From Greg's Head

Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website. 

In a recent study on the Blended Workforce, I noted some challenges that lay ahead.  Information technology can help people and organizations bridge the divides of age, work style, distance and nationality.  IT can also enable the blended workforce to add value through improved relationships with customers, partners, and talent pools to reduce costs by identifying new efficieniencies and adding value through innovation in processes, products, and services.  In this study, Microsoft suggests that information technology plays a role in the following three important areas:

Knowledge management.  Enabling the retention and transfer of explicit and tacit knowledge across generations, cultures and organizational boundaries.

Mobility and virtual workforce management.  Extending the capabilities and protections of the enterprise and its data resources to people, anywhere, anytime.

Collaboration and coordination.  Reducing virtual distances, thereby facilitating well-managed teamwork, and bringing partners into critical processes.

In this edition of the Playbook, I will focus on only one area, Knowledge Management.  Older works have knowledge gained from years of on the job experience.  But companies cannot afford to keep these senior personnel on staff with escalating salaries.    The development of knowledge systems and knowledge networks will become a priority.  Today we use Blogs, Wikis, RSS and other tools to stay up to date.  Today, I see that Facebook is allowing me to stay in touch with over a dozen communities at a time.    This tool and LinkedIn are just two support tools I use daily.  And finally, you need to encourage all personnel of all ages to as we say “play well with others”, by encouraging and rewarding learning processes.
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website. 

It’s a pretty fair assessment that the US population will be getting older.   So when we talk about the Blended Workforce, we need to set a baseline of understanding:

Blended workforce. With the US population getting older, the Gen X and Millennials find that they have to work with the Boomers. And, (let’s keep this between us) they will be financial responsible for us.  Now for a young man of 52, I find that quite interesting.  I hope the young people are ready to take care of me and my fellow Boomers.   At present, the ratio of US workers to pensioners is about 6:1.  In Europe is 4:1.  By 2025 Europe will be at 2:1. 

Blended work styles.  With young and old working together you will find challenges in the workplace whereby the younger generation will be multi-tasking, enjoying personal time and taking care of an ever growing older group of parents and relatives.  Thus challenging them like they never expected.

Blended world.  As the world shrinks more and more of us are ever dependent upon other workers from other parts of the world to complete our jobs.  It’s pretty routine for me to have conversations with European or Asian counterparts on a regular basis about business here in Houston.

Recent studies estimate that there are 42 million independent workers in the US.  This is about 31percent of the workforce.

So what does all this mean?

In the US it means major changes for the young folks of the working world.  And major changes are in store for business owners in the next 25 years.   Shortages of talent, math/science personnel, technical personnel, accountants, etc.  are coming and fast.  Talent challenges will be the norm and where will you find the workers?  Workers will become more virtual and they may indeed become part of outsourcing relationships due shortages in talent and expertise.  

The best way to take advantage of such talent is by using technology to ensure collaboration, communication and support of virtual workers.  If you are not looking at technologies that embrace this success, don’t be surprised if your competition leaves you behind.  It’s time to adopt a strategy for the future and shore up those gaps.
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website. 

How do you keep in touch with your former employees, or “alumni”?

Corporate alumni groups are becoming increasingly important as the Baby Boomers retire and the Millennials job hop every two to three years. 

There are many benefits to a company establishing a formal alumni group.  They include:

• Extending your recruitment network.  Just because an employee left your firm doesn’t mean they don’t know someone who would be a perfect fit for the company.
• Business development and quality referrals. Alumni who feel connected to your firm are likely to be some of your most vocal advocates in the marketplace.
• Extending your network into other industries.

There are several factors that you should take into account to ensure the success of your group:

• Enlist top-level support for the program
• Establish clear goals and objectives for the group to manage expectations both from the company side and the alumni side
• Be sure current employees are familiar with the program.  They can promote it to their former colleagues.

Most often, the alumni are meeting on their own, why wouldn’t you want to be a part of the conversation?
 

For more on this topic, please read L.M. Sixel's article in the Feb. 3 issue of the Houston Chronicle.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website. 

