Mesa Testimonials

Leonard Witt, Director CSJ:

“We have had consultants prior to George who came in, learned about our company and did nothing. George, on the other hand, put together both a subscription and advertising sales strategy that we implemented immediately. What he did was brilliant. He levered our connections with Kennesaw State University, advised us to promote our advertising sales rep to sales manager and trained him in all the facets of sales management, including helping new recruits to increase their productivity. However, the biggest accomplishment came when we used the MESA written subscription sales strategy to map out our long term sustainability, which in turn helped us secure a $200,000 investment grant from a national foundation. I wholeheartedly recommend MESA for any company that needs help with sales or marketing.”

Mitchell Charvin, Sales Manager:

While I’ve always been very confident regarding my sales ability, I had never been offered the position of sales manager before and knew that there were some facets of the position with which I just wasn’t familiar. MESA Consulting recommended that I be provided the opportunity. Then, in a way that was very positive and supportive, George taught me sales training, recruiting, financial analysis, financial compensation mix, and the day to day activities in which Sales managers engage. Today, I can take all that I learned and command a higher income than ever before. I am very grateful to everyone at MESA who helped me get where I am today.

Brandon Chapman:

I had the great pleasure of having Mr. Bass as my professor in my senior year for Marketing 4450. While there he recruited me as a professional sales student to work at the CSJ. The sales training I received from Mr. Bass was second to none. I’ve used everything he taught me to not only help secure full time job offers at the CSJ but also offers from other corporations as well. He worked with my direct supervisor as well regarding sales training and then sat with the both of us while my supervisor helped teach the finer points of selling.

Danny Umali:

I met George Bass from MESA at a presentation I put on for parents of college bound high school students. He had responded to a direct mail piece and agreed to attend the free seminar I put on. As usual, I had spent $5,000 for the mail out and the auditorium and had my usual 20 families in attendance. After my presentation I had my standard number of sign-ups that secured multiple appointments. George was one of them. I ran through what College Game Theory (my company) could do for him and then let him know that we would reduce the price by $500 if he provided me five e-mail addresses of friends who would also benefit from our service. Well, George asked if he could get me 200 families would I pay him by working with his children for free. I did the math in my head and laughed because 200 families, if it could even be done, would bring me four times my largest month. So I said sure and before I knew it, I was sitting in front of a STEM magnet program in Cobb County, GA full of 200 families. I have never had a month as high as that September and I told Bryan, the ceo of College Authority all about what he had done. Bryan wanted to replicate this in other cities and I put MESA and Bryan together. The rest is history. To make a long story short, when George says he can do something, he does. Simple as that. I was so used to people who make idle boasts and never carry through but this guy, George Bass and MESA Consulting is the real deal that really makes things happen. I have already told Bryan that in 2016 when this rolls out to the rest of us under the College Authority umbrella that I want to be the first on the list.

Bryan Ward:

I’ve been running College Authority for 20 years and have been solicited by many marketing companies across the US. Each one promises that if we pay them money they’ll make us more in return and quite frankly, I’d grown complacent in my proven method of driving business. So, when my Atlanta rep called and told me that he had met George Bass at MESA consulting who had single handedly increased sales by 400% in one month I was floored and had to meet this guy. True to my rep’s word, George explained what he had done but then did something remarkable. He asked me how I would tweak his program to make it even better, drawing on my expertise from running the business. So he and I brainstormed and came up with a proprietary program that I have secured for College Authority alone. I chose two vastly different cities with vastly different reps and gave each of them to George and MESA as a test pilot program for 2015 so we could work out any kinks. George, because of his financial position, was not concerned about charging us up front but agreed to work with us on the back end whereby he’d assume more risk but make even more money. Still, the money we pay to MESA is substantially less than what we were paying for direct mail and the pay off was tremendously higher. I’ve never seen anyone do everything better and for less than I’ve seen George at MESA accomplish. He’s literally given us 12 months to insure this program works perfectly prior to rolling it out across the rest of the country. And then, he guaranteed it to us alone. While no one else in my industry can work with MESA because of our exclusive arrangement, I can’t recommend MESA enough to anyone who doesn’t do what I do. George and MESA Consulting are every inch the professionals they claim to be.

