Endorphin Advisors - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

Q: Who is Endorphin Advisors?

A: Endorphin Advisors is a unique, management consulting firm and marketing agency based in Albany, New York. We started our journey in 2005 in San Francisco, CA, and re-located back to the east coast in 2011. We focus on business development and Internet marketing solutions which are suitable for a wide range of businesses.

Q: What does Endorphin Advisors do for its clients?

A: As our tagline says, we "help businesses take big, bold steps Forward." By this we mean that we help businesses that want to grow their business or improve their business by developing, implementing and managing innovative, effective strategies to help them achieve just that. To "take big, bold steps™ forward."

Q: How does Endorphin Advisors help businesses achieve revenue growth?

A: We focus on business development and marketing strategies, by focusing on questions such as: "Where do you want to be in 3 or 5 years?" "What resources are required to achieve your vision for the next 3 or 5 years?" And, "Who are your target customers and how will you build brand awareness with those customers." "What is your marketing strategy to develop prospects into customers?" and "What are the sales, revenue, expense and capital projections for the next 3-5 years?"

Once we start digging down to the core vision and goals of the business (or business owner), we start to uncover the true, core strengths which are what will help it survive and prosper. Then we see how and where we might provide value. If there is a good match here, then we have a basis for conversation.

Q: What are the core competencies and skills of Endorphin Advisors?

A: We are strategic thinkers and strategic marketers. That is where we start building up a strategy - for the business or for the marketing. We like to understand a business and its owners and management, and then understand their business. In that respect, I guess we have a great deal of empathy, which enables us to understand people and cultures, and their true needs and goals. Empathy is very important because it helps to truly understand people, from both a client relationship perspective as well as a customer perspective.

Q: Does Endorphin Advisors specialize in any particular industries?

A: Each of our partners has different experiences that contribute to a tremendously wide range of experiences, viewpoints and ideas for how businesses can be run. We do, as a firm, tend to focus on service industry businesses, and are particularly effective in business-to-business situations. For example, we have been successful on several occasions helping service business clients form partnerships with other firms, whether as a distributor, as a strategic partner and to raise capital.

Q: What type of help are businesses generally looking for when they engage Endorphin Advisors?

A: There are several situations in which we often engage with clients. First, the web is providing tremendous opportunities for companies to increase their brand awareness, engage with customers and to drive new sales. For many companies, taking advantage of these opportunities provides a challenge. This is an area in which we have been successful.

Another area is in helping companies prepare themselves to be sold. Endorphin Advisors enjoyed the M&A environment prior to the 2008-2009 credit crunch, where we helped companies prepare for sale. Once the firms were truly ready to be sold, their M&A specialist took over and sold the businesses. (Endorphin Advisors does not get involved in the deal activities of M&A specialists, investment bankers or business brokers. We are partners with these individuals and firms in preparing their clients to be sold).

Additionally, we often help businesses develop, implement and manage business development and marketing strategies to drive more sales, build partnerships and alliances, and increase their operating capacity and capabilities to handle increased sales.

Q: How else does Endorphin Advisors help its clients?

A: We have helped clients negotiate and win significant partnership deals, including vendor relationships, distribution relationships, representative relationships, etc. We have also helped strategize and negotiate significant financing arrangements on several occasions, and often are called upon by clients (or their banking partners) to help a company obtain loan financing.

As our name indicates, we are professional business advisors and we advise clients on business development deals which have resulted in significant financing, distribution and orders worth millions of dollars.

Q: The company name is unique. What is the significance of the name Endorphin Advisors?

A: Well, we very deliberately named our firm Endorphin Advisors.

As you know, the release of endorphins causes people to feel confident, relaxed, focused, and energetic. Endorphins also create a sense of clarity, purpose, peace, and of can cause people to have a vision of the future and the determination to get there.

Here at Endorphin Advisors, we strive to bring that same sense of confidence, clarity, energy, focus and purpose to our clients, so they can envision the future, see a clear path to it and block out all obstacles and distractions standing in the way.

Additionally, we are strategic business advisors rather than consultants. In our view, we are long term partners with our clients, providing a range of services, and have a vested interest in seeing our clients succeed.

Follow this link to learn more about the name Endorphin Advisors.

Q: When a business comes to you and says they need help growing, what is your approach and what services do you provide to such a client?

A: Our approach always starts with the goals of a business. What is the vision of the business or owner? Where would we like to see the business in the next five years or so?

From this vision, we help clarify strategic direction and initiatives. We also look at the resources needed – from capital to talent to strategic partners – and the financial model of the business. What needs do we see and how will we secure necessary resources?

Then we look at the marketing model of the business. Who are the customers and what are the products or services on offer? What is competitive situation, and barriers to entry in the market place?

These are the kinds of things we think about with our clients, and then we roll up our sleeves and get to work doing what needs to be done.

