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[melvinfeller]

How to be Truly Thankful -Ponder This By Melvin Feller

The following is something to ponder if you don’t know what to be thankful for.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep … you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace … you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness … you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation… you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church or synagogue meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death … you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If your parents are still alive and still married … you are very rare, even in the United States.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful … you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder … you are blessed because you can offer a healing touch.

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

Now isn’t that something to ponder about?

[melvinfeller]

Melvin Feller MA Illustrates How You Can Buy Any Business

According to Melvin Feller MA, if you’re thinking about running your own business, especially in buying a company that’s already established may be a lot less work than starting from scratch. However, you will need to put time and effort into finding the business that’s right for you.

This article was written by Melvin Feller MA in order to take you through the steps of buying an existing business, including how to assess and value a business, your obligations to any existing staff and where you can get professional help.

Actually, there are advantages and disadvantages of buying an existing business and If you get it right, there can be many good reasons why buying an existing business could be the right move for you. Remember though, that you will be taking on the legacy of the business’ previous owner, and need to be aware of every aspect of the business you’re about to buy.

Advantages:

According to Melvin Feller MA, it may be easier for you to get finance as the business will have a proven track record. A market for the product or service will have already been demonstrated.

There may be established customers, a reliable income, a reputation to capitalize and build on, and a useful network of contacts.

A business plan and marketing method should already be in place.

Existing employees should have experience you can draw on.

Many of the problems will have been discovered and solved already.

You can always re-sell the business.

Disadvantages:

Melvin Feller Discusses Starting Your Business. Melvin Feller Talks Buying a Business.

You often need to invest a large amount up front, and will also have to budget for professional fees for solicitors, surveyors, accountants, etc. If the business has been neglected you may need to invest quite a bit more on top of the purchase price to give it the best chance of success. You will need to honor or renegotiate any outstanding contracts the previous owner has in place.

Deciding on the right type of business to buy: .Ideally your business needs to fit your own skills, lifestyle and aspirations. Before you start looking, think about what you can bring to a business and what you’d like to get back. List what is important to you. It is useful to consider: Your expectations in terms of earning — what level of profit do you need to be looking for to accommodate your needs?

