Price Tools

Develop your “price strategy” now because your costs are and will be rising rapidly (wage rates will go up because of food and energy).  Be ready to implement your pricing, with adjustment, as the cost-pressure starts to rise on your business.

Hope this is helpful to you!  Very best, Kraig

Economic Prospects – Brian & Alan Beaulieu 603-796-2500 www.itreconomics.com
Financing/M&A – Brad Bulkley 214-692-5476 www.bulkleycapital.com
Receivables/Cashflow – Abe WalkingBear Sanchez 719-276-0595 www.armg-usa.com
Inventory & Supply Chain – Henry Camp 502-551-2359 www.ideallc.com
Sales & Topline Growth – Chuck Reaves 770-965-5595 www.chuckreaves.com
Enterprise Software – Andy Vabulas 770-368-4000 www.ibis.com
Culture Development – Don Schmincke 410-960-0442 www.sraleadership.com
Leadership/Management – Vistage: 800-274-2367 www.vistage.com
Leadership/Management – Convene: Chris Duncan 877-236-2236 www.convenenow.com
Overall Profitable Growth – Kraig Kramers 404-229-3027 www.ceotools.com

As always, these thoughts are meant to improve your business…and…feedback is always welcome!      Very best wishes,  Kraig ————- PS – We’ve added some other resources suggested by our followers:

Leadership / Management (CDN)  Mike Craig 416-452-4987 www.ceoglobalnetwork.com        
Core Values / Culture Pat Murray 510-549-2388  www.jpmassocs.com
Negotiation Jack Kaine  816-529-8765 jwkaineltd@mac.com  
Strategy Rick Houcek 770-91-9122 www.soarwitheagles.com
Biz Execution – Dan Barnett 775-843-0517 dan.barnett@vistage.com                         Strategy - John Johnson 530-758-0203 johne57@aol.com
Sales Coaching - Chuck Bauer (no phone) www.chuckbauer.com
Small Biz Software - Mike Taus 541-647-3115 www.codebenders.com

As background, we continue to experience a very slow (if any) recession recovery, which some of us have labeled “regression.”   Clearly, the first-and-foremost tool is one that watches and forecasts CASH for your business; the tool is the Cash Manager at www.ceotools.com.  Just print out the free PDF under New Tools Catalog at our website and design your own or download the Excel version.  Also, take a look at Abe WalkingBear Sanchez’ unique tools for optimizing credit-and-collections to aid your cashflow ( www.armg-usa.com ).

Next big tool is “What Causes Sales” available in the same place; this one helps your business grow your top line (revenue).

Third tool is the “Measure-Up Dashboard” for tracking and managing the many success factors in business.  If nothing else, just start a dashboard with two or three T12M charts…you’ll be absolutely amazed at what you’ll discover about your own business.  Remeber to ask three questions about your T12M charts:  what are the charts telling me?  why is this happening?  what could/should we do about it?

And, last but not least, how about joining a Vistage/TEC CEO or similar group, staying in one and talking more about volume and cash, and/or suggesting direct reports join a Vistage KEY group to enhance their management and leadership skills and speed?

Again, hope these thoughts are helpful.  With best regards, Kraig

Right now, we have perhaps the most uncertain economy ever.  Those of you who follow these things or those receiving my regular messages see why!  Too many bits and pieces not nailed down and no Governmentally-guided economic direction.

Once again, caution is the right reaction.  This means conserve cash, limit and leverage lending (try to increase your LoC headroom), and continue to grow sales, revenue, volume, orders, or whatever you call your top line.  Clearly this means addressing and accelerating “What Causes Sales” and using a Cash Manager Tool and focusing on financing.  Tools and ideas in these areas can be found at www.CEOTOOLS.com and click New Tools Catalog, then scan down through the tools.  PDFs are free.

Among the trends now:  Inflation in most commodities is upon us big-time, and is often obfuscated by suppliers hiding price increases in fees, surcharges, add-on billings, etc.  All prices are either rising or starting to rise in response.  So, start now to address your Pricing Strategy and manage inventories much tighter with great attention to the inflating items in inventory.  Some pricing ideas (not all endorsed by me) are included below, and you can get help on inventory management from Henry Camp, CEO at Idea, LLC (supply chain experts) — their website is www.IDEALLC.com and I do endorse them!

Hope this helps your business, especially in assessing upcoming changes in our economic recovery and our business responses!

Very best wishes, Kraig

SOME STRATEGIC PRICING APPROACHES:
  Price ↑                                                 Quantity ↓
  Fees                                                      Quality ↓
  Rates                                                    Knock-Offs 
  After Charges (hotels)                  Fillers 
  Change Orders                                 Dilution
  Taxation (some hidden)              Octane 
  Devaluation                                      % Butterfat 
  Matrix Pricing                                 Flow Control (Delta)
  Estimating Creep (Ptg)                 Add-Ons 
  Good. Better, Best                          Hidden/Unlisted 
  Late Charges                                    Recovery Charges 
  Last Look                                          Best Look 
  Sur-charges                                     Dynamic Pricing 
  Trade for Payment                       Substitution 
  Wording (early-board-fee)       Mix (corn!))

