Traditional advertising is out of reach for many businesses in the new economy. If you’ve recently priced a billboard ad, or even a local newspaper advertisement, you know that these traditional advertising venues are extremely cost prohibitive for small businesses – especially now when revenues are down and budgets are cut to the bone.

You may also know that unless you have the bucks to advertise regularly over a long period of time, one expensive newspaper ad will probably not generate enough interest to even come close to paying for itself. I found that out the hard way when I first started my business in the late 90s. I bought an expensive half page color ad in a newspaper to publicize a new product launch, and we got no calls, zero, not one – all to the tune of $3000!

Remember, a small ad over a long period of time is much more effective than blowing your whole budget on one big splashy ad that no one will remember. An ad must be seen an average of twenty times before most prospects are prompted to act on it.

Instead of an expensive newspaper ad, spend your time courting reporters and pitching stories for inclusion in local and regional publications and local TV and radio shows. This form of marketing is much more credible and a WHOLE lot cheaper. If you’re a good writer with an eye for a catchy title and story angle, this talent can go a long way toward assuring your long term success as an entrepreneur.

Luckily, high cost traditional advertising is also not as important as it used to be, and there are lots of ways to publish your own articles online for free. Biznik, of course, is rapidly becoming one of the leading sources for reliable professional articles.

Many businesses are opting for online “viral marketing” campaigns, and are generating significant qualified leads, even in this economy, from low cost Internet advertising through a combination of social media, Google adwords, and reciprocal linking programs.

If you are looking for ways to cut your marketing budget while still generating qualified online leads at a lower cost per contact, there is lots of free help out there. Many Internet marketing firms will help you compile and implement a highly effective, industry-specific, low cost online marketing campaign that will give you the best chance of success in 2010 on the smallest amount of advertising dollars spent.

You can now touch many more prospects with a fraction of the money formerly spent on traditional advertising. Just because your budget has been cut is no reason to passively sit by and let prospects slip through your fingers!

About the Author; Mona McGraw is Founder of NuRelm, an Internet software/services firm that develops Web-based tools for business professionals.

NuRelm helps companies sell more and increase efficiency.

For a Free Web Assessment go to http://nurelm.com/assessments.jsp

      If you are one of these business owners that have found yourself contemplating selling or liquidating your business, Venture Point understands the magnitude of your decision.

      We can not guarantee that your business will sell quickly during these tough times. But we would like to help by offering business owners the opportunity to post their business for free, as long as needed on www.VenturePointOnline.com.                       

      If you have any questions or would like to list your business, please contact Karen@VenturePointOnline.com.  

Karen Torbett ~ President ~ Venture Point, LLC

    www.VenturePointOnline.com

During recessions, when other job opportunities dry up, the ranks of the self-employed rise, says Brian Headd, economist at the U.S. Small Business Administration, or SBA.

Right now, about 12 million people are thinking about or launching a business, says Paul Reynolds, visiting professor at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University.

That’s about 5 percent more than in 2008, he says, and it’s more than the number of people getting married this year.

It’s about as difficult to succeed in your own business as it is to make a marriage work. “After five years, about 49 percent of startups that were launched during recessionary times are still surviving,” says Headd. (The success rate for businesses born in good economic times isn’t much higher — about 52 percent or 53 percent reach a five-year mark.)

Studies show that there’s a big link between people who seek out classes or counseling on starting a business and entrepreneurial success, says Reynolds.

Fortunately, there are thousands of places around the country offering free or low-cost help, Reynolds says.

Anyone who asks a banker for a business loan is likely to be pointed toward help, says Rose Oswald Poels of the Wisconsin Bankers Association. Lenders expect a reasonable business plan before handing over a check, and help constructing a plan is a main offering of entrepreneurial help centers.

Indeed, enthusiastic entrepreneurs can easily overestimate their business savvy. “Bankers want to see a business plan that’s no longer than about seven pages, but a lot of people come in here with 100 pages and more,” says Sarah Winters, program assistant at the Center for Women & Enterprise based in Boston.

You don’t know what you don’t know. If you’re open to taking advice, says Reynolds, you’ll stand a better chance of going it alone.

Each locality may have its own offerings, like classes sponsored by a city development office or chamber of commerce.

Here, though, is a primer on three of the prevalent programs nationwide:

1. Small Business Development Centers, or SBDCs, which operate under the auspices of the SBA, are the most prevalent entity offering help, Reynolds says.

