How is Business Calcium different from a web consultant or Internet expert?
The real difference is most evident when viewed from the context of your business goals and objectives. If you are looking to build a website that can take orders for products for your current customers, a web developer or consultants are your likely first set of investments. For those that are looking to build an online business to serve as a whole new channel of distribution reaching all new customers, Business Calcium (BC) should be considered.
BC invests development resources, support staff, expertise and capital in chosen partners for the purpose of growing a sustainable, profitable online profit center. We are here 24/7 with the same goals and objectives as our partners: create an enjoyable experience for users, reduce cost of sales, increase gross revenues and grow the business!
We earn our living by growing businesses, not by collecting retainers or per project fees. Our income is directly tied to the success of the online profit center business making us directly accountable.
Why Does Business Calcium focus on manufacturers?
Our model lends itself to working with companies and brands that have margin built-in for wholesale distribution. Business Calcium earns its return on investment by ensuring the success of the online profit center and earning revenue from the sale of products through the online profit center. This model provides manufacturers with a dramatic reduction in capital expense while gaining expert services, technology and increased revenue in the shortest time possible.
How does Business Calcium select partners?
We use the same process as any investor would. We talk to the principals to learn about the competitive environment and see why they have developed or want to develop an online profit center as well as their goals and objectives for the profit center. We combine this information with a review of their sales history and current strategy to determine Business Calcium’s potential levels of investment and participation. If both BC and the prospective partner agree that forming a partnership to create the profit center is mutually beneficial, Business Calcium will further develop a proposal for the project.
I already have a site built by a great designer/consultant. Is a partnership still viable?
Yes! Your site would benefit from continued effort of refinement. By studying your visitors behavior and making refinements over time, you can realize robust growth. Also, the Internet it self is constantly changing, and if your web site is not, it is falling behind – in both rankings and relevance to your market. These are just some examples of why a continued effort is key to success.
How many competing manufacturers can BC accommodate?
The real question is, will my data and accumulated knowledge be used to help grow a competitor’s online profit center? No! Here again the partnership model provides clarity of vision and easy decision making. When we partner with a manufacturer, one of our agreed upon goals is to become the preferred and biggest provider of the product in that manufacturers category. For this reason, we don’t benefit by partnering with two or more direct competitors.
There is tremendous synergy in being able to cross sell and have access to partners with complimentary products and services. BC is constantly looking to leverage these relationships on your behalf.
What services are included in a Partnership with Business Calcium?
Once a partnership is agreed upon, every facet of running a successful online profit center is included. In our experience (over 20 years) there is no direct marketing technique, technology solution or communications methodology that we should overlook to build a successful business. For those that think in a linear fashion, here are the bare minimum services we employ to build our successful online profit centers.
- Site design and architecture – Sustainability requires successful online profit centers to be able to consistently rank high in organic search. Design, now more than ever, plays a role in that process.
- SEO – Constantly reviewing the analytics, staying up to date on Google and other search engine technologies and adapting to the required changes increases rankings.
- Content Development – Content needs to be engaging and worthy of sharing with others. Benefits are higher conversions to sales and better search engine rankings.
- Email Campaign Development and Management – Building your prospect list is the most important part of growing the business. What you communicate, how and how often is the direct marketing expertise that BC brings to the table.
- Fulfillment Services – Many manufacturers are setup to ship cartons or pallets as opposed to individual orders. BC has addressed this requirement and is integrated with a top fulfillment partner to enable full logistics support including customer service and order processing, even accounting, as part of the partnership.
- Social Media – It is all about “them”. Planning the strategy, maintaining the communications and most important, listening to the feedback are all part of the process of growing a sustainable online profit center. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and many others must be included in the marketing mix.
- Sales Funnel Optimization – Traffic alone is not enough. Every visitor goes through a sales process that must be made as frictionless as possible. From the customized landing page or homepage to the checkout process, close attention to analytics and constant testing will result in improved conversion and happier customers.
What types of business are most likely to be successful in the Business Calcium model?
Successful Partnership candidates:
- Want to build a direct channel of distribution through use of an online profit center.
- Understand the importance of having best of breed technologies and services power their online business.
- Think long term, not next quarter, in the outlook of the online profit as a key component of their overall business.
- Have been in the market and know the cost of building, managing and marketing a top ranked, online profit center and do not want to invest at that level, yet want such services.
- Are willing to consider partnering as a growth strategy.