To the extent you don’t quite get some of these pricing directions, your direct reports and those around you can help with thoughts and ideas!  Feel free to email Kraig at info@CEOTOOLS.com if you need help.

Copyright © 2011 Corporate Partners Inc.

The economy is expanding in general versus last year, but it’s still way below 2007-2008 levels; certain sectors are growing nicely, others still dropping, and many are still stagnant.  Prices of many commodities and other products/services are skyrocketing, while housing continues downward significantly again.  Geographically, things are sporadic as well.  While the outlook ahead is “up” — it’s very mixed and probably very challenging for individual businesses.  Finally, while loosening slightly, bank lending is still very slow to spotty to non-existent.  Rising costs portend rising interest rates which in turn point to banks having to lend more to maintain their earnings levels.  But the inflation-push, interest-rate-growth, bank-lending equation could take quite some time and be highly selective by industry.

So, expansion for your business depends on what your specific industry looks like now and over the next two-three years, what your locale looks like, what your raw materials (including labor) look like, plus what happens in November 2012.  A real mixed bag!

We do see acquisitions picking up, selective hiring improving, and silo-ed growth happening.  Indeed, it is time to expand for some businesses, albeit carefully!  This means considerably more due diligence and backup cash/credit for acquisitions, for organic expansion, and for any other form of growth you might contemplate.  Safety margin and caution are the keywords.

Some tools for assessing your outlook are at www.ceotools.com in the form of the Valuation Tool, Interview and Retention Tools, plus 5-Charts and Forecaster Tools.  Other tools are at www.usdebtclock.org and www.itreconomics.com for assessing the emerging economic scenario.

If this helps your decision on whether and when to expand and how, we’ve succeeded here.  We welcome feedback on improving these tools and tips.

Very best regards,
Kraig Kramers

We only mention all that because taken in total, it stalls our economy.  Business can’t possibly see much of the future when Government can’t decide, so business doesn’t invest or strike out for a better tomorrow while worried about survivng the present.  And then even when Government does decide, it opts for momentary, temporary, delayed, and tentative stability in exchange for long-term growth and prosperity.

This in turn makes a solid forecast very hard to come by, other than to say the remainder of 2011 looks rocky from a credit, cash, and growth standpoint for most industries and most businesses, with some opportunistic options for a few businesses and locales.

With that in mind, we should experience a continued slow, sporadic, and siloed recovery over last year (not anywhere near back to 2007-2008 levels) but still creating opportunity for some.  As business leaders we must choose our inidvidual business paths accordingly, cautiously, and with frequent “re-looks” at the near-term future.  For me this implies planning only about 3-months out at a time, reviewing and renewing planned action steps perhaps even every month.  And, keeping our audiences informed (employees, suppliers and customers) is critical to their buy-in and continued support.

Hope this helps in planning the rest of this year.  Let us know how to improve these ideas when you have a chance.

Very best regards,  Kraig

It sure looks like cash and credit will be tight all year, possibly even for 2-3 more years.  Perhaps the best tool of all time for knowing how you’re doing on cash, credit, billings, profits, and all key indicators is the Trailing 12-Month (T12M) tool.  Nearly eveyone receiving these emails has heard about it from me…but here’s a revelation:  Very few CEOs implement T12M’s the first time they hear about it.  And…when they DO IMPLEMENT they all tell me:  I wish I had “heard” you the first time, or, because of T12M’s I’m now seeing things and making profit-making decisions about twleve months sooner than ever before! 

The very best and easiest T12M’s to use are in the 4-Charts Tool and 5-Chart ULTIMATE Tool.  They really get you started on seeing what’s going on with the P&L of your business.  Either of these two tools plus the Cash Manager Tool are all you need to make DRAMATIC improvements in the management of your business.  Give them a try…just go to www.ceotools.com, click on New Tools Catalog, scroll down to those three tools, and then print out the free PDF.  complete, easy-to-implement notes are included; then you can either build the tool yourself or buy the Excel version (all set for copy-pasting your data in just a few minutes to use the tools).

Hope you will use these tools in your business.  If you’re already using T12M’s, great…you might discover additional application of them by taking a look at the tools mentioned above.  Let us hear back from you, please, with any thoughts!

With very best wishes, Kraig

With those caveats said, I’ve been asked to talk “Acquire/Exit” a lot recently and I also became a Director of a boutique investment banking firm (Bulkley Capital) that takes a unique, personal, customized and very different approach with clients nationwide.  They advise you on strategy, then tailor their approach to your needs, and achieve your M&A event while assuring the best process along the way. 

We’re including a piece from Bulkely Capital which highlights the five most Common Seller Mistakes — just click to view/print PDF.  Through my own experience with over 70 deals, I’ve found this kind of quick-read summary to be hugely helpful when considering that most important M&A step.  Have a look…I think you’ll pick up something of value!

Please feel free to contact me or Brad Bulkley directly with any questions or for an  introduction, very personalized service, and of course complete confidentiality.

With best regards,
Kraig Kramers