These centers endeavor to grow entrepreneurial efforts across the country, but each center operates somewhat uniquely.

Even though the aim is to spur startups, don’t be shocked if an SBDC counselor frowns on your idea.

For instance, Carol Cornell, director of the Northern Kentucky University SBDC, says she’s now seeing many laid-off workers who want to open a restaurant, store or franchise outlet.

The poor economic climate, plus the fact that many pink-slipped workers think of these business opportunities as a “default” option because they’re discouraged looking for work, often bodes ill for a business launch, says Cornell.

Instead, she encourages many to scratch their entrepreneurial itch by selling their expertise — whether it be accounting, marketing or other service — on a freelance basis, while still devoting some time to a full-time job search.

You might not be able to immediately secure a one-on-one counseling session with an SBDC. “We encourage people to enroll in a course or go to one of our resource libraries and develop a business plan before (individual counseling),” says Charles Penner, regional director of the Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Center in Ypsilanti, Mich.

Courses may be free or fairly low-cost, such as a few hundred dollars for a three month course, meeting once weekly. Find out more and locate an SBDC near you.

2. Women’s Business Centers, or WBCs, are also affiliated with the SBA. There are about 100 centers in the U.S., originally born to allow women to feel comfortable asking questions about business basics in a female-friendly environment, says Winters.

There’s nothing special that women need to know about starting a business, Winters says. Men are also welcome at the WBCs, says Mary Laughlin, marketing director for the Women’s Business Development Center in Connecticut. “In fact, this year, we’ve seen a 20 percent jump in the number of men we’re serving. That’s because we have been focusing on access to capital and redirecting after layoffs.”

Classes and individual counseling are available through Women’s Business Centers just as with Small Business Development Centers.

Community colleges and extension services at state universities already team up with SBDCs and WBCs to offer courses. Courses may carry a fee, says Winters, but scholarships are often available. Most community colleges also offer noncredit seminars on single topics like establishing a Web site or marketing a small business for minimal fees, says Tommy Goodrow, a vice president at Springfield Technical Community College in Massachusetts.

3. SCORE, a nonprofit also affiliated with the SBA, is composed of volunteers, mostly retired business owners and executives who pass through a training course on startup counseling.

SCORE maintains 370 offices. At some offices, like the one in New York City where volunteer Martin Lehman works, “We have people walk in, and they can usually get an individual counseling session in a few minutes,” he says. Other offices set up appointments between volunteers and entrepreneurs at places such as libraries and coffee shops.

“We’re trained to listen,” says Lehman. Then, after they hear about a client’s plans, counselors should ask pointed questions, such as the total anticipated startup costs, says Martin.

The SCORE services are free. Online counseling is also available, which allows entrepreneurs to question SCORE volunteers with expertise in a particular field.

For more information on all three of these programs, visit the SBA Web site.

Author;  MARILYN KENNEDY MELIA, BANKRATE.COM

Barbara Clark, co-owner of Healthy Home Insulation, a spray foam insulation contactor in Vero Beach, Fla., found this out when she let three of her loan payments slip past their due dates. Clark says she had never been late on payments before, but as her sales plunged 50% in the past year, she started struggling to afford them.

The collection calls soon followed. Clark says her three telephone lines regularly receive anywhere from 30 to 90 calls from a single debt collection agency each day. When she complained to her bank, she was told to “pay up.” And while she intends to do so, Clark says having to answer the phone every few minutes certainly doesn’t help. “I’ve done everything I can do to avoid this. But business is really slow right now… I’m not a deadbeat,” she says.

Delinquencies on commercial and industrial loans jumped to 3.1% in the first quarter of 2009, up 117% from a year ago, according to the Federal Reserve. As sales continue to slide, many more businesses are expected to join these ranks, says Michelle Dunn, a small business credit and debt-collections consultant in Groton, N.H.

Making matters worse, businesses aren’t protected from debt collectors under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which bars consumers from being threatened, harassed or called at work, and state laws offer few protections to businesses, she says.