These days, it can often be difficult to keep your business’ long term vision in sight as you balance the short term demands of this new economy. Maintaining this balance is more important than ever. Some things to keep in mind:

• Make the time on a regular basis to think about and plan for the future. Have a regular meeting with your executive team or advisory board.
• Marketing and business development are critical now to keep your pipeline full, which sets the stage to hit your long term growth goals.
• Talk with your clients about what is going on in their business and really listen to what they tell you. Their growth and ability to continue to use your services directly impacts your long term goals. If their needs change dramatically will you still be or want to be their go-to resource?
• Be flexible and ask yourself, “Are the long term goals we set for the company still relevant? And is that still the direction we want to go?”

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website. 

How often do you use the Houston Business Journal Book of Lists as a resource for your business?

From the FastTech 50 to the Largest Houston-Area Venture Capital firms and Houston’s top golf courses, the Book of Lists contains demographic and economic data for the top companies in Houston’s diverse market-space. 

Organized by industry or service, it is the perfect tool to use for business research, job searches, indentifying potential clients and competitive intelligence.

Is your business looking to expand your community outreach efforts? There is a list of charitable non-profit organizations. The list of Green Architects can help you find the right company to design your new LEED certified office space.

The Book of Lists can be your connection to the key businesses, organizations and individuals in Houston poised to help you take your business to the next level.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website. 

How does your firm handle mentoring junior team members?  Do you have an established program or are your mentor relationships more informal?

There are several things to consider when establishing a mentoring program:

• Allow team members to self-select their mentor/mentee, being careful to avoid favoritism. This encourages a more effective relationship
• What kind of communication training should be provided to participants?
• The mentor and mentee should meet on a regular basis and set clear milestone goals

A mentorship program focuses on developing a relationship through self-disclosure, building trust, listening for understanding and providing feedback. 

The benefits of a more formal program can include:

• Provide the tools to assist with succession planning
• A reduction in turnover and
• The development of team members leadership skills

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website. 

Recently the business conversation has shifted. While process improvement is imperative and waste reductions should be a routine part of your business activity, you can only cut costs so much.  The top line of your business eventually must carry the next wave of improvement.

New business will be harder to come by over the next few years. Now is the time to decide what type of customers you want going forward. Not all business is good business. Think about your best customers.

This is an opportunity for you and your management team to develop a list of critical factors characterizing a good customer for your organization.

Client selection criteria is important, and will guide your sales team to ask the right questions to make sure future prospects are “good customers.” With that information, you can contact referral sources to help identify and approach prospective “good customers.”

Identify from your existing client base your “A”, “B”, “C” and “D” customers. What can you do to move the “B” and “C” customers to “A” customers? Do you have too many “D” companies in your client mix? Can you move your unprofitable “D” customers to your competitors?

Have this discussion at your annual workshop. Your sales and business development teams should be familiar with what makes a good, profitable customer.

As we start to find our way out of the recession abyss, think about ways to build your business with the right kind of customers. Hopefully, you will begin to “guard the front door” and build a solid business based on an “A” client portfolio.
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website. 

As organizations work through their 2010 budgets and we see the economy teetering back and forth on the edge of pulling out the recession or falling back into it, one of things on the minds of most CEOs is: “How can they improve the profitability of their organization?”  One of the answers is to get better information from your accounting system.

At a customer site we started doing some analysis of their sales revenues and customers.  The controller was our sponsor, and was looking to use the power of their new dashboard reporting tool we implemented at their headquarters to tell them more about their business.  One of the items they were challenged with was knowing whether or not, a customer was profitable. 

Our dashboard reporting tool indicated that they were showing some profitability on 40% of its small customers and approximately 75% on its larger customers.  Having never had this information before, the controller went down the hall and visited with the VP of Sales and a plan was developed to redesign sales processes.

With our help, we redesigned the process to focus on value and cut waste.  More time was spent in directing the smaller customers to web based support/ordering and large customers with more commodity based sales also to web based support/ordering.  Reducing back office support on these areas allowed the organization to cut costs by 35% on the smaller customers and 7% on the large ones. Larger customer profitability increased by 20% and smaller customer profitability increased by 100%.

If you are not getting this information from your accounting system, you should contact us.  With Dynamics NAV and our dashboard tools, we can help bring that type of information to the forefront.
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website. 

As we start the New Year, we find at many of our clients and businesses that January is usually a time of employee annual reviews and performance feedback.  One of the items noted by employees at high achieving organizations is the environment in which they work.  Highly successful companies achieve very high scores in the feedback assessment processes by their employees.  Which raises the question: “Where would my organization rank on such an assessment?”

