A word of “Caution” – don’t get stuck with your head in the sand!

I promised to share a special note of caution. That message begins with telling you 1 in 3 Americans are obese and nine in 10 Americans say their diet is healthy but, only a quarter limit the amount of fat or sugar they eat, and two-thirds don’t eat enough fruit and vegetables, a poll published Tuesday found.

“Americans tend to give themselves high marks for healthy eating, but when we asked how many sugary drinks, fatty foods, and fruits and veggies they consumed, we found that their definition of healthy eating was questionable,” said Nancy Metcalf of Consumer Reports Health, which conducted the poll.

Of the 1,234 American adults polled, 89.7 percent said their diet was “somewhat” (52.6 percent), “very” (31.5 percent), or “extremely” healthy (5.6 percent). But, 43 percent of the survey respondents said they drank at least one sugary soda or other sweetened drink every day, and just one in four said they limited sweets, sugars or fats in their diet, the poll conducted in early November found.

Four in 10 Americans said they ate “pretty much everything” or “mostly everything” that they wanted, the poll found. Few count calories or weigh themselves, but when they were asked to self-report their weight, four in 10 were off-track.

A third said they were at a healthy weight when they actually had a body mass index (BMI) of an overweight or obese person, while eight percent thought they were overweight or obese, but their BMIs suggested they were not.

One in three adults is obese, and losing weight is the second most popular new year’s resolution this year after quitting smoking, according to a poll published last week by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.

Three in 10 Americans surveyed by Consumer Reports said they eat five or more servings of fresh fruit or vegetables daily, as recommended by health officials.

When they were asked why they didn’t eat more vegetables, the most common reason given by the poll respondents was that they thought they consumed enough already.

The next most commonly cited reason for not eating the recommended amount of veggies was that they are hard to store or spoil too quickly — an excuse given by 29 percent of Americans.

Seventeen percent said someone in their household didn’t like vegetables, the same number said vegetables take too long to prepare or are too difficult to prepare, and 14 percent said fresh vegetables are too expensive.

Thirteen percent said, quite simply, they don’t like vegetables. Did I get your attention? I hope I did!

Do you know why I am sharing this information with Factoring Brokers?

Taking an excerpt from last Tuesday’s article (2011 The State of the Factoring Industry) “Wealth is not all about money, it is physiological, spiritual, emotional and physical. You can have all the money in the world but, if your health is gone Your are done.” What are you doing to stay healthy? A strong body creates a strong mind. A strong mind forms a positive foundation to work your (any) business in an organized, persistent and determined manner. I am often asked by Factoring Brokers what is the single most important thing that they should do in their business to make it successful. My answer….Creating and maintaining momentum!

Don’t get stuck with your head in the sand!

What are you doing to make money in 2011? It doesn’t matter to me what business you are involved with understanding the power of Social Media/Social Networking versus building your business off-line is crucial to success. Attracting prospects, developing new customers, signing up new clients translates into making money an important component of creating wealth. This is not a big secret “the world has changed!” I have been studying social media / social networking for the past 16 months. Social Media involves sharing a message, educating through video like YouTube, Vimeo or Slideshare.net (power point presentations) or Flickr.com (photos) or scribs.com (printed material). Social Networking engages in conversation or associating with somebody else (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc). This Social technology creates “reach” giving your business the ability to communicate your message to countless groups and individuals.

When I joined the factoring industry in 1999. The internet was just picking up. I made use of technology back in 2001 when I created a landing page (www.bizline.biz) that served as my net to capture prospects. By Harnessing the Power of the internet, I was able to drive prospects and educate them at the same time. I was able to duplicate my efforts through technology while I was away doing something else. The way businesses are prospering is changing – today marketing is not measured on the size of your wallet but, on the content, education, information, relationships that you develop. This is a fact!

It doesn’t matter to if you are an entrepreneur a small, medium or large company. You should consider creating a “VOICE” for yourself / your company i.e. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube. Pay attention to the tone of your “Voice” i.e. funny, serious, sarcastic  make it you! It may even help you find a job if you are unemployed. Understand this it is not about spamming or selling it is about creating value of information. Make use a website – don’t have a website? No excuse – there are so many inexpensive website developers out there, type in (website development inexpensive) into Google or visit www.99designs.com.

