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Ameravant

Ameravant

Location: Santa Barbara, California
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How Did Your Business Get Started?

Ameravant, Inc. was established as a web design and development company by Michael Kramer in 2001. No stranger to business, Michael had an impressive track record in real estate sales and business consulting. The name Ameravant - a combination of America and “avant-garde” – was intended as a symbol of the forward-looking business he was creating.  Michael had already identified an important business opportunity arising from the rapidly expanding role of the internet in commerce - hence his decision to set up a company that would design and develop customized websites and, specifically, empowers owners to maintain their content without paying a webmaster. Websites would be faster, cross-browser compatible, and most importantly, search engine friendly, and customer support would be offered.  Ameravant also commenced its web hosting operation, and thus enabled the company to support its customers even more effectively.

By 2004 the company began hiring, and the number of employees grew to seven as the business became increasingly successful.  However, by late 2008 the market was declining, and where previously the company had been able to turn a very high percentage of inquiries into business, the closing rate had dropped to 20%. The company was running into difficulty.  As the key salesperson, all of Michael’s time was spent on selling, and he had less time to work on daily operations or even send out business quotes.  This resulted in fewer sales and less business.

At this point, Michael met with SCORE. He attended a business seminar where he listened to various presentations and subsequently met two of its counselors, Henri Bainou and Gary Kravetz.

One of the best pieces of advice I was offered by SCORE was that when a client walks through the door with money in his hand, make sure you sell him something.

The advice was simple. See if you can come up with a product you can offer on a turnkey basis at a very competitive price. For Ameravant, this meant offering a basic website package, which offered all the important features required for a simple business, at a low price. To this, additional customized options could be added according to the client's business requirements.  The effect of this was twofold.  Firstly, the cost of the basic package made Ameravant extremely competitive in the local market. Secondly, by standardizing the package on offer, Ameravant was able to streamline its quotes and make these available to customers almost immediately. These changes had an immediate impact, and Ameravant was able to convert a higher percentage of inquiries into business. Now the company was able to readily quote a price for everything from the most basic package to the most sophisticated, with any number of “add on” options, e.g. billing and payment systems, 360-degree panoramic tours, testimonial systems, event registrations, catalogs, online stores, etc.  This range of choices enabled the needs of a wide range of industries to be met.

As a result of this business turnaround, the company was able to retain almost all its employees and Michael was able to devote more time to business growth.  This led to the development of business-to-business operations. Because of the level of sophistication of Ameravant’s products, local competitors are now purchasing these to sell to their clients. This is particularly beneficial to Ameravant as this lowers support costs.

Now Ameravant combines the most advanced technology with the most rapid of turnovers.  New websites can be created within three days (in some cases even less) and its clients now include some major Santa Barbara institutions. The company website at www.ameravant.com illustrates the wide range of customers who have used its services. Michael continues to draw on the services of SCORE periodically.

And the future? Michael is optimistic. The company’s goals now include plans to expand its business-to-business commercial activities and also target more clients who need larger, more complex websites for their business operations. He has no doubt much of the company’s current success is due to SCORE.

“SCORE’s professional advice came at a crucial time for the company. It changed everything, and set us on a great path to further business success.”

  

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712 H St NE PMB 98848
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Washington, DC 20002
(805) 367-3292

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Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.

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