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.

So, where do we go for help when it’s just not working?  How about trying local “consultants” associated with your State colleges, such as the Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) — every State has them and they’re smart and almost free!  Also, ask Kraig for ideas.  Don’t be too proud to ask your friends and Vistage/TEC/Peer group or their chairperson for help; or you could join a Vistage/TEC or other peer group.  Take a look at the various tracking tools at www.ceotools.com for ideas that should help.  Finally, smaller banks are indeed lending, and unbelievably large banks are very cautiously financing small amounts to solid situations starting just now because their outlook for the next five years or so portends lower earnings due to loss of most mortgage lending and the new credit card constraints.

You might have to dig and ask around some, but be heartened, help is out there!  We hope that the ideas presented here are helpful to you!

With best helpful wishes,
Kraig Kramers
President & CEO — CEO Tools, Inc.

Here’s how to do it:  simply start watching, AND TAKING ACTION, to improve a few very-revealing key indicators, like debt:equity ratio (the #1 bankruptcy predictor), new order activity (e.g. continuously increasing number of leads), productivity (improving output per dollar-intensive resource), and true cash in hand (that’s real money, not credit line availability).  Add a few leading economic indicators:  employment (U6 from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, and unemployment % and trends over time in your geographic markets), plus some measure of your market share.

See the dashboards in the New Tools Catalog at www.ceotools.com for ideas.  As always, we hope this contributes to your success!

Very best wishes for managing metrics, Kraig

Well, it is very hard to take market share away from others, but let’s do that first, and let’s also go another route by broadening your market definition.  How to gain market share?  Clearly not easy, but this always boils down to making more calls on competitors’ larger accounts, finding out specifically why they buy from them and then finding out what else they want and providing both of those things.  Every business is different here, but re-read those words and point your selling mechanism at that concept.  Of course, your “selling mechanism” might be salespeople but more probably is the “what causes sales” we’ve talked about so many times (see www.ceotools.com, click on New Tools Catalog, and scroll down to last tool).

How to broaden your market definition?  An example is:  instead of limiting your construction to building homes, remodel them, get into commercial, pursue office building remodels, etc.  If you are a remodeler, what about showing folks how to become Do-It-Yourselfers (but do charge for certain aspects of doing that), providing them with special tools, techniques, even designs or just the parts they don’t want to or can’t do (e.g., tile work).  The thought here is to broaden our thinking!
Focus on just those two areas, and we’re pretty sure you’ll see that your market is there, just differently accessible.

With best wishes, Kraig

How, at mid-year, to improve cash, credit, clients?  Well, how about a brand new focus on those three areas:  commission three tiger-teams in your company (or your peer or presidents group) to brainstorm, research the internet, and concoct unusual or maybe untried responses.

Here are some ideas:  1-replace your prompt-pay discount with a prompt-pay rebate, payable the following month (thanks to Abe WalkingBear Sanchez for this idea); 2-ask for cash deposits on orders; 3-teach your customers inventory earn-&-turn and DSO-tracking to improve their cash-flow, and they’ll likely return the favor of prompter pay to you; 4-lease items instead of buying; 5-outsource just about everything. 

We’ll continue to publish tips like these at , so please visit our weblog and other great blogs regularly for ideas.  We’re just now publishing the updated “Top 10 Tools for Financing Businesses” which might be helpful to you.

Once again, helping each other through this recession/recovery is our goal! 

With best regards, Kraig Kramers