trends, you may see new avenues for your business to follow and may even discover a potentially hot market niche that isn’t being filled. This could lead to a whole new direction for your company and vastly expanded revenues. By contrast, the discovery process you follow to develop your business plan might show you that the path you thought you wanted to follow isn’t viable, saving you months and years of frustration and a lot of cash! It may help you see a different path you need to follow and/or encourage you to concentrate on a different aspect of the business. HOW DOES A BUSINESS PLAN SELL YOUR BUSINESS? In order to succeed in today’s challenging business climate, you will need to exploit every opportunity that comes your way. The only way to do this is to understand where the opportunities are and put your business into a position to pursue them. A business plan makes this possible. Just as importantly, your company’s business plan is seen by others as your company representative. It tells interested parties who you are, what you do, how you fit into the crowd, where you’re going, and how you’re going to get there. Your business plan can help you with the following: · To obtain bank financing: Bankers are understandably nervous about risking money on new endeavors, and there are many more companies out there asking for money than there is money to be distributed. Companies that have a written business plan have an edge because banks understand the importance of formal planning. · To acquire investment funds: To investors, a business plan is a screening device. If they like what they see in your business plan, they’ll take the next step and talk to your executives. · To arrange strategic alliances: A business plan is often the only tool an established company has to assess whether they want to do business with a company that is not yet established. · To obtain large customer contracts: Large customers are reluctant to commit funds and take business risks to do business with an unknown entity. Your business plan helps them understand that you are well grounded and know what you’re doing. · To attract quality employees: A well designed business plan allows potential, key employees to get a comfort level with your company so they will be willing to commit their professional future to you. · To complete mergers and acquisitions: Companies that are looking to buy other companies look closely at these companies’ business plans before deciding which ones they want to pursue. THE RESULTS OF NOT CREATING A PLAN CAN BE A KILLER FOR YOUR BUSINESS! Your business plan is an invaluable tool for helping you understand your business environment so that you can optimize your revenues. Through this important document you will come to understand your competitive environment. You will also be able to determine how you should market your product and what avenues your sales efforts should pursue. The negative results of not performing these exercises can be overwhelming if you are working under limited resources. The following case study, based on a real company whose name has been changed to protect the innocent, is just one example of the many costly mistakes you can make if you don’t create a plan and stay with it. Case Study – The John Doe Company The John Doe Company didn’t have a Sales and Marketing plan. They had no go-to-market strategy and didn’t even know who their target market was. The sales and marketing function was represented by an individual who didn’t have any sales or marketing in her professional background. Not having a comfort level in an area where she was not skilled, and working under no specific plan, this individual was subject to whim and fancy in her marketing decisions. The unfortunate result? The company attended several trade shows a year, spending thousands upon thousands on travel, show fees, and lost man hours for something that brought them no actual revenues and no real leads. In addition, the company instituted expensive giveaways at these shows, such as diamonds, which brought them nothing in return. This VP with no sales and marketing plan also lost the company thousands of dollars advertising in magazines that did not attract the company’s target market and spent untold thousands flying around the world to pursue customers from leads that had not been qualified. Since the leads had not been qualified, many of these expensive customer visits were with customer representatives who had no intention of buying, had no money earmarked to buy, and/or who were not even empowered to make a buying decision. The John Doe Company’s lack of a sales and marketing plan, along with having the wrong individual in a position to make unguided decisions, has most likely cost the company more in lost revenues and squandered resources over the 3 years they’ve been in business than they’ve made over that same period of time.