Need help with developing an award winning logo visit www.logotournament.com for about $250 you can have hundreds of companies submit the creative high quality design for your logo. You pick your logo and the company that developed it is paid the $250, compare that to a graphic artist wow! Need help developing a blog? There so many free blogging sites ie. www.wordpress.com. you can use your blog site to act as your website. Oh in case you didn’t know, this blog site is a word press site

How will you respond?

This is a vital next step in any conversion process. Developing a one to one relationship with your prospects translates into cultivating customers/clients. How are you going to respond? What channel of communication are you going to use phone, email, comments section etc? Are you suffering from some anxiety, lack confidence, terrified in the thought of communicating with people? Understand that email and the telephone are never going to go away. Don’t know what you are going to say?

Don’t worry I will have more on this over the next few articles.

We are living in an “Information & Knowledge” economy. It is my opinion that the intelligent person wins in a “Knowledge” economy. How do you become smart? Do your homework research your industry, learn from your industry experts, invest the time to know your business in and out – It is the person that has immediate access to content wins in an “Information” economy. Folks whether you like to admit it or not we are living in a knowledge economy, the marketing and networking world has changed it is content, content, information driven.

If you are proactive and you understand this axiom  “Either You are going to learn and teach your competition how to win or they will teach you!” You are on your way toward taking the next step. Your New Year’s resolution should include learning about all the FREE technology that is out there. How you will fit in? We are all unique in our contacts, professional skills and background. Start somewhere it is better than not starting at all – You will be one step closer to Capitalizing on Your Potential!

Tunnel Vision vs. Funnel Vision

What type of business person are you?

Tunnel Vision – An individual that:

• Focuses on today’s and monthly results
• Focuses primarily on execution
• Is ignorant to Trends
• Is hard to change the way they do things
• Views future investment as a negative

Funnel Vision – An individual that:

• Is Proactive
• Pays attention and understand Trends
• Willing to try new things – experiment
• Has a vision and realistic attitude
• Budgets accordingly

Try to look through the Windshield and Not the Rear View mirror

Don’t dwell on the past – we all make mistakes. I recognize some of you may be out of work and right now it seems like a monumental hill to climb. I get it and I understand. Don’t get stuck with your head in the sand. Like I said before,  “if you learn to anticipate what is going to happen, you can learn to take advantage of the hard times and profit during these hard times. Take time to learn – set aside some time each day to be proactive. It is your investment of “TIME” that is what I am talking about. Don’t be naive understand the trends, learn to Funnel your prospects in and create momentum. However, a lot of things go into creating and maintaining momentum in today’s economy! More to come over the next few articles.

About the Author: Michael Ponomarew joined the Factoring Industry in 1999. He brings with him more than 27 years of experience in entrepreneurship, marketing, and business management. Mike can be reached at mikep@millenniumfunding.com or by calling 888.652.8298 ext. 45.

The more things seemed to change the more they stayed the same. The reality is the credit crisis continued to inhibit growth due to the record bank declines. Traditional forms of financing have become an anomaly to cash flowing small business. With all the uncertainty, looming for 2011 the Factoring Industry remains strong, recession proof and has become the financing tool of choice.

“TFI” is launching January 3rd, 2011 and with over 100 years of Industry experience “TFI” is poised to revolutionize the Factoring Industry and help small business…more to come!

To receive your answer, you must learn to observe the way people are communicating with each other in 2K10. You must also realize that we are living in a revolution in the way people find products, find services and choose companies to do business with.

In 2K10 practically all of us turn to the Web to research information before making a buying decision.

Am I right?

Ask yourself, “How many times over the last week did I use Google to search for some information?”

Learning to Harness the Power of the Internet and taking advantage of the Social Media rage has become main stream marketing – if you are not on it you are slowly being left behind.

Ten years ago marketing was judged by the size of your wallet. Today it is about creating reach and learning how to communicate effectively with the masses.

