Category: Sales

Falling Fowers, Yard Sales, And The Diploma In The Box

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How would you describe life? What is it? In a short little book of the Bible written by the Apostle James we find the answer. “Life is but a vapor. It’s here for a moment and then it’s gone.” Another of the Apostles described our lives in much the same way saying, “All flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls away.” In two short passages of Scripture we are given an extremely sobering and important reminder.

The inspired words of the Apostles should remind us that so many of the things that steal away our time, energy, effort, and finances won’t matter much in the end. The things that keep so many people awake at night suffering from anxiety induced insomnia are all temporary.

Our lives are vapor.

You and I are as grass. The achievements that currently seem so incredibly important to most of us in this age, just like a dying flower will wilt away into nothingness.

Regardless of how much we exercise and how carefully we monitor what we eat, the mortal and corruptible bodies we are currently wearing will eventually begin to wear out, break down, get sick, and die. There is no avoiding it. Do some research. Check out the death statistics yourself. They are startling! Surprisingly enough, one hundred out of every one hundred people die.

Think about the thousands upon thousands of diplomas proudly displayed in offices around the globe. We spend a fortune in student loans paying for that diploma and a tenth of our lifetime working for it in the hope that it might help us land a better paying job. But have you ever thought about where that diploma is going to eventually end up?

One day your diploma, along with your framed employee of the decade certificate are going to find their way into a cardboard box in someone’s garage or attic. Eventually your children or grandchildren are going to have a yard sale to free up some space for extra storage. Your plaque and diploma will find their way out onto the driveway in the ninety-nine cent box on top of a folding table.

The neighbor from across the street will wander over to pick through the loot. When she sees the diploma and employee of the decade certificate in their shiny frames she is going to be overjoyed. As she lifts them from the ninety-nine cent box your grandson will walk over to ask if she needs any help. They will haggle over the price for a minute or two before she walks away with a smile on her face carrying the two prizes she purchased for a total of fifty cents!

Immediately after making her way back across the street she will grab a screw driver to pry open the back of each frame. She will pull out the diploma, crumple it up, and toss it in the trash followed immediately by the cherished employee of the decade certificate. She will then run to her computer to print out a picture of her dog and one of her cat, put them in the frames and hang them on her bathroom wall.

“All flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls away.”

James Flanders is a musical artist, writer, audio blogger, and full-time student of Scripture. You can find some of his music on sites like CDBaby and Rhapsody. Dozens of his audios can be found on YouTube and his main site “The Path Of Grace.”

An Alternative To Venture Capital In The Food And Beverage Industry

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If you are an entrepreneur with a small food or beverage company looking to take it to the next level, this article should be of particular interest to you. Your natural inclination may be to seek venture capital or private equity to fund your growth, but that might not be the best path for you to take. We have created a hybrid M&A model designed to bring the appropriate capital resources to you entrepreneurs. It allows the entrepreneur to bring in smart money and to maintain control.

We have taken the experiences of a beverage industry veteran, a food industry veteran and an investment banker and crafted a model that both large industry players and the small business owners are embracing.

I recently connected with two old college mates from the Wharton Business School. We are in what we like to call, the early autumn of our careers after pursuing quite different paths initially. John Blackington is a partner in Growth Partners, a consulting firm that advises food and beverage companies in all aspects of product introduction and market growth. You might say that it has been his life’s work with his initial introduction to the industry as a Coke Route driver during his college summer breaks.

After graduation, Coke hired John as a management trainee in the sales and marketing discipline. John grew his career at Coke and over the next 25 years held various positions in sales, marketing, and business development. John’s entrepreneurial spirit prevailed and he left Coke to consult with early stage food and beverage companies on new product introductions and strategic partnerships.

Steve Hasselbeck is now a food industry consultant after spending 27 years with the various companies that were rolled up into ConAgra. His experience was in managing products and channels. Steve is familiar with almost every functional area within a large food company. He has seen the introduction and the failed introduction of many food industry products.

John’s experience at Coke and Steve’s experience at ConAgra led them to the conclusion that new product introductions were most efficiently and cost effectively the purview of the smaller, nimble, low overhead company and not the food and beverage giants.

Dave Kauppi is now the president of MidMarket Capital, a M&A firm specializing in smaller technology based companies. Dave got the high tech bug early in his business life and pursued a career in high tech sales and marketing. Dave sold or managed in computer services, hardware, software, datacom, computer leasing and of course, a Dot Com. After several experiences of rapid accent followed by an even more rapid decent as technologies and markets changed, Dave decided to pursue an investment banking practice to help technology companies.