Although the above case study could be considered a worst case scenario, it is fairly representative of the types of problems companies encounter when they have no sales and marketing plan. YOUR BUSINESS PLAN CAN SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCE BUSINESS RISK A business plan that is truly a working document can substantially reduce business risk for your company. Day to day decisions should be run through the filter of your business plan to determine what fits and what doesn’t. Your plan can validate issues that fit within it, and should be altered when necessary to allow for new opportunities that may stretch the parameters of the plan but support your overall goals. The result is that you will make “strategic” decisions rather than pursuing costly whims or suffering under an “idea of the day” mentality. In addition to pro forma financial elements, the business plan foundation is cemented with solid sales and marketing elements to guide you toward more revenues and higher profit. It should identify routes to market for your optimum sweet spot, and show you when to hire key personnel, and who to hire, saving you from costly hiring mistakes. GETTING STARTED: ANALYZE YOUR BUSINESS PLAN TO BECOME MORE COMPETITIVE The first step in becoming more competitive is to perform a complete, objective analysis of your business plan. It will be extremely difficult for you to view your business dispassionately and perform an objective assessment. For this reason, you will probably want to look at contracting with outside professionals to perform your assessment. These industry experts have decades of corporate experience in building successful sales and marketing strategies to help them understand your challenges and how to address them. An outside consultant can provide you with a comprehensive analysis that culminates in a gap analysis and steps to address the holes in your overall business plan. Once you have this assessment and know where the gaps are, you can begin to build a plan that will enable your company to effectively win against any and all competitors, big or small. You can either perform the steps to execute the plan internally, or hire outside expertise to perform those functions that you don’t have the knowledge and experience to perform. This straightforward and easy to implement process will get your company on the fast track to more sales. KEY BUSINESS PLAN ELEMENTS Key elements of your working business plan include the following: · Executive Summary: vision, mission, company objectives, keys to success · Company Overview: focus, current product/service description, future products/services, positioning of products/services, business concept, current situation, key success factors · Organization: stakeholders, board members, employees, strategic advisors · Operations: key personnel, organizational structure, human resources plan, product/service delivery, customer service/support, facilities · Market analysis: the overall market, anticipated changes in the market, market segments, target market and customers, customer characteristics, needs, and buying decisions · Competitive analysis: key competitive capabilities, key competitive weaknesses, competitive evaluation of products/services, industry overview, nature of the competition, changes in the industry, primary competitors, competitive products/services, opportunities, threats and risks · Sales and Marketing Plan: go to market strategy, competitive overview, sales tactics, marketing plan, channel plan, advertising plan, promotions/incentives, publicity, trade shows, partnerships and alliances · Financial Overview: short and long term views of the company’s situation/needs, assumptions and comments, starting balance sheet, profit-and-loss projection, cash flow projection, balance sheet projection, ratios and analyses YOUR BUSINESS PLAN IS A WORK IN PROGRESS If you created a business plan when you started your business but have not taken the time to update it over the months and years, you are not much better off than if you’d never created one. Business plans are meant to be working documents, and will become stale and useless if they aren’t updated. As stated before, a business plan is a selling document. It sells your business and its executives to potential backers of your business, from bankers to investors to partners to employees. Early stage companies need effective business plans to attract investors. All companies need an effective plan to guide the business. Companies that lack effective and updated business plans often suffer from unrealized revenues, lost opportunities, significant competitive losses, reactive hiring decisions, and poor profit and loss financial performance. Rather than being a working document that guides your business, an unrealized business plan can become a nagging item on your strategic “to do” list. Ideally, you should maintain a workable business plan to determine where the company needs to go, warn of possible roadblocks, develop contingencies, and keep the business on track to reach planned goals. LET YOUR BUSINESS PLAN WORK FOR YOU Sales and Marketing Pros can guide you through the process of revising or developing your overall business plan. SMP’s Opportunity Maximizer Workshop performs a full-scale assessment of your business plan, including your sales and marketing infrastructure. The workshop provides you with a gap analysis and steps to close the identified gaps. SMP also offers part or full time Advisory Services from executive level business professionals, sales and marketing experts, business writers, and a full array of document, graphic, and website support; allowing you to just pick up the phone and request help as you need it. SMP is ready to work with you and your team to package your business so that it embraces the future. With creative planning and packaging, you will win the in marketplace, at both the investor and the customer levels. Contact Bob Decker at 952-955-1200 or via email at [email protected] for more information.

Should You Write Your Own Business Plan?If you are just starting a company and looking for funding, or looking for … funding for growth, you will need to develop a … business plan.

Should You Write Your Own Business Plan?

If you are just starting a company and looking for funding,Guest Posting
or looking for additional funding for growth, you will need
to develop a traditional business plan. Creating a business
plan is a business hurdle that entrepreneurs seem to dread.
Do you do it yourself? Do you hire someone to do it? How
do you get it done quickly, but without spending too much
money on it? Will what you do yourself be adequate to get
funding?

In this article I will discuss the pros and cons of
do-it-yourself business planning versus having a business
planning consultant do it for you or with you.

