TAS Marketing News

TAS Marketing is an Answering Service Business Broker representing answering service businesses in the U.S. and Canada. These are businesses that have a recurring revenue stream, diversified customer base, and substantial growth potential. They are a service business that generates an almost guaranteed recurring cash flow with good profit margin.  They will help you step by step from negotiating the sale to drafting the contract.

TAS Marketing, headed by Steve Michaels and Christine Michaels, specializes in mergers and acquisitions for telephone answering services and the broader teleservices industry.  Read Steve's interesting and practical article series, Mind Your Business.

Contact TAS Marketing at 800- 369-6126 or tas@tasmarketing.com.  Also, look at the TAS Marketing newsfeed for the latest updates.

TAS Marketing Sees a "Seller's Market" (November 2010)

"It truly is a seller's market [for telemessaging businesses]," asserts TAS Marketing president Steve Michaels.  Michaels notes that when he lists a business for sale in his newsletter, it sells within a couple of days.  The average is 1.3 days.

"The last business I listed sold in a day and a half and was purchased by an individual who was traveling to see his son.  After receiving and studying the listing information, he literally stopped on the side of the freeway, called, and put in an offer which was accepted," added Michaels.

Steve feels the recession has taken its toll, even though some service owners won't admit it.  "Of the last six sales, only one of them sold for less than ten times monthly billing, and this is for accounts only."

TAS Marketing Celebrates Thirty Years (November 2009)

From its humble corporate headquarters in northwest Montana, TAS Marketing has supplied answering services with products and services for thirty years.  President and broker Steve Michaels says that he has gone through the gauntlet of selling answering service products from the first DID (direct inward dialing) system by Candela Electronics in 1979 to an Asterisk-based systems of today. 

However, TAS Marketing's primary business is selling telephone answering service businesses, which to date adds up to over 370 businesses, totaling a whopping $100,000,000 worth of sales.

Mr. Michael's background supports his expertise, from owning his TAS bureau in Palo Alto, California, to consulting for several TAS manufacturers.  He has been instrumental in hosting national TAS Expos, and he also founded Connections Magazine (which he sold to the present owner, Peter DeHaan, in 2001), the only remaining trade journal in the industry.  Mr. Michael's background generates many requests for him to conduct evaluations for businesses and help owners to find new acquisitions for their existing answering services.

TAS Marketing Helps Stimulate Answering Service Economy (November 2009)

TAS Marketing, an answering service brokerage firm, is stimulating our economy by supporting answering service employees during this economic downturn.  For the rest of the year, TAS Marketing will donate 5 percent of its commissions to the employees of any answering service that buys the accounts or business of another answering service by using TAS Marketing as its brokerage firm.

Steve Michaels, president of TAS Marketing, stated, "Lots of people are complaining about this recession, but nobody is doing anything about it.  I have decided to give back to an industry that has supported me for over thirty years with a 5 percent kickback to the people who make this industry work -- the agents."

Each month, TAS Marketing will write a check to any company that acquires another answering service through its brokerage firm.  "This money will be used exclusively to enhance the lives of the employees who will take on the extra workload that any acquisition can bring," stated Michaels.

Hudson Valley Answering Service and Answerphone of Jacksonville Sold (July 2009)

TAS Marketing announced the successful sale of two telecommunication businesses that were recently listed.  The first business was Hudson Valley Answering Service located in Poughkeepsie, New York, owned by Dominic and Sharon Gallo.  "The Gallo's were very satisfied with the sale as negotiations were made and equipment was purchased to enable the buyer to accept a few large accounts that were using radios," said TAS Marketing's Steve Michaels.  The buyers, Dick Gore and his daughter Julie Mooney with Berkshire Communications located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, have taken over the operation and "found it to be an excellent acquisition for their future growth."

The second transaction was Answerphone, Inc. located in Jacksonville, Florida, owned by Vicki Leonard.  This sale was to Sunshine Communication Services, Inc., owned by Peter and Andy Gross out of Coral Gables, Florida.  "Peter found it helpful that the management would stay with the business and that they were on the same equipment platform," Michaels summarized.  Both transactions were complete within sixty days.

TAS Marketing Introduces TAS Tips (May 2009)

Steve Michaels with TAS Marketing has initiated an online forum of information called TAS Tips.  "A lot of information comes across my desk," said Steve, who is a member of most of the industry vendor groups.  "What one group talks about and furnishes to its members gets lost to the industry as a whole, and this is where I come in."

TAS Tips is a free online newsletter that provides TAS tidbits, businesses for sale, jokes, future trends, and an insight section, making it an all-around quick read of what's happening in our industry.

TAS Marketing Updates Web Site (April 2009)

After twenty-some odd years, Steve Michaels announced that he has finally upgraded his website tasmarketing.com.  He will also be initiating an email service called TAS Tips, where recipients will receive the latest hot tips, jokes, businesses and accounts for sale, and industry news.  If you would like to be on this informative new list, please forward your email address to tas@tasmarketing.com.

