Treyt3's Blog

Compensation Plans That Keep Employees Motivated

Trey Markel — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 20:58:09 +0000

When I was growing up my parents always wanted me working. They were smart because it probably kept me out of trouble. As long as I can remember, I have always had a job. From mowing the lawn for Dad on the weekends to going door to door to promote a local companies pizza restaurant, to working for a bank, two wineries, scrubbing boats from head to toe, working on a farm, I had seen and done quite a few things. I had some wicked compensation plans. I remember when I was really young, my neighbor told me he would give me five cents per light bulb that I put up on his house and Christmas tree during Christmas. Oh man when I heard that I was all over it. My eyes lit up and I worked all day and put up all kinds of lights. Hahaah I was a rich little boy.

For the last 4 years I have developed a number of compensation plans for sales people in the Internet lead generation industry. A job that requires quite a bit of phone calls, different product offerings, and a short sales cycle. I wrote a lot of great plans that employees flourished on, and I wrote quite a few terrible plans that employees hated. I sat down one day and tried to find a common denominator in all my successful plans and why they were successful and on the opposite side, I tried to find a common denominator for my unsuccessful plans and why employees hated them so much. I found some interesting results.

If you would like to read more please go Trey Markel’s official blog. www.treymarkel.com

Creating a Website Asset For Your Business

Trey Markel — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:37:55 +0000

When it comes to business assets, most people think of a commercial building, equipment of some kind, accounts receivables or maybe a bit of inventory. With the world-wide-web and social media taking off like a rocket ship, there is another form of asset that can add value to a small business or any business for that matter. Though this asset may not be tangible, it may be worth way more than your commercial building or inventory.

MySpace.com sold to News Corp. for some insane amount like $580 million. Why would News Corp. want to buy a social networking website that nobody uses? We all know that Facebook pushed MySpace off the map a long time ago. So why the purchase? At the point when News Corp. purchased MySpace, MySpace had a database of over 50 million users. (This number is skeptical but it proves the point) News Corp. however, didn’t seem to care much about the software but more about the users and all their contact information. News Corp. now had the opportunity to market to over 50 million youngsters and compete with organizations like MTV in a younger demographic. Now, MySpace was one of those companies that took off with overwhelming success. The social networking epidemic in high schools all across the country spread like a wild-fire. Unless your telling me your starting the next Facebook, your company isn’t going to have such rapid growth. However, creating a website asset like MySpace isn’t hard to do.

Anyone can turn on Google Adwords and place themselves on the first page of Google for a certain keyword. I call this buying your website visitors. The problem with this is once you turn Google Adwords off, your traffic goes to zero. What can a website have that can show measurable long-term value to any investor?

To read more please go to Trey Markel’s official blog www.treymarkel.com

Twitter Tools – Three Programs To Efficiently Manage Your Twitter Account Everywhere

Trey Markel — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:43:30 +0000

Twitter is all over the place right now. I remember when the start-up social media site first hit the streets. It was kind of a simple copy of Facebook’s status update functionality. You could update all your friends on what you were doing or thinking at that very minute. I was definitely one of those people who told myself “There is no way this company is going to take off like Facebook. I mean who on earth wants to know what you are doing at this very minute in 140 characters?” Clearly, I was dead wrong as were many other Internet users. With the expansion and success of Twitter not only for personal use but for business use, it’s a bit tough to manage all those tweets and followers you may have simply using the user interface that http://www.twitter.comoffers. I have a solution for all you big tweeters out there. Whether you’re getting into Twitter for the first time or you are a user for several months, here are a few programs that I use to efficiently manage my Twitter account.

To read more please go to Trey Markel’s official blog www.treymarkel.com

How to Use YouTube to Incorporate Videos on Your Website

Trey Markel — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:48:26 +0000

Like many other people, I am a visual person. I can learn much faster if you show me something in the form of on paper, or in a book or in a video. When business owners first started catching wind of the Internet and how they could advertise themselves to potential customers, it was all about content. Google wanted as much fresh content that you could possibly get on a website. Even today, the major search engines want to see fresh content on a website. However, today fresh content is no longer just words on a page. Content is now video, audio, words, webinars, podcasts, twitter chats, etc. Video has become the newest and most popular form of content for website owners. YouTube.com is the second largest search engine in the world directly behind Google. It’s a search engine 100% dedicated to video content. Many website visitors like videos because its easy to comprehend. A combination of words, pictures and audio allow for a potential customer to easily understand what you are trying to offer. Studies have shown that when a website owner implements video on a website, their conversion rates go up, their bounce rate goes down, and their average time on site goes up. These are all factors that major search engines take into consideration when judging your website. Needless to say, it also drives revenue.

