Treat Your Company's Stock Like Any Other Product Or Service

If you have a public company, or are anticipating taking your

company public, the subject of stock support, often ignored,

should be a critical part of your corporate planning.



It is the foundation for the success of your stock values.

This is how you will ensure that your share price is at its

highest possible level at the time a buyout or merger offer is

made for your company.



Growing Your Business



Private companies go public to grow their business. Being

a public company makes it easier to access money, the

lifeblood of business. You convert your equity to cash. It's

easier for a public company to borrow money. You can buy

corporate assets with stock. Eventually, you will sell your

public company based upon its share price and not its

balance sheet. These benefits depend upon your ability to

maintain a strong share price.



Better Marketing



Better marketing, not better mousetraps, creates strong

share prices. To ensure that the stock is both strong and

stable, your corporate vision must become the vision of your

shareholders. You must effectively tell your story to the

financial community.



Better marketing means educating the investment

community about your company and your industry. It means

developing personal relationships with your shareholders

and market makers. It means being honest about your

company and leveling with your supporters. It means

expanding the demand for your stock beyond the limits of

North America.



Corporate Behavious



There are several ethical rules of corporate behaviour you

must follow:



* Understate, never overstate your positives. (Enron?)


* Communicate in good times and bad. (It's vital to have a

vice president of investor relations, whose sole job is to

communicate with your shareholders and the financial

community.)


* Investor relations programs should rely on filings over

news releases.


* Investor relations programs should aim to diversify the

shareholder base.



Business Strategy



You must develop a coherent business strategy stating

clear performance, profitability, and expansion goals. The

strategy must then be translated into an appropriate

investment message. It must target investors with similar

goals and economic objectives.



* A company that doesn't communicate effectively will

fail.


* A company should list its investor relations goals.


* A company should target its investor audience.


* An outside investor relations program should list

strategies and expected results.


* You need a story to tell.


* People do business with companies they trust. If you want

the financial community to believe you, level with them.


* Know your message.


* Doing what's right is good business.



Maintaining A Strong Share Price



You need a strong share price to buy assets without

diluting your issued stock to the point where it makes it

impossible to keep a strong share price.



If your share price bounces down, you create selling

barriers which, when you attempt to move it back up,

motivate present shareholders to dump their stock into your

efforts.



Unstable share prices attract short sellers. Unstable share

prices attract regulators.



Strong share prices are essential to get your company

listed on stock exchanges in this country and elsewhere.

Strong share prices make bankers happy when they

consider lending your company money.



The list is endless. There is no advantage to having a

penny stock. There are loads of disadvantages.



Supporting Your Share Price



You must support your stock price whether you use our

private placement program, do an initial public offering or

any other public offering. My associate's company considers

this concept so critical, for instance, that his investors

provide and fund a powerful five-year external stock support

program to bolster and extend the value of clients' insider

programs. Combined, the two programs can create a strong

marketing effort for a stock in the United States, the United

Kingdom and Europe. They will also ensure a high value at

merger/acquisition time.



Remember that selling the concept of owning your stock is

just as critical as selling the concept of using your product

or service. The customer list may be different, but both

represent profit potential for you and your company and a

Golden Parachute four or five years in your future.