Building a Strong Brand: What Do Your Customers Say About YOU?
What do your customers/clients say about your or your company when you’re not around?
What do the employees say about you or your company when you’re not around?
Those things represent your external and internal brands, says brand guru Skot Waldron, and they can help or hurt you. Waldron spoke on June 30 to the Georgia Association of Business Brokers about building brand loyalty.
At the end of the day, we all crave loyalty, Waldron says. We want loyalty from our family members, loyalty from our customers, loyalty from employees, and loyalty from the companies we dedicate ourselves to. Your brand is typically associated with how you appear on the outside and how you communicate your value to the world. Skot pushes this idea by saying your brand starts on the inside and drives what’s on the outside.
Things that hurt your internal brand:
- Generic vision/mission/values that inspires no one.
- No self-awareness.
- Fear/manipulation
- Passive aggressiveness
- Misalignment
- You aren’t consistent in your communication.
You damage your external brand by:
- Treating marketing as an expense vs. an investment.
- Staying busy with day-to-day tactics instead of focusing on a strategy.
- Not differentiating your product or service.
- Not knowing how to clearly and confidently talk about your product or service.
- Being inconsistent and lacking a cohesive message
that resonates with people.
Skot recommends that entrepreneurs and small business people should ask trusted colleagues these questions: What five words would you use to
describe me/my business? What are my/our top 3 strengths? What are my/our top 3 weaknesses?
Listen to Skot’s presentation here.
Skot’s PPT Presentation “Why People Aren’t Loyal to Your Brand & What to Do About It,” is linked here:Why People Aren’t Loyal to Your Brand
For the past 18 years, Skot Waldron’s brand work for clients such as J.P. Morgan Chase, CDC, Georgia Tech, Royal Caribbean, Sesame Workshop, Chiquita, and The Coca-Cola Company has included both employee-centric and customer-centric projects.
He helps organizations communicate more effectively with their employees and customers with the goal of creating more alignment, consistency, and loyalty. Skot believes you have to be healthy on the inside (culture) in order to truly be healthy on the outside (brand and marketing). He helps with both.
In addition to running his own coaching and creative agency, Skot has been teaching brand development at the Miami Ad School in Atlanta. He has also traveled to different cities in the U.S. to conduct communication training and speaks about how the value of branding pertains to us as individuals, teams, families, and businesses.
The Georgia Association of Business Brokers, the state’s largest and most prominent association of professionals dedicated to the purchase and sale of businesses and franchises, is holding brief weekly meetings online during the pandemic. Business brokers, bankers, business attorneys and other professionals join the weekly calls to ask and answer questions about buying and selling a business during the pandemic. The GABB also maintains a listing service with hundreds of Georgia businesses for sale.
To join the GABB’s Tuesday meetings, please go to
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/95506520094?pwd=WXdtNjhQVmRSWWdDNk5nV2lHZnNKdz09
Meeting ID: 955 0652 0094
Password: 054703
GABB COVID-19 Meetings on Tuesdays
During this international crisis, things change rapidly and frequently. To help our members, small businesses, and others, GABB has created a COVID-19 page with the best information we have about what is happening in Georgia. The GABB also plans to hold weekly 30-minute Q and A sessions on Tuesday mornings at 10 a.m. to take stock of what is happening in our world. Information on how to join the meeting is listed below. Also, if you miss a meeting, you can view a recording of the meeting at the link posted below.
If you are NOT getting emails from GABB about these meetings, and you want to, please email Diane Loupe at georgiabusinessbrokers@gmail.com. Please check your spam filter to be sure our emails aren’t being sent there.
PAST GABB ZOOM Meetings
- May 12, 2020 Meeting Recording
- GABB Board member Kim Eells, Senior Vice President, SBA Business Development at Georgia Primary Bank, discussed the PPP program including spending requirements. She also said that money was still available, although her bank isn’t taking new applications. A GABB member said that a client had taken advantage of loan forbearance and had been rejected for a home loan as a result.