Note I said effectively. To be successful and grow your business, you must match the way you market your services with the way your prospects are choosing to learn about and shop for Factoring.

You may not know this but, your prospects and referral sources are hanging out at public watering holes like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, etc. Your prospects are being attracted to creative landing pages that expose and educate them about “WIIFT” or What’s In It For Them!

Blogs are quickly replacing Websites as a source for information and more and more prospects are participating in webinars vs. live appointments. Social Media creates the opportunity for you to engage with your prospect and build credibility.

People have become marketing resistant and you need to think of ways to stop interrupting your prospects and get found or attract them to you.

How??

By sharing content and giving – giving information. Educating your prospect about what you do, the services you provide and how you can help them today is what it is all about.

Direct mail is not gone but, it has to create curiosity. It has to create an opportunity for the prospect to engage and learn about “WIIFT”.

This is extremely important and I want you to think about what you are about to read…

If you understand what I am trying to tell you, you are going to be on your way to taking advantage of the Social Media revolution. Your prospects will find you if you learn to write about something worth reading, saying something that is worth listening to or doing something worth writing about.

This can be achieved by dedicating your time to learn how Harness the Power of the Internet through landing pages, social media, blogs, webinars.

Keep It Simple – Keep It Creative!

Create messages that you can produce and spread at great REACH of Speed. Go for it – it’s fun and simple!

About the Author: Michael Ponomarew brings with him more than 24 years of experience in entrepreneurship, marketing, and business management. Mike can be reached at mikep@millenniumfunding.com or by calling 888.652.8298 ext. 45.

as highlighted in my recent article, If You Aim at Nothing You Will Hit It!

First of all a marketing plan outlines the specific actions you intend to carry out to interest potential clients in your product and/or service and persuade them to buy the product and/or implement the services you offer.

A successful marketing plan implements your marketing strategy that is used in reaching your goals and it helps in setting your marketing budget.

Consider these 5 points when developing your Marketing Plan.

1. Positioning

Communicate with your prospects exactly why they should do business with you. Focus on the features and benefits that you provide along with WIFT or What’s In it For Them!

2. Packaging

Package and present your services to generate interest and response from qualified prospects. Make sure you include a CTA or Call to Action that directs your prospects to respond.

3. Promotion

Get more qualified prospects to call that are ready to do business with you now. Use Direct Mail campaigns that create curiosity and the Internet to leverage your efforts. Develop Referral Sources through associations and networking.

4. Persuasion

Turn those who call you into immediate sales whether over the phone or via a website. Developing good communication skills is an important attribute in the conversion process. Implement the 80/20 Rule – talk 20% of the time and listen 80% of the time.

5. Performance

Keep clients coming back and referring others – forever!! A happy client is a great referral source. Maintain constant contact with your client to help you identify potential issues and opportunities.

Michael Ponomarew brings with him more than 24 years of experience in entrepreneurship, marketing, and business management. Mike can be reached at mikep@millenniumfunding

“IF YOU AIM AT NOTHING YOU WILL HIT IT!”

What an interesting phrase but how does it relate to the Factoring Industry?

Many Factoring Consultants exhaust their marketing efforts with a shotgun approach, never aiming or directing a Target marketed message to a Target marketed audience. Unfortunately, these individuals end up creating a lot of activity but not being very productive.

Consultants working in the Factoring industry on a part-time basis have limited time available to put forth to their consulting business. These consultants have very little time to waste.

Full-time Consultants are the complete opposite; they have a lot of time available to them therefore, a lot of time to waste.

Marketing efforts that are not Targeted are very difficult to manage and in many cases can exhaust your marketing budget. Try picking a Niche in a type of industry with annual sales between 500K and 2.5MM. This should help you narrow your scope.

Next pick an industry that you are familiar with. Why? Because it makes targeting your market easier, you will get the most out of your Marketing budget and you can manage or track your marketing results more efficiently.

You should always try and leverage your efforts which means putting out one unit of effort that produces multiple results. This can be achieved by taking advantage of the Internet and the multiple marketing streams that the internet makes available.

