Getting Your Business to Work

You Can’t Win Without a Great Coach and The Right Plays!

Every winning athlete & team has a great coach.

- Look at Tiger Woods or Kobe Bryant.

- Look at the University Of Southern California football team.

Winners know they can’t do it alone and need continuous advice, ideas, tips,  support, guidance and encouragement. Just like a sports coach, a professional  business coach pushes you to achieve optimum performance and helps you make good  decisions, put in the right players and call the right plays. A coach observes  what’s really happening, listens to input, provides new ideas & fresh  perspectives, and tells you like it is.

A business coach helps company owners improve their leadership, organization  chart, accountability, sales, marketing, management, operations, finances,  estimating, customer service, production, pricing, equipment and so much more.  Just like a sports coach, your business coach makes you stay focused on what it  takes to win the game.

Owners of small to medium sized businesses find it hard enough to keep pace with  all the industry changes and innovations going on, let alone find time to devote  to sales, marketing, systems, planning, team building, and do what it takes to  build a business. As the market gets more competitive, having a business coach  is a necessity to grow your company and make a profit.

I want to be your business coach. I’ll look at your company objectively and let  you know what you need to do to reach your goals. I can help you as your  advisor, sales manager, training director, strategic planning facilitator,  confidant and mentor.

I have worked with 1,000’s of companies. This has given me wisdom and insight to  help you get your business to work the way you want it to. I can jumpstart your  progress & cut years off your learning curve. You have a lot of money invested  in equipment, facilities, people, customers and overhead.  Are you getting the maximum return you should? What’s next to achieve the  results you want? Should you buy another piece of equipment, hire a new manager,  fire a non-performer, promote someone, find new customers, seek new markets,  install operational systems, increase field productivity, develop your  management team, train more, or what?

Without an experienced business coach, your next decision is almost impossible to make alone. The best advice you can get is from outside, unbiased professionals who know your business, can give you real opinions of how to improve, and are not afraid of telling you the truth and hurting your feelings.

Every business owner has internal challenges, external threats, and tough decisions to make. Some have long time employees have stopped being productive. Others have relatives in the company who aren’t doing there share of the work. Many just can’t decide what moves they need to make to make more money or find better customers. Some struggle with incentive compensation programs or basic ways to generate steady and profitable revenue. But without sound advice, owners try to make good decisions but usually stay stuck doing what hey’ve always done.

Let Me Be Your Business Coach. Some of my services you may want to consider include: Strategic Planning Retreats , Re-Organize Your Management Team, Improve Profitability, Create Equity & Build Wealth, Organize Operations & Install Systems, Marketing & Sales Implementation Plans, Improve Productivity & Operations, or Find New Customers &
Markets.

How To Keep Customers Loyal

I received an email from a small service business owner having trouble. He is losing customers when their technicians leave and take customers with them when they quit and go to work for a competitor. He is concerned his marketing and sales plan must not be working. I informed him to consider one of my workbooks and cd sets for sale on my website entitled: “Sell More Than Price” and “Profit-Driven Leadership”. I was puzzled. Why do his service technicians leave his company and why do they take the service work with them? Perhaps he needs a better employee retention program and a better customer loyalty program. The problem is not with his employees or customers. The problem lies within how he runs his business and prioritizes his time. Keeping customers loyal is simple: go see them on a regular basis, take them to lunch, send them thank you cards, and show them you care about them. They are not your employee’s customers. They belong to your company. Keep them by making customers a top priority. Treat them like you want to keep them instead of just doing the work and sending them an invoice as your thank-you gift. Keeping employees is another simple task. What do you do to motivate, recognize, appreciate, and train your key people? Do you let them into your management decisions and let them feel like they contribute to the success of your company’s future? Do you compensate them based on results and acquiring new customers? Employees leave because their employers don’t give them a reason to stay. Think about your company and what you do to find and keep customers and employees. Perhaps you have to do something different with your time and money to make more money. George Hedley

It's Bonus Consideration Time!

I hate bonus time and figuring out how much extra to pay employees at year end. People today expect a year-end bonus or incentive compensation for their efforts. Plus they need the extra $$$ to pay for all their holiday shopping and expenditures. Sometimes bonuses even seem like an entitlement instead of compensation for extra effort and results. What should I do? I try to be generous but the economy is slowing and profits are dwindling. Should I pay out lots of cash and hope there is enough to last the next year? Or should I tell everyone there just isn't enough to go around this year? Or should I get everyone a turkey and tell them to have a great holiday? Here is an email I received from a reader of Construction Business Owner magazine. I write an "Ask The Expert" column every month.

Question: George, As I sit at my computer I'm reflecting on how blessed I am as an individual and business owner. I have been wrestling for some time with how to fairly compensate our senior management team comprised of 6 people: three senior guys including me and three young VP's of Operations, Administration, and Business Development. These 3 attended your two day Profit Builder Circle boot camp recently in Atlanta which definitely reinforced my philosophies and mentoring of these 3 young men. You really do a great job.

Do you have any suggestions on incentives or bonuses for the management team? In the past, we have used a program that established a set percentage of net income for retained earnings; a set percentage for owners as a return on their ownership equity, and a certain percentage of net income as a bonus to the management team. But now, the older management team members are not putting forth nearly the effort they used to. They bring a lot to the table, but their interest and drive has waned. It is an entitlement problem in my opinion as they are financially secure. I have positioned the 3 younger VPs to run the company and they are doing great and progressing well, but I'm not quite ready to turn things over to them completely. I am still very involved as the CEO and mentor these young managers on the business side.

How do I compensate the 3 younger managers for running the company? How should the older managers be compensated for their ownership, even if they are not providing much on a daily basis as they are being paid a six figure salary now? And what percent is recommended for retained earnings?

I hope to back further away from this business this coming year and improve my golf handicap and want to be fair to everyone, old and new. We have built a very successful specialty service business and my goal is to continue to monitor our processes and procedures and continue to find new ways to improve while continuing to grow all our people. I know there is no magic formulas but I thought you might share your thoughts on this topic. Ken D. CEO -CES LLC

My Answer: Ken, as your older managers get more conservative and less enthusiastic about growing your company, it is time to make a positive change for everyone. First stop confusing compensation with return on equity. Everyone needs to be paid a fair salary and compensated for their contributions based on what the fair market value demands for the job they perform. If an employee is worth $50,000, that is their salary without exception. If they aren't worth that amount, pay them less or more accordingly.

Profit is return on shareholder's equity. Owners should share the profits based on their stock ownership less what you keep in the company as retained earnings before profit distribution. The older managers should be paid a salary based on exactly what they are worth to your company. If they only work a few days, they get paid less. As owners, they participate in the overall company profits. If you want to give them a little more like a car, health insurance, or extra pay, that is a gift for tenure and a result of your soft heart. But remember, the extra compensation you pay the older owners for not working a full load makes your overhead higher than it really is, makes you less competitive in the marketplace, and forces you to pay out profit before your really earn it. This actually reduces your company's net profit and lowers the incentive potential for your younger managers.

The key managers who run your company should receive a healthy salary and benefits based on what they are worth as well. Plus give them a percentage of the pre-tax profit for their efforts and contributions. I recommend the first 15% return on equity stay in the company before any profit split takes place. If the 3 managers are 100% responsible for the company results, allow them to earn up to 35% of the profits as their incentive. Then the owners will receive the next 50% of profits as their return. - George

Well now it's your turn to decide if company bonuses are in order for your employees. Good luck doing the right thing. If you have any good employee compensation ideas, email me @ gh AT hardhatpresentations DOT com.