Of course, one way to avoid an onslaught of collections calls – not to mention a blemish on your credit report – is to do everything in your power to make your debt payments, says Dunn. Cut costs and explore other revenue-raising activities that can help. If you’re in debt trouble today and those options are no longer viable, here are some ways to get the debt collectors off your back:

Establish a repayment plan

Contact your creditor or vendor that you’re late in paying immediately, suggests Doug Rosner, a director at Goulston & Storrs, a corporate law firm in Boston. “Communication is vital, especially if it’s with a vendor [or creditor] you want to maintain a relationship with,” he says. Explain your financial situation then ask if they would consider a repayment plan in which you could pay a reduced amount over a longer period of time, he says.

To get vendors or creditors to accept such an arrangement, provide a promissory note, a personal guaranty or collateral such as a lien against a second home or equipment, suggests Charles Thomson, in-house counsel for the Doall Company, an industrial supplies and machine tool distributor in Wheeling, Ill.

Work out your debts

If paying in full is impossible, request a “workout” under which all parties agree on a reduced debt amount, says Robert J. Hobbs, deputy director of the National Consumer Law Center in Boston. If your only other option is filing for bankruptcy protection, vendors, creditors and even debt collectors will often be much more accommodating, he says. If your debts are “unsecured” – that is, they aren’t backed by assets that may be liquidated in a bankruptcy proceeding – creditors risk getting nothing if you file for bankruptcy, says Hobbs.

Make partial payments

Another option for borrowers who can’t handle paying in full is to make partial payments toward reducing their outstanding debt upon each new order they place, says Thomson. So a debtor would pay $1,000 toward his or her old balance with every order for $500 in new goods, he says. This strategy works well with debts owed to vendors with whom they’d like to continue working, he says.

Play hardball

If you suspect the debt collection agent who is calling you isn’t legitimate, ask whether they’re licensed, (most states require collection agencies to hold a permit or license), says Thomson. If they don’t have a license or if they’re not forthcoming, notify the regulator in your state. Depending on the state, the regulator may be the Department of Professional Regulation, the Department of Financial Institutions or the Secretary of State, he says. Just keep in mind that the law only applies to third-party agencies trying to collect debts on behalf of creditors. They do not apply to one merchant calling up another merchant and demanding payment of a past due invoice, says Thomson.

Worst-case scenario: File for bankruptcy

If all else fails, filing for bankruptcy can get rid of those pesky debt collectors, says Hobbs. While this is an expensive process and one that you undoubtedly want to avoid, it is a business’s primary form of protection from creditors, he says. It will often wipe out most – if not all – of your business’s debts, especially those held by debt collectors, which are generally unsecured, he says.

-Write to Diana Ransom at dransom@smartmoney.com

The 2009 tax year also brings with it several changes to business tax law. Some of these laws are already legislated and in the public domain; more may follow, particularly due to current economic and political factors.

Through these changes, remember that tax planning is a year-round event and is closely tied to your overall small business planning cycle.

Tax laws often define and support your small business investment and growth strategies (get tips here on how to manage your tax obligations throughout the year). It’s important, therefore, to take stock and assess now how your business can comply with, and benefit from 2009 tax law changes.

Below is a summary of the major changes in federal income tax law that can impact your business in 2009.

This is not a comprehensive list, so be sure to talk to your tax advisor if you have questions about how your small business is affected. You can also refer to several informative online resources including the 2009 Small Business Tax Center on Business.gov or the IRS’s Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center.

2009 Tax Law Changes that Impact Small Business

Major changes include:

Commuting and Parking Benefits for Employees – Starting in 2009, businesses can pay $230 a month in tax-free parking for employees, up $10 per month from 2008. The cap on tax – free transit passes rises to $120 a month, up $5 a month from 2008. In addition, you can offer employees who prefer to cycle to work a new tax-free benefit of $20 per month to cover the cost of buying, maintaining, and storing a bicycle for commuting purposes.

Expensing Business Equipment – What business expense write offs can you plan on this year? The maximum amount of equipment placed in service in 2009 that businesses can expense (section 179 Expense Deduction) falls to $133,000, a $117,000 decrease from 2008, when a temporary $250,000 ceiling was in effect. The annual investment limit drops to $530,000 for 2009. In 2008, the limit had been temporarily increased to $800,000. Keep your ears to the ground on this one, however, as the government may extend the 2008 tax breaks for 2009.

First – Time Buyers with Home-Based Businesses – If you operate your small business from an office situated within a first-time home purchase, you can still qualify for additional tax incentives – if you purchased your home between April 2, 2008 and June 30, 2009.