Your commitment— are you prepared for all the hard work and money that you will need to put into the business to get it to succeed? Your strengths — what kind of business opportunity will give you the chance to put your skills and experience to good use? The type of business —limited company, partnership etc. — that you’re interested in buying. The business sector you’re interested in — learn as much as you can about your chosen industry so you can compare different businesses. It’s important to take the time to talk to people already in similar businesses. Location — but don’t restrict your search to your local area. Some businesses can be easily relocated. Where to look for a business to buy: Many national and local newspapers carry advertisements for businesses and business locations or lots. Depending on what sector you’re interested in, you could look in trade journals. Or put in your own advertisement, saying what you are looking for. You can get contact details for most newspapers, magazines and trade journals from press directories available on the internet. Melvin Feller Recommends Being Your Own Boss. Some magazines, many of them with their own websites, specialize in buying and selling property and businesses. Of course, do not forget Realtors who use their publications and websites like loopnet.com, Crexi.com, Showcase.com, as well as Marcusmillichap.com and get familiar with their websites, including Craigslist and eBay. How to value a business: Understandably, how to value a business is often the most worrying part of buying a new business. Remember, though, that what a business is worth to you will not be the same as it is to someone else with a different set of priorities and objectives. To get a general idea of how healthy the business is, look at: the history of the business its current performance (sales, turnover, profit) its financial situation (cash flow, debts, expenses, assets) and why the business is being sold The following list of questions will help you discover possible areas where you could financially get hurt. How healthy is the business? Stock: How much is there? What condition is it in? Assets: Does the asking price take into account depreciation? Is anything leased or currently being purchased? Intangible assets: How much goodwill comes with the business? Melvin Feller Talks Valuing Your Business. Are any trademarks registered? Products: What are the profit margins on each product or service? Which products or services account for the majority of sales? Licenses: Which ones are required to conduct business? Are there any outstanding issues with the licenses? Debts: How old are the debts? Which debtors owe the most? Creditors: What does the business owe? What is the credit history like? Suppliers: What are their prices? What’s their credit policy? Employees: Is the business adequately staffed? Is it over-staffed? Do all employees have the necessary skills? Do all of the employees have the necessary equipment to do their job safely? Premises: Do they need refurbishing? Are they leased or company owned? Competition What percentage of the market do the competitors have? Valuation methods: Your accountant can advise on how to put a specific value on the business and do the actual calculations. You can then decide how much you want to offer, or if you want to buy it at all. If you do decide to make an offer, the research you do now will be completely verifiable once you’ve agreed a purchase price and terms with the seller. Make sure the business is worth buying by doing your due diligence: Having done your research, it is important to verify the information you now have. A period of time is allowed for you to access the business’ books and records in order to verify that all of the information that you have discovered up to now is accurate, and this is known as due diligence period. It should give you a realistic picture of how the business is performing now and how it is likely to perform in the future. When to begin due diligence. Don’t start due diligence until you’ve agreed to a price and terms with the seller. For a down payment they may agree to take the business off the market during your investigation. The investigation period is negotiable — but most small businesses need at least three to six weeks. Where to get help You should get accountants and attorneys to help you identify various risk areas but you can also get information about companies directly from the internet. Remember, due diligence is much more than the finances of a business. You need to come out of this period knowing exactly what you are getting yourself into, what needs to be fixed, what the costs are to fix them and if you are the right person to take over this business. Key areas to cover are: Melvin Feller MA Discusses Valuation Methods. employment terms and conditions outstanding litigation major contracts and orders IT systems and other technology environmental issues commercial management including customer service, research and development, and marketing Information sources Dig as deeply as you can and use whatever documents are available. For instance, if you’re looking at employee records, you could check out: payroll records staff files copy of retirement and profit-sharing plans plus financial statements, if relevant employment contracts the staff manual union contracts, if relevant you may also need information from external sources such as the landlord, tax office or bank. A step-by-step process on how to buy a business Get professional advice Professional help is invaluable as you go through the negotiation, valuation and purchase process. You may find it useful to contact the professional organizations to get advice and help on finding a lawyer or an accountant. Research Research the business sector you’re interested in, including the best time to buy. Shortlist two or three businesses. Make sure a business is worth buying: conduct due diligence and verify any information you have been given. As well as checks on the business, your attorney will conduct searches in order to verify relevant licenses etc. If you’re planning to arrange a loan, the lender will insist on carrying out their own survey and valuation at your expense, but you may want to pay for an additional independent survey and valuation. Initial viewing and valuation Be discreet — the owner may not want staff to know they are selling, but be thorough and record key findings. Arrange finance Lenders generally require: details of the business/sales particulars accounts for the last three years financial projections even if no accounts are available details of your personal assets and liabilities Make a formal offer If you make your initial offer by phone, follow this up in writing. Head your letter subject to contract and include this phrase in all written