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Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Today is a Big Day!

Boardroom Metrics continues to evolve.

Today, for the first time, we will host a group of Accomplished Sales Executives.

The experience of this group is humbling.

One ran the developing world for one of the world’s largest consumer companies. Another has so much private business experience, my past 20 years seems insignificant. Another is taking a break from a year of non-stop business development and engineering travels to Europe and China. Others come from the world of software, telecom, and retail.

Our goal today? Come together to learn about the Boardroom Metrics methodology for making private business owners rich.

Over the next few years, over 70% of Canadian private business owners intend to sell or transfer their businesses. To succeed, their companies must stand out. Be profitable. And be capable of being transferred to new owners.

Unfortunately, the odds against most of these business owners succeeding are quite depressing. Almost three quarters will fail. Either they will be completely unable to exit their businesses, or the valuations they will get for their businesses will fall below any expectations they previously held.

By focusing on fundamentals that drive buyer demand for any business, private business owners can significantly improve their chances of transferring their business successfully. That’s what our Accomplished Executives will learn about today. Then, they will help us communicate our message to the market place.

Boardroom Metrics Accomplished Executives are proven business drivers. Their expertise spans the breadth of business know-how. They mentor leaders, take on key governance and leadership roles in our client’s company’s and provide expert advice. They even help us get our message out.

We are always on the lookout for our next Accomplished Executive. If that’s you, we’d love to know you’re out there. Boardroom Metrics could provide the kind of engagement, learning and financial opportunity you are seeking at this point in your career. If you send an email to post@boardroommetrics.com, I will get in touch to set up an interview. Talk to you soon! Kar.

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Posted by Karen McElroy at 10:39 am
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Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Succession Planning? Don’t forget the business.

Here are two great succession planning checklists.

This one is from the CFIB. This one is from Downey & Company, a CPA firm.

It’s great that there is so much information available on succession planning. However, there’s a common feeling I get from all succession planning checklists – aside from getting a business valuation, they all treat succession planning like the business is transferable.

Unfortunately, many aren’t.

Businesses that are transferable have common elements:

  • Strong markets
  • Standard service or product offerings
  • Teachable processes for selling and fulfilling demand
  • Profits and predictable cash flow

Without these basic elements businesses are worth less to new owners – even family owners. So, I’d love to see the following added to the owner’s succession planning checklist:

  • Verify the sustainability of the business – market and industry trends, repeatable revenue, diverse customer base, well defined competitive advantage, well defined core competency
  • Verify the transferability of the business – company culture, management team, advisory resources, all operating processes – HR, sales, manufacturing, delivery, finance
  • Verify the role of the owner – working on, not in the business
  • Verify the value the business on that basis

Businesses that are valuable to their next owners are easier to succession plan for. And succession planning on a business that isn’t transferable is a waste of time.

Here’s how Boardroom Metrics helps private business owners:



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Posted by jcrocker at 3:46 pm
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Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Private Business Owner? Looking for good book?

John Warrillow’s book ‘Built to Sell’ is a good book for private business owners. It’s a straightforward, fast-paced read that reinforces some simple, yet powerful messages about private business:

  • From start-up, every business should be built to sell. Two thoughts:
    • Starting at the beginning makes entrenching value easier
    • Even if selling isn’t on an owner’s radar, private businesses are valuable assets and need to be treated that way. Who knows how an owner’s needs will change and when monetizing the asset may become an important priority.
  • There are a few simple keys to building a business to sell:
    • A sustainable market – one that isn’t in serious decline and/or won’t be around in a few years
    • A standard product – one that can be sold at a standard price and produced to fulfill demand efficiently
    • Replicable sales processes – that a sales team can learn and execute with success
    • Repeatable fulfillment processes – from manufacturing to delivery

The book’s key point is that private business owners need to work on, not in the business. Businesses that depend on their owners are much less valuable when it comes time to sell.

