CEO Tools Blog

Optimizing Use of Trailing-12-Month Charts!

ceotools — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:01:00 +0000

We often are asked “How do we get the most from T12M Charts?” The answer is to ANALYZE the charts and absolutely do not view them the way we have always looked at ordinary charts or columns of accounting numbers. Simply ask the following three questions to “turn-on” our analytical brains…then walk through what the charts are saying to then take ACTION!

WHAT ARE THE CHARTS TRYING TO TELL ME?

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

WHAT COULD OR SHOULD I DO ABOUT IT?

Then do indeed take action! We are finding this approach is incredibly helpful in understanding and acting on the messages T12M Charts continue to tell us.

Very best, Kraig

Example: CEO Monthly Letter

ceotools — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:07:29 +0000

We get asked fairly often for an example of the “CEO Monthly Letter” so here it is:

CEO Monthly Letter

Just try to always include in your letter the GOAL, How we’re Doing against the Goal, and some Cheerleading (often signaled by an ! exclamation point). You can also add a bit about how you as CEO see things right now (be truthful in tough times and also always try to be positive, add the “silver lining” to your close).

As always, hope this helps you! Very best, Kraig

Tools for Upping Price

ceotools — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 14:16:01 +0000

Cost-inflation is alive and well, with the CPI growing over the past six months by 5-1/2% and other costs (prices) skyrocketing — for example, steel, aluminum, energy, food (wheat, corn, and other grains which also drive meat-feed-prices). Here are some thought-starters for increasing price…many are good ways, many are not nice ways, but they all are prevalent today. Just click on the PDF below

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

Sep 2011 Twelve Seasons: “Where to get help?”

ceotools — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:08:48 +0000

Our “12 Seasons” for September 2011 answers the simple qquestion: “Where can I get help for MY business right now and during the next few troubled years?” Here is a sampling of my favorite resources for improving business, particularly during difficult times:

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

Aug 12 Seasons: Top Tools & Tips

ceotools — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:17:09 +0000

August “12 Seasons” aims at the Top Tools & Tips of the past year, the business tools that work best in these times.

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

JULY 12 Seasons: Economic Redux?

ceotools — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 18:58:20 +0000

July’s “12 Seasons” takes a look at where we are in the economic recovery, and what we might do in anticipation of the future! Redux, of course, means resurgent…we really can’t tell if the economy is resurging much, mainly due to the spending-cut-tax-increase deliberations being conducted in the Capitol at present. Only time (probably a few weeks or months) will tell.

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.

June “12 Seasons” = Expand Now or Not?

ceotools — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 16:53:33 +0000

For June, “12 Seasons” addresses the question: Is now the time to start hiring again, to start acquiring, to start serious expansion? The answer, as you might surmise, is: it really depends!

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

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WalkingBear’s “Timely Cashflow Tips”

ceotools — Thu, 19 May 2011 00:44:08 +0000

Here’s the timeless article by WalkingBear on how to collect and manage your cashflow better. Somehow it “disappeared” from earlier blog postings here, so here it is again by popular demand! You can click through to WalkingBear’s website to get more tips and ideas (his URL at the bottom of the article). Click it up now at Timely Cashflow Tips – see it now! Best as always, Kraig

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“12 Seasons” May 2011: Productivity for Profit

ceotools — Mon, 16 May 2011 15:28:53 +0000

May’s “12 Seasons” aims to improve productivity during this ongoing period of economic instability and political uncertainty. After all, by growing the people-side intrinsically, you improve responsiveness and resilience whether in improving economic sectors or ones plagued by slowness and negative news.

You’ve heard me talk about “What Gets Measured and Managed, Gets Done!” — if we measure and act on those measures of productivity, we’ll achieve gains and actually know the extent of those gains, trying the different things that create the most improvement.

Some measures that will help improve productivity include: Physical Volume (like number) per $ Invested, Physical Volume per Employee and per Customer, Sales $ per Total People Hours, Gross Profit $ per Employee, and other iterations of the concepts in these measures. Track these measures on T52W (Trailing 52 Week) Charts…start any new measure this way: put the first week’s measure on the chart, add first plus second week and divide by two to put on the chart, add first three weeks and divide by three to put on the chart, etc. The chart will “settle down” toward emulating a true T52W or T12M chart pretty readily.

Hope this grows your bottom-line quickly Give us feedback on improving these tools and tips whenever you can.

PS – Pass these ideas along to other CEOs and Managers so they can get these tips and tools at www.ceotools.com and www.ceotools.com/blog.

April 12 Seasons: Economy–>Caution!

ceotools — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:04:07 +0000

Appropriate of April, 12-Seasons probably should be “spring showers to bring May flowers” and was supposed to be our month for a good, solid re-look at economic conditions for us who run businesses. But that’s been made nearly impossible since our stalled-out Government cannot decide what to do about the deficit…contemplated cuts are far too small, and they haven’t even begun to address the real problems of medicare, medicaid, social security, and jobless subsidies (including food stamps)…or long term job-creation. These challenges currently total about $127 trillion of actual debt (that’s not a typo). Fiddling while Rome burns sort of comes to mind!

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