communication. Negotiation Before completing the sale, try to negotiate an overlap period so you have time to become familiar with the business before taking over. Record all the main point agreed. Completion Even after you reach an agreement on the price and terms of sale, the deal could still fall through. You have to meet certain conditions of sale to complete, including: verification of financial statements transfer of leases transfer of contracts/licenses transfer of finance Looking after existing employees: There are regulations that govern what happens to employees when someone new takes over a business. These apply to all employees when a business is transferred as a going concern, meaning employees automatically start working for the new owner under the same terms and conditions. For more information, check on your responsibilities to employees if you buy or sell a business. Inform and consult employees If you do want to discuss reducing numbers of employees or reorganizing the staff it’s a good idea to do this once you’ve completed the due diligence period, but before you take over the business. As the new employer you should inform and consult all employees — including employee representatives — who may be affected. Employee Retirement Plans As their new employer, you do not have to take over rights and obligations relating to employees’ retirement plans put in place by the previous employer. However, if you don’t provide comparable retirement plan arrangements, you could theoretically face a claim for unfair dismissal. Related guides on www.USA.gov: Buy an existing business or franchise www.sba.gov/business-guide/plan-your-business/buy-existing-business-or-franchise Franchising or buying an existing business can simplify the initial planning process. Starting a business from scratch can be challenging. Franchising ... Help Buying a New Home | USAGov - Official Guide to ... www.usa.gov/buying-home Your qualifications to buy a HUD home depend on your credit score, ability to get a mortgage, and the amount of your cash down payment. You can also ... Buying a Business - Small Business Administration Melvin Feller Believes that Employees add to the Bottom Line. www.sba.gov/course/buying-business The process of buying a business and resources to help decide if buying a business is right for you. The process of buying a business and resources to ... Choose your business name www.sba.gov/business-guide/launch-your-business/choose-your-business-name You can find the right business name with creativity and market research. Once you’ve picked your name, you should protect it by registering it with ... Professional and occupational licenses - Wisconsin DNR dnr.wi.gov/Permits/professionalicenses.html Professional and occupational licenses. First time applicants must submit their applications directly to DNR. Renewal licenses can be obtained from ... Start A Small Business - San Antonio www.sanantonio.gov/SBO/Start-A-Small-Business FROM START-UP TO BIG SUCCESS. The City of San Antonio's Small Business Office makes it easy for your start-up to grow into a big success. Take ... Oregon Secretary of State: Starting a Business sos.oregon.gov/business/Pages/starting-business.aspx The How to Start a Business in Oregon guide (PDF) provides a checklist to guide you through the process of registering your business. 2. Create a ... Women-owned businesses - Small Business Administration www.sba.gov/business-guide/grow-your-business/women-owned-businesses The SBA helps women entrepreneurs launch new businesses and compete in the marketplace. Connect with the training and funding opportunities ... Veteran-owned businesses www.sba.gov/business-guide/grow-your-business/veteran-owned-businesses The SBA offers support for veterans as they enter the world of business ownership. Look for funding programs, training, and federal contracting ... Market research and competitive analysis www.sba.gov/business-guide/plan-your-business/market-research-competitive-analysis Market research helps you find customers for your business. Competitive analysis helps you make your business unique. Combine them to find a ... [PDF] How to Grow Your BUSINESS - Small Business Administration www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/resourceguide_3158.pdf Welcome to the 2019-2020 edition of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Wisconsin Small Business Resource Guide. The SBA helps make the American ... Finance Your Business | USAGov - Official Guide to ... www.usa.gov/funding-options Finance Your Business. Explore the variety of government-backed loans and funding programs for your business. Small Business Loans. Government loan ... [PDF] Home Buyer’s Guide - Ohio Department of Commerce www.com.ohio.gov/documents/real_HomeBuyersGuide.pdf Home Buyer’s Guide How to Make the Most of Your Home Buying Experience. ... ensure that they conduct their business in a legal and ethical manner. The ... [PDF] CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES 2020 www.medicare.gov/Pubs/pdf/02110-medicare-medigap-guide.pdf Who should read this guide? This guide can help if you’re thinking about buying a Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) policy or already have one ... State and Territory Business Resources | USAGov www.usa.gov/state-business/puerto-rico Open a Business. Learn what it takes to start a business in Puerto Rico. Start a Business in Puerto Rico. Expand or Relocate a Business in Puerto Rico ... Checklist for Starting a Business | Internal Revenue Service www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/checklist-for-starting-a-business Each state has additional requirements for starting and operating a business. For information regarding state-level requirements for starting a ... Small Business Administration www.sba.gov/business-guide The SBA connects entrepreneurs with lenders and funding to help them plan, start and grow their business. We support America's small businesses. The ... A Consumer’s Guide to Buying a Franchise | Federal Trade ... www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/consumers-guide-buying-franchise Will you need the franchisor’s ongoing training, advertising or other help to remain in business? Will you have access to the same suppliers? Could ... Buy assets and equipment - Small Business Administration www.sba.gov/business-guide/manage-your-business/buy-assets-equipment Your business will need special assets and equipment to succeed. Figure out which assets you need, how to pay for them, and whether you should buy ... Starting a Business Checklist | California Secretary of State www.sos.ca.gov/business-programs/business-entities/starting-business-checklist/ The “Starting a New Business in California” brochure should be used as a general tool to help you broadly assess how to start a business in ...