The Do It Yourself Business Plan

Particularly if you are seeking capital of less than
$200,000, consider creating the plan yourself after taking a
class or reading some books or getting some coaching for
someone who has written successful business plans.

Consider taking a three-hour business planning class through
SCORE or the local Small Business Development Center. Even
if you decide afterwards not to write your own plan, you
will have a much better idea of what you want out of the
process and what to expect.

There are some good reasons for an entrepreneur to do the
business plan:

•First of all, because you can. If you’ve read sample
business plans and find their accounting jargon
intimidating, you are not alone. But as long as you can
clearly get your message across and have other people such
as you accountant look at the plan before it goes to lenders
or others, you can do this work yourself.

•It is in learning the business planning process that you
develop analytical thinking skills necessary to run your
business with an intimate understanding of your own business
model. Going through the planning process is an invaluable
business experience.

•You need to know the plan inside and out and really
understand the variables involved. You are the one who will
be asked the tough questions by potential investors or
lenders, such as “What will you do if only half your
expected revenue comes in?” or “What will you do if you find
out that direct mail is not working for you as your primary
marketing tool?”

Outsourcing the Business Plan Process

Entrepreneurs are fire fighters. One of the most important
jobs of an entrepreneur is to manage time, and do those
things that you are best skilled to do. Many entrepreneurs
decide to hire someone else to do their business plans,
often because they have an urgent need for the funding and
can’t afford the learning curve to be able to develop a
high-quality plan that will meet the needs of lenders or
investors.

In addition, if your funding requirements are more than
$500,000 my recommendation is to get some professional help
with this project, even if you do some of it yourself.

Some reasons to consider hiring a consultant:

•It will get done! Business planning is done much faster
with someone who knows the process. Every entrepreneur has
good intentions about getting plans completed, but months
later they still haven’t done all the work. Planning should
be high priority work, but it is hard to get to when
customer calls and employee problems require immediate
attention. The sooner the plan is completed, the sooner
funding can be attained. And the price of hiring the
consultant will be small in comparison with the increases in
growth and profitability of the business.
•It will get done in a way financial professionals will
respect. Business planning is done better by someone who
knows how finance people look at plans and what they will
and won’t question. Once you’ve been through the business
plan process many times, you know what it takes to get
funding – what to emphasize and what to play down.
•The consultant’s objectivity will allow for
non-emotionally-based projections and expectations for the
business. A consultant will be much more objective in the
process and question your assumptions, making it less likely
that the business will have problems after the funding comes
in.

No matter what, don’t let a business planning consultant
talk you into putting any information into your plan that
you aren’t comfortable with. If it doesn’t look right to
you, it probably isn’t. It is your business, and you will
be stuck with the plan long after you’ve paid the
consultant’s bill. Make sure it is the plan that you want,
one that matches your goals and objectives, and captures the
way you look at business and the spirit of your company.

If you do decide to hire a business planning consultant,
here are some of the important questions to ask to make sure
you get the greatest value from your investment:

1.How many business plans have you written for my type of
business? How many of them were funded?
2.How much time will you need of mine during the planning
process?
3.When will the plan be completed, and how many drafts
should I expect to see and have the opportunity to comment
on?
4.Will you be writing the plan yourself or do you have
associates who do the work with you?
5.Will there be an opportunity for you to present the plan
or for me to present the plan to my other advisors before
the final draft is done?
6.How do you work in collaboration with my partners and
advisors so their input is taken into consideration during
the writing of the plan?
7.Do you do the market research and the financial
spreadsheets, or are those things done separately (and
charged for separately)?
8.Does your price include revisions or customization for
certain types of funding (to include different information
needed by investors versus lenders)?
9.Does your price include coaching to prepare me to talk
with lenders or make financing presentations?
10.Will I have an electronic version as well as a hard copy
version of the final plan (so I can make changes later if I
need to)?

The Optimum Solution: A Blended Approach

At best, the planning process should not be at either end of
the spectrum, but squarely in the middle. In my experience,
plans that win funding come from a true collaboration
between a skilled consultant/facilitator and the
entrepreneur’s team of employees and advisors.

A business planning consultant can act as a coach, first
assessing the job to be done, and then recommending who is
best to do it. The business plan should be a compilation of
work between the vision and goals of the entrepreneur, the
technical understanding and expertise of his or her
accountant and other professionals, a consensus of employees
or others, and the research and writing abilities of the
business planning consultant. The consultant should meet
with all parties involved, talk about what is needed for the
plan, and use all the resources available to get the work
done as quickly and cost effectively as possible. It is the
consultant’s responsibility in the process to take all the
pieces and make the final plan into a readable, accessible
document that will stand up to investor/lender scrutiny.