Finger Lakes Acquires Answer Bay Area in Florida (April 2009)

Gard McLean from Finger Lakes Business Services, located in Auburn, New York, has acquired Answer Bay Area, Inc., owned and operated since 1992 by Pete Ritchie in Tampa, Florida.  The transition was almost seamless, according to Gard.

"We're happy to add Answer Bay Area to our list of acquisitions," said Gard, who is also happy to now own a call center in sunny Florida.  The transaction was handled by Steve and Chris Michaels from the brokerage firm of TAS Marketing, located in Trout Creek, Montana.

Steve Michaels Becomes First VoIP-Hosted Systems Broker (Jan 07)

Steve Michaels, currently a TAS business broker with TAS Marketing, has taken on another role as a VoIP-Hosted Systems Broker.  Michaels will broker VoIP-hosted systems from either a vendor or another call center for both start-ups and centers with outdated equipment wishing for a cost-effective way to upgrade.

By using the vendor's hosted systems, the partnering client (PC) will have the capability to host their entire customer base in another location, thus saving them the costs of purchasing a system and all that is entailed with such a purchase.  They can also go virtual with home-based operators should they so desire.  This option also allows for an excellent disaster recovery program

With a call center acting as the affiliate (hosting agent), the PC will not only be able to have their customer base on another system, but will also have the capabilities of overflowing their calls, even their midnight traffic, thus saving the cost of a midnight operator.  "This is a win-win situation," concluded Michaels.

TAS Marketing Increases Acquisition Opportunities (Dec 06)

Because of a subscriber's breach in confidentiality, TAS Marketing has elected to discontinue its popular Preferred Client Program where individuals paid to receive advanced listing information about a business for sale before it was posted on their website.

"The seller's privacy and confidentiality while selling a business is of utmost importance," stated Steve Michaels, president of TAS Marketing, "and I was not going to jeopardize my integrity and reputation because of a couple bad apples."

The good news is that if you would like to receive listing information about what TAS Marketing has for sale as it becomes available, simply go to website, click on Current Market Listings, select the nondisclosure page, sign it, and fax it to TAS Marketing at 406-827-4554.

TAS Marketing to Increase Rates for "Preferred Client" (Jun 06)

TAS Marketing announced a rate increase for its "Preferred Client" program, which gives its paid members advanced listing information about businesses for sale before they actually hit TAS Marketing's website or are advertised.

"The number of buyers for telephone answering services has increased dramatically over the last couple of years," stated Steve Michaels, president of TAS Marketing.  "It is simply a matter of supply and demand that has driven up the price of telemessaging call centers and thus the price increase for the "Preferred Client" program."

Last year, 45% of TAS Marketing's "Preferred Clients" were able to get advanced listing information and purchased those businesses before they were put out to the general market.  The new pricing structure will go into effect on June 1, 2006.

TAS Marketing Offers Disaster Recovery Plan (May 06)

With natural disasters seemingly becoming increasingly common, TAS Marketing is offering a 24 hour, nationwide "Service Interruption Protection Plan" (SIPP) through AnswerX.  When a call center is down for more than a few days, clients may start looking elsewhere for service.  The SIPP protection program enables teleservice call centers to offer their clients an alternate 800 number in case of natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, terrorist attacks, or blizzards.

The program allows a protection plan for call centers and their clients if a disaster impacts the call center an extended time.  Since the service is virtual, with over 200 call center agents located nationwide and their switches are redundant and located throughout the country, they are able to answer calls even if segment of the nation is affected by a natural disaster.  There are three plan options to choose from: voice mail announce only, voice mail with message, and live operator answer.

TAS Marketing Launches Home-Based Virtual TAS (Jul 05)

TAS Marketing announced its home-based, virtual telephone answering service product using VoIP technology, called Answer X.  Answer X was introduced at the ATSI

"We all knew it was just a matter of time," stated Steve Michaels, President of TAS Marketing, "but the product is not for everyone, especially someone who has just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a brand new system."

This technology, with over two years in actual use, offers telemessaging call center owners the ability to have all agents work from home, while eliminating the expensive cost of equipment (agents supply their own PC's and DSL connection).  Therefore, there is no rent, utilities, maintenance or service agreements, spare parts, or back-up power to have to worry about; software upgrades are free.

"Now for some news from the painfully obvious department," stated respected industry leader, Matt Crocker, "VoIP is a revolution that will change everything."

TAS Marketing Reaches Milestone (Apr 05)

TAS Marketing reported that they have now sold over 300 telephone answering services in the United States and Canada, representing more than $60 million in sales.  TAS Marketing president, Steve Michaels, stated that this figure also includes call centers, voice mail companies, and alarm monitoring businesses.  Over 90 percent have been in the telemessaging industry.

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