[melvinfeller]

Melvin Feller Business Group a Business Consultants Company Based in Texas and Why They Recommend Working with Consultants, Any Good Business Consultant.

Melvin Feller almost never uses the word “problem”; instead, he and his company talk about opportunities in order, Feller points out, to enhance value. Ask any consultant what they do, and they’ll likely say “I’m in the solutions business.” Despite criticism that’s sometimes leveled at business consultants, they truly can add value to company, but you need to know when and why to use them. In order to fully get value, you need to know the problems that need to be solved. There is a massive range of business issues that consultants can deliver solutions for, and different types of consultants bring different philosophies and concepts to the table.

It is interesting to note that, consultants come in many forms and skill sets. Here are just a few:

Types of Consultants

Business consultants can generally add value in five major areas of your business:

Management and strategy. Qualified consultants should have a deep understanding of your particular market and bring the best practices from your industry (or even other industries) to your company. If you’re looking to expand your markets geographically, extend your product portfolio, reorganize your middle market company to promote efficiency and cost-effectiveness, buy out a smaller competitor, or increase your overall capabilities, then hiring an experienced management/strategy consultant can make perfect sense.

Operations. Want to improve the quality and efficiency of your production processes? An operations consultant can help you create and implement a new way of doing just that. Many consultants specialize in business process re-engineering, meaning that they come in and map out your existing processes, analyze opportunities for reducing the number of steps in that process while maintaining quality, and re-engineer your processes in a way that reduces steps and costs. Other consultants are experts in quality control systems and can help you make changes that will reduce defects.

HR. If you’re a company needs to improve the overall satisfaction of your employees, recruit top talent, and retain your top performers? Many of these consultants specialize in developing compensation strategies that align with your overall business goals, training, and developing your people in areas such as business communication and leadership. They can help you improve performance-related feedback and evaluation to your team, making your employees work smarter.

Marketing. Whether you need a new logo for your company, a new market position for one of your brands, or a new social media strategy to interact with your customers, marketing consultants can help. Consultants can offer you a creative spark when your employees have run out of ideas, letting you see what other companies have done to attract more customers.

Reasons for Hiring a Consultant such as Melvin Feller Business Group

Now that you know the major types of consultants, why would you need to hire one? Here are five common reasons:

Rent a brain. You don’t have the human resources you need because some internal person has quit or your head count has been slashed, so hiring a consultant for a project or on a temporary basis can fill the gap until a full-time internal person is found. You won’t have to make a consultant a full-time employee, so breaking off the relationship is relatively easy and cost-effective.

Change Management. Many business consultants are experts at fostering change in organizations, so if your midsized company is extensive with internal squabbling concerning imminent changes, bringing in a consultant can break that logjam. The majority of consultants know that they’re often brought in for political cover and will often shoulder the blame for unpopular changes such as reducing head count and other cost-cutting measures. This is normal process.

Teach and Implement best practices. Often consultants are the leading experts in the fields they work in. They not only have academic and theoretical expertise, but they’ve also worked directly with leading companies to implement change. If you want best practices in areas such as IT and management, then consultants are the best source available. Why try to invent a best practice when consultants have already implemented with multiple clients?

Permeate Creativity. Consultants have a fresh perspective on your business, so having an outsider come in and offer ideas can be tremendously helpful. Sometimes your in-house people are too close to your company and don’t have the perspective to examine the bigger picture within your market, but consultants can share valuable insights that boost your internal creative thinking.

