BizSugar.com › User › cbrendlinger › Published

When I interview a prospective client for exit planning assistance, we usually explore selling to employees. The first reaction is always “That won’t work. They don’t have any money.” If you have a company with reasonable cash flow, a talented management team and sufficient time, selling to employe Read More

Business owners can’t teach everything necessary to run a growing company. We turn to the outside for experienced employees who can bring what they learned elsewhere to our team.In many cases, we are looking for someone who has performed at the next level and can help the company grow into what the Read More

A Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA) has become one of the basic standard documents in every company’s wallet. It is intended to make plain what you consider yours, and how you expect it to be handled. The question is, "What should be protected in your NDA and who is covered by the agreement?" Read More

Exit Planning is a new discipline, developed to meet the massive market need of Baby Boomers who are starting to sell their now 30+ year old businesses. Unfortunately, like any new service offering, there are a lot of people who use the term without fully understanding it. Read More

“A customer just called us for a quote. They have always done business with our competitor. We’re going to give them our best deal, and see if we can take their business.” Before you do anything, you need to first ask why they are calling you. Your best price (lowest margin) may not be called for. Read More

Under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining (WARN) act an employer of more than 100 people must give at least 60 days notice of a layoff. Yet your most critical employee, your second in command, top salesperson, or engineer, can just call one day and say they’ve gone to work for a competitor. Read More

When I ask owners what makes their company different, most of the time the answer is “Our service!” “We really take care of our customers. If all your small business does is duplicate the standards of corporate giants, please don’t pretend that it is special. Read More

When it comes to “No taxation without representation,” the rallying cry of our founding fathers, few identifiable population segments are as abused as business owners. By some estimates, about 70% of the new laws governing businesses are created by government staff without legislative approval or r Read More

According to Michael Porter, the guru of Competitive Strategy, anything that truly differentiates you from a competitor costs money. There’s no free lunch. “We give great service” only differentiates you from those competitors who claim to give lousy service. “We stand behind our work” only sets yo Read More

Recurring revenue is the current Holy Grail of business. Barriers to Entry, a traditional way of assessing your differentiation against competition, have been replaced by Barriers to Exit, how to make it at least inconvenient or at most excruciatingly painful for your customer to leave you. Read More