Lower Mileage Rates – As expected, the IRS lowered the standard mileage rates for the business use of vehicles. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2009, the standard mileage rate for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) is:

·                     55 cents per mile for business miles driven

·                     24 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes

·                     14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations

Payroll Tax Changes – The maximum amount of wages subject to Social Security tax has increased to $106,800 for 2009, up from $102,000 in 2008. That means you should stop making (and paying) Social Security for employees once they reach $106,801 in eligible earnings in 2009. The tax rate remains 7.65 percent on employers and employees.

Maximize Your Retirement Contributions – In 2009, small business owners have the opportunity to invest more tax-deductible money in their retirement savings accounts. These include:

·                     401 (k) elective deferrals up to $16,500 (plus another $5,500 for those age 50 or older by the end of 2009); the limits had been $15,500 (plus another $5,000 for those age 50 or older by the end of 2008).

·                     SEP and profit-sharing plan limit of $49,000 (up from $46,000 in 2008).

·                     Defined benefit (pension plan) limit of $195,000 (up from $185,000 in 2008).

Increased Deductions for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) – You can contribute more in 2009 to business HSAs, with 100% tax deduction up to limit of $5,950 for a family, and $3,000 for an individual.

Bonus First-Year Depreciation Ends – Businesses can no longer claim 50 percent bonus first – year depreciation on assets placed in service in 2009. This was a special write-off that was put in place for the 2008 tax year.

Depreciation of Restaurants and Retail Stores – The current 15 – year depreciation period for tenant and restaurant improvements is expanded to include buildings housing restaurants, and improvements made to retail stores that are placed in service in 2009.

About the Author; Caron Beesley has over 14 years of experience working in marketing, with a particular focus on the government sector. Currently, Caron is working with the Business.gov team to promote essential government resources such as grants and small business loans, permits and business licenses, and employment and tax regulations to small and home-based businesses.

Business.gov is managed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in a partnership with 21 other federal agencies. This partnership, known as Business Gateway, serves as an incubator of technologies designed to improve the delivery of services and information to the nation’s small business community. Originally launched in 2004, Business.gov provides a single access point to government services and information to help the nation’s businesses with their operations.

However, what does this mean to the small business owner? Is it worthwhile? Does it offer a measurable return? Should you even care?

The jury is still out on the measurable ROI question – I’ll address that on another day.  There are some businesses using it effectively for connecting with their target markets, but most of what I see is not providing an ROI, at least not a positive ROI. 

Is having 5000 friends on Facebook of any more value to your business than getting to Level 60 on World of Warcraft?  Who has 5000 friends that they can communicate with anyway???

Opportunities for success really depend on your business and who your target market is. There is no denying that social media can be a worthwhile part of your overall marketing strategy. It’s where a growing number of your customers and future customers are, and you need to be aware of the conversation at the very least. 

In my opinion, too many companies are jumping on board with no real plan.  Many small businesses have yet to master having an effective web presence, search engine marketing, and email marketing and here they go jumping into Social Media because everyone is talking about it.  Small business should aim their efforts at the biggest opportunities online.   According to eMarketer, over 90% of all web users use search engines and email daily. Compare that to around 16% of web users who hit a social network once a month.   

My advice to small business – Evaluate your existing online presence. If your web presence is non-existent, can’t be found, embarrassing or ineffective, get it in order first before you start telling the masses to come look.  Then, start small with social media. 

Here is my Top 13 List of things a small business can do this week to get active with Social Media.  I chose 13 because I have more than 10 and 13 is my lucky number.

1.   Specify some ground rules for your company to avoid future embarrassment – As Forrest Gump says “It happens”.

2.   Talk to your employees – gain their input and ideas

3.    Understand the community before jumping in.  For example, if  you’re in the music or entertainment industry then MySpace might be a good fit.