My final caveats:

•Don’t pay more than a few thousand dollars for a plan
unless you are looking for capital of well over $1 million.
I have heard more than a few horror stories by people who
have hired university professors assuming they are the
experts (they aren’t) and paying tens of thousand of dollars
for a poorly written or incomplete plan. Ask your banker
for business planning consultant recommendations, or better
yet, talk with someone who had a good experience having a
business plan written for them. It is reasonable for a
consultant to expect you to pay half of the fee up front and
the other half at the completion of the plan. And you can’t
hold the consultant responsible if you don’t get funding
based on the plan – too much is based on your own credit and
management skills.

•Don’t expect to get a finished plan that is a roadmap of
everything you need to do to have a successful business.
That isn’t the purpose of the business planning process. A
traditional business plan is intended only to document your
strategies for the business very briefly – but well enough
to get funding. If you are hoping for something that will
tell you how to market or how many people you need to hire,
you will have to start with a deep strategic planning
process, and probably buy lots of consulting time to get you
going.

•Don’t expect a great a business plan from a poor business
model. If your costs are too high to make your business
profitable, the business planning process will help you
discover that. Then it will be up to you to make the hard
decisions about changing your costs structure to make the
business work. The business planning consultant is a
skilled professional, not a miracle worker. A good business
plan can help you highlight your strengths and minimize your
weaknesses, but it cannot make an unworkable business model
into a thriving business.

And one final thought: Don’t go on to start a business or
make changes in your current business if everything in the
business planning process tells you it won’t work. Things
don’t get better out in the real world if they don’t work on
paper. Deal with the weaknesses – get more training,
consider product redevelopment, or have a home-based
business to reduce costs until you can sustain the rent for
an office. Businesses fail finally because they’ve run out
of money. If your plan tells you that you can’t make enough
money to make the business work for the long run, pay
attention to that reality.

Tap these treasures of ideas. The best money you can spend is money invested in your business plan education. Don’t shortchange yourself when it comes to investing in your dream.

If you are just starting a company and looking for funding,Guest Posting or looking for additional funding for growth, you will need to develop a traditional business plan. Creating a business plan is a business hurdle that entrepreneurs seem to dread. Do you do it yourself? Do you hire someone to do it? How do you get it done quickly, but without spending too much money on it? Will what you do yourself be adequate to get funding?In this article I will discuss the pros and cons of do-it-yourself business planning versus having a business planning consultant do it for you or with you.

The Do It Yourself Business Plan Particularly if you are seeking capital of less than $200,000, consider creating the plan yourself after taking a class or reading some books or getting some coaching for someone who has written successful business plans.

Consider taking a three-hour business planning class through SCORE or the local Small Business Development Center. Even if you decide afterwards not to write your own plan, you will have a much better idea of what you want out of the process and what to expect. There are some good reasons for an entrepreneur to do the business plan:

First of all, because you can. If you’ve read sample business plans and find their accounting jargon intimidating, you are not alone. But as long as you can clearly get your message across and have other people such as you accountant look at the plan before it goes to lenders or others, you can do this work yourself. It is in learning the business planning process that you develop analytical thinking skills necessary to run your business with an intimate understanding of your own business model. Going through the planning process is an invaluable business experience.

You need to know the plan inside and out and really understand the variables involved. You are the one who will be asked the tough questions by potential investors or lenders, such as “What will you do if only half your expected revenue comes in?” or “What will you do if you find out that direct mail is not working for you as your primary marketing tool?” Outsourcing the Business Plan ProcessEntrepreneurs are fire fighters. One of the most important jobs of an entrepreneur is to manage time, and do those things that you are best skilled to do. Many entrepreneurs decide to hire someone else to do their business plans, often because they have an urgent need for the funding and can’t afford the learning curve to be able to develop a high-quality plan that will meet the needs of lenders or investors. In addition, if your funding requirements are more than $500,000 my recommendation is to get some professional help with this project, even if you do some of it yourself.