Direct Mail campaigns that create curiosity and the Internet continue to be our companies top marketing mediums in controlling our own deal flow destiny. Set a monetary goal on the realistic income that you desire and then develop a marketing plan. This will help you keep focused and on track in reaching your goal.

So in conclusion, take “Aim at Something” and at the very least you will know where you are going. Define how you are going to get there or how you are going reach that Target market and use the Internet. Need I say more? Yes, I do somore to come later. All the Best!

Michael Ponomarew brings with him more than 24 years of experience in entrepreneurship, marketing, and business management. Mike can be reached at mikep@millenniumfunding.com or by calling 888.652.8298 ext. 45.

In order to become a successful Consultant in the Factoring industry, you have to consistently Find your Prospects, Expose your Prospects to you the Consultant, Educate the Prospects about the services you provide and WIFT (What is in it for them) or why should they do business with you?Follow up -  a number of independent studies conclude the more times you communicate with a prospect (referred to as touches), the probability of closing a deal increases.

There are a number of different marketing strategies that a consultant could implement in their marketing plans including: Direct Mail, Internet Optimization, Trade Shows building Referral Sources, Networking etc., drawing from my experience as a student of the industry, as a consultant, a Funding Source and visiting instructor responsible for teaching and thousands of individuals. I have found that a vast number of new and seasoned consultants are reluctant in developing referral sources and networking. Why? Perhaps it is the anxiety that comes with communicating with strangers and Professionals.

Time constraints – many consultants have only so much time to put forth to their Factoring consulting business which limits their time to set appointments and give presentations. Or perhaps it is the fear of giving a weak presentation, the anxiety of establishing credibility and knowing what to say to the “Gatekeeper” to give you the opportunity to give your presentation.

The formula for developing Referral Sources follows the same procedure as for developing prospects and closing deals. Find a Referral Source, Expose the Referral Source to you the Consultant, and Educate the Referral Source about the services you provide and WIFT (Why would the referral source want to send business your way). Follow up – maintaining regular contact. I recommend communicating with the referral source 5 times in 30 days.

Successful Industry Professionals understand that Referral Sources can become the most important asset to building your Factoring business – because Referral Sources send you qualified leads! It is much easier to convert a prospect to a client that has been sent to you by a referral source vs. cold calling direct marketing. In the Factoring Industry there is an abundance of opportunities for building referral sources including Accountants, Banks, Bankruptcy Attorneys, Equipment Leasing Companies, Insurance Agents and Networking functions. The great thing about building Referral Sources is once you have made initial contact and educated the Referral Source to WIFT – the follow up and maintaining regular contact is simple.

The same principles apply to prospecting for Referral Sources as they do for prospecting for deals. Maintaining regular contact (touches) with the referral sources increases the probability of receiving leads.  A modest goal in my opinion is to aim at developing 50 referral sources..Start with your center of influence, in your back yard and build your referral sources nationwide.

Michael Ponomarew brings with him more than 24 years of experience in entrepreneurship, marketing, and business management. Mike can be reached at mikep@millenniumfunding.com or by calling 888.652.8298 ext. 45.

Factoring has always been big business and with the recent economy challenges it is being utilized now more than ever.

Want to know about Factoring and how you can profit from it? Want to know what marketing methods work and what methods not to bother with? Want to know how to jump start your business and stabilize your income?

This FREE 60 minute webinar will contain the most important information you will need in taking advantage of the credit crunched economy!

Over 40 years of Industry Experience will be made available to you – Realize Your Opportunity!

Due to the credit crisis, the Factoring Industry has burst wide open with opportunity for all of us. Record numbers of bank declines never seen before have made Factoring the finance facility of choice. Many small to medium sized companies no longer have Bank Financing available, leaving them searching for viable alternatives – This has created unprecedented opportunity!

Whether you are a financial advisor, cash flow consultant, or simply a business owner trying to get a leg up on the competition by stabilizing your cash flow – this FREE webinar is a must!

This FREE webinar is hosted by some of the most sought after Factoring experts in the industry. Each will be sharing his unique insights designed to benefit your bottom line.

Guests for this Webinar will be:

Tim Sardinia / Neal Polshuk / Mike Ponomarew

There are a limited number of seats available so sign up today and reserve your spot.

