RCBryan.com

Bad Vendor No Cookie!

Bad Vendor No Cookie!

Today I was invited to pitch one of the largest Government Accounts in my industry. I spent the last four months researching this client and the services they need. I put together a team of six vendors from all over the world in order to develop a sellable service package. I was confident in my proposal. I was confident in my price point. I was all around confident in all that I had done in preparation for this meeting.

And then… for the first time in my career I watched as a vendor spent 30 minutes of rambling and sunk just about any chance I had of getting the account. I do have to say that the vendor came highly recommended by a few of my current clients. I had met with the guy about six times over the past four month in preparation for this meeting and felt confident that he knew what he was talking about. I did how ever have this gut feeling that he was less of a business man then he was a service provider. What I needed today was someone that understood business, and I didn’t get it.

I know parts of this may sound a little vague but the account that I’m pitching isn’t technically up for contract yet so I can not disclose the actual department of the government I was meeting with. I can say that the contract is for a federal organization that has a fleet of agent cars. This means that we would have been installing radios, alarms, lights, gun cases, and all that in about 700 vehicles a year. We would also be transporting these vehicles all across North America. The part that I was most interested in was the liquidation of the old vehicles as they came out of service.

Now I own a domestic and international shipping company as well as a logistics company that could handle the liquidation of the old vehicles so I had those parts of the proposal covered. I have no intent of starting a company to do the instillation aspect of this proposal so I decided to outsource that part of the account.

The meeting took two hours and was broken into three parts. The first was a demonstration of the instillation process, which went well. Then it was my turn to do the actual presentation of the service proposal. That again went well. Unfortunately the last part which was the Q&A part was a disaster. My installer was asked a simple question. It was basically about the warranty of his work. He went on a 30 minute rant that was just uncalled for. During this rant I tried numerous times to pull him out of it but was unable. The client (government agencies) went as far as to tell him what their current vendor was doing and exactly what they were looking for. He did not catch this. He kept going and going trying to convince them that he was right and that they were wrong.

I finally jumped in and told the client that we did not have an answer to their current question and that we would work on developing an answer and get back to them. This was a major turn in the wrong direction. You need to be 100% prepared when you meet a potential client.

Here is my dilemma now. I feel confident that the client was interested in the parts of the proposal that I had presented. I feel that the questions they were asking with C Qs in the ABC Process (Glen Gary Glenn Ross). The C stands for Closing Questions. I would like to send them an email tomorrow telling them that we are able to work with any installer they choose. But I went out of my way to endorse the guy that came with me today that I don’t know if that would make me look like an ass.

Well, I’ll post more when I decide what to do. I just wanted to vent about this. The reality is that this account would have brought in about $800,000 in revenues on about $2,000,000 in sales. This was a big opportunity that I feel like has slipped through my hands. I hope this post helps to show that you can never trust someone else to do the right thing. I should have learned his services and pitched them myself. Oh well I know better for next time.

eBay is raising their fees on vehicle sales!

A lot of my clients sell cars online so this is important information!

Hello everyone…This is Rob Chesney, Vice President of eBay Motors. I’d like to share some news regarding seller fee changes that we’re making to the eBay Motors Vehicles marketplace.

Effective September 2, 2008, we’re lowering the Insertion Fees for all vehicle Auction-style and Fixed Price listings and will be increasing the Successful Listing Fee. Here are the details:

Starting on September 2, 2008, all members will qualify for FREE insertion fees on their first four vehicle listings – a significant discount compared to the current $40 Insertion Fee.

The Successful Listing Fee for the first four vehicles will be $125, but this is only charged when a listing ends successfully with a winning bidder.

Sellers who list more than four vehicles in a 12-month period will be charged a $20 insertion fee and a $100 Successful Listing Fee when a listing ends successfully with a winning bidder.

These fee changes apply to listings in the Cars & Trucks, Boats, and all Other Vehicles categories. Vehicles listed in the Motorcycles and Powersports categories follow the same structure, but with slightly lower fees.
We’re excited to make these changes, and believe they will enhance the vehicles marketplace on eBay Motors for everyone. The new structure reduces the upfront cost to list vehicles, and benefits both private sellers and vehicle dealers. I encourage you to click here for full pricing details.