To read more please go to Trey Markel’s official blog www.treymarkel.com

Tips For Buying Leads Over The Internet

Trey Markel — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:51:21 +0000

With the Internet take over of social media and social networking, the world-wide-web has everyone’s attention. The Internet has allowed for a whole new way of doing business. From marketing, to managing customers and employees, to accounting, and research, etc. Marketing however, has become business owners number one use for the Internet. I can reach targeted customers faster, easier, and with little cost. Buying leads as a marketing strategy over the Internet has become a very successful tactic in growing many small businesses. Instead of creating marketing efforts that will attract every human being under the sun, many which will not qualify to be your customer, you can create targeted campaigns and have lead generation organizations push you new potential customers lowering your cost of acquisition per customer. It’s beautiful………if it’s done right!! Here are a few tips on what to look for before buying leads over the Internet:

To read more please go to Trey Markel’s official blog www.treymarkel.com

Accounts Receivable Financing For Your Small Business

Trey Markel — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:50:35 +0000

When credit markets are tight there are only a few different kinds of small business loans that will actually be given out. Even when times are great and the economy is flowing, certain lending programs are more consistent then others. Accounts receivable financing is one of those financing solutions that will stay some what consistent because it’s a loan program that can be secured with assets of equal or greater value then the loan itself. The lending institution doesn’t have to take on as much risk as lets say an unsecured line of credit lender.

Accounts receivable financing loans are business loans mainly for short-term working capital where the company’s future receivables are taken as collateral for the business loan. This means that a company expects certain customers to pay them soon, but in the mean time the business needs some extra cash to support their day-to-day operations. Depending on how old the receivable are, most lending institutions will lend up to 65% to about 75% of the total worth of the receivables. If the receivables are a bit older the lender will see that as a risky transaction and may only support up to 50% of the total worth of the receivables. Any receivables older than 90 days are usually too risky for any lending institution to entertain. Under this particular business loan program, the business is still responsible for collecting the receivables in order to pay back the business loan. Accounts receivable financing is not to be mistaken with an accounts receivables factoring loan. Under this kind of loan, the lending institution purchases the future receivables and it’s the responsibility of the lending institution to collect those receivables as form of repayment.

If it looks like an accounts receivable financing loan is necessary for your small business, be creative with the lender. The lender obviously has rules and guidelines they have to follow to minimize risk however, you might have a scenario the lender doesn’t know about. Make sure you think of all options when it comes to financing solutions. Here’s another good article on Accounts Receivable Financing

Business Plans Are The Way To A Bank’s Heart

Trey Markel — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:51:46 +0000

Business plans have always been one of those things where business owners are like, “Do I really have to have a business plan? Is it really necessary?” It’s kind of like a driver’s license. You can get away without having one, but when the time comes and you don’t have one, it’s definitely a bummer. The last several weeks iBank has seen a record number of lenders active on a daily basis seeking businesses looking for small business loans. As a part of certain iBank employee daily responsibilities, lenders need to be called for feedback. One of the biggest things we have been hearing is that banks are requesting to see more and more business plans. They are telling us that they are using business plans as a filtering mechanism. If a business owner is seeking a business loan and doesn’t have a business plan, or the business plan is a mess, the bank is moving on to the next applicant. The banks are telling us that they have so many applications on their desk right now, that if your application and business plan aren’t up to parr, it’s onto the next one. This was very interesting feedback to the iBank team. It really gave us a solid foundation to speak with borrowers about their loan request. So here are a few tips straight from iBank lending institutions.

