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Helping business owners grow their companies and transition with confidence, added value and complete control.
Category Archives: Strategy and Planning
Business Plans and New Year’s Resolutions
For the last week or so, the regular denizens of my local gym have been “preparing” for the onslaught of Resolutioners, as we call them. Those are the folks that show up every year right after the holidays, determined to … Continue Reading
2013 Planning: Try Starting with “Who”
For many years, I’ve begun each annum with my clients by helping them answer the Seven Questions, some simple keys to basic planning for the year. This year the questions have been picked up by my friend Jim Blasingame at the … Continue Reading
2013: Planning for Uncertainty
Every conversation that I’ve had with business owners over the last several weeks has revolved around the challenge of planning to do business in a political and economic climate that defies normal planning conventions. The sequestration budgetary measures scheduled to go … Continue Reading
Holiday Terminations: Scrooge or Chicken?
This year, my first holiday termination conversation came on November 20th; a bit early in the season. Like traditionalists who hold off on Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving Day, most business owners start avoiding termination announcements a few weeks before the holidays.With the Great … Continue Reading
Employee Confidentiality: Circles Within Circles
The father of a friend, a rancher in South Texas, conveys confidential information by preceding it with the following caution. “Now I’m going to tell you a secret, and you have to swear not to tell another soul. And when … Continue Reading
Business Value: Do Your Numbers Add Up?
Most small business owners don’t understand how to value their companies. For some, misunderstanding the way that buyers look at the value of your business can be very costly in the long run. The fourth of our Rights and Obligations … Continue Reading
More than a Feeling
This is the story of two business owners. It is true. It is real-time. Both stories occurred last week, and I was present in both conversations. The first story is one of disaster. A restaurant owner I work with was … Continue Reading
Lords of Chaos
Every business owner must be adept at dealing with chaos. Entrepreneurship demands the ability to choose a course of action when everyone else is staring into the headlights. It requires a willingness to make a decision with inadequate information, and to make new decisions … Continue Reading
Is Distribution Dead?
It’s difficult to talk to any owner of a small distribution business without hearing complaints about competition from the Internet. Their criticisms are pretty universal, regardless of the goods being distributed. “Customers call with prices they claim to have found … Continue Reading
Posted in Customer Relations, Marketing and Sales, Sales, Strategy and Planning, Technology
Tagged business strategy, sales management
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Entrepreneurs Love Paperwork
Entrepreneurs love paperwork. Not. The truth is that most entrepreneurs hate paperwork with a passion otherwise reserved for the college team that ran up the score on their alma mater year in and year out. If I want to get a guaranteed … Continue Reading
Thinking Isn’t Doing
My friend Phil owns a mobile imaging company. His employees criss-cross the major cities in South Texas in dozens of trucks outfitted with portable X-Ray and ultrasound machines, responding to calls from nursing homes and home health providers. In th beginning, … Continue Reading
Left Behind
As business owners, most of us understand that the people who help us get our company to one level may not be the folks who can get it to the next. A great salesman may not be your next sales … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Planning
Tagged financial, management, sales management, small business advice
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