Kevin Hodge:

I first became aware of The College Authority when I was looking for a way to pay for my daughter’s college tuition. I had received a letter and attended a presentation that completely changed the way I look at University admissions and financing. After retiring from Hyatt Hotels Corporation and working as a client with The College Authority on behalf of my own daughter, I joined them in a professional capacity and accepted a rep position in Denver, CO. Though I’ve been pleased with my production, once I met George Bass from MESA, I realized there was much more I could do. He introduced me to a new way of marketing which included branding my corporation, K2 College Planning, and having MESA set meetings for me. I just don’t have the time to do what they can over at MESA. My passion is being of service to my clients, not marketing my product, and MESA has shown me how to remove the risk of having to pay for marketing expenses prior to seeing any cash flow from the clients it generates. George Bass and MESA are a God-Send. They’ve changed my business and the way my business development will work in years to come.

R. Keith Tudor, PhD, Department Chair, Department of Marketing and Professional Sales, Coles College of Business, Kennesaw State University:

Did we ever get lucky when we found George Bass. George is an entrepreneur whose sales oriented businesses have been in Cobb County for over 20 years. Prior to that he worked his way up through different sales organizations where he not only excelled at selling but at sales management. At KSU we constantly search for knowledgeable, passionate, and dedicated part time faculty. George has that passion. If it was just me who felt this way that would be enough but he consistently receives rankings from his students year after year, semester after semester that place him in the very top performing professors in the Department. Add to this the comments he receives from students who found his classes so enlightening, refreshing and applicable to the real world that it just doesn’t surprise me when he receives additional notes from graduating seniors who cite him as the professor who most changed their world at KSU. Being an entrepreneur I was at first concerned that he wouldn’t be a team player. But I quickly found out that George’s orientation to service carries over to working here. He has volunteered to teach the evening classes, the weekend classes and the early morning MWF classes because he just loves what he does. And what he does is make our student body substantially more capable and competent than when he found them. I recommend anyone who is looking for a class act that has a firm grasp on marketing, sales, direct marketing and sales management to seek out George Bass and MESA Consulting. He’ll make you money and he’ll make you look good.

Terry Loe, PhD, Department of Professional Sales, Coles College of Business, Kennesaw State University:

It takes a special person to teach sales and sales management. It takes someone who has done both and is also an effective communicator; so effective that he can reach 19 to 21 year old kids and give them a skill set that employers want outside of here. George does just that. The department of Professional Sales trains KSU students for careers as professional salespeople. They get hands on development via role playing and real-world internship experience in the field of their choice. George provides both with the time spent teaching our students and providing them with positions of employment where they can showcase their skills such that they provide a return to their employer. If he can effectively reach such a unique group of pre-entry level salespeople, then imagine what he can do with those at his level where he doesn’t have to physically change his presentation. I don’t have to imagine because I’ve seen it firsthand. He started MESA consulting from scratch, just like he did All About Atlanta and All About Chicago and in just a few months has turned it into a productive company that brings increased revenues and decreased costs to his clients. Working with George and MESA is a no brainer. Just call him if you want to see profits rise.

Sheb True, PhD:

George came highly recommended to me from a Department Chair at Kennesaw State University as an expert in Marketing, Direct Marketing, Sales and Sales Management. I invited him to participate in our 5 day workshop for managers from a large organization in China. George was outstanding! When the company sent another group of managers to KSU the next year for training, the CEO specifically requested that George be one of the instructors. I look forward to continuing to work with George and I would not hesitate to recommend him as valuable source of marketing knowledge.

Nicole Monique, Proprietor That’s What SHE Said Sports:

To be perfectly honest I was not exactly thrilled with George’s early assessment of my business model when he stated “If you don’t make a change you will lose your business and your dream.” That was tough to hear. I had to take a deep breath, swallow my pride and then move forward with the process. I also had to remember this was George’s job as a consultant at Mesa and this is what me and my husband agreed on to make TWSSSports successful. So I reminded myself of one of my favorite quotes “Do what you ’have’ to do so you can do what you ’want’ to do”. George helped me break out of my comfort zone and secure a position with a premier station whose statistics, demographics and design was capable of showing demonstrative results for potential advertisers.

