When I forwarded some information to my clients about a seminar on planning for your exit strategy, many of them came back with "I just started - what do you mean exit strategy?" -- and that's exactly why it's so important. I attended a seminar today hosted by Alliance Equity, an M&A firm and Viking Bank. I gained a deeper understanding today of how to plan in order to achieve your exit strategy. One key takeaway is that often when people are asked, "What do you want to do with this business?" the answer is "Work in it for 1o (pick your number) more years and then sell it." Ten years is probably arbitrary -- likely around the time the person wants to retire. We should approach this question with a dollar value or growth plan for the business -- rather than a time frame -- and if that growth or valuation goal is met in 3 years, more power to you. With a set growth or valuation goal, you then know when you've achieved what you want -- and maybe you can retire sooner -- or maybe you'll set another, bigger goal. An M&A firm is there to help you build the company you want to sell, not just to do the transaction. Another interesting question from today's seminar: How do you look at your business? Is it a) a job; 2) an asset; 3) an investment; or 4) a legacy. Think about these as they pertain to your own business and how that perception drives your exit strategy. You should have one!
How important is a policy manual for employees of a small business? Very. A policy manual provides guidelines for employees regarding expected behaviors, benefit programs and business operations, giving the employee information and tools on how to most effectively serve the business. The more they know about what you want and expect, the better able they are to perform. The manual doesn't have to be dull legalese -- it could be written in a style to support your brand and image and help your employees to project that image in their daily work. That being said, it should contain the necessary legal information for your particular business. Most importantly, if you put a policy in place, make sure you are willing to enforce it and abide by it for all employees. If you don't have one as yet, take a stab at it yourself and then take it to your lawyer for review.
I have recently heard a number of stories about landlord leasing agents trying to "pull one over" on prospective tenants. For example, a prospective tenant contacts the leasing agent whose name is in the window of the space. The agent pulls together a proposal of prospective tenant's terms for the landlord that includes the provision that tenant agrees that agent will represent both tenant and landlord and that tenant will pay all both landlord and tenant agent fees. This is not typical of the industry. Typically, the landlord pays the agent fees for both landlord and tenant regardless of whether tenant uses the same agent or a different agent. The tenant is usually advised that it's in his or her best interest to obtain a separate agent to negotiate on tenant's behalf. As a prospective tenant, you always want to have an independent party reviewing the lease on your behalf -- your own agent and/or an atorney. The landlord's agent is not an independent party. Learn more about leasing at my Legal Business Briefings through Renton Technical College on March 21 "Love the Space You're In: Negotiating Commercial Leases."
I was reading a spotlight piece in The Economist about the career of Ms. Shelly Lazarus, CEO of the marketing firm Ogilvy and Mather. Ms. Lazarus' career at Ogilvy has spanned 35 years and she says that marketing hasn't changed much in that time. Two things I found particularly interesting in the article were: 1) the idea of "360 Degree Brand Stewardship" and 2) 70 percent of all decisions to buy things are made by women.
The idea behind 360 Degree Brand Stewardship is having all members of the brand creation team brainstorm and create together so that the concepts that are developed work across all media. When I look at small businesses, it is often most time and cost effective to for many to hire one designer to do all things marketing for their businesses from logo to website to marketing collateral -- this is in fact 360 Degress Brand Stewardship. Beware of creating components of your marketing program independently. Even if they contain the same theme in colors and concepts, they may not really be seamless across the media. One of Ogilvy's recent successes in this area is for Dove products. Dove has focused on real-life beauty, often showing non-traditional models of beauty in their ads -- the "Campaign for Real Beauty." Most recently, Dove launched a program through their website where everyday women could create an ad and submit it for Dove's new advertising campaign. This incorporates the real-life beauty concept through web and TV advertising. The winning ad was shown during the Academy Awards show on February 25.
Regarding buying decisions, I think we've all read some statistics similar to the one above -- the majority of purchasing decisions are made by women. Even the items that are ultimately bought and paid for by men are often the result of a woman's influence. Keep this in mind as you consider your target market. The quote associated with this statistic in the article comes from David Ogilvy, one of the firm's founders in 1948: "The consumer isn't a moron -- she's your wife."
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