What have you got to lose? Nothing! Invest just one hour of your time and we will show you how to make 2009 your best year ever!

When: Thursday, January 15th

Time: 9:00pm (EST)

One of the most important things I learned early on in my consulting career is in order to generate revenue, commissions, fees you have to be able to follow the “FEES” Principal on the road to closing deals.

Let me explain the “FEES” Principal for you. The first letter in the word FEES is “F” which stands for Finding the prospect. One has to learn how to find the most amount of qualified prospects in the least amount of time for the least amount of money.

The second letter in the word FEES is “E” which stands for Expose. One has to learn how to expose or inform the prospect about the Factoring services that you provide. The best way to do this is through an information rich website or a targeted direct mail piece, after all a website can act as your office or store front.

Many years ago, I owned and operated a sign company that produced traffic signs and sign blanks. We later branched out into illuminated sign like the signs that you see in strip malls and custom signs etc. Our slogan back then was “A Business with No Sign is a Sign of No Business”. In this day and age same goes for having a website. It brings credibility and exposure to your company.

The third letter is “E” which stands for Educate. You must have the ability to educate the prospect about WIFT (What Is in It for Them). This again can be done through your website or strong communication skills. This I will address in a few minutes.

The last letter in the word FEES is “S” which stands for Service. You see we are really in the service business and it so happens that money is our inventory. Continue to provide timely service, communication and follow up, this will lead to referrals. The best referral is happy client. So you see if any one of these components that make up FEES breaks down, the end result in many cases is no fees and no commissions generated.

If you don’t know how to find qualified prospects, you will never have the chance to educate. If you know how to find the qualified prospect but, you cannot expose them to your company – you will never have a chance to educate. If you can find them and you know how to expose them to your company but, cannot educate them about WIFT chances are you will not close the deal. In my future articles I will explore the above with you in more detail. For now let me briefly address communication skills that one should develop to help them convert prospects into clients.

Many consultants are caught up in the “me” syndrome and try and sell their services vs. becoming a consultant. It is not about you – it is about what you can do for your prospect in order for them to become your client or WIFT (What is in it for them). After all we are not called “Sales People” we are recognized as “Consultants”.

Most people do not like to be sold and they are resistant to Marketing. Do you like to be sold? Do you know when you are being sold? So, does your prospect! The challenge as a consultant is to promote your services without selling. How do you develop a consultative mindset vs. a sales mindset? Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule? To become an effective communicator with a consultative mindset you must learn to talk twenty percent of the time and listen eighty percent of the time.

A sales person is conditioned to listen twenty percent of the time and talk eighty percent of the time. In order to develop a consultative approach you should incorporate questions.  Asking questions that will help you gather information and taking good notes will help you develop good rapport with your prospect. Knowledge and information breed confidence so make sure you know your stuff make sure know the definition of Factoring, be able to explain how it works and list the benefits that appeal to your prospect.

Here are a few questions that you can use to get you started:

1) Can you tell me what your company does?

2) Can you give me an example of your typical customer?

3) Can you tell me how long it takes your customers to pay?

4) If I could help you increase your cash flow how would you use it?

5) If I could help you increase your cash flow when would you need it?

Then it is your turn to explain what you do and WIFT.

Michael Ponomarew brings with him more than 24 years of experience in entrepreneurship, marketing, and business management. Mike can be reached at mikep@millenniumfunding.com or by calling 888.652.8298 ext. 45.

Mike currently serves as the Director of North American operations for Millennium Funding. Millennium has factored hundreds of clients and each year manages in excess of $150 million in accounts receivable. Drawing on his experience as a consultant and a funding source, his responsibilities include training and coaching consultants, first and second stage underwriting and is one of the primary liaisons on behalf of the company in converting deals.

Mike has participated in a number of speaking engagements, guest speaker sessions, conventions, and advisory councils. He is a visiting Instructor of the American Cash Flow Assoc. and International Factoring Institute. Michael was also a contributing author for two other trade publications. Mike can be reached at mikep@millenniumfunding.com or by calling 888.652.8298 ext. 45.