He did work on re-designing my product to be an ad-vatorially based program using an advertiser as the backdrop for a sports story – local and national. I also taught George a few things about what to do and not to do in radio regarding the length of the ad-vatorial. George then showed me how to determine the pricing structure with a uniquely designed rate card.

This was definitely a learning experience for George and myself. He was used to working with larger companies; and I was used to doing my own thing. I believe George learned the added value of the small business owner while I learned the importance of stepping out and trusting someone who saw the value in what my business could do today and in the future.

Next, he walked me through sales fundamentals, organization and time management when it comes to revenue generation and has set me on a path for success.

It was a pleasure meeting and working with George. With his hands on approach I would strongly encourage anyone who wants (and needs) to give their company a boost to definitely call Mesa Consulting!

Fabio Costa:

I am very grateful to Mr. Bass for helping design this solicitation program. While not what we normally do, I was willing to listen to alternative means of attaining business and I am very pleased that I did. We’ve seen a large increase in new sign-ups since this program began and I plan to expand it even more next year.

Marica Caravallo:

While we use the Accounting Services at MESA with Alana Bass, CPA and have been thrilled with her ability to not only keep our books in order but also to help us understand where we are financially, it was George from MESA who helped come up with a new way at looking at getting clients that has really helped us bring the top line of our P&L back to where it used to be. Perhaps we had become too complacent in assuming that we no longer needed to do community outreach but after hearing Mr. Bass talk about target marketing and sales training I knew we needed to do something. MESA’s something worked! I am thrilled that we chose to work with MESA. It’s been one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.

Jessica Dudley:

While I’ve worked in a customer service capacity before, I had never worked as a salesperson. When Marcia told me I’d be learning to sell I was both excited and scared. Excited because it’s a new skill that I didn’t have but also scared because it was something new. I was very happy when George walked through how sales calls sounded and took the time to role play with me all the issues I’d encounter once I started making the actual calls themselves. Without this preparation, I’d never have had the kind of success that I did. His training helped me so much that I feel as if now I’m helping not only Gracie Barra, Georgia but the children and parents that come through here. I’ve been able to make a difference because I learned how to sell through MESA.

Sue Horn Chappell:

It's an honor to be able to write a testimonial letter for the Mesa Consulting Group. The knowledge this team brings, the strategies they develop and their ability to work in fluid environments like ours were all key to helping me determine a strategic direction for Star News, GA. As the proprietor, I originally contracted to have them teach my existing staff how to better sell. I had hired a recent college graduate and wanted her to be able to generate revenue and asked that they spend time working with her regarding sales. What we learned was that she was substantially better suited for service and we switched gears to having Mesa recruit a sales rep for us. Note that this is no easy task as we are located in a small town in West Georgia and didn't have the financial remuneration to compete with the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. Mesa began the search in a retained capacity and is in the process of bringing us candidates who are interested in relocating and willing to work for the wages and financial structure we have to offer. I believe the Mesa Consulting Group is the answer to our prayers as they have the knowledge and expertise to help solve our problems. Thank you George for all that you do.

Vicki Tagliatela Owner DandiLion Designs:

I smile at it now as I realize that everything George went over with me during our training is what he put in place when he and I first met. Mesa solicited me out of the blue and with sincere and genuine interest asked about my company, my situations and my problems. They really wanted to hear what was going on in my world because they shared that if they could learn about me, then they could possibly help me achieve my goals. We had a lovely conversation where I shared all about my company, myself and what concerned me and in return Mesa listened and came up with a proposal that seemed on it’s face to make perfect sense. I spoke with George Bass and he explained to me that from a marketing perspective there were more effective means of driving business through my doors and that was via personal selling. He showed how there was a lot of business with all my old clients with whom I hadn’t corresponded recently (some as long as several years ago) and it was as if I had let relationships die because I had gotten too busy working for other people. Not wanting them to die, he helped me figure what to say to make them important again. It was then I realized that he was sharing with me what he did with me. I’d call, listen, ask, and hear about their problems and sometimes, without even having to ask for business, would find that they’d ask me to work on their behalf. Perhaps it was because he analogized this to giving of yourself to your children by being there to listen to them, hear their problems and understand their world that this worked so well. This registered with me and I use that when I now talk with my clients. I am very grateful to Mesa and George. I know that because of this I will be able to spend as much time as I need with my children and be able to deliver service to clients who both need and want my services. I completely recommend Mesa Consulting and George Bass specifically to anyone with any marketing or sales or communications issues. What’s really wild is you may not even know you have these problems. So talk with Mesa, watch them listen and find that they can help you get wherever you want to go.