4.    Setup a company Facebook page. 180 + million eyeballs is enough reason. Our page;  http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/WSI-Webworks/14765256759?ref=mf 

5.    Cut long distance and cell phone bills. Use SKYPE – its a free phone and instant messaging service

6.    Setup an account on LinkedIn and start connecting. Don’t expect immediate returns.

7.    Check out the competition – What can you do differently?

8.    Research prospects and customers

9.    Setup a YouTube channel

10.  Find and screen potential employees

11. Become an expert on LinkedIn – Answer questions and build your reputation

12. Use Twitter with CAUTION.  Only follow people you have an interest in and share useful info.

13. Start a Blog to build your credibility and web traffic…but only if you have the time to blog regularly 

About the Author: Doug Fowler – President at WSI Webworks, a Greenville, SC based internet marketing firm. www.wsiwebworks.com / www.taprootblog.com / 235 Adley Way, Greenville, SC 29607

Toll Free (866) 566-2005 / Local (864) 288-6162 / Mobile (864) 354-1730 / dfowler@wsiwebworks.com

• Product – what exactly is the product or service you’re providing? If you’re IBM, is your product digital technology, or is it problem solving?
• Price – whether based on the law of supply and demand, consumer research or your gut instinct, what is the ideal price for maximizing long term profitability? How much do I need to charge and sell to achieve break-even?
• Placement – how will I reach buyers? Will it be direct, two-step or three-step distribution? How many distribution points will I need? How will I grow?
• Promotion – what should my budget be and what is the right mix of paid versus earner media (PR)? How should my company and product brands be positioned? What should be my company’s personality?

These are all things that you plan and manage to increase your chances of success. Most marketing practitioners will tell you that if you’ve intelligently and extensively spelled them out in a master marketing plan, then manage them with purpose over time, you should have what it takes to succeed. But there is one more “P” decision that you need to plan and manage, and it’s every bit as important as the first four Ps.

The fifth P is Pleasure.

What experience do you need to deliver for your customers to say or think, “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.” This area of marketing is a subset of brand management. It’s called Experience Management. Remember, someone cannot “not” have an experience when interacting with your brand. So your decision is not whether to create an experience or not; rather, your decision is whether or not to plan and manage customer experiences to be consistently pleasurable.

 Your decisions related to the experience you deliver can make the difference between being perceived as a commodity or as a unique brand. Perhaps the greatest example of a business genius and brand visionary was Walt Disney. He built an entertainment empire around a single word – magic – and has found ways to consistently deliver positive customer experiences, built around magic, at every touch point.

 It’s not a coincidence that Walt Disney’s initial Florida property was named The Magic Kingdom. It’s not by chance that when you visit the park you never see trash on the ground, trash containers being emptied or food being delivered. He decided when the Magic Kingdom was built to have an underground system for taking care of these seemingly necessary things that can tarnish an otherwise great experience.

 So no matter what decisions you make about Product, Price, Placement and Promotion, unless you make fundamental decisions about how you will create Pleasure in the mind of your target audience, you have not gone far enough.

Author; Bill Nicholson  Owner and Strategy Director, At Large Marketing Solutions / 111 Antrim Drive, Greenville, SC 29607 / 864.527.1244 office / 866.541.0192 toll-free /www.atlargemarketing.com

So you have a business, and you believe in the power of branding, but you are saying to yourself, “so what about IBM, I don’t have anywhere close to that kind of money!” The good news is – you don’t have to.

Whether it takes a month or a year, and whether it costs $1,000 or  $1,000,000, the steps needed to build and manage a brand are identical. Furthermore, they are not terribly complicated and far more affordable than you might think.

Big budget or small, successful brands are guided by a strategic framework that includes differentiated products and services, a defined Brand Positioning and Personality, audience-specific Messaging, and Standards applied for consistency. This framework must always begin with two basic steps:

Step 1: Research

A.     Marketplace

·        What are the trends, opportunities and threats? What can you do to capitalize on the opportunities and avoid the threats?

B.     Competition

·        Who are they and how are they positioning themselves? What are their strengths compared to your brand, and what are your weaknesses. What are their weaknesses compared to your brand, and what are your strengths?

C.    Communications

·        What strategies and tactics have you tried, what has worked, what hasn’t worked, and why? What are your competitors doing that you are not, and does it seem to make sense to join them?

D.    Perceptions

·        What do your customers, employees and stakeholders think of your products and/or services, both positive and negative. Are the negative ones true? If so, what must be done to fix them? If not, what must be said and done to change perceptions?

Step 2: Design

A.     Positioning

·        Applying what you learned in the research, who is your specific target (demographic and psychographic descriptions), what is your competitive set (are you a bank, or are you a lending institution?), what two or three keys benefits will customers realize, and what is your most powerful and relevant point of competitive difference? This is the rational side of your brand identity.

