Kicking Off The IFA!
Check out the rest of RMP’s first couple days at the 2013 IFA on our Facebook page. Don’t forget to give us a ‘Like’ while you’re there!
RMP Visits Las Vegas
Bob Beattie, RMS Division Director, went to Las Vegas to represented RMP Capital and the Resource Monitoring Services Group at the World of Concrete Convention. He was there to promote RMP’s Contract Factoring and take in the sights of the huge convention. Check out the rest of the photos on our Facebook page and give us a ‘like’ to continue to follow RMP.
Jim DiCamillo in The ABF Journal
Jim DiCamillo takes a look at different sectors of the US economy and how they relate to commercial finance in a version of The ABF Journal’s January-February edition.
ABF JOURNAL, “YEAR-END REPORT CARD FOR COMMERCIAL FINANCE”
It appears that the commercial finance industry has enjoyed a decent level of activity in 2012 with respect to deals and transactions. However, the luster was somewhat tarnished with the severe pressures of historically low interest rates. The ability to earn a profit on a financing has had to be carefully scrutinized.
Credit for deal flow in commercial finance in some respects goes to the banks! They continue to be burdened by steep, excruciating regulations by government monitors. Banks have continued their retreat in the small business sector, even though many enterprises which would be candidates for financing only pose a fair level of risk. More business owners in this category appear to be discovering commercial finance as a serious option. Some of the noteworthy sectors are:
APPAREL AND FOOTWEAR: Both areas have been suffering and depressed for a variety of economic reasons. There are always emerging designers who think they can succeed who will consider commercial finance. The major brand labels have so much power in the stores that it becomes exceedingly difficult for the upstarts to fight with them. Overall, retailers are under so much financial pressure they cannot be blamed for demanding all types of stipulations and requirements to their advantage, from design houses which want to get placed in their stores. Retailers have been aggressively creating their own brands where they engage in direct buying, thus cutting out the middle supply chain business owners whether they are suppliers, importers, distributors, vendors, jobbers, and the like. For the retailers, it is now a one-way proposition. Deals which are available in this space have become frustrating.
JEWELRY: Regular high value jewelry activity and the opportunity for financings among businesses in this space had been unimpressive during 2012. In what has been an uncertain economy, high net worth consumers have instinctively put off decisions and held back on buying expensive many leisure, lifestyle items. On the other hand, cheap costume jewelry enterprises with entrepreneurs and new designers are always coming forward. These are decent opportunities for financing.
ELECTRONICS: Competitive warfare has broken out in this sector where small business owners are looking for commercial finance in their manufacturing and importing of knock offs of big-name brands. The retail community embraces these propositions. However, there are all sorts of strings connected which often turn the business owner and their deal into a high-risk scenario. This includes retailer demands like attached markdowns, and huge returns. These transactions can disintegrate into one huge consignment sale. It becomes very easy for the client—and his financing source to lose out here. Also be careful when you are financing black market (complete knocked offs without regard to patents or copyrights) electronics or gray market (buying it legally from an unauthorized distributor) electronics. Brands like Microsoft, Apple, or HP carry a lot of weight with retailers. It appears unlikely many in commercial finance will get the opportunity to finance those deals. Perhaps, some of us may be financing “the next Apple” or “the future Microsoft”!
COMPUTERS: Ditto what I stated above on chances to finance cheaper versions of the brand. One strong growth area during 2012 which appears to be continuing into 2013 are opportunities for financing computer upgrade products, enhancements, and software packages with strong licensing. There seems to be good entrepreneurship, business owners partnering. All of this has strong potential for us.
TOYS: I believe we are on a new generation of consumers driven by cultural appeal that will stimulate toy sales. There appears to be promising product innovation matched by a marketplace for it. The doors are open for financing all here whether they are manufacturers, jobbers, importers, distributors, suppliers, etc. There are generally good margins to be made depending upon the promotion and popularity of the product.
FURNITURE: I’m not seeing a lot of activity here. Big chains appear to be limiting their buys, and what action is around is being handled by specialty shops (ie-bedding, lighting, carpeting). Be careful on the receivables from a small store operation or an independent. What is their size and credit status? There appears to be some promise among entrepreneurs who are manufacturing customized, high quality furniture and selling to high-end concerns. This budding class of business owners needs financing.
PUBLISHING: The industry appears to be in a holding pattern, treading water, not sure of the future direction based upon the sector’s technology shakeout. Publishing is finding itself, re-inventing itself. I would be cautious on any deal here for 2013.
TRUCKING: RMP has been involved in factoring invoices here from “Day One”. For 2013, I sense some increased volume on truckers moving goods for 2013, with account debtors paying slower and even demanding more advantageous terms. So the factor becomes more relevant. However, more commercial finance firms have recently discovered this space, and the competition among us for deals has been driving down margins on yields—to the benefit of the trucker.
RE-DISCOUNT PROGRAMS: There are a number of new, small factors who have made their debut in commercial finance. They are actually well-capitalized entrepreneurs who are moving their investments from banks and other equities, trying to take advantage of more attractive yields in factoring. They need backroom support, and additional leverage financing as they learn the business. High net-worth people have a lot of interest in this approach, and how factors can service them.
CONSTRUCTION: There are plenty of deals still flowing from public works construction, the contractors and subs engaged in this work, especially from small vendors and family-owned businesses that need financing. Many of these enterprises do not have the financial capacity or cash flow if they are awarded government contracts. So this should be an excellent fit for many factors. The key to make this successful is a strong funds control program. It appears that with President Obama being re-elected, public works opportunities will be abundant for the next several years.
UTILITY COMPANIES: Whether it is telephone companies, electric companies, or cable companies—many of them are putting out contracts to local vendors and contractors. And obviously this offers good risk receivables, probably with payment terms over several months. I would take these deals all day, every week.
MEDICAL DEVICES: Between insurance companies, government programs, hospitals there is no shortage of good receivables where time is required for payment to the vendor, supplier or distributor. Look for opportunities especially when it comes to inventory items, materials, devices…everything from bandages, to scalpels, to operating room lighting, to oxygen canisters, to braces, to wheelchairs, beds, the list goes on…
AUTO PARTS: There’s an astounding statistic which has surfaced since Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast. It has affected some 250,000 vehicles, which have either been totaled or damaged. We have already been starting to see a stampede of auto parts activity. This is over and above what had been a good year in 2012, since there has been a record set on the life of vehicles which owners are now keeping between five-and-ten years, all requiring parts. Let’s feast!
STAFFING: This is another robust sector actually being caused by some negative economic issues. Many employers remain reluctant to hire additional, permanent workers based on perceived instability and volatility. They do not know if increases in business volume are only temporary. And they do not want to get stuck with legal encumbrances that come with company employment and job descriptions. Temporary personnel and staffing is a popular solution and the receivables are decent.
OFFICE SUPPLIES: Financing opps to suppliers, vendors, importers, and distributors who sell to retailers here, have been steady and consistent. These are products and inventory that consumers will always use. Margins, procurement, and requisitions however all favor the retailer. The big boxes can pretty much dictate terms and conditions if the small business owner wants to sell them. There has been widespread media coverage on how Staples has initiated shrinking its real estate while growing its Internet volume. This does not infer less sales, rather greater profitability. Look for more of this business model by others in this space.
My instincts based on more than forty years in business, many logged in commercial finance is that 2013 will continue to offer some economic improvements because we are at the end of the 2008 down cycle. A significant negative in our 2012 economy has been uncertainty and instability ravaged by partisanship and politics. Whether you were a Republican or a Democrat, an Obama supporter or a Romney voter—the direction of our nation over the next several years has been somewhat settled. I am not expecting a whole lot but there should be some modest upswing for commercial finance.
BY JAMES DICAMILLO, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, RMP CAPITAL CORPORATION, A TEN-YEAR-OLD NATIONAL FACTOR HANDLING ABOUT $120M IN ANNUAL DEAL FLOW, BASED IN ISLANDIA, NEW YORK (WWW.RMPCAPITAL.COM)
Understanding Your Digital Audience
Do you ever wonder if anyone tracks the hundreds of clicks you make a day at your computer? Turns out, that those clicks are very important to marketers in the digital era. The challenge is taking that data and using it effectively. In the article below, written by Fiona Severson of business2community.com, it gives you a nice starting point on how to understand and utilize those clicks.
Digital Marketing Analytics: What SMBs Need to Know
By Fiona Severson, Published February 12, 2013, Source
The majority of businesses now not only recognize but are embracing digital as a non-expendable part of their marketing strategies. A recent report from Econsultancy says that 71% of businesses are planning to spend more on digital marketing in 2013, and of those 46% are investing in analytics. Evaluating marketing data is an important part of any business, but because online marketing is still a relatively new discipline, digital analytics metrics are still being developed to best understand the impact of digital marketing campaigns.
In order to maximize the usefulness of digital analytics data, business marketers and IT developers need to bring their ideas together to ensure new technologies can be efficiently used on both ends of a transaction. The main problems facing marketers trying to read and respond to digital analytics data today are many sided. Obstacles include, broadly:
Device differentiation
How is your business’ content accessed? From which kind of device: desktop computer or laptop, tablet or smartphone? Is your audience primarily mobile or stationary?
Source differentiation
Where are your online visits being sourced from? Do most people come across your business through organic search, direct traffic, paid elements, or referral? Which social media sites are successfully generating leads?
Cross-Metric Analysis
Is your money better spent per thousand impressions or per click? How many leads per dollars spent does a particular digital campaign produce? Are you able to compare data from different digital media?
Real-Time Response
Is your marketing department able to respond to digital data in real-time? How does this change the meaning of your end-result numbers when analyzing campaign effectiveness?
Gleaning Meaning from Data
Marketers need multi-platform analytics in order to run integrated digital campaigns. What are the limits of data in a fragmented platform/metric environment? Where are the data gaps? How will changes in the digital playing field, such as the expansion of encrypted search, affect your ability to parse relevent data?
While businesses wait for marketing people and IT people to come together and create love children who can surmount all of these analytics obstacles, there may be a couple of tactics that small-and-medium-sized businesses can employ in the meantime to help dodge some of the common pitfalls created by them. Waiting to achieve integrated digital marketing is not an option.
1. Know Your Audience
Know where they’re coming from. Is it likely that first time visitors to your website type your URL directly into the address bar? Is it likely that mobile users are spending a lot of time interacting on social media? Reflect on your own media habits and use a little common sense to determine what kind of customer your data is representing. Then, make sure your marketing tactics across those platforms are tailored to reach them.
2. Know the Weight of Numbers
What’s more valuable, an impression or a click? What are the limits in understanding the meaning of a Click-Through Rate (CTR)? How can you measure engagement? The goals of your digital marketing campaign will help you determine which route to go: Are you trying to create brand awareness or trying to generate new leads? Choose a paid strategy to complement these goals in a cost-efficient manner.
When it comes down to it, the only thing digital marketers can really do to keep up in the swamp of often conflicting analytics is to keep learning. Monitor your incoming data so that you’ll have a better idea of when changes in the data are meaningful. But also, use your limited understanding to your advantage – relying solely on analytics will limit your ability to be candid in real-time with your customers.
Digital marketing is about building relationships, and that’s one thing that humans are better at than robots.
Happy New Year from RMP Capital!
We appreciate everyone who stopped by The Capital Update to see what’s happening at RMP Capital. Thanks to all our readers who followed our blog in 2012. Hope everyone has a great 2013 and thanks for following our bloggers!
How to Take Advantage of Your RMP Bank Consultant!
RMP’s experienced and professional Bank Consultants are here for your bank. With them your bank has a much better chance of being successful on our Accounts Receivable Program. They will do most of the work and show you what you need to do with minimal effort.
Obviously, one of the most important goals is to get off to a good start. Our best recommendation to achieve quick success in your bank is to schedule a QuickSTART meeting with your commercial loan officer team. It allows RMP to fully explain the Program to your team and answer their questions. Additionally, we explain what a prospect looks like and what to say to generate interest. Something like this: “Mr. Prospect, the bank has a great program specifically designed to help growing companies. It increases cash flow by funding receivables on an ongoing basis, similar to a credit card program. Can we set up a time for you come into the bank to see if you are interested?” Or, set up a future appointment at the business owner’s location.
The QuickSTART meeting is a Power Point presentation lasting less than an hour. We give each member of your lending team a hard copy of our QuickSTART manual in addition to digital copies. And, we provide your bank with our custom tri-fold bank brochures, all at no cost!
Our consultant will come to your bank and fully explain the program to your customer or prospect. In this way, your team does not have to spend a lot of their valuable time learning a new product. RMP will also gather all of the necessary documents to present a proposal to ultimately gain approval. Our goal is to make offering our Program as simple and seamless as possible for your bank. In return, the bank establishes an ongoing revenue stream of referral fee income. All at no risk or cost to your bank!
RMP’s professional Bank Consultants know how to talk to your customers and prospects to identify their growth opportunities, solve cash flow problems and increase profits.
When your bank has to say “No,” Accounts Receivable Funding is an optional way to say “Yes.” As most bankers say: “It’s another arrow in our quiver that we have to have in this economic environment.”
Give us a call to see how RMP’s Community Bank Program can work for your bank.
Chuck Stover, Manager of Bank Relations
Don Barrick to be Honored by Life’s WORC
Donald Barrick of Lloyd Harbor has been chosen by Life’s WORC (www.lifesworc.org/) based in Garden City, New York to be the Guest of Honor at its annual black tie gala to be held at The Garden City Hotel on Friday, December 7th, 6:30 PM
Mr. Barrick is Vice Chairman of the 35-year-old non-profit which provides care to about 1400 developmentally disabled people with some 800 employees, through a variety of facilities and special programs in both Queens and Nassau Counties. Life’s WORC was recently named 2012 “Agency of the Year” by the Self Advocacy Association of NY. The organization was also named a recipient of “The Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces™ Award for 2012.” This list is comprised of 50 organizations located in the U.S. and Canada. This is the third time Life’s WORC has been recognized for its employee-centered workplace. In 2009, the organization was named to both the Crain’s New York Business list of the “Best Places to Work in New York City,” as well as the Society of Human Resource Management’s list of “Best Companies to Work for in New York.
Mr. Barrick is the President & CEO of RMP Capital Corporation, (www.rmpcapital.com) based in Islandia, New York, a national factoring company which handles more than $120M in annual transaction volume across the United States and Canada. RMP employs twenty people and specializes in providing factoring for small to mid-sized businesses, funding and risk management for public works contractors, financing and back office support for small factors and purchase order financing importers and distributors.
Prior to RMP Capital, Mr. Barrick was the Chief Financial Officer of CTA Industries, manufacturer of insulation products for residential, commercial, and industrial uses. He managed three rounds of debt and equity financing totaling over $150M.
Previous to CTA, Mr. Barrick was a principal in Barrick and Barrick, Inc., a real estate financing brokerage specializing in placing commercial mortgages of $1M to $10M, and Small Business Administration loans up to $500,000.
Mr. Barrick graduated from Cornell University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance. Mr. Barrick and his wife, Nancy, are the parents of Emily, Christopher and Brandon.
According to Mr. Barrick: “This occasion brings together members of the Life’s WORC family including government, business, and community leaders. The festive evening attracts about 400 people each year and raises about $150,000 as the organization’s largest annual fundraiser.
Mr. Barrick explains that: “We are very aware of the enormous competition among annual dinners and special events every week driven by Long Island’s non-profit and charitable organizations. While our galas which go back fifteen years, have been successful, we are pro-active about not becoming stale, running the same, predictable format every year. While keeping within our core event, we are looking to innovate on December 7th to motivate our contributors and attendees.”
Instead of a traditional cocktail reception followed by the sit-down dinner, Barrick says, the $300 per person event will be one continuous cocktail/buffet party. “Each of the four ballrooms at The Garden City Hotel will present different activities to create renewed energy benefitting Life’s WORC,” Mr. Barrick outlines. “One room will offer casual foods. The cocktail reception space will offer comedy/magic entertainment provided by www.fatratbastard.com. The other room will provide an interactive presentation about Life’s WORC articulating the vision for its new family center for autism. About 400 of the agency’s present population is people with autism. The evening will offer different raffles including “50-50”, gift basket raffles, and silent auction prizes, along with a printed journal where advertising support can range from $2500 to $75.”
For More Information About Life’s WORC Holiday Gala contact:
MaryAnn Wright (516)-741-9000 ext. 222