Sincerely,
Rob Chesney
Vice President, eBay Motors

Bloggin Like Crazy!

I’m not new to business but I may still be new to keeping up with a successful blog. I’ve read a ton of books over the past year and I’ve spent a lot of time experimenting online trying to find ways to increase traffic to my blog.

Here are a few things that I’ve done to bring in more traffic and in turn create more advertising revenue.

1- Submitting your posts to forums: This is the best way to get people interested in what you have to say. Now of course you need to make sure you are putting your posts on the appropriate forums. Some forums will allow you to put a synopsis of your blog post into a forum thread with a link back to your blog where the whole post can be read. This is a great tool for getting people excited about what you have to say and then forcing them to visit your blog in order to get the rest of the story.

There are some blogs that will not allow links in the actual post. In this case make sure you have a link to your blog in your signature so that in your thread you can let people know to look there. The key to driving traffic to your blog from a forum is to not give away the whole post. Give them a taste and then let them know they can get the rest of the info by visiting your blog.

2- Article Submission: A great way to increase traffic and awareness for your blog is through submitting your posts to different article submission sites. Below is a link to the top 50 sites like this. Here you can give people a chance to view your posts and to show them what your blog is about. Don’t be afraid to invite them back to your blog for more reading. Article submission sits are also a great way to build back links to your blog.

3- Back Link Campaigns: I typically outsource this part of my site development. You want to find a reputable company to do this for you. There are a ton of offers out there who will submit your link to 10,000 sites for $29.95. Stay away from those. A good campaign should cost you about $250 for 500 backlinks to PR1 & PR2 sites. The price goes up for PR3 and for PR4 you can expect to pay as much as $25 for a front page permanent link. Prices will very significantly based on what company you talk to and the quality of their work. Shop around, look for the best price, and ask for references. Also, any company that is worth the fee will provide you with a detailed report on what they have done for you. You can do this yourself but time is money so if you have a little this is where I would spend it.

4- SEO: You can not have a website with out having it optimized for search engines. If you are planning a blog and you do not have SEO in your marketing plan then you are already going in the wrong direction. Again I outsource this on all my sites. I’ve found that there are people out there that have been doing this for years. I’ve done a lot of research and I’ve read a lot of books on this topic yet still I know I’m better off paying the pros. I’m an entrepreneur not a developer or a web marketing guru. As I post this article I will have about 20+ blogs up and running some of which I’m the only contributor (www.rcbryan.com) and other which are set-up for multi-contributors. In order to make all my blogs successful I outsource my SEO and I would be glad to share my partner company with you if you like.

One other aspect of SEO is to make sure that you use a service like WordPress which is optional built in SEO packages. These can make all the difference in the world when it comes to tagging your posts for maximum exposure.

5- Social Bookmarking: If you look at the bottom of this article you will see eight different social bookmarking programs. It is OK to bookmark your own posts. In fact if you are going to take the time to write a post then you better bookmark it! The more exposure you get for your articles the better. I’ve always had problems keeping up with this. The evidence is overwhelming that you have to do this. If you want your blog to go from 10 visits a day to 500 there is no easier way.

I by no means am trying to sell myself as an expert on this topic. I’ve spent about a year reading every possible book I can get my hands on. I’ve also put a lot of time developing a team of top notch developers, authors, marketing guru’s, and SEO guru’s. I’m happy to share my team with you if you can tell me you are ready to take your blog to the next level.

Check back to my blog in the coming months as I will be offering a free one year hosting package that includes blog design and set-up to correspond with the launching of my online consulting company.

Remember if you like what you’ve read show me you have.. bookmark this article!

What are the different types of business plans?

What are the different types of business plans?

If you like what you read please bookmark the article and subscribe to my blog.

In order to appreciate all that a business plan can do for you there needs to be an understanding of the different types of business plans. Many entrepreneurs cringe at the idea of writing a business plan. They think they are too hard, to long, and will take to much time. This often happens because entrepreneurs find resources like the SBA which lists a ton of needed info to prepare a plan. While you will not go wrong by following their guidelines you may actually be doing a lot more work then you need to. My guide is not like others. It is written specifically for the entrepreneur who is looking for a way to examine opportunities of all types.