Training Deliver. You can hire a consultant to share knowledge about almost anything. Consultants are born trainers, so they’re a natural choice to do a training course or day-long presentation for your company in almost any area. A good consultant blends theory and practice, and this can deliver high value to your mid-market company.

Melvin Feller Business Consultants is also proud to offer this step by step checklist for becoming a business consultant.

Here is a list of things to consider when you are starting or growing your consulting business practice:

Start with your skills. You cannot be an effective consultant if you don’t bring value to the small business owner. Be relentless in your ongoing education. You become more in-demand and can charge higher fees based on the your wider the extent of knowledge and expertise.

Create and Maintain an experience level. It’s rare that a business owner will entrust their business to a business consultant who has never owned a business before, or to a consultant who doesn’t have a high level of expertise in a specific topic area. An expert is defined as having 10,000 plus hours of experience with the topic they claim as their expertise. If you use a traditional 40-hour workweek as your ruler, that means you need at least 5 years’ full-time experience with your business subject matter in order to call yourself an expert.

Always Know Your Why. Before you get down to the nitty-gritty of designing your business and getting clients, figure out why you want to be a business consultant, and why you want to help these owners. Why this specific target audience? What is your motivation? Knowing this will keep you going when you hit the inevitable speed bumps along the way to building your business and serving your clients.

Determine Your own Definition of Success. Keep your eye on the target. The definition of success differs from person to person. Take some time to visualize all the ways that a successful consulting practice will manifest in your personal and professional life.

Develop and Create a Business Plan. Go through all the same steps you would go through with a client, and work on your own business model design. Things to consider: what legal format you’ll use, what are your mission and vision statements, what are your offerings, your pricing and profit models. Include the resources you will need to succeed, like money, time, skills/knowledge, equipment, and people resources. Set goals and milestones for the next 1 year, 3 years and 5 years.

Develop and Create a Marketing Plan. There are countless consultants out there. How will you be remarkable and stand out from the crowd? How will you connect with your audience and build rapport and trust? Will you use traditional marketing techniques only, or combine traditional and internet marketing? Which of the 100+ available techniques will bring the best results? How much will you invest in marketing (in both time and money)? What are the goals of your marketing?

Study Coaching and Mentoring Skills. You will be working with human beings who have their own set of strengths and weaknesses. Learn deep listening skills and how to ask meaningful questions to get clarity and provide focus. Learn how to hold clients accountable for implementing their action plans, and how to deal with difficult client situations. You’ll find that you work as much with the business owner’s mindset as you do with the practical logistics of running a business.

Choose Your Niche. Determine if your specialty requires you to have a license or certification such as financial and tax advisors, legal advisors, insurance advisors. Will you focus on a niche area, like email marketing strategies, or will you be an expert who can help clients with a wide range of challenges and projects? Will you work with a particular size business based on number of employees or revenue? Will you work only with local clients, or will your consulting business be national/international?

Decide if you are going to advise them, or do the work for them. Some consultants are more like mentors and advisors, who work with the small business owner to do planning and strategy work. Other small business consultants provide a specific service as a sub-contractor, to augment the client’s staff such as part-time CFOs, website designers, and copywriters.

Learn the problems that most small business owners have and formulate a strategy to define and solve those problems. Use readily available strategies, tools and assessments to help solve these problems, or create strategies of your own. Consider putting together your own consultant’s toolkit.

Deeply understand the seven areas of a business model to help your clients in the areas that are causing the most damage or have the best return on investment if they make a change.

Systemize your own business so that you have maximum efficiency. Use templates, automation and sales scripts. Take time early in the setup of your business to create these systems to free up your time and attention for more important tasks. Hint: you’ll then teach these efficiencies to your clients.

Get help with the administrative and marketing work. Outsource the tasks that you do not want to do, that you are not an expert in, or that take away from your revenue-generating time.