Some reasons to consider hiring a consultant: – It will get done! Business planning is done much faster with someone who knows the process. Every entrepreneur has good intentions about getting plans completed, but months later they still haven’t done all the work. Planning should be high priority work, but it is hard to get to when customer calls and employee problems require immediate attention. The sooner the plan is completed, the sooner funding can be attained. And the price of hiring the consultant will be small in comparison with the increases in growth and profitability of the business. – It will get done in a way financial professionals will respect. Business planning is done better by someone who knows how finance people look at plans and what they will and won’t question.

Once you’ve been through the business plan process many times, you know what it takes to get funding – what to emphasize and what to play down. – The consultant’s objectivity will allow for non-emotionally-based projections and expectations for the business. A consultant will be much more objective in the process and question your assumptions, making it less likely that the business will have problems after the funding comes in.

No matter what, don’t let a business planning consultant talk you into putting any information into your plan that you aren’t comfortable with. If it doesn’t look right to you, it probably isn’t. It is your business, and you will be stuck with the plan long after you’ve paid the consultant’s bill. Make sure it is the plan that you want, one that matches your goals and objectives, and captures the way you look at business and the spirit of your company. If you do decide to hire a business planning consultant, here are some of the important questions to ask to make sure you get the greatest value from your investment: – How many business plans have you written for my type of business? How many of them were funded? – How much time will you need of mine during the planning process? – When will the plan be completed, and how many drafts should I expect to see and have the opportunity to comment on? – Will you be writing the plan yourself or do you have associates who do the work with you? – Will there be an opportunity for you to present the plan or for me to present the plan to my other advisors before the final draft is done? – How do you work in collaboration with my partners and advisors so their input is taken into consideration during the writing of the plan? – Do you do the market research and the financial spreadsheets, or are those things done separately (and charged for separately)? – Does your price include revisions or customization for certain types of funding (to include different information needed by investors versus lenders)? – Does your price include coaching to prepare me to talk with lenders or make financing presentations? – Will I have an electronic version as well as a hard copy version of the final plan (so I can make changes later if I need to)?The Optimum Solution: A Blended Approach At best, the planning process should not be at either end of the spectrum, but squarely in the middle. In my experience, plans that win funding come from a true collaboration between a skilled consultant/facilitator and the entrepreneur’s team of employees and advisors. A business planning consultant can act as a coach, first assessing the job to be done, and then recommending who is best to do it. The business plan should be a compilation of work between the vision and goals of the entrepreneur, the technical understanding and expertise of his or her accountant and other professionals, a consensus of employees or others, and the research and writing abilities of the business planning consultant. The consultant should meet with all parties involved, talk about what is needed for the plan, and use all the resources available to get the work done as quickly and cost effectively as possible. It is the consultant’s responsibility in the process to take all the pieces and make the final plan into a readable, accessible document that will stand up to investor/lender scrutiny.

My final caveats: Don’t pay more than a few thousand dollars for a plan unless you are looking for capital of well over $1 million. I have heard more than a few horror stories by people who have hired university professors assuming they are the experts (they aren’t) and paying tens of thousand of dollars for a poorly written or incomplete plan. Ask your banker for business planning consultant recommendations, or better yet, talk with someone who had a good experience having a business plan written for them. It is reasonable for a consultant to expect you to pay half of the fee up front and the other half at the completion of the plan. And you can’t hold the consultant responsible if you don’t get funding based on the plan – too much is based on your own credit and management skills. Don’t expect to get a finished plan that is a roadmap of everything you need to do to have a successful business. That isn’t the purpose of the business planning process. A traditional business plan is intended only to document your strategies for the business very briefly – but well enough to get funding. If you are hoping for something that will tell you how to market or how many people you need to hire, you will have to start with a deep strategic planning process, and probably buy lots of consulting time to get you going.

Don’t expect a great a business plan from a poor business model. If your costs are too high to make your business profitable, the business planning process will help you discover that. Then it will be up to you to make the hard decisions about changing your costs structure to make the business work. The business planning consultant is a skilled professional, not a miracle worker. A good business plan can help you highlight your strengths and minimize your weaknesses, but it cannot make an unworkable business model into a thriving business. And one final thought: Don’t go on to start a business or make changes in your current business if everything in the business planning process tells you it won’t work. Things don’t get better out in the real world if they don’t work on paper. Deal with the weaknesses – get more training, consider product redevelopment, or have a home-based business to reduce costs until you can sustain the rent for an office. Businesses fail finally because they’ve run out of money. If your plan tells you that you can’t make enough money to make the business work for the long run, pay attention to that reality.