- May 5, 2020 Meeting Recording
- SBA Banker Thomas Rockwood discussed updates to the PPP program, Shannan Collier Stalvey talked about new liability waivers, several GABB lawyers talked about the limitations of force majeure clauses, Bob Smith talked about insurance, Russ Hall said now is a terrific time to market and get people on the phone, and other GABB members added their questions and experiences.
- April 21, 2020 Meeting Recording.
- Password: 2w=!WrX@
- Topics discussed: Remote closings, PPP loans, applying for loans, best strategies for business brokers, healthcare options.
- SBA Banker Leigh Milton shared the following documents related to several SBA programs
- April 14 Meeting Recording:
Access Password: Y2*@&Ikt- Topics discussed: Applying for SBA loans, healthcare options, best strategies for business brokers.
GABB’s invitation to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: GABB COVID-19 Meeting
Time: Apr 28, 2020 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Apr 28, 2020 10:00 AM
May 5, 2020 10:00 AM
May 12, 2020 10:00 AM
May 26, 2020 10:00 AM
Jun 2, 2020 10:00 AM
Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 955 0652 0094
Password: 054703
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Compiling an Offering Memorandum: What Buyers Look For
Stephen “Steve” Mariani, owner of Diamond Financial Services and a board member of the International Business Brokers Association (IBBA), spoke to business brokers this week about compiling a listing or offering memorandum.
In a lively talk, which you can hear online, Mariani talked about the top things that buyers look for in a business-for-sale listing, and what lenders look for in an offering memorandum, a detailed description of a business for sale.Buyers are also interested in the location of a business as well as whether there is growth potential in the industry, Mariani said. Financing options, especially owner financing, are very important.
After the price of the business, most buyers will want to know about its cash flow and seller’s discretionary earnings. While it may be common to have family members on the payroll, claiming a personal home mortgage as a business expense is likely to attract unwanted scrutiny from lenders. And lenders are required by law to report instances of flagrant tax fraud, he said.
Listings that go through the effort to be pre-qualified by lenders, or eligible for SBA loans, are automatically more attractive to buyers, Mariani said. That means an objective professional has examined the business’s financials and brings “immediate confidence in the numbers presented.”
“If the listing can service the debt at the asking price, then cash flow after debt service becomes apparent to a potential buyer,” Mariani told the brokers. “Most buyers understand this and calculate it for themselves.”
Today’s borrowers are learning that they can purchase much more cash flow than they once thought, he said. Most high net worth borrowers are looking to maximize their ROI by using financing options. In Mr. Mariani’s PowerPoint Presentation: Compiling Offering Memoranda, he covered items every lender will look for, including purchase price, working capital, SBA fees and closing costs, etc. The GABB, an IBBA affiliate, is the state’s premier organization dedicated to professionals who buy and sell businesses in Georgia.
What three things should be left OUT of your offering document? Avoid listing specific qualifications a potential buyer must have to purchase the business, because this could scuttle a sale, Steve said. Although most lenders like to see three years of direct or one year of related experience in a field, this varies greatly.
Avoid listing personal add backs. If more than 20 percent of the seller’s discretionary earnings comes from personal add backs, the lender will be concerned.
Designating anyone at the business as a “key” employee, i.e., one that is critical to the operation and success of the business, raises a lot of red flags, may necessitate a form 1919 or a “required” personal guarantee of the employee, Mr. Mariani said.
Mr. Mariani’s company has helped small business owners realize their dreams by funding more than $1 billion in acquisition loans during the past 24 years. Diamond has become the nation’s largest privately owned non-bank SBA acquisition loan generator that serves only the broker markets. Steve has also been producing and presenting broker training webinars and workshops for the last 11 years at various conference events.
After witnessing the difficulty and challenges some business buyers experienced securing business loans to acquire a business, Mr. Mariani learned the intricate, complicated world of the Small Business Administration (SBA) loan process. He mastered the SBA SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) rules and regulations and has become a major source for many national lenders. Business Brokers, lenders and owners nationwide seek Steve’s advice and he has become the “expert” in SBA loans. His understanding of SBA rules also allows for providing the most aggressive financing available nationwide.