B.     Personality

·        If your brand were a person, what type of personality traits would your target audience want you to have? Should you be lighthearted or serious? Earthy or highbrow? Flexible or rigid? Come up with a dozen or so, make sure they are not polar opposites, then be or become them. This is the emotional side of your brand identity.

We have guided companies large and small through these fundamental steps, usually as a starting point for developing a better system for managing their brand. It’s a system that replaces personal opinions with brand opinions as the basis for making communications, marketing and even operational decisions. Whether we guide you through this process – at a fraction of the cost that you might expect – or you do it yourself, JUST DO IT (sorry, Nike).

Author; Bill Nicholson  Owner and Strategy Director, At Large Marketing Solutions / 111 Antrim Drive, Greenville, SC 29607 / 864.527.1244 office / 866.541.0192 toll-free /www.atlargemarketing.com 

The man was wealthy and successful, but he was also very wrong. Everything the bank did, from its print and broadcast advertising to the way customers were treated in the bank was “brand advertising.”

So what is “branding” and why should I care? I would not normally start a definition by explaining what something isn’t, but due to a great deal of confusion, even among advertising professionals. Branding is not just designing a logo or stationery, it’s not just a slogan and its not just making every ad or TV spot look similar and without mention of any product or service (like the Nike spots). Branding is all of that…and a whole lot more.

Branding is the unique configuration of words, images, ideas, and experiences that forms a consumer’s total perception of a company, product, or service – and gives it relevance to them. Every phone call, every email, every personal interaction, and every ad is branding. Your fundamental marketing question is NOT, “do I or don’t I brand?” Your fundamental question is, “how haphazard or controlled do I want my brand to be?” If you want to be more successful, you manage the way these interactions are created and delivered.

If you want to have a fair amount of control over how your brand is perceived, then one of the most important things you can do is establish a brand positioning and personality. Combined, they are your fundamental brand identity…your Yin and Yang. Some call it your Brand DNA. Others call it your Brand Platform. Whatever you call it, use it as the starting point for all decisions about the people, places and things you manage that help form consumer opinions (good, neutral or bad) about your brand.

Author; Bill Nicholson Owner and Strategy Director, At Large Marketing Solutions / 111 Antrim Dr. Greenville, SC 29607 / 864.527.1244 office / 866.541.0192 toll-free / www.atlargemarketing.com

Well, you’ll need to determine the value of your business.

So, to get some perspective on the topic, I spoke to Scott Gabehart. He has valued over 700 businesses since 1991 and has written several books on the topic, such as The Business Valuation Book (with CD-ROM) .

According to him, there are several approaches to getting a valuation:

Do-It-Yourself: Yes, the valuation process can be extremely complex. But Gabehart has an easy system that will provide a rough estimate.

First, you will need to calculate your company’s adjusted cash flow (ACF). This is:

Net income
+ Your salary
+ Your perks (personal travel, discretionary expenses)
+ Depreciation
+ Interest expense

After all, it’s common for owners to use their business to pay for personal expenses. Thus, it’s important to factor our certain items (for example, depreciation is a non-cash expense).

Now, once you have the ACF, you need to multiply it by a multiple. Generally, the higher the ACF, the higher the multiple.

Here are some guidelines from Gabehart:

·                                 ACF up to $250K, multiples of 1 to 3

·                                 ACF between $250K and $500K, multiples of 3 to 5

·                                 ACF between $500K and $1m, multiples of 5 to 7

·                                 ACF over $1m, multiples over 7

Online Services: There are some web sites that generate basic valuations, which are usually based on real transactions. Examples include: BizBuySell.com and BizComps.com.

However, you need to be wary. According to David C. Baker (who operates ReCourses), valuation web services may “essentially be billboards to get you to hire a consulting firm, with very little hard content from a thought leadership perspective.”

Hire a Valuation Firm: Like any consulting industry, there are varying degrees of quality (yes, some valuation firms are fairly mediocre).

So, when selecting a valuation expert, look for the following:

·                          *    Is the person certified? The main organizations include: Institute of Business Appraisers, National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and American Society of Appraisers.

·                           *    Does the firm have a web site? This shows that the firm is serious.

·                           *    References? Don’t be afraid to ask for them.

·                           *    Costs? These should range from $2,000 to $15,000, depending on the reason for the valuation and the scope. Also, don’t pay the fee up-front; instead, pay based on different stages (the first may be the initial meetings for data input and the second could be the actual report).

About the Author; Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements . He also operates MergerBook.com.