Focus on Alabama
Alabama received its nicknames “The Heart of Dixie,” and “Yellowhammer” state from its historical civil war involvement. The State has come a long way from its troubled past to be a state in the forefront of innovation. In our focus of the month, we highlight the current contributions of the State to our community. Alabama has not only given us dynasty in college football (for those Crimson Tide fans), but it also has given as a foundation for a steady economic presence internationally.
Business Climate
Alabama’s economic growth is a result of its development as a manufacturing hub for transportation and technology. The State has managed to attract automotive companies such as Mercedez-Benz, Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda. These four companies alone, produced more than 1 million vehicles (valued at $7 billion) in Alabama in 2015. These vehicles are the State’s main exports delivered to over 70 countries.
In addition, Alabama is also thriving in the aerospace industry. It is the home for major manufacturers of commercial flight airplanes such as Airbus and Boeing. Other companies like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin develop aerospace and defense technology which aid our military. Read more
Rainmaking – Follow-Thru Strategies, Part 2 (How To...)
Our last Rainmaking blog discussed the importance of following up with people after a successful initial meeting. I suggested that after a networking event, once business cards are exchanged and it has been agreed that we like each other enough to follow up – we should, indeed, follow-up within 48 hours. Interestingly, I gave a presentation on “Jumpstart Your Rainmaking” just last week and someone asked me when it’s too long after the event to follow up. Truly, it’s never REALLY too late if you want to ultimately try to reach someone who you met at a networking event. But the practicality is that we’re all human. We want to feel important. (If you reach out to me within 48 hours, I feel important!) And we all have a lot on our plates AND we go to a lot of networking events. (If you reach out to me within 48 hours, I’m much more likely to remember you and what you do, and why I found you interesting in the first place!)
So, if we agree that follow-thru within 48 hours is important, how do we do it? And, perhaps more importantly, how do we do it even if we’re really busy and we know that we don’t really have time to meet with the person right now?
Here are some of my tips:
The Email
We all get a lot of email, but it is still the quickest and easiest way to reach out to someone. It can be just a few lines, and it can quickly reference that you enjoyed meeting the person, and would like to see about scheduling lunch in six to eight weeks. True, it’s a little far out there, but at least then you can get something on your calendar. (Remember to suggest some specific dates that work for you in order to get the planning going. Don’t leave it an ambiguous “let’s try sometime in June”.) A nice touch is to add some additional piece of information that lets the person know you remembered something from the conversation. Perhaps they asked for a link to a website you mentioned. Or you discussed a specific technical area that you just wrote a blog about. Link and attach! It doesn’t take much time to do that, you’re re-purposing something you’ve already written, and you are now more likely to be viewed as an expert.Read more
Understanding Voluntary Disclosure Semiconductor Manufacturing & Multi-State Tax Issues
Welcome to the latest post in our series about how state tax legislation affects various technology industry niches! Today our focus is on semiconductor manufacturing. What multi-state tax issues do they face? Keep reading to find out.
An Overview of Manufacturers
Semiconductor manufacturing is the process of creating, "A substance, as silicon or germanium, with electrical conductivity intermediate between that of an insulator and a conductor: a basic component of various kinds of electronic circuit element (semiconductor device) used in communications, control, and detection technology and in computers."Read more
Qui Tam and Tax Whistleblowers
In today’s society, one of the biggest concerns that every business or individual wants to avoid are lawsuits. Under the False Claims Act (FCA), there is a liability to businesses or individuals who commit fraudulent behavior that impact governmental programs. Most cases resulting from the FCA are in regards to health care, housing and mortgage frauds.
Unfortunately for businesses, there is a higher risk of involvement in a lawsuit due to the Qui Tam provisions of the FCA. The Qui Tam provisions allows informants or “whistle blowers” to bring forth a lawsuit against the business or individual on behalf of the government. Qualified informants must be directly involved and knowledgeable of the fraudulent behavior conducted and must not be from a secondary source. The incentive for informants to come forward is that they will receive a portion of the funds recovered from a successful settlement or judgment (generally 15 to 30 percent of the recovery).