The GABB is the state’s largest and oldest association of professionals who specialize in brokering the purchase and sale of businesses and franchises. Broker members help owners determine the asking price of their business, create marketing plans and strategies for selling their business, identify and qualify buyers, and have the knowledge, experience and skills needed to help maintain the confidential nature of the process. The professionals of GABB relentlessly pursue professional development so they can provide superior, ethical services for all customers and clients. Affiliate members include bankers, lawyers, appraisers, insurers and other professionals who work closely with brokers to help owners and buyers get to the closing table.
For more information about GABB, please contact GABB President Dean Burnette at 912-247-3209 or dean@b3brokers.com, or GABB Executive Director Diane Loupe at diane@gabb.org or 404-374-3990.
Read More2019 A Boom Year for Georgia Economic Development
Georgia enjoyed an excellent year for economic development in 2019. The Georgia Department of Economic Development released an online “Year in Review” highlighting the state’s accomplishments.
In January 2020, Georgia was named No. 1 for workforce development in Site Selection Magazine’s 2020 Workforce Development Rankings for the South Atlantic Region.
Record job and employment numbers were announced for 2019, too. Georgia set a record for total number of jobs at 4.65 million, our unemployment rate reached another historic low of 3.2%, and our workforce reached 5.13 million – another record high. Take a look at a digital copy of our FY19 Year in Review for more GDEcD highlights and success stories.
These accomplishments are clear evidence that Georgia’s comprehensive, team-focused approach is working. Our status as the No. 1 state to live, play and do business has been well-earned!
Read MoreNetworking Expert to Speak Jan. 14 to Business Brokers
Marie Fratoni, a business coach, human potential expert and master networker, will speak on Tuesday, Jan. 14, to the Georgia Association of Business Brokers.
Ms. Fratoni, CEO of Get Clients Everywhere, will talk about how entrepreneurs can cultivate fulfilling and profitable professional relationships through sound business-building strategies. The GABB is the state’s premier organization dedicated to professionals who buy and sell businesses in Georgia. The meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m., preceded at 9:45 a.m. by a free continental breakfast and networking session. The GABB meets at the auditorium of the Georgia Association of Realtors building at 6065 Barfield Road, Sandy Springs, GA, 30328.
As the CEO of Get Clients Everywhere, Marie Fratoni works globally to help professionals build solid, long-term, successful businesses. She coaches business owners and professionals to become savvy, social, and successful through cultivating professional relationships that are both fulfilling and profitable. She provides sound business building strategies, coaching, and growth-filled seminars that are fun, dynamic and valuable.
As a community leader, Marie makes a difference! She is a staunch advocate for women in business, founding and leading several professional groups throughout the years designed to up-level the careers of women including the Women’s Professional Development Network (WPDN) in Atlanta.
Her strong community involvement in charitable causes and organizations has placed her into the Who’s Who of Women in Business and the Who’s Who of International Business. Marie is a Registered Corporate Coach, RCC, popular speaker, and she truly enjoys helping business owners double or triple their income.
The GABB is the state’s largest and oldest association of professionals who specialize in brokering the purchase and sale of businesses and franchises. Broker members help owners determine the asking price of their business, create marketing plans and strategies for selling their business, identify and qualify buyers, and have the knowledge, experience and skills needed to help maintain the confidential nature of the process. The professionals of GABB relentlessly pursue professional development so they can provide superior, ethical services for all customers and clients. Affiliate members include bankers, lawyers, appraisers, insurers and other professionals who work closely with brokers to help owners and buyers get to the closing table.
For more information about GABB, please contact GABB President Dean Burnette at 912-247-3209 or dean@b3brokers.com, or GABB Executive Director Diane Loupe at diane@gabb.org or 404-374-3990.
If you are not a GABB member and wish to attend the meeting, please fill out this form. GABB meetings are free and open to the public.
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