I first want to define the criteria I’m going to use:

Effort: What I mean here is the amount of ‘research’ you will need to do in order to gather, organize, and present the information needed for your plan.

Effort – Min: In this case you will typically have all the needed information in your head or in your notes. There is little need for external research.

Effort- Mod: In this case you will typically have a general idea of the direction you want to take. You will use the internet to conduct much of your research. You may do some market, demographic, and competition analysis.

Effort-High: In this case you will utilize all available resources to gather the materials needed to present your plan. This may include hiring consultants, conducting surveys, traveling to visit competitors and/or potential clients. In most cases you will have your plan reviewed by industry experts before submitting it to its final recipient.

Work: This is more the amount of time and energy that you will invest in preparing your plan.

Work – Min: In many cases a full plan can be written in one day. You typically have all the needed information that just needs to be organized. If you start focused you can do this in one sitting. It is still recommended that you go through a review process before submitting this plan.

Work – Mod: This type of plan will typically be done in three separate parts. First, is the initial preparation of the plan. Second, will be a review/research process where you find supporting information and or market research. Last, will be a final review where you run the plan by other people to gain insight into its value before submitting it to its final destination.

Work – High: In this case you should expect to dedicate months to the preparation of your plan. If you do not have this time available you may have already been given a sign that the project is out of your reach. These types of plans include travel, third party vendors, multiple review phases, and intensive investment.

I’m going to give a brief introduction to each of these types of plans. I’m not saying there are not more types out there nor would I argue that others may define my types of plans differently. Theses are simply the types or plans that I use almost on an everyday bases.

Examination Plan: (Effort: Min – Work: Min – Length: 1-5pgs)
This should be done for EVERY idea you have. This may sound ridiculous to you now but I promise if you do this you will find that staying organized and motivated in much easier. This can be a simple sheet of paper where you write down your idea, you examine opportunities, estimate costs and profitability, and you determine the ideas over all feasibility. You are basically examining your idea from all of the basic aspects. I also recommend creating a file or find a shoe box where you put all of these ‘examination plans’ into. You never know when an opportunity will arrive where you can break out an old plan and capitalize on it.

Start-up Plan: (Effort: Moderate – Work: Min – Length: 2-20pgs)
This is the type of plan most entrepreneurs will have to deal with. This is a complete review of an idea that has made it through the examination plan. At this point you are going to break the plan into four parts; 1) Description of the business, 2) Marketing’ 3) Finances, 4) Management (you can read more about this part at http://rcbryan.com/?p=107). At this point you are going to start create a detailed plan for each of the main elements of a business plan.

Micro Venture Plan: (Effort: Moderate – Work: High – Length: 10-50pgs)
Micro Venture Plans are usually created for business ventures that call for less then $100,000 in initial investment. These plans are much more detailed then a start-up plan. If you know you are going to need funds from an investor it is recommended that you skip the start-up plan and go straight into the Micro Venture Plan. All investors are looking for a solid plan with a great deal of supporting information. You’ll need to not only include you idea. You will need a detailed history of your personal finances as well as a detailed description of you business experiences. This is the type of plan that is typically submitted to a bank, a Micro-VC Firm, and family/friends you are trying to get money from.

Worst Case Scenario Plan: (Effort: Moderate – Work: Moderate – Length: 2-10pgs)
I’ve always used this as a compliment to my business plans. Many people over look the value of this plan. Things that are examined in this plan are lease commitment break even points, back up plans for the loss of a primary client, regulatory changes, entrance of new competition, and many others. You basically sit and brainstorm about all the things that could possibly go wrong and then you work out scenarios of how you will handle each occurrence. Very few people do this but I highly recommend that you spend some time protecting all your bases.

Growth Plan: (Effort: Moderate – Work: Moderate – Length: 2-50pgs)
Growth plans are usually written for a preexisting business. They are an attempt to outline a possible opportunity. This can be entering into a new market segment or taking on a new client. By examining all elements of a possible new opportunity you will look to see your capabilities, the cost parameters, and the potential benefit of taking on the new venture. These types of plans can be a simple spread sheet to a detailed competition/market analysis. A little planning now will go a long ways in the future.

