Michael Round Associates

What can we offer your business?

Strategic Business Planning

Failure to plan is planning to fail is an old saying, but there is plenty of truth in it – especially today. Any business that does not have a clear plan as to where it is going and how it is going to get there is simply stumbling around in the dark – and the probable results are obvious. Michael Round Associates can help you research and develop a sound and realistic business plan. We have years of experience in developing narrative plans as well as comprehensive spreadsheet business models.

And it shouldn’t end there, because a plan is just that, a plan – until you do the hard part and implement it in the real world. We’ll show you how to put it into action and establish performance metrics throughout your business to get your entire team on board and committed to meeting and beating the milestones in the plan. It’s an on-going process that ensures that there are no surprises and that the awareness and flexibility are in place to make mid-course adjustments to the plan if they are needed, while keeping the ultimate goals firmly in focus.

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Marketing

Know your target audience. That’s the first rule of marketing. To really know your customers you need to have boots on the ground. You need local knowledge, experience and research capability to succeed.

The second rule is Know your competition. Today’s business environment is ruthless and very aggressive. You must be smarter, more strategically aware, more nimble and better informed and organized than your competition in order to succeed. Your new ideas, services, products and approach may give you a unique marketing opportunity – but only if they are all managed properly in a concerted fashion.

Michael Round Associates has a successful track record in a wide range of marketing disciplines – including direct mail, search engine Pay-Per-Click management, e-commerce, retail, wholesale, services and more. We’ll help you fine-tune your message to the market and get the most bang out of your marketing budget.

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Online Strategies

Is your business too small to market it online? No, it is not if you know how! Never before have small to medium sized businesses had such opportunities to level the competitive playing field with the big boys. Michael Round Associates has the experience and resources to show you how to gain a real and effective presence online.

It starts with development of an imaginative and attractive website. If you don’t get that right, you’ll just be lost in the crowd and never get noticed. Michael Round Associates can show you how to identify and present your UVPs (Unique Value Proposition) to your best advantage to a nationwide – even worldwide – audience. It’s all part of a cohesive online marketing strategy and the next step is to let the world know.

In many cases, the search engines are the way to go. No other medium offers the opportunity to so precisely target your audience. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising through sponsored links on the search engines means that you only pay when someone who is really interested in your offerings clicks on your ad. Sounds simple doesn’t it? The fact is that if PPC isn’t managed properly it can be less effective and more costly than it needs to be. Michael Round Associates has the experience and tools to make sure that your PPC budget is spent to the best effect.

Operations & Infrastructure

Yes you can! Need to open an office in another region? A call center perhaps? Establish distribution logistics? Michael Round Associates can identify suitable office and warehouse locations, help negotiate leases, acquire furnishings and equipment, organize call center phone systems, develop scripts, procedures and protocols and oversee system programming and set-up – everything to get your new space up and running and earning its keep. For organizations large and small, from just the paper clips up to complex systems integration, we can handle it all.

In the past have you spent a small fortune on fancy phone systems that need constant attention and expensive upgrades and maintenance? How would you like to spend less every month than you probably have in your pocket right now for more capability and less hassle? We can show you how. Do you have filing cabinets full of paper that nobody ever reads? Have you added up what all that printing really costs you? Michael Round can show you how to eliminate up to 90% of it for the investment of less than you'll spend on lunch today!

Our infrastructure expertise also encompasses distribution, fulfillment and logistics management. We can show you how to radically improve your distribution center throughput in less space. Yes it is possible because we’ve done it! Whatever your needs, Michael Round Associates is the one-stop resource to help you meet your customers’ expectations of organization, rapid delivery and outstanding customer service.

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Business Development

What happened to the dinosaurs?�They failed to evolve. Don’t let that happen to you! Do you remember the stores that you used to sell music on CDs?�Where are they now? Like the dinosaurs they failed to evolve and faster, leaner, more efficient and better organized competitors suddenly appeared on the scene and literally wiped them out.

It’s called the survival of the fittest and many a business – large and small – has paid a heavy price for the complacency of thinking “That doesn’t apply to me.� My business is doing great.” That mindset is when you can be at your most vulnerable and is probably what the CD retailers thought one year before Apple�s iTunes arrived on the scene.

To stay ahead of your competition and grow to the next level you need to stay alert and constantly review how you compare to your competition – because you can be sure that your customers are always doing just that! You had better know the result of that comparison before your customers do, but the problem is that it is hard to be objective when you are so intimately involved.

At Michael Round Associates we are often called upon to perform business and competitive evaluations and to make recommendations where necessary. Each client receives a comprehensive report on their competitive situation and what practical measures we believe should be taken to maximize the business’s performance and competitive position in the marketplace – and if the answer is “nothing,” we’ll tell you. More often than not, we are able to propose and cost-justify innovative, practical and low-cost ideas that have never even occurred to our clients. It�s a thoughtful, no-nonsense, solution-orientated approach totally focused upon you and creating your success!

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Recruitment

The right staff will make your business – and the wrong staff can sink you. Many a business has learned that the hard way. These days your workforce will have high expectations for advancement, pay and rewards. The right ones are willing to perform to get them, but only if they are properly motivated and involved. The tricky part is to achieve the right balance of incentives and results – for both the employees and the business.

Michael Round Associates can help you with a wide range of HR issues and considerations. From recruitment advertising and candidate interviews to background checks and performance monitoring, we’ll help you find the qualified team you need to run your business. Then we’ll guide you through the maze of employee benefits such as health insurance, pension plans, incentive programs and others. Use our services a la carte or as a complete recruitment solution. It’s your choice.

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Finance

My bank turned me down! Has this happened to you? Did you think that that was the end of your plans? Well the fact of the matter is that you’ve got lots of options if you are prepared to think outside the box, know where to look, who to talk to and what to say.

Michael Round Associates has a track record of showing small businesses how to find suitable financing for their individual circumstances. The process starts with developing a credible, realistic and professional business plan and budget. If you don’t believe in it, there’s no point in trying to sell it to a source of outside finance. We can suggest innovative methods and new approaches that can transform a questionable plan into a credible working strategy.

When it does make sense and can stand up to your scrutiny, it’s time to talk to sources of finance that can make it happen. Time and again Michael Round Associates has used its presentation expertise and breadth of contacts to introduce clients to bankers and other sources of finance who have that practical ‘can do’ approach and determination to find a way to ‘get it done.’

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