Brooklyn's Progress
November 2003

By Small Business Management Consulting

How do I know that my target market is the right one for my business?  Have I identified all the businesses or individuals who would benefit from my business?  What value do I provide to each type of client I serve?

These are tough questions.  Yet they are basic to all businesses.  For start-ups and small businesses, they must be answered if the business is to grow and thrive. 

So where do you go to make sure you’re on the right track?  Marketing assistance abounds, but often comes in the one-size-fits-all category.  Not so with Small Business Management Consulting (SBMC).  SBMC, now in its eighth year of operation, provides personalized service that will help you answer these questions for your business.

SBMC is in the business of helping entrepreneurs and manager/owners realize their business dreams.  Dreams are inherently vague and full of incomplete images.  With the services offered by SBMC, your business dreams can take form and lead to an individually defined strategy for success.

Small Business Management Consulting is a multi-service consulting company whose mission is to help small and mid-sized businesses realize their revenue goals.  When founded in 1996, the company was called Non-Profit Management Consulting (NPMC).  Then it sought to assist small to mid-size, non-profit organizations, serving many different constituencies, expand their sources of contributed income.  It achieved this mission by providing a range of services including:

• Grant writing
• Prospect research
• Database management
• Special event planning
• Managing annual campaigns
• Managing small capital campaigns
• Soliciting individual donors through direct mail 
• Obtaining major gifts through constituency-based fundraising
• Facilitating organizational development through strategic planning
• Conducting board training sessions
• Assisting in board development and expansion

Alan Siege founded NPMC after spending 10 years working as a development officer for several large cultural organizations.  He recently expanded the business so he could provide the same creative, revenue-enhancing strategies for profit-making businesses as he did for nearly 100 non-profit companies -- social service agencies, cultural organizations, and religious institutions -- for whom he raised more than $5 million. 

Since its mission has changed, its name was changed to Small Business Management Consulting (SBMC) to reflect its broader appeal.  SBMC utilizes many of the successful fundraising methods used for non-profit clients for its corporate and commercial customers.  And unlike many consulting companies who just advise non-profits on how to better mange their resources to achieve their goals and objectives, NPMC and now SBMC is a “hands-on” partner who works in concert with the client to ensure that its goals are met.

SBMC works with entrepreneurs who are in the early stage of developing their business plans and may not be equipped to conduct all of the initial research and analysis that is needed to successfully launch a business.  Because research alone is not sufficient to put a business into place, SBMC also helps fledgling companies by providing guidance in writing their business plan. 

Mr. Siege and SBMC employ a technique called “strategic questioning,” This process involves probing the assumptions and expectations that the principals bring to their vision for the new company. Often the best-made plans have not been sufficiently analyzed to determine if they can meet the rigors of the market place.  This tough, but important practice has helped many businesses identify a particular competitive advantage, which, in turn has led to real profits for many companies. 

SBMC offers its clients services that busy entrepreneurs often fail to do.  The company will:

• Perform a review and analysis of business idea
• Research feasibility of business
• Review the business plan if written
• Assist in the creation of the business plan
• Help business prepare an investor presentation
• Prepare applications for business grants such as the WTC Small Firm Attraction & Retention Grant Program and loan applications to banks and other lending agencies.

SBMC’s mission is to offer a tailored package of services and referral assistance to small businesses that are in formation as well as to businesses that have been in business for some time.  SBMC’s vision is to be a resource for entrepreneurs forming new companies and for principals of existing for-profit and non-profit companies. 

When founded, the company was dedicated to providing low-cost fundraising services to small and mid-sized non-profit organizations using a variety of established and innovative methods.  Now, even as it has grown into a company dedicated to helping businesses of all kinds, with many more services, its core values of providing economical, high quality and personalized service continues.  

If you would like to see how a relationship with SBMC could help your business, please contact Alan Siege at 718-768-1672 or by e-mail at Alan.Siege@verizon.net.