Dave, John, and Steve stayed in touch over the years and would share business ideas. In a recent discussion, John was describing the dynamics he saw with new product introductions in the food and beverage industry. He observed that most of the blockbuster products were the result of an entrepreneurial effort from an early stage company bootstrapping its growth in a very cost conscious lean environment.

The big companies, with all their seeming advantages experienced a high failure rate in new product introductions and the losses resulting from this art of capturing the fickle consumer were substantial. When we contacted Steve, he confirmed that this was also his experience. Don’t get us wrong. There were hundreds of failures from the start-ups as well. However, the failure for the edgy little start-up resulted in losses in the $1 – $5 million range. The same result from an industry giant was often in the $100 million to $250 million range.

For every Hansen Natural or Red Bull, there are literally hundreds of companies that either flame out or never reach a critical mass beyond a loyal local market. It seems like the mentality of these smaller business owners is, using the example of the popular TV show, Deal or No Deal, to hold out for the $1 million briefcase. What about that logical contestant that objectively weighs the facts and the odds and cashes out for $280,000?

As we discussed the dynamics of this market, we were drawn to a merger and acquisition model commonly used in the technology industry that we felt could also be applied to the food and beverage industry. Cisco Systems, the giant networking company, is a serial acquirer of companies. They do a tremendous amount of R&D and organic product development. They recognize, however, that they cannot possibly capture all the new developments in this rapidly changing field through internal development alone.

Cisco seeks out investments in promising, small, technology companies and this approach has been a key element in their market dominance. They bring what we refer to as smart money to the high tech entrepreneur. They purchase a minority stake in the early stage company with a call option on acquiring the remainder at a later date with an agreed-upon valuation multiple. This structure is a brilliantly elegant method to dramatically enhance the risk reward profile of new product introduction. Here is why:

For the Entrepreneur: (Just substitute in your food or beverage industry giant’s name that is in your category for Cisco below)

1.The involvement of Cisco – resources, market presence, brand, distribution capability is a self fulfilling prophecy to your product’s success.

2.For the same level of dilution that an entrepreneur would get from a VC, angel investor or private equity group, the entrepreneur gets the performance leverage of smart money. See #1.

3.The entrepreneur gets to grow his business with Cisco’s support at a far more rapid pace than he could alone. He is more likely to establish the critical mass needed for market leadership within his industry’s brief window of opportunity.

4.He gets an exit strategy with an established valuation metric while the buyer helps him make his exit much more lucrative.

5.As an old Wharton professor used to ask, What would you rather have, all of a grape or part of a watermelon? That sums it up pretty well. The involvement of Cisco gives the product a much better probability of growing significantly. The entrepreneur will own a meaningful portion of a far bigger asset.

For the Large Company Investor:

1.Create access to a large funnel of developing technology and products.

2.Creates a very nimble, market sensitive, product development or R&D arm.

3.Minor resource allocation to the autonomous operator during his skunk works market proving development stage.

4.Diversify their product development portfolio – because this approach provides for a relatively small investment in a greater number of opportunities fueled by the entrepreneurial spirit, they greatly improve the probability of creating a winner.

5.By investing early and getting an equity position in a small company and favorable valuation metrics on the call option, they pay a fraction of the market price to what they would have to pay if they acquired the company once the product had proven successful.

Dean Foods utilized this model successfully with their investment in White Wave, the producer of the market leading Silk Brand of organic Soy milk products. Dean Foods acquired a 25% equity stake in White Wave in 1999 for $4 million. While allowing this entrepreneurial firm to operate autonomously, they backed them with leverage and a modest level of capital resources. Sales exploded and Dean exercised their call option on the remaining 75% equity in White Way in 2004 for $224 million. Sales for White Way were projected to hit $420 million in 2005.

Given today’s valuation metrics for a company with White Way’s growth rate and profitability, their market cap is about $1.26 Billion, or 3 times trailing 12 months revenue. Dean invested $5million initially, gave them access to their leverage, and exercised their call option for $224 million. Their effective acquisition price totaling $229 million represents an 82% discount to White Wave’s 2005 market cap.

Dean Foods is reaping additional benefits. This acquisition was the catalyst for several additional investments in the specialty/gourmet end of the milk industry. These acquisitions have transformed Dean Foods from a low margin milk producer into a Wall Street standout with a growing stable of high margin, high growth brands.