Internal Operational Plan: (Effort: Moderate – Work: Min – Length: 2-50pgs)
Most Internal Operational Plans are flow sheets. They typically outline a process that is not currently in use or is not currently working properly. Some may not consider this a ‘business plan’ but if you run a business and you have ever had to examine an internal process then you understand the importance of this tool. When preparing this plan you may use benchmarking, trial and error, or historical analysis to develop and implement changes to a current or new process.

Internal Expansion Plan: (Effort: Moderate – Work: Min – Length: 10-50pgs)
This plan often compliments a growth plan. When you plan for the external elements of a new deal you have to be sure you look inwards to your staff, office space, IT and phone expansion, and management. Many people take on new projects with the right front line people and forget to examine their middle management structure. This can often prove to be fatal to a new project. You should always have an eye on what your staffing levels would need to be in order to take on that next large client. You never know when they are going to knock on your door.

Full Business Plan for Investors: (Effort: High – Work: High – Length: 20-100+pgs)
This is the big daddy of all plans. I would recommend that before even consider doing a proposal this size that you have a working knowledge of more basic business types. A Full Business Plan can take months and even years to do. You’ll need to have the answer to every question a person could possibly ask before they even know they need to ask the question. Many Full Plans are multi-million dollar deals that require the participation of an organizations board, third party vendors/consultants, basically every thing except the kitchen sink. I could and maybe will type a whole post about this type of plan. For now I think you get the point.

Overview:
This is a brief introduction to the different types of business plans that you may encounter as an entrepreneur. Each is broken down with the amount of time and energy you will have to commit to the plan. It also gives a loose guideline to the needed length of the plan as well as the basic content of each type of plan.

What is in a business plan?

What is in a business plan?

If you like what you read please bookmark the article and subscribe to my blog!

I get asked all the time “what do I need to put into my business plan”. There is no simple answer to this question. Each business plan is written differently. I’ve personally written plans that are less then five pages and I have written plans that are well over 100 pages.

The first step in writing a plan is to consider your audience or who are you writing the plan for?

Examples:
Personal planning guide
Proposal to current employer
Proposal to potential investors
Basic business outline
Franchise licensing proposal
*There are many more

Once you have chosen your audience you need to know what needs to be included in the plan. This again reflects an understanding of who you are writing the proposal for and what they are hoping to see. I think the SBA has an excellent guide for this section so I’m not going to try and reinvent the wheel. I always recommend that anyone considering stating their own business visit the SBA SCORE Counselors. Their service is completely free so you can not go wrong here. Take a look at what they say you should put in your business plan.

This is from the SBA’s site

http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/plan/writeabusinessplan/SERV_WRRITINGBUSPLAN.html

What goes in a business plan? The body can be divided into four distinct sections:

1) Description of the business
2) Marketing
3) Finances
4) Management

Agenda should include an executive summary, supporting documents, and financial projections. Although there is no single formula for developing a business plan, some elements are common to all business plans. They are summarized in the following outline:

Elements of a Business Plan
1. Cover sheet
2. Statement of purpose
3. Table of contents

I. The Business
A. Description of business
B. Marketing
C. Competition
D. Operating procedures
E. Personnel
F. Business insurance

II. Financial Data
A. Loan applications
B. Capital equipment and supply list
C. Balance sheet
D. Breakeven analysis
E. Pro-forma income projections (profit & loss statements)
F. Three-year summary
G. Detail by month, first year
H. Detail by quarters, second and third years
I. Assumptions upon which projections were based
J. Pro-forma cash flow

III. Supporting Documents
A. Tax returns of principals for last three years Personal financial
statement (all banks have these forms)
B. For franchised businesses, a copy of franchise contract and all
supporting documents provided by the franchisor
C. Copy of proposed lease or purchase agreement for building space
D. Copy of licenses and other legal documents
E. Copy of resumes of all principals
F. Copies of letters of intent from suppliers, etc.

Now you do not need to use each and every part of the above outline. You need to gauge what you write to the expectations of those that will read the plan. I usually tell my clients that the more funding you are looking for the more complex your plan needs to be. If you are trying to get a $5000 loan from the bank you may only need a few of the above sections. If you are seeking $1M from a Venture Capital Fund then you may need even more then what is listed above. Your proposal needs to be relative to what you are trying to do.