Why do you let your sales people call on the wrong account?

I recently did a workshop at a tradeshow meeting.   It’s rare that I have over fifty percent of our participants in a workshop measure the profitability of not only products, but Customers as well.  This group was one of those rare exceptions.
I then asked how many of these companies ranked the profitability of Customers and [...]

Thank you Jennifer

Recently one of our staff members came into my office, closed the door and had a very serious look on her face.  She then handed me a letter.  The letter said she was going to leave and take another job.
I’ve had this conversation in several forms probably over a hundred times during the years I’ve [...]

Do you run a business or do you practice a profession?

I often am asked to work with professional service firms and most of the time I decline working with those firms.  Its not that I don’t like professional service firms, it’s just I find that most of the time the owners of these types of businesses don’t think of themselves as owners of private businesses.
When [...]

Why I like private business owners

There is a major difference between senior managers in public companies and owners of private firms.  Rob Slee has written an excellent book on the private capital markets and why they differ from the public markets.  I think there also is a huge behavioral difference and difference in motivation between the private business owner and [...]

Is it all about financial independence?

I have been preaching for several years that when working with private business owners it’s crucial to understand where they are on the road to financial independence.  I’ve made this statement because I’ve rarely met an owner who wants to sell their business and then have to go back to work for someone else because [...]

InKnowVision gets their blog on

My good friends over at InKnowVision have now joined the world of blogs. As many of you know they are the other half of the Stage 2 Business process.
I encourage you to go visit them at http://www.inknowvision.com/blog/. I think you’ll like what you see. When you get there, make sure sure you [...]

Engaging Clients

I recently had an experience I wanted to share with you. 
I’ve been working on engaging a particular Client for about six months.  If we got this Client, it not only would be a very nice engagement, it would help us reach critical mass in a particular market we were going after.  For this reason, [...]

More on value based fees

I just finished reading Value based fees – how to charge and get what you’re worth by Alan Weis.  First, I highly recommend purchasing and reading this book.  Second, I wanted to spend a little time talking about the concept of fees from the business owner’s point of view.
Whether we provide financial, accounting, legal or [...]

On hiring professionals

I was with a Client today and he is contemplating selling his business.  He has started negotiations with the potential buyer and has made a few major mistakes along the way.   He felt that he had an advantage with the buyer because they would think he didn’t know what he was doing and would let [...]

Doors of entry to business owners

When we work with private business owners there are three general areas of interest we will often work in. 
The first is the personal planning arena.  Here we work as a wealth manager for the private business owner.  We help them understand what their personal actions and savings patterns need to be for success in [...]