Dean’s profits have tripled in four years and the stock price has doubled since 2000, far outpacing the food industry average. This success has triggered the aggressive introduction of new products and new channels of distribution. Not bad for a $5 million bet on a new product in 1999. Wait, let’s not forget about our entrepreneur. His total proceeds of $229 million are a fantastic 5- year result for a little company with 1999 sales of under $20 million.

MidMarket Capital has created this model combining the food and beverage industry experience with the investment banking experience to structure these successful transactions. MMC can either represent the small entrepreneurial firm looking for the smart money investment with the appropriate growth partner or the large industry player looking to enhance their new product strategy with this creative approach.

This model has successfully served the technology industry through periods of outstanding growth and market value creation. Many of the same dynamics are present in the food and beverage industry and these same transaction stru7ctures can be similarly employed to create value.

Mb6-886 Microsoft Dynamics Ax 2012 Process Manufacturing Production Examination Guides

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Exam Preparation:
MB6-886 examination measures every candidates ability to comprehend and articulate the use of functions and business processes manufacturing intended for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Process Manufacturing Production. This also includes the preparation for handling master planning, process manufacturing, supervising batch orders and formulas, dealing with containerized packaging plus catch weight, handling vendor information, handling commodity pricing, handling rebates and dealing with product compliance.

Audience Profile:
MB6-886 certification examination is intended to candidates who want to utilize Process Manufacturing dealing functions and processes of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Process Manufacturing Production. This audience normally includes implementation consultants and systems developers. For additional recommended skills, you must learn the general working comprehension of the process manufacturing of this MB6-886 certification including its functionalities that relate to the manufacturing process. Passing this kind of certification will help you complete all prerequisites of being a certified Microsoft Dynamics Technology specialist.

Preparation Materials and Resources:
To assist you in preparing for this examination, Microsoft Learning suggests that you should obtain hands-on training and experience regarding the product and must utilize all training resources. Establish your credentials and proficiency with Microsoft technologies and products. Microsoft Learning also offers an inclusive compilation of training materials and resources plus streamlined certification courses that will assist you to stand out within your field.

Basically, the main problem encountered within the IT business is the lack of having quality study tools and materials. Various reliable providers are obtainable online which can provide you dependable and quality study tools. Some providers offer exam questions that contain 100% accurate answers that are checked, approved and verified by senior Microsoft lecturers and specialists. These people have devoted their lives in providing the finest study materials for candidates to ensure they obtain the valuable materials. The practice tests materials of this certification are thoroughly written with the utmost standard of technical accurateness which will make you pass the examination.

Reliable providers can guarantee any candidate of obtaining a passing rate in the examination. But, if ever a candidate failed this MB6-886 certification examination at first attempt, the provider will give a complete refund or a money back assurance. They will only require you to send or mail the MB6-886 score information including some pertinent forms. After verifying your information, the provider will give back your money the soonest possible time in order to get rid of your worries.

After-sale Services
Various providers of this certification are offering all their clients the utmost and finest after-sales service. A 24-7 customer support can assist you settle all your queries and will suitably deal to your problems regarding the merchandise. You can get in touch with them anytime you desire, particularly if its about the Microsoft MB6-886 certification.

Self-publish Your Book And The Profits Are Infinite

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For many writers, becoming a published author can be a confusing and overwhelming decision, especially when it comes to the question of whether to self-publish or not. And with todays technology, its never been easier to self-publish a book.

But self-publishing is the same as any other business, in that the harder you work at it, the more profitable it can be. So to earn a living as an author, you need to be able to write books quickly and make your time as productive as possible.

But first you need to decide whether to publish your books the traditional way through a publishing company or to publish your book yourself.

There are three things to consider when deciding on the best and most profitable way to publish your book.

The first consideration is time. if you decided to use a traditional publishing house, first you have to convince them that your book is worthy of publication more than anyone elses, and this in itself can take several years and dozens of rejections before you find the right publisher.

Also traditional publishing houses will publish your book according to their own timeline. Books are scheduled to be published far in advance so it could be three years after signing a publishing contract before your book hits the market.

When you self-publish a book, the only time restriction on publication is your own. So you can either take your time and publish it one or two years later, or fast-track the whole process and have your book out on the market within a month or two.