To the following question: “What type of workplace fosters the creation of exceptional sustainable value?”  Some of the answers gathered by Marcus Buckingham in his book, First Break All the Rules, include the following subset from over 1,000,000 surveys:

• Do I know what is expected of me at work?
• Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
• In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
• Does my supervisor or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
• In the last six months has someone at work talked to me about my progress?

In the book Conscious Business I learned that feedback is actually a mutual learning opportunity.  In providing feedback I try to:

• Recognize that the intent behind feedback is learning and development (vs. criticism)
• I provide broad context, both positive areas and areas that I am concerned about
• I try and focus on effectiveness gaps and not personal traits
• Be timely and convey both positive and constructive feedback

In receiving feedback, I try and remember the following:

• Be learner, do I love the truth more than I love my face?
• The person giving my feedback is supporting my development.
• I take responsibility for the feedback, and my role in the gap of my performance
• I use effective inquiry to understand, not defend myself

If your environment is creating exceptional sustainable value in the area of Giving Feedback, you will be surpassing your competition in this challenging market place.
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website. 

One of the items I find at the heart of many communication breakdowns includes conversation around commitments and the ability to honor, or not meet these obligations.  If your organization is having trouble with commitments, try this exercise.

Before giving a commitment to someone do this quick self assessment before offering a response.
How do I assess the integrity of my commitment?  I recommend a quick review of your sincerity.

With sincerity you should:
• Only make promises you intend to keep
• Believe you understand the commitment
• Believe you have the resources and skills to keep it
• Will apply your energy to the task at hand
• Do substantial planning to mitigate risk

You should honor your promises unconditionally.  When you see the commitment is at risk you should:
• Alert the creditor immediately
• Apologize and offer an explanation
• Inquire about potential damages
• Negotiate strategies to minimize damages
• Recommit

Remember honoring your commitments doesn’t necessarily mean fulfilling them.  Commitments are always first broken ethically (integrity) before being broken effectively.  The breaking point occurs when the committed person realizes the promise is at risk and decides to keep quiet about it.

In his book Conscious Business, Fred Kofman writes, “You behavior always express your values in action.  Your integrity hinges on whether your values in action agree with your essential values.  When they do you feel pride.  When they don’t you feel guilt.”

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Software as a Service or SAAS as it’s commonly referred to is here to stay.   The question is whether many software and infrastructure providers can properly take advantage of such a strategy for their businesses.

Recent studies have indicated that SAAS made up about 1% of the $18 billion IT management software market during 2008 and projections are increasing to 10% by 2013, by which time many SAAS brands will be well established.  The most successful SAAS product offering known to date is salesforce.com, which experts are predicting will top $1 billion in revenue in the near future.

And recently these same studies indicated that many Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) are also becoming more aware of, and accepting of these environments.

Here at PKF Texas we have recently joined the SAAS world through a combination of our ERP application Dynamics NAV and our SAAS business partner SAAS Plaza.  We can now offer our customers and prospects a choice between owning their own application and infrastructure, or, providing an alternative SAAS solution.  We will have more on the topic of SAAS and NAV in the future, but if you are interested in such a solution for your business, contact us.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Previously we talked about acting with integrity to obtain success beyond success.  It’s one thing to say that we choose to act with integrity; it’s another thing to do it.  How do make sure we follow through? In a word: discipline.

Discipline allows you to regulate and direct your energy toward your goals in alignment with your values.  Discipline is the capacity to maintain awareness and choose consciously in the face of instinctual pressures.  The ability to self control yourself to subordinate immediate gratification to long-term objectives is essential for success beyond success.

In his study of companies that went from “good to great,” Jim Collins found that key common factor was the existence of disciplined people, producing disciplined thoughts, and taking disciplined actions.  Disciplined companies responded to challenges effectively; they were able to maintain flexibility on a tactical level while remaining firmly anchored in their core mission and value.

As Fred Kofman has written, discipline is a direct consequence of conscious choice and response-ability, the capacity to enact a course of action that is congruent with our purpose and values.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

In our last segment we talked about focusing on the process to achieve your desired outcome.  There is additional value by which you can evaluate your own actions. 