Planning for the future and especially for retirement can be a daunting task in and of itself. However, individuals often seek the help of investors who specialize in pension plans and knowing the law can often be a saving grace for many. That is until recently, as the rash of unethical practices of stockbrockers, investors and corporations has reached an all-time high.

As individuals continue to invest funds with stockbrokers and brokerage firms,Guest Posting the amount of unethical practices among pension funds is on the rise.

The fiduciary obligations of trustees also make it vital that actions be taken to recover losses due to securities fraud. Additionally individuals who have lost their retirement benefits, or whose plan value has significantly declined, may have causes for legal action.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) protects the assets of the American public to ensure funds placed in retirement plans will be available to them when they retire. ERISA is a federal law that sets minimum standards for pension plans in private industry. Most of the provisions of ERISA are effective for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 1975. ERISA requires that companies who establish plans must meet certain minimum standards. The law generally does not however specify how much money a participant must be paid as a benefit.

In general, ERISA does the following:

* This requires plans that must be provided to particpants with details of features and funding. The plan administrators must furnish important facts about the plan regularly and automatically.

* Participation, vesting, benefit, funding and accrual minimum standards are set through this. The law defines how long a person may be required to work before becoming eligible to participate in a plan, to accumulate benefits, and to have a non-forfeitable right to those benefits. The law also establishes detailed funding rules that require plan sponsors to provide adequate funding for your plan.

* Requires accountability of plan fiduciaries. Defines a fiduciary as anyone who exercises discretionary authority or control over a plan’s management or assets, including anyone who provides investment advice to the plan. Fiduciaries that do not follow the principles of conduct may be held responsible for restoring losses to the plan.

* Gives participants the right to sue for benefits and breaches of fiduciary duty.

* Guarantees payment of certain benefits if a defined plan is terminated, through a federally chartered corporation, known as the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).

Under the requirements to provide information one of the most important documents a participant must receive automatically when becoming a member of an ERISA-covered pension plan or a beneficiary receiving benefits under such a plan, is a summary of the plan (SPD). The plan administrator is legally obligated to provide this document. The revised SPD is a separate document with a summery of modifications.

Protection of mismanagement and misuse of assets through fiduciary provisions falls under the ERISA protection plan. ERISA defines a fiduciary as anyone who exercises discretionary control or authority over plan management or plan assets, anyone with discretionary authority or responsibility for the administration of a plan, or anyone who provides investment advice to a plan for compensation or has any authority or responsibility to do so. Plan fiduciaries include, for example, plan trustees, plan administrators, and members of a plan’s investment committee.

The primary responsibility of fiduciaries is to run the plan solely in the interest of participants and beneficiaries and for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits and paying plan expenses.

Fiduciaries must act prudently and must diversify the plan’s investments in order to minimize the risk of large losses. Plan terms must be consistent with ERISA. Conflict avoidance between related parties, including other fiduciaries must also be ensured.

When these fiduciaries fail to follow the principles outlined for them and a loss of investment occurs, there may be the possibility for litigation. Legal action may follow against fiduciaries that breach their duties under ERISA including their removal and potential criminal prosecution.

ERISA civil violations examples:

* Failing to operate the plan prudently and for the exclusive benefit of participants.

* Using plan assets to benefit certain related parties to the plan, including the plan administrator, the plan sponsor, and parties related to these individuals.

* Failing to properly value plan assets at their current fair market value, or to hold plan assets in trust.

* Failing to follow the terms of the plan (unless inconsistent with ERISA).

* Failing to properly select and monitor service providers. Taking any adverse action against a participant for exercising their rights under the plan.

The Department of Labor (DOL) enforces Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which, in part, establishes participants’ rights and fiduciaries’ duties. The DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is the agency charged with enforcing the rules governing the conduct of plan managers, investment of plan assets, reporting and disclosure of plan information, enforcement of the fiduciary provisions of the law, and workers’ benefit rights.

If an employer declares bankruptcy, there are a number of choices as to what form the bankruptcy takes. A Chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy may not have any effect on a pension plan and the plan may continue to exist. A Chapter 7 (final) bankruptcy, where the employer’s company ceases to exist, is a more complicated matter.