The next consideration is control. Once you sign a publishing contract youre signing away your copyright to your work, so your book then effectively becomes the publishers book. This means that as the author you will now have little or no say when it comes to your book title, design or cover. Yet marketing and promoting the book will till be your responsibility.

When you self-publish a book you become the publisher as well as the author so you maintain all control of the way your book is published, how it will look and who will distribute it.

The last consideration is profit. With traditional publishing houses, the authors have no up-front costs as far as publishing goes and instead are paid a royalty for every book sold.

Some royalty payments can be as low as 5% of the selling price and most are no higher than 10%.

Some authors are paid an advance payment of royalties as soon as their book is published, but they then have to wait several years before the number of sales grows over and above the amount of advance.

This is why profit is one of the biggest arguments in favour of self-publishing. All profits from a self-published book belong 100% to the author. So the more you market and promote your book, the more you reap the profits from the sales.

Lets say you self-publish a novel and you sell 1,000 copies in a year. Of course with the right marketing, your book could sell ten-times that amount every year or more. But just as an example, well use a low figure of 1,000 copies.

So if youre making a profit of say, $5 per book, the 1,000 sales will give you an income of $5,000 in a year. But of course the longer your book remains on the market, the more copies you can sell every year. Your name as an author will become known and if people buy one book from you and enjoy it, theyll probably seek out more books from you.

So if you published a book every year and sold an extra thousand copies of each book every year, in five years time you could have a six-figure income every year. And the numbers Im quoting are very low. The profit from your sales could be double or treble that quite easily.

And if your book was picked up by a book club that wanted to sell your book to its members, that could mean a single sale of 20,000 copies or more. You can imagine how much that would sky-rocket your income.

Or what about libraries? The sales achievable to libraries are phenomenal. For instance, there are over 114,000 libraries in America. What if you could sell just one copy of your book to even half of them!

And then theres also the possibility of your book being chosen to go into a collection of condensed books, or Braille books, audio books, media interviews, movie dealsthe list goes on.

Writing non-fiction books can be even more profitable. Whatever business youre in, with a published book to your list of credentials, youll be seen as an expert in your field.

And theres no limit to the number of non-fiction books you can write. The internet makes it possible for you to research and collect articles on any subject and then you can write it all up as your own book (as long as you write it yourself and dont plagiarise).

You could then set up a web site and also sell essays, articles, reports, newsletters, eBooks and more.

You could also write articles for magazines using the information in your books, or allow them to print excerpts from your books, which would not only bring in extra income, but it is also great publicity for your books.

So you see, when you self-publish, the profits are infinite.

Internet Sales Letter Magic

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Imagine spending thousands of dollars on web design, bells, whistles, a flash intro, and an array of colors. Firstly, this is a big waste of time, money, and effort. Also, this is like building a gaudy and non-functional house without a foundation. Your web site is a key sales tool. Fortunately, web sites do not have to be pretty in order to be effective.

In the above-mentioned case, no forethought is given to the first step in building a web site. The first and most important part of web site construction is your cover page, sales process, and the least expensive ways to send targeted traffic to your web site.

Unless your web site is just a hobby, it should function as an automated 24-hour sales person, seven days per week. Your Internet sales letter is much more than a business card or company brochure. A properly constructed sales letter is a separate entity and can possibly close sales by itself.

When you have an idea about a great Internet product or service, have researched the demand, have chosen the best URL, and developed an outline of your proposed site – your next step should be to develop an award-winning sales letter. This proposed sales letter should be packed with unique content that drives visitors to you and captures their interest.

Your sales letter should thoroughly describe the benefits of your product or service. At the same time, your product or service should solve a problem that your potential clients have encountered. Therefore, any successful sales letter will have to fulfill a genuine need.

The right sales letter should develop trust from the very start and tell an interesting story along the way. This is not a guarantee of an instant sale, but the start of a relationship – built on credibility and trust. Your prospects visit your site because your product or service has sparked an interest.

Prospects visit your site for a multitude of reasons – but do you know why? Do you know the top reasons why your existing customers choose you, over your competition? This knowledge is essential when constructing a sales letter for your web site.

Lastly, when deciding how to construct your sales letter, you have many choices, but choose wisely and research your choices. If you decide to hire a sales copy writer, make sure his or her previous works have produced results or are persuasive in content. If you decide to purchase the least expensive writer available, do not expect good results. When seeking out a sales copy writer, you will get what you pay for.

Copyright 2006 Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

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