John Penrod:

George Bass was truly amazing. He delivered above and beyond what we expected and what we expected was a lot. Yes, I was a little concerned when he began discussing the philosophy of communication as it related to inter-personal interaction. I just wanted a bottom line. But he explained that in order to achieve that bottom line there were steps that we had to take on the front end that we hadn’t. He also shared how it wasn’t our fault for not knowing what these steps were as both my partner and I had come up through the tech side of the business and had always left the rain makers alone. It really hit home even before the sales training portion began when I noticed a difference in how our sales staff spoke with us as well as prospective customers. So when Mesa continued with “classroom” work, I was ok because I believed it would have a huge payoff. Boy was I right. We used to see a new client every other month and suddenly we were scheduled for three per week. In no time we had closed a client worth $70,000 per year which statistically will stay with us for ten plus years and had a pipeline of other clients all within that same range. Yes, there was a small learning curve regarding determining which clients were this level of sale but that was just a few product knowledge screening questions that we had to share because of the specifics of what we have to offer. Mesa Consulting and George Bass have made a huge difference in our company. I can’t recommend them enough.

Craig Ibold:

While we originally brought George Bass and the Mesa Consulting Group to Transcend so they could help with sales, I quickly realized that having the Principal of the company work with us offered us a lot more than we thought we’d get. Off the clock, we shared our future desires for the company and George explained how the action items he was taking would help us put together a financial pro-forma that would utilize a high multiple and Life Time Value of a client to command a high asking price for our company, debt acquisition, equity sales or a path to future prosperity. He showed us how valuators look for a change in rate of production (volume) which equals quantity which multiplied by price equals revenue. Then, without even having to effect the action item again (increased volume of sales people and sales training) we could demonstrate a future cash flow that would be substantially higher than a plotted straight line graph. He also showed us that the repeat business would allow us to calculate the revenues on an LTV basis which would allow us to ask for a very high price if we wanted to sell this company, the ability to get any kind of financing we want, or have a road-map to build Transcend into the sized corporation it could be. Then, George put his money where his mouth is and turned our sales team into the closers we knew they were capable of becoming. I hadn’t ever thought of starting at something so fundamental as communications and then sales training and then interactive help because I focus on the technical side of this business, but I figured that if I had Mesa Sales pros (and we got George) then we’d definitely start off with sales which would more than off-set the cost of hiring Mesa in the first place. And wow, did it ever work! George Bass is simply the best at what he does.

Clay Wilderman:

I knew I was having trouble at Transcend and am so very grateful to my employers for letting me suggest that I get help. I had taken classes with George Bass at Kennesaw State years ago and knew that his approach to marketing and sales would help me be productive so without hesitation, both John and Craig said they would hire him and ask him to work with me. He took me on a tour of “Leadership and Self Deception” where I realized that I was steam rolling over gatekeepers because I saw them as an impediment to my getting an appointment rather than interesting people with stories. Once I started treating people like people, everyone opened up to me. Next he shared SPIN cycle selling which I had seen before in school but never really properly utilized in the real world. He made this whole concept come to life as he used it with prospective clients and turned them into appointments. It took me a while, but with George’s help I started to get it and suddenly I was having the kind of success I always wanted. I went from having virtually nothing in my pipeline to overwhelming my bosses with so much prospective business that they’ve actually started asking me to screen out some of the appointments by size because they just don’t have enough time to visit with everyone. But what really helped is George helping coordinate the closes with me. He acted as an intermediary between the owners, myself and the clients and following his lead we’re having some very profitable months. In short, not only do I feel more secure about my ability to produce, but I know the value I bring to Transcend and can quantify it in terms of pending business and closed sales. If you have any questions at all, please contact me at clay@tnius.com Also, you can see our company at www.tnius.com.