From experience, I know it’s not easy for owners to pull themselves away from the day to day. Here’s some thoughts on how:

  • Recognize that being the owner is different from being the CEO – or any other role you may have taken on. The owner’s role is to ensure value is being built into the business. The CEO’s role is to execute. Learn to be a better owner. Hire a CEO.
  • Get someone to help you stand back from the business on a regular basis. A respected mentor, coach, ally, even an advisory Board or Board of Directors. Their job is to get you thinking like an owner – thinking about what value is being created and how to do it, not about the latest fire.
  • Look at everything your business does and assess how easy it is to teach others to do it. If it’s impossible or very difficult to teach others – then there’s a problem – you’ll have difficulty pulling back, and the business will be less valuable to new owners.

Even if selling your business isn’t on your radar screen, thinking like an owner is a good idea. Your business will be stronger – and if you do decide to sell or transfer your business – you will be ready.

Here’s how Boardroom Metrics helps private business owners:

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Posted by jcrocker at 2:51 pm
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Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Party Animal wants Brand Partner

Hey. Our client is a party animal.  Old guy. Kind of techie but not overboard. Has something serious going and is looking for a senior, connected brander to hook  him up with other brand people. He could really use the help (you should see him) and is willing to to give up equity for the right person (we tried to talk him out of it, seriously). Ok, really he wants a partner who can sell. Email us post@boardroommetrics.com.  Our people will get in touch with your people.  Kar.

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Posted by Karen McElroy at 10:17 pm
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Monday, June 28th, 2010

Automation that creates special Value.

As an accomplished Boardroom Metrics executive, working with smart, forward thinking business leaders is something I relish.

Recently I had the opportunity to chat with a private business owner who is adopting simple leading-edge automation provided by one of my clients.

John owns a real estate management business which services over 1000 buildings on a regular maintenance schedule.

ProntoForms enables organizations to mobilize business processes, on commonly deployed mobile devices (Blackberry, Windows Mobile, iPhone, iPad,…), in minutes, increasing productivity and eliminating paper.

When I asked John “why are you implementing this mobilization?” his first answer was the obvious: cost savings, productivity, happier workers.

But then, he continued, “This is going to give me a leading-edge image that will be key when I diversify into other services. No one is doing this, and they will likely not do it as effectively as our approach. The execution of our services will be more consistent and replicable with every new worker”.

His final point surprised me and caught my attention, “With this new tool, I will also be able to help my customer AUTOMATE their business.”

“Automate their business?”, I asked.

“Why?  Are you looking for commissions?”

I loved his answer: “It’s all about customer service and relationship.  I’m in a very competitive business – I want to stand out, differentiate myself and be as easy to work with as possible. They will remember me and hopefully I can gain their loyalty and trust.”

Stepping back, my wheels started spinning.

This shrewd and passionate businessman is not only managing Profitability and Growth through leading-edge, cost-effective automation.  He is also investing in Sustainability through predictable processes, a branded image, differentiated customer relationships that provide “insurance”.    John will surely continue to succeed and one day his brand and assets will have terrific and TRANSFERABLE Value!!!

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Posted by Marc Seguin at 2:11 pm
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Posted in Uncategorized, boardroom metrics
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Boardroom Metrics: What We Believe

People who believe what you believeA couple of weeks ago when we were prepping the Boardroom Metrics site to go live, I asked one of my partners his thoughts on the video you see at the top of most pages.

He wasn’t flattering.

His biggest concern was how I’d structured the message – too much what, and not enough why. His point was this – people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. And he pointed me to this book/video from Simon Sinek, called ‘Start with Why’.

A core pillar of the book/video is what Sinek calls the golden circle – above -  and a great observation on how Apple communicates versus, say how the Boardroom Metrics video communicates.

Apple communicates from the inside out – why? “everything we do we believe in challenging the status quo”; how?: “we make beautifully designed and easy to use technology; what: “we happen to make great computers”. “Want to buy one?”

The Boardroom Metrics video is all “what”: “here are the three pillars” – which inspired me to create this new video about what we believe and why we do what we do.