There has been an increasing popularity in Qui Tam cases since 2009. Prior to 2009, Qui Tam cases averaged 300-400 cases per year. For years after 2009, the average rose to more than 600 new Qui Tam cases per year, with 2013 and 2014 exceeding 700. Read more
Rainmaking: Follow-Thru Strategies, Part I
Several months ago in this blog series, I talked about direct and indirect marketing strategies involved in the Rainmaking process. Direct strategies are those in which you purposefully put yourself either in the room with someone (a meeting, lunch, coffee, etc.) or on the phone (a prospect call, etc.) Direct strategies also include public speaking, presenting technical information live or via webinars. Indirect strategies are those where people can find out about you at their leisure. It is often via your on-line persona – your company website or bio page, blogging, social media, etc. It’s important that the messages between your direct and indirect strategies are consistent. The third prong of the marketing strategies (and perhaps the most important) is the follow-thru.
Why the Follow Thru?
Entire books have been dedicated to this topic. Why? Because it is an area in which so many people fail. They do well in identifying their target market. They determine where to find them and even put themselves in the room with the “right” people. They have great conversations at networking group meetings. Or great conversations with prospects. They collect business cards from the “right” people. They even go so far as to agree to follow up with another meeting. And then what? They go back to the office the next day and don’t do the follow up. They get busy. They answer emails and voicemails. A client project looms and must be completed by noon. An employee comes in with an issue. Or worse – calls in sick! They are, of course, all very legitimate things. And they can easily derail all the good work that was done in the past 48 hours.
Just Do It.
So, how do we commit to the follow up and do a better job? My recommendation is to schedule time to do it, and add it to the “to do” list. If you include follow up on your calendar you are much more likely to get it done. Schedule just 30 minutes. The trick is to schedule that follow up time at the same time you schedule the original networking event. If you have a standing “2nd Thursday” networking event once a month that automatically populates in your calendar, schedule a related follow up time slot for that event for every second Friday. Once the placeholder is on your calendar, you are less likely to schedule something else into it. And make sure you do the follow up within a reasonable timeframe. What is reasonable? In my opinion, 24 - 48 hours. You may be thinking: Why can’t you follow up within a week? Well, it’s better than not following up at all. But the longer you wait the less likely you actually will, and the less likely the person with whom you are following up will want to interact. If it took you a week to get back to them, they know where they fall in the list of importance. Conversely, if you follow up within 24 hours, the person will feel like you really connected and be more apt to reconnect back with you. Think about it - how does it make you feel when someone connects with you right away?
Stay tuned to our next blog – still on this topic – but more directed at HOW to follow up and some great examples you can use to initiate that follow-up discussion.
Understanding Voluntary Disclosure Digital Goods & Multi-State Tax Issues
Welcome back to our series about how state tax legislation applies to a wide variety of technology industry niches! Today’s focus is digital goods; keep reading to find out what multi-state tax issues this type of merchandise faces when it comes to nexus, state tax legislation, etc.
An Overview of Digital Goods
What are digital goods? Webopedia provides a helpful definition: "Digital goods is a general term used to describe any goods that are stored, delivered and used in an electronic format. Digital goods are shipped electronically to the consumer through e-mail or download from the Internet. Usually when you purchase digital goods online, after payment has been received the merchant will provide you with your digital item as an e-mail attachment or they may provide you with a secure link where you can download the item.
Examples of digital goods include e-books, music files, software, digital images, website templates, manuals in electronic format and any item that can be electronically stored in a file or multiple files."Read more
Focus on South Carolina
South Carolina has been gaining a lot of attention recently due to its presidential election primaries. But there are other aspects of the state that are interesting as well. The “Palmetto” State is known for its shoreline of beaches and islands, in addition to its rich history of plantations and involvement in the Civil War. Its warm weather and green surroundings are not the only things encouraging more people to migrate to the state. The beautiful town of Kiawah Island is a personal annual family vacation spot of mine as well.
Business Climate
South Carolina is a beneficiary of foreign direct investment that boosts its job growth. The State has attracted marquee companies to invest manufacturing facilities in South Carolina through its ability to provide suitable locations, existing infrastructure and a skilled workforce.
The State employs a technical college system and the Apprenticeship Carolina program, which allows students and young adults to apprentice with participating companies across a diverse array of industries ranging from advanced manufacturing to hospitality and health care. A few of the companies that have invested in the state within the last decade are: Boeing, BMW, Volvo Cars and Daimler Vans.Read more
Rainmaking - Be a Joiner!