Lending institutions want to see business plans that don’t ramble on forever. They want business plan writers whether it be the business owner or a professional business plan writer, to get to the point. Business plans should cover six basic topics:

Marketing Plan – In your marketing plan include all the different kinds of marketing efforts that your company participates in. Website, SEO, SEM, Direct Mail, Ads, Commercials, Radio, Banners, Social Media, Mobile Marketing, etc. Also, include your competition and the marketing efforts they entertain.

Current and Forecasted Financials – Financials will always be looked at by a lending institution. If you have audited financials that’s even better. The banks also want to see that you have forecasted your growth. If you do in fact receive the business loan, the bank wants to know what you are going to spend the money on to grow the company. Your financials should be in the form of a balance sheet, break even analysis, cash flow, and a profit and loss statement. The SBA website has some great tips as far as financial documents.

Management Team – Who is apart of your management team? What does their resume look like? Even if you’re a 20-year-old starting an Internet business, tell the bank a little bit about yourself.

Exit Strategy – How are you getting out of the business? Are you going to sell the business, take the business public with an IPO, merge with another company? I know what your thinking…….”I haven’t even figured out how I’m going to grow the business yet let alone get rid of it.” You must have a plan for exit.

Intellectual Property – Does your business have any secret sauce? Patents, or books you have written, or white papers or case studies? These show value and need to be incorporated in your business plan. Also keep in mind non-tangible intellectual property. With the Internet and social networking becoming the backbone of everyone’s live’s these days, having an SEO or social media asset is impressive. How many visitors do you ge to your site from your blog or your webinars or your social media or SEO efforts. These things take time to establish and have an unbelievable way of driving revenue.

Supporting Documents – Banks want to see that you can prove all that is in your business plan. Include last three years tax returns, titles of incorporation, financial documents, bank statements, resumes, and any other document that would prove you have income or a business.

With more and more banks looking at business plans, it’s going to require you to really keep a close eye on your books. Make sure you keep everything organized throughout the year and when the time comes where you need a small business loan or investors , you will be more than ready. Check out this article on what you should prepare before seeking business financing.

Small Business Loans Are Finally A Focus

Trey Markel — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:59:16 +0000

Small business loans have been the talk of the town the last several years. The credit markets have been tight and obtaining a business loan has proved itself to be quite a chore. The government decided to extend aid to America’s largest banks and insurance companies, along with our auto industry. Many will argue it was a terrible decision. It is what it is. The government finally however, has decided to put their arms around small business and it’s needs. The SBA (Small Business Administration) has done their best to come up with programs that offer financial relief to the small business community. Last week President Obama urged congress to extend two SBA loan programs that would help extend more relief in the already so tight capital markets. The first program is the SBA’s express loan programs which would expand the cap from $350,000 to $1 million. The SBA’s express loan programs are dedicated to working capital and lines of credit for small businesses. The second program is the commercial real estate loan program. Obama would like to see small business owners have the ability to refinance their commercial mortgages to potentially relieve some financial stress. In order to be eligible for this program business owners must have a first mortgage and must be current on all payments in the last year. The White House expressed this new program would help refinance up to $18.7 Billion in commercial mortgages each year that would otherwise fall into delinquency or foreclosure. I think this is great. Now, we have heard the government speak about expanding programs and dedicate more resources to the small business community with not much as a dent to show for it. However, what this tells me is the government is looking into the future a bit to fix a problem before it happens. There are commercial buildings completely empty all across the nation right now. I have never seen more CBRE signs on one city block then I have in my entire life. I believe the government sees that commercial mortgages could be serious trouble for our economy in the next year or so. I think if the SBA can entertain a commercial mortgage default solution, another economic emergency could be potentially bypassed, and our recovery to a once thriving economy can steadily be realized.

Along with the expansion of these two programs President Obama would like to eliminate capital gains taxes for year 2010 and offer $5,000 dollar tax credits for each employee a small business hires. I think this is yet another great program to push hope into the small business community that things are looking up. Check out this article from MSNBC with more details.