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Posted by jcrocker at 2:11 pm
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Posted in Uncategorized, business, how to build a great company, you tube, youtube
Saturday, June 5th, 2010

A Business Value Equation that EVERYONE Gets

The following is reposted from the Boardroom Metrics CEO blog.  It was written based on the interesting discussions we’ve been having over the past few weeks with private company business owners.  In that presentation, posted here, there is one chart that EVERYONE responds to. It reads like this:

Value = Profit that is Sustainable and Transferable.

It makes a simple point – private (and public) company value is not just a function of how profitable a business is.  To be valuable, a corporation’s profits must be sustainable. So you had a good quarter? Congratulations.  Let’s see you do it again next quarter.

Furthermore, what happens if you get hit by a bus? No you, no profits?  Hmmm. Not really very valuable.

Here’s the rest of the post:

Ask any private business owner what they want from their business and almost every one of them will tell you: “I want to maximize value.”.  Then watch what they do on a day to day business.

Fight fires. Run the day to day.

In the value equation above, the business owner is the one responsible for the V – Value side of the equation. The CEO is responsible for the Pst side – profits that are sustainable and transferable.

The first is a strategic role. The second is a tactical, operating role.

So what happens when the owner and the CEO is the same person – something that is very common in private businesses?

What I see almost every time is that the value side gets forgotten over and over and over. Firefighting is envigorating, challenging, important. It overwhelms everything else.

When times are good, being the CEO is being the hero.

When times are bad being the CEO means being too busy manning the liferafts and avoding ice bergs.

“Value?”

“Naw. That’s something to think about when times get better.”

To create sustainable, transferable value the Owner/CEO must be an owner first – and a CEO second.

Being an owner first means having a clear picture of what drives sustainable, transferable value and getting a plan in place to build it, maintain it, and ultimately monetize it.

Being an owner first means being held accountable as the CEO to execute the value building plan – or to get out of the way and let someone better suited do the job.

The Boardroom Metrics Chairman’s View system makes it simpler for owners to be owners. First, it provides a snapshot on a company’s value. Second, it highlights the gaps/opportunities – in a dashboard fashion – where value creating work is required. Third, it introduces a professional chairman – someone who spends a few hours a month holding the owner, and the CEO accountable for doing their roles properly.

Most owners want to maximize the value of their business. Too many are spending their time as CEO’s.  The Boardroom Metrics Chairman’s View System can help turn that around.

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Posted by jcrocker at 12:19 am
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Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Boardroom Metrics New Website, Services

Last week we went live with our new website.  Every business has to evolve with the times and the opportunities that are put in front of it.  Boardroom Metrics is doing that.

Here is an excerpt of a post on Jim Crocker’s Boardroom Metrics CEO blog re the expansion of Boardroom Metrics.

First, we have expanded our geographic service offering beyond Toronto to include Ottawa and Montreal.

Second, we are providing new advisory expertise in employee health and well-being, and corporate learning and training.

Employee health and well-being is rapidly becoming a top priority for all forward thinking organizations. Linking employee health and well-being with corporate performance – not just benefits cost containment – is an important competitive advantage we believe our clients are going to be increasingly interested in.

Corporate learning is another rapidly evolving field. The days of standing up in front of 200 people and ‘teaching’ them are gone – thanks to much better insight on how people learn and rapidly advancing technology – whether it be in the classroom or on a Blackberry. Again, our intent is to help our clients more clearly make the connection between learning, training strategy, training execution and significant improvements in corporate performance.

Third, we have expanded our tools offering to include the Chairman’s View System.

Chairman’s View enables private business owners who are committed to transferring their businesses in some fashion down the road, to measure, visualize and increase the sustainable and transferable value in their businesses.

Most private business owners in the US and Canada intend to transfer their businesses to new ownership  over the next ten years. Unfortunately, a large majority won’t come close to receiving the value they anticipate unless their focus changes from day to day management to sustainable value creation.

Fourth, we have significantly upgraded our interim management capabilities. The goal of our ‘Accomplished Executives’ program is two-fold:

  • First – to provide a comprehensive marketing umbrella so that senior, experienced management talent can be promoted and become known and findable to the broad, business market place.
  • Second – to seamlessly provide outstanding talent in conjunction with our advisory and tools practices to clients requiring short or long term executive support – whether it be for advisory, professional Chairman, senior executive or specialist roles.

