Recent Articles From EvanCarmichael.com http://www.evancarmichael.com/ http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Mergers-and-Acquisitions--a-sellers-guide-for-SMEs.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Mergers-and-Acquisitions--a-sellers-guide-for-SMEs.html Selling a company is an exciting, challenging and rewarding task; the culmination of the even greater challenge of preparing a company for sale, so that the maximum asset value can be realised. To help you rise to that challenge this article looks at the reasons to sell, the different approaches to selling, how to go about finding a buyer and some of the main issues you need to consider. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Mergers-and-Acquisitions--a-buyers-guide-for-SMEs.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Mergers-and-Acquisitions--a-buyers-guide-for-SMEs.html Taking a look at the things you must consider when buying a company, in particular; why you should considering buying, how you will fund the acquisition, the process to be used, and the issues to be considered once the deal is done. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Mergers-and-Acquisitions--a-guide-for-SMEs.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Mergers-and-Acquisitions--a-guide-for-SMEs.html This is the first of three articles which taken together will provide a high level guide for anyone wishing to make an acquisition or to dispose of their own company through a sale. This article deals with the overall strategy of Sale, Acquisition &Merger and where it should fit within the wider strategy for your company. The next article will look at the issues for you as a buyer and the process used to acquire and the final article will look at the issues for you as a seller and how to go about finding a buyer. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/GotoMarket-model--the-value-chain.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/GotoMarket-model--the-value-chain.html Perhaps the most critical performance factor for any business is its ability to produce a reliable and predictable flow of new and repeat business, sufficient to deliver the financial goals within the business plan. If you’ve followed this series of articles, I hope that by now you will see how market focus, prospecting, creating customers and creating, identifying & pursuing opportunities all contribute to creating a solid foundation on which to build a reliable, predictable sales pipeline. What does matter is that you have available to you the means of determining the future. As Peter Drucker once said “the best way to predict the future is to create it”. So, how much more business might you get if you use the process outlined in previous articles before starting the Opportunity Pursuit process? http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Opportunity-Pursuit--part-3-keeping-a-finger-on-the-pulse.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Opportunity-Pursuit--part-3-keeping-a-finger-on-the-pulse.html As stated previously, opportunity pursuit is different and separate from the creation of customers; it is driven by a process which draws on information gathered earlier and continually evaluates the health & development of an opportunity right up until the contract is secured. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Opportunity-Pursuit--part-2-making-sales.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Opportunity-Pursuit--part-2-making-sales.html Getting over excited that there is an opportunity to bid can be dangerous as it could distort your objectivity. This article identifies key factors in mounting the response. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Opportunity-Pursuit--part-1-identifying-or-creating.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Opportunity-Pursuit--part-1-identifying-or-creating.html Too many interactions between suppliers and buyers are based on individual transactions involving the supplier re-acting to a stated requirement. This serves neither the supplier nor the buyer as the result is invariably a price driven solution with little or no consideration for the added value that could be available or for the potential benefits of a more solid relationship designed to deliver benefits way beyond the single one-off transaction. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Market-Focus--taking-the-proposition-to-market.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Market-Focus--taking-the-proposition-to-market.html Identifying the optimum routes to your market and ensuring you have the right mix of routes for your proposition and target market are an important part of business planning. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Do-you-need-more-business---The-big-picture.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Do-you-need-more-business---The-big-picture.html Perhaps the most critical performance factor for any business is its ability to produce a reliable and predictable flow of new and repeat business, sufficient to deliver the financial goals within the business plan. Many businesses find themselves in the position of looking at the most recent month or quarter and wondering what happened. It doesn’t matter what has already happened, it’s now too late to change it. What does matter is that you have the means of determining the future. During the 30 years that I have been building and running successful businesses for myself, I have always ensured that above all I had in place a robust, fully integrated selling function; production, delivery, HR, etc. can wait because, if you cannot create enough customers to buy at the right price, then you don’t have a viable business. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Creating-Customers--plan-the-relationship.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/483/Creating-Customers--plan-the-relationship.html To create customers; meaningful mutually beneficial relationships, requires time, effort and commitment from both sides. They must see you as a company that can cure problems for them and that they can trust to deliver. That way, they will want to use you and will have reasons to keep you informed of future needs that you can help to satisfy. The relationship creation process needs to be driven by the supplier, involving the creation of well designed plans, which are then implemented and executed by experienced sales people.