Get your ego out of the way. While your work can and should be meaningful to you, you are not a consultant to pump up your own ego. You are a consultant to serve your clients. You are going to advise them, help them to determine the pros and cons of each course of action, and then allow them to make their own decisions. You cannot stop them from making unwise decisions or from not following through on an implementation plan. Equally, if your client has a big win, it may be partly due to your advice, but much of the praise needs to go to your client for making it happen. Decide in advance what a “successful client engagement” means to you.

Be honest about your own areas of personal development. No one is perfect. Sometimes we procrastinate. Sometimes we get distracted. Sometimes we let anger or fear get the better of us. Sometimes we don’t communicate as well as we could. Discover your weaknesses and either learn how to overcome them, or hire staff to help deflect them.

Choose marketing techniques that bring qualified leads to the sales conversation. Track your marketing relentlessly. If your marketing isn’t bringing the desired results, revamp it. Do not choose marketing techniques because they are a hot trend if they don’t bring in leads or help build your brand recognition.

Learn problem solving, decision making, project management, and time management skills. These four skills will provide the backbone of the assistance you will offer clients and help you run your own business successfully.

Learn from the masters. Why re-invent the wheel? You can discover savvy shortcuts by paying attention to the leading consultants in your industry. In any small business consulting niche there are always several people who have risen to the top of their profession. Study their offerings, their marketing methods, the way they run their businesses, and the way they work with clients. Determine if those methods would serve you and your clients, too.

The right background for the consultant you select depends on your industry and your needs. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that consultants can be management (business), scientific or technical. If you want someone to help your company develop new proprietary software or computer-based workflow, you may want to engage a technical consultant. But outside of specific needs, companies usually work with management consultants when they want to improve their bottom line, customer satisfaction or employee morale.

Regardless of the type of consultant you work with, their background is critical. It helps you understand how likely they are to improve your business. Here’s what to consider when reviewing potential consultants:

Do they have hands-on experience? This can be especially important in the business world. If someone came directly out of college labeling themselves as a consultant, do they really know anything more than you do? Consider looking for consultants who have successfully owned or run small businesses, enterprise organizations or specific departments.

Is their experience applicable? A former bank CEO may seem impressive, but do they have the knowledge and experience to turn your cupcakery into a profitable small business? They might, but if you’re also considering a former restaurant owner who now makes a living successfully helping small eateries grow, this consultant may be a better match for your business. Look for consultants who have worked in your industry and with businesses that match yours in style, size, needs and goals.

What’s their track record with consulting? You don’t just want a consultant who has the right experience; you want a consultant who has demonstrated success with companies like yours. Ask for a portfolio or list of brands the consultant has worked for, and request references. Look for a consultant who has helped businesses overcome the types of challenges you’re facing or who has grown businesses very similar to yours, and reach out to those companies to find out if they were satisfied with the services.

The bottom line is that you cannot depend on your consultant for ever, and, once they leave, your team members will need to take responsibility for the project. Your team members will be the ones fixing problems or making adjustments in the future, so they must understand the consultant’s work, and develop the skills that they will need to continue it.

Include developing a knowledge management plan in your consultant’s tasks, and involve members of your team to ensure that this plan is a success. Make sure that the consultant cross-trains the members of your team on their techniques and their approach.

Build a knowledge transfer process into the project, to ensure that you are not caught out when your consultant finishes. The earlier this process begins, the more questions your team members can ask, and the more skills and knowledge they will gain.

It is essential to remember that consultants are professionals who provide short-term expert help and advice in a particular fields or industries. They have high levels of expertise and they can work differently to the rest of your team.

The key to working successfully with them is to be clear about expectations and deliverables. This includes monitoring the scope of the project: be aware that projects and budgets can grow, and that consultants may encourage this!

Any time you find yourself working with consultants, you must give detailed instructions, clear feedback, and the resources they need to work efficiently. Always, work to maintain positive relationships between them and their permanent co-workers.

By following these guidelines, you and your company will continue to maximize every opportunity and employee to the maxim thereby increasing your brand awareness and your bottom line.