It will come as no surprise to most of you that I am involved in many different networking groups. Even if you don’t really know me, you can quickly peruse my website and see that I belong to the National Association of Women Business Owners (“NAWBO”) - I’m the current President of the Silicon Valley chapter; Accounting and Financial Women’s Alliance (“AFWA”) – I served as the National President; ProVisors and Vistage, among others. I’m not just a dues paying member, I truly get involved in the organization, often at the Board level. Why? I believe that committing to an organization is about surrounding ourselves with other smart people who have similar purposes. And through those networking efforts, we make friends, business colleagues, and hopefully ultimately generate some business. I also believe that we can’t expect to get business immediately from being part of networking groups. Sure – it happens sometimes. But, as with so many things in life that are worth having, it’s about building a relationship first, and then being patient enough to ask for the work later.
Identify Your Target Market
In my recurring webinar series, “Jumpstart Your Rainmaking”, there’s a section on identifying your target market and then determining where to find them. The latter is important because if we know where they hang out (either physically or virtually – maybe via social media), we can put ourselves in the same room with the people who are in our target market. It is then up to us to dazzle them with our charms! As we work through that section of the training, I’ve realized that this is often the hardest part for people to get their arms around – figuring out WHERE the target market is. But it doesn’t have to be that hard, as long as you’ve defined your target market.
Where Are They?
For example, let’s say you are a CPA who wants to focus on medium sized closely held businesses in the construction industry. So, you might research organizations such as Chambers of Commerce, or community groups like the Rotary. Those organizations include many small to medium sized businesses. Or, go online and check out industry groups – either nationally or locally based. There may also be gender based industry groups that feel like a fit. Trust me – there’s a dues based organization for almost everything! And they are always looking for new members. Active members build good groups. And the more you can volunteer, perhaps by serving on the board or on a committee, the more exposure you will get to the influential members of the organization, and the more likely you’ll be to turn your networking time and money into success.
The "Right" Group!
That said, I also encourage people to attend as a guest (perhaps a few times) before signing on as a member. You want to make sure it’s the right fit. As I mentioned earlier, it’s an investment – referrals likely won’t occur overnight. So you need to be willing to investment the time. Make sure you like the people. Does the board seem competent? Are they friendly and welcoming? At events, are people smiling and having fun? Do they invite visitors into conversations, rather than being “cliquey”?
If you do your homework and experiment with a few groups before committing to your 2 or 3 “regular” groups that meet monthly (or even weekly), you’ll find a group that fits and that is likely to become a place for lead generation – once you take the time to build the relationships. You might even recruit some friends to join your new group as well. Remember the old adage: the more you put in, the more you receive. I wish you happy joining and happy networking.
Monika Miles is President of Miles Consulting Group, a firm specializing in multi-state tax consulting for middle market businesses. Clients include technology, manufacturing, software and SaaS based companies doing businesses across state lines. Miles Consulting Group assists them in determining the sales tax and income tax ramifications of creating a taxable presence in a state and how to address these issues with the various states. When she’s not assisting clients with multi-state tax issues, she passionately shares Rainmaker strategies with other professional services firms. Click here for more information.
Understanding Voluntary Disclosure SaaS Companies & Multi-State Tax Issues
Have you been following our series that chronicles how state tax legislation applies to various technology industry niches? So far we’ve covered medical device companies and software companies; today the topic is Software as a Service (or SaaS) companies.What multi-state tax issues do they face when it comes to nexus, sales and use tax, state tax legislation and more? Keep reading to find out.
An Overview of SaaS Companies
SaaS is defined as, "A way of delivering applications over the Internet - as a service. Instead of installing and maintaining software, you simply access it via the Internet, freeing yourself from complex software and hardware management."Read more
Understanding Voluntary Disclosure
State taxes can be daunting. There are so many ways companies can trip into nexus creating activities in multiple states and suddenly find themselves in a compliance nightmare. I see this situation often in my practice. Many of my clients are in the technology industry. Silicon Valley moves at an alarming speed (well, except for Highway 101 – but that’s another story!), and companies move people and product into multiple states just as quickly – sometimes without even realizing the ramifications. State taxes – including sales tax and income tax are often an afterthought, but then come back and rear their heads when a company is getting its next round of funding or needs a financial statement audit. It is at this point that people usually take notice of the state tax situation. Why? Here’s a scenario:Read more