Fifth, we have launched a new website that describes our services in more detail and encourages prospective clients and accomplished executive talent to start a dialogue with us.

All of us at Boardroom Metrics are passionate about business and in that regard we hold some simple but clear beliefs.

  • EVERY business has the potential to be a spectacular success.
  • NO business succeeds without strong leadership.
  • PEOPLE are the only competitive advantage that can’t be duplicated.

If you’re interested in spectacular success and looking for a passionate, skilled and experienced partner let us know. We’d love to work with you.
Jim Crocker, CEO

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Posted by jcrocker at 4:11 pm
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Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

Introducing Boardroom Metrics Chairman's View

Three out of four private businesses will not sell when they are put on the market.

For the past six months, Boardroom Metrics been working with and completing due diligence around a unique private business tool called Chairman’s View.

Chairman’s View is a software and industry data-based approach for assessing a private company’s key value drivers, ranking them, quantifying their impact on the company’s value and implementing plans for improving the highest priority drivers.

Here are some key elements of the Chairman’s View approach:

  1. focus on value, not just profits: designed to so owners can create multiple, strong options for sustaining and transferring their businesses – currently, three of four private businesses DO NOT SELL when they are put on the market
  2. outputs: include RESEARCH BASED, quantitive ratings for 8 business drivers, 9 value drivers and almost 50 associated categories
  3. OWNERS DASHBOARD: enabling business owners to visualize company value, how key drivers are performing, and the impact on company value of making improvements in sub-performing drivers
  4. software-as-a-service: means Chairman’s View data is client accessible and includes industry data, evaluation criteria, templates, dashboards, action plans and progress monitoring tools
  5. three-phased approach – Phase 1 is the upfront driver and value assessment; Phase 2 is the improvement plan for the weakest value and business drivers; Phase 3 is transaction based – selling, merging, transferring or continuing to build value in the business, based on the owners goals

Giving owners great options for their businesses – and frankly seeing them succeed well financially, has always been a primary driver of Boardroom Metrics. Therefore, I’m truly excited about Chairman’s View.

For those owners truly interested in creating a valuable business – and not just working until they can’t any more – Chairman’s View will significantly enhance perspective on value and how to maximize it.

Any private business owner or those advising private business owners – like accountants, wealth advisors, insurance brokers, M&A specialists – will appreciate the basis Chairman’s View can provide for discussions on succession planning, business sales or transfer.

This link to Slideshare provides more detail on the Boardroom Metrics, Chairman’s View offering.

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Posted by jcrocker at 10:50 am
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Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

Canadian Board of Directors Index

Every year, Spencer Stuart sends me a copy of their ‘Canadian Spencer Stuart Board Index – Board Trends and Practices of Leading Canadian Companies’. Yesterday’s mail brought the 2009 study.

This years theme: ‘The Route to the Top and Company Performance in CEO Transition’ is and interesting look at how Canadian CEO’s get to the stop, how long they stay and what they accomplish.

Some interesting facts from the study:

Internal Promotion: The rate of internal promotion to CEO has remained unchanged in the past decade (70% – which seems like a pretty good #) despite increased focus on succession planning.

Industry Background: in 2009, 83% of CEO’s recruited from outside the firm came from the same industry grouping as the firm. That’s up from 50% 10 years ago. One in four companies now go abroad to get that industry experience up from one in ten a decade ago.

Turnover: 13% is the 2009 # for annual CEO turnover, vs. 10% ten years ago. However, forced departures is at 44% of all turnovers, vs 27% – 30% in the past.

Tenure: the median stint for CEO’s who survived successfully is 5 years. Only 10% survived seven to nine years.

Performance/Backgrounds: Interesting. In every case where a new CEO was brought in, the companies led by externally recruited CEO’s performed better. Also, finance types performed the best. Sales/marketing types didn’t. Period.

I’m not sure there’s any real surprises here given trends in governance, performance and the economy. Thoughts?

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Posted by jcrocker at 10:48 am
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