The Importance of Business Consulting

Trey Markel — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:32:43 +0000

All of us who are entrepreneurs know that there just isn’t enough hours in one day to accomplish our weekly and monthly goals. As entrepreneurs, we set the standard high and sometimes high enough where it’s just not reachable by ourselves. I have most definitely felt this way before. Ummm actually I feel this way often. Hahaaa. Always too much to do and not enough time to do it. Trying my best to learn from my mistakes, is the issue really that there is too much to do, or is the issue a lack of focus or over analysing a part of your business? Maybe none of the above, maybe all of the above? When starting a new small business or even when you have been in business and you are trying to grow your business, it is extremely easy to become numb to certain things. For example, you have created a user experience that makes money, it works, it flows however, does it need to change and why does it need to change? Would change or evolution of a certain process or product or service in fact generate more revenue? If your like me and your responsible for 1,000 different things in your business, then having the ability to see parts of your business is almost impossible. Entrepreneurs are alive and thinking constantly about the new idea, the new sale, the new partner, and how your going to buy Google some day right? We think big because it’s all we know how to do.

My father had introduced me one time to a gentleman who was very successful and had just sold his business for $200 million dollars. I asked him what the secret was, like there is one, and he told me “Trey, the secret is to hire people smarter than you. They will make you successful” After listening to the entire story this guy was extremely arrogant when he was in business and his ego never allowed him to hire someone that knew more than he did. Business consulting and business consultants are extremely valuable because of one underlying reason………they don’t know your business as well as you do. THAT’S IT!!!! They have the luxury of being free of all the craziness that fills your head all day long. They are great about being completely non-emotional. A business consultant will never have the passion you do about your business and that’s a good thing. They are non-bias and don’t care about how attached you are to this one part of the business or that one part of the business. They will give good, solid business feedback based on reality and what they see. Business consultants have the awesome ability to come into your business with a fresh pair of eyes not knowing the mundane day-to-day details and operational issues. They come to the table with a clean slate and the only thing they will know about your business is what you decide to tell them.

When hiring a business consultant don’t just look at expertise and knowledge, make sure the consultant you hire also works with your team. Some one too serious can cause problems and someone a bit too loose could also cause some issues.

Think about why you are hiring this business consultant. What is the reason? What are you trying accomplish? Make sure you have a defined role for this consultant so your meetings don’t find themselves in the middle of nowhere.

Think about cost. What can you afford to spend and what can you afford not to spend. Be realistic with yourself. Don’t tell yourself you want to spend gobs of money because some times you just get a bad egg (consultant).

Listen to everything the consultant says and take it for what it’s worth. Remember, the business belongs to you and not the consultant.

lately, make it fun. Laugh with the consultant, joke with the consultant and make it fun for you and your team.

$30 Billion Small Business Lending Fund

Trey Markel — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:46:51 +0000

So another business lending program has been put together by our lovely US government. I must say I think they are getting better as far as what they should be focusing on. Small business is the driving buss of this economy. You give small business a bail out and we will hire more people, create new markets, and come out with more products and services. So Obama has promised $30 billion to be sent to small and medium size banks (Under $10 billion is assets) that focus on small business lending. These banks devote the highest percentage of their lending to small businesses in their community, accounting for over 50% of all small business loans nationwide, even though they make up only 20% of all bank assets. There are incentives to the community banks that pick up their lending to small businesses in their local area. One thing that concerns me a bit at least in my home town of Newport Beach CA, you have to have a checking or savings account in good standing with the community bank in order to even think about receiving a business loan. I wonder if other community banks around the country have the same rules? Nevertheless, I believe this is a step in the right direction. The Small Business Lending Fund is completely separate from the TARP program hopefully incentivizing community banks to participate because they will not fall under TARP restrictions.

One key aspect of this new lending fund is that as participating banks increase lending to small businesses compared to 2009 levels, the dividend paid to the treasury on that capital investment would be reduced. This would incentivize banks to start lending right away which in turn would generate more revenue for the banks. SBA Administrator Karen Mills expresses “Community banks are one of the strongest partners small businesses have in helping provide the capital needed to grow and create jobs. This fund targets one of the biggest challenges community banks have faced in this recession – capital to make more loans. This proposal, along with extending the SBA’s 90% guarantee, can help put small and medium-sized banks back in a position to step up their small business lending and support job creation in their communities Here are more details on the Small Business Lending Fund.

So we shall see what this effort produces. From my experience, smaller community banks have better relationships with small businesses in their local area. Smaller community banks are also looking to grow their banks just like any other business and hopefully see a nice opportunity to lend to businesses where other larger banks are not.