[melvinfeller]

Marketing — Getting the biggest bang for Your Buck as Discussed by Melvin Feller MA, MBA

According to Melvin Feller, MBA and business owner as well as an online educator, marketing is an ever-changing, sometimes elusive activity. Even the marketing experts are continually tweaking their strategies in order to remain focused on attracting the customers they want. So, what should typical small business owners do, whose expertise is in delivering the product or service they started the business for?

First, understand that marketing is simply the message you send out to connect with people who want what you sell. Communicating this message is actually easier than creating the message itself. And herein lies the problem. Most business owners focus exclusively on the type of transmission vehicle that carries the message instead of crafting a compelling message that entices their customers to want to do business with them. When this happens, most marketing programs are equally as effective and tend to deliver the same poor results.

 Melvin Feller teaches and analysis marketing messages and believes that the fact is, that business have an identical marketing weakness as do most industries where there are tons of competitors with virtually no obvious differentiation.

Most competitors’ web sites or marketing messages make the same-sounding claims, describe the same-sounding services, and make same-sounding lead generation offers.

Some try to break from the pack by making either of the three big marketing mistakes:

Mistake 1: Boasting about leadership. “We’re the leader in…” Even if it’s true, unless you’re a household name it sounds fake, and no one cares except your CEO. It’s not a key differentiation point.

Mistake 2: Making up terminology to describe yourself. “We use the unique A.B.C. process to…” If prospects never heard of it, they don’t care. They are not here to learn about you — they just want to know if you can solve their particular problem.

Mistake 3: Broad customer description. “Everyone from the Fortune 500 to small businesses use our services.” Prospects don’t think of themselves as generic (even if they are), so they don’t want to buy generic services even if it would suit them.

Melvin Feller’s bottom line advice is to focus your positioning on the customer — not yourself!

Feller recommends that you start by reviewing what you have received for the money you have spent on marketing programs. While every business has unique qualities that may favor particular approaches, here are some of the more common forms of marketing and some tips on how to evaluate their effectiveness.

Local phone books- Most of these directories have been replaced by more robust on-line services. Still, a tremendous number of businesses continue to advertise in ‘yellow page’ style books. Look at the section of the book you occupy. Based on competition, the size you select and cost you agree to pay, the listing should be big enough to have one main message plus contact information. Anything more and the cost associated with it can be put to better use.

Newspaper ads- Unless you do a substantial volume business or rely on holidays for the majority of your business, forget them. The cost grossly outweighs the benefit.

 Coupon mailers- These vehicles are acceptable for car washes, haircuts and pizza but not much else. Most people don’t even open the envelops and if they do, they usually don’t look through more than 4–5 on the top. In any case, the coupon redemption is less than 1% so figure out how much you will pay to get 2–3 people to call you.

Online local listings- Several companies sell services to place you in all local listings for an ongoing monthly fee of anywhere from $99 to $499. If you have the know-how, you can do 90% of this yourself and save some money.

Door flyers- Most of the cost of this promotional approach is in the cost of delivering the flyers. They can be very effective if combined with something free. Real estate agents do very well by advertising themselves on pads of paper. This way, your name stays in front of your prospect for some period of time.

Mobile Text Messaging- A relatively new advertising medium, this service sends text promotions and offers to people who sign up using a text message code. They can work very well for low cost purchases or time specific offers like free sodas with any sub during the lunch hour. Other than that, I predict this program will fade as people will tire of getting ads sent to their phones.

Radio- Broad reaching but can be expensive. Depending on the time slots, you may or may not even be talking to your potential customers. All times are not equal so ask lots of questions about the schedule you buy into.

Billboards- Predominantly dependent on your message and the location. Unless your business has a visual component, I would pass on this sort of advertising.

Networking events- An excellent way to build visibility and referrals but it can be time consuming. You may need to test a few different groups to see which ones attract the types of referral partners and customers you are looking for. For most quality networking groups, look at WWW.meetup.com

Websites- One of the single biggest marketing expenses for a small business, your content, appearance and functionality must all work together or your designer and hosting costs are going down the drain every month.

Be very critical of your returns with any of these marketing approaches. If you are spending $500 to $2,500 per month on a variety of programs, make sure you can message the business you get with the right message. If the return is poor, cancel the agreement.

[melvinfeller]

Melvin Feller MA Explains How to Knowingly Choosing A Positive Attitude in Life

After 35 years in the trenches and years of personal research, Melvin Feller MA, has proven that it is important to realize that you determine your reality by the way you respond to the outside world. When something transpires, you get to select whether it’s a positive or negative experience and therefore react accordingly.

Melvin Feller is a public Speaker, Author and Business Owner who strives to motivate, uplift, and inspire you to make your dreams a reality. He is the Founder and CEO of Melvin Feller Business Group to help you on your journey. He has presented both locally and internationally!

Do you knowingly choose your attitude each day? If you’re like most people, probably not. Most of us tend to allow our circumstances determine our attitude for us. We’re in a good mood as long as we get up on time, the boss cooperates and get to work on time, or our workload is manageable, etc. This system can work fine as long as everything runs smoothly in our lives and according to our plans.

But that’s not always the case in life, is it? Circumstances don’t always adhere to our expectations. Accidents and delays happen. Spouses and bosses can be difficult to please. Vehicles break down. What happens to our attitude then? If we don’t make the effort to knowingly choose a positive attitude, we run the risk of developing a negative attitude at random.

How would our lives change if we knowingly chose a positive attitude each day? For starters, we’d feel much happier about our lives. We’d feel more motivated about pursuing our dreams because we’d believe in the possibilities for making them a reality. We’d be able to enjoy the time spent with our friends and families more, because we’d want to share our joy with others. We’d feel strong and empowered in our ability to do anything we set our minds to. We’d be able to overcome challenges with ease because we’d have a strong belief in our own skills and abilities. We would be able to love deeply and completely without fear of rejection or treachery. We would pause to enjoy the smaller, more precious moments in life, without feeling pressured to do more, be more, or prove our worthiness.

Wow, it sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Is it really possible to feel that way all the time? Yes, but probably not in the way you’re imagining it. Just because we select a positive attitude doesn’t mean that our lives will transform into smoothly-flowing works of ease and stay that way forever. Choosing a positive attitude is a process. We don’t just choose it once and expect everything to be perfect from that moment on. We will always experience setbacks, delays, accidents, frustrations, arguments, fatigue, and fears. The secret is how we select to react to these experiences. Do we want to let them ruin our day, or do we select to pick ourselves up and look hopefully to the future again? We do have the power to knowingly choose.

You may be asking what the point of a positive attitude is. If we’ll still experience negative circumstances, why bother with selecting a positive attitude? However, that’s the true beauty of the creative process. What we choose to focus on the most, we create in our lives.

By choosing a positive attitude each day, we are actually attracting more positive experiences, and reducing the probability of negative experiences. You may have noticed that each experience often determines the quality of the next experience, causing a chain reaction in our lives. If one little thing goes wrong, it can throw off our plans for the rest of the day. In this setting, it’s easy to see how a positive attitude would be powerful. Rather than allowing one little thing to ruin our day, we would be able to shrug it off and continue on without a missing a step.

Over time, this resiliency begins to strengthen and empower us, which will show through in our demeanor. We begin attracting people and experiences that more closely match our attitude, and our lives eventually transform into more confident, satisfying expressions of joy.

And it all begins with a little thing called attitude! Again, this is a process, so go easy on yourself if you’re trying to adopt a more positive attitude. Simply focus on developing a stronger awareness of your attitude moment to moment in your daily experiences, and begin choosing a more positive one more often. It takes time to realize the full benefits of this type of mindset, but it is time well-spent.

Before you know it, you’ll be one of those people you used to respect and appreciate for their tenacity and their strength, and in return your life will change in astonishing ways.