Q: Tell us about your web marketing capabilities and services?

A: We have the expertise and resources to build and manage all elements of full-scale web marketing campaigns. From web design to web marketing strategy, from content development to graphic design. Our expanded team here at Endorphin Advisors can do virtually whatever is needed to help our clients achieve their web marketing goals.

Q: We see there is a new "Web Marketing Audit" service? What is this and who is it designed for?

A: We are very excited about our new Web Marketing Audit, the first phase of which was launched in early July 2010. It has since been upgraded to include a wider range of service packages, and these have been very popular with our clients.

We have found that many, many companies and entrepreneurs just don’t feel confident that they are doing all that they can be doing when it comes to web marketing. People hear about new ways of doing things, new tools and strategies, and it just makes people feel like they are always trying to catch up.

So, we decided to develop a system for people to be able to easily and systematically pull together all of their web marketing pieces and, from an objective point of view, get a picture of where they stack up in the grand scheme of things.

In the audit report, we provide a detailed review of where they are today as well as ideas, suggestions and recommendations, many of which can be implemented quickly, easily and at no cost. Again, we are very excited about this new product and we can tell you that there will be more to come shortly.

Please follow this link to learn more about the Web Marketing Audit.

Q: In addition to marketing and business planning and advisory services, you do a lot in the M&A (mergers and acquisitions) industry. Tell us about what you do in that arena.

A: Well, in fact, that is largely where Endorphin Advisors began. With the credit crunch of 2008-2009, much of the M&A activity ground to a halt. Now, as we see 2011 progress we are starting to see some small signs of life in this area.

In any event, on the sell side, we are experienced at helping companies prepare to sell themselves. We have a proven process of helping business owners ask and answer all the difficult financial, operating, business, legal, tax and personal issues involved in selling a business.

On the buy-side, we have helped new owners of small businesses take control of new businesses and helped provide strategic planning as well as business development and marketing assistance to new management teams.

To learn more about our capabilities and experience in this area, please visit our Endorphin Partners website at http://www.EndorphinPartners.com.

Q: Marketing a business on the web requires a whole bunch of tools, how does Endorphin Advisors keep on top of it all?

A: We help by simplifying the process of web marketing with tools and strategies that are effective and that can take care of a wide range of required functionality. Plus, we manage the full web marketing function for several clients, which really simplifies everything as we do all the down and dirty work, and just report back on what we are doing and what results we are experiencing.

Q: How does Endorphin Advisors stay on top of the latest and most effective marketing tools, strategies and innovations?

A: We have a great team of experienced individuals along with important, strategic business partners. Plus, we have a clear passion for our work and a strong belief in continuous learning.

For example, Erik Bunaes is a Certified Inbound Marketing Professional, a Constant Contact-certified Social Media Marketing Expert and a Constant Contact-certified Email Marketing Expert. We keep up with effective strategies, best practices and tools which are being used by leading marketers and by industry leading companies. This helps us stay on top of what is happening in the online marketing world, and that in turn, helps us provide the best possible strategic and tactical marketing assistance available anywhere.

Q: Endorphin Advisors offers a range of services, including business development solutions, marketing strategy development, Internet and Inbound marketing and exit planning for owners of privately-held businesses. How do all these services tie in together and how do you offer all these services?

A: We are professional business advisors and as a team have the skills and experience to provide clients with the type of high level, executive expertise required to successfully run a profitable, growing business. We aim to provide our clients with the support and knowledge and, when needed, the guidance, to help make good decisions about running a business.

Q: How does Endorphin Advisors price its services?

A: We can price our services in several different ways in order to offer our clients services that fit their needs and budget. This includes hourly rates, project fees or monthly retainers. It all depends on the preference of our clients and the type of service we are providing.

It is important to note that we price our services to make them as easy as possible to purchase. Also there are ways to minimize costs, particularly when factoring in time and, for example, how much of a project we are doing versus how much a client is doing.

Also, in many cases, we are working with clients that are start-ups, turn-arounds or are just not satisfied with where they are today. These types of clients may have serious cash flow challenges but are also likely the type of client we can and will help. We take a hard look at every situation and try to come up with ways to help out.

Q: So, what's the latest news at Endorphin Advisors?

A: We are very excited about our regular series of hands-on, in-person training workshops that we are starting. While we have always done a lot of speaking and training, we are making a big investment in developing and conducting a series of workshops designed to help small businesses keep up with new developments and have a resource to keep learning about all the different aspects of successfully running a business. Especially with all the great things happening in upstate New York's Tech Valley, we are excited to be involved in it's growth and participating in the development of successful entrepreneurs in this area. Please visit the newly expanded Endorphin Education & Training Center today. We'd love to hear what you think about it, too!

Thank you for visiting Endorphin Advisors and for learning more about our work. We'd love to hear from you and discuss how we can be of service.

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