Improve Sales For Your Minority Owned Business with Multiple MBE Certifications
October 4th, 2009
Free MBE certification starter kit just for entering your email.
MBE Certifications provide specific proof that your business is 51% or more owned, controlled, and operated by one or more minorities. “MBE” stands for minority business Enterprise. The term can generically be used to refer to any minority-owned business, whether or not that business has a formal certification.
Now that we have some definitions, let’s explore a few of the ways that you can use multiple levels of MBE certifications to grow your minority-owned business. An MBE certification may be obtained at a local government level, state government level, federal government level, and at a national level (for selling to Corporate America). Thus, you would want to obtain an MBE certification at the proper level depending on what type of agency or company you would like to have as a client.
For example, if you are interested in selling to a state government agency, then consider a state MBE certification, but if you want to sell to various large corporations then you should consider a national certification.
Although not always required to have a certification to do business with a government agency or Corporate America, as a practical matter some of them do require or encourage you to have a certification. You can increase your chances of getting business from them by having an MBE certification.
Why would having these certifications increase your success in obtaining business from the government and Corporate America? Because many state and local government agencies and large corporations that receive government funding are required to award a certain percentage of their contracts to minority owned businesses. Furthermore, while the federal government does not have specific projects set aside just for minorities, they do make efforts to award a specific percentage of their contracts to minorities as well. Thus, with an MBE certification, you can increase your chances of getting work from the government and Corporate America to help them meet their quotas.
If you sell products or services that government agencies in your state would be interested in buying, then you should explore the option of obtaining a mbe certification in your state (if your state offers a MBE certification program).
A very effective strategy for growing your business immensely may be to obtain MBE certifications in multiple states. It is a common misconception that you can only obtain a MBE state certification in the state in which your business resides. That is not true. You can get a state MBE certification in multiple states to increase your chances of getting work from those state governments.
Yes, it does take some extra effort to obtain your certification in multiple states, since each state has a different MBE certification application. So if you are not interested in selling to state government agencies in a certain state, there would not likely be any value to obtain a certification in that state.
Many successful MBE’s use one or more state MBE certifications to aid in selling to state government(s), use the federal MBE self-certification to aid in selling to the federal government, and also use a national MBE certification to aid in selling to large corporations. For example, businesses that sell a product or service that any or all of these entities would buy can benefit from obtaining these multiple levels of certification.
The bottom line is that you should first carefully consider the ideal customer is for your products and services. You would then need to identify the level of certification that will best increase your chances of obtaining them as your customer. If you are not interested in Corporate America, or government agencies, then it would not likely be worth your time to pursue any of these certifications.
With these MBE certifications, you increase your chances of gaining business from those “deep pockets”. If you do want to have those deep pockets your clients, you should consider those certifications that give you a serious competitive advantage because of their mandatory requirements. Why not use any competitive advantage you can get your hands on?
.
.
http://www.innoventum.com/certifications.html Learn the secrets to selling your goods and services to the Government and Corporate America by leveraging Minority, Woman, and Veteran-Owned Business Certifications.
justine PETERSEN hosts a panel discussion on Access to Capital in Minority Communities during SBA Small Business Week 2010. Panelists Clifton Berry – President, Berry Advisors and former Director Fannie Mae St. Louis Partnership Office; Eddie Davis – CEO, Center for the Acceleration of African American Businesses and 2009 State of Missouri SBA 
Chef Michael Caines talks to BigHospitality reporter Becky Paskin about future plans for the Abode brand, his role there and his work in raising standards in catering colleges. Filmed at The Restaurant Show at Earl’s Court 2 in October 2009.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tribute to the brilliant Mary Beth Evans and her flawless portrayal of Dr. Kayla Brady Johnson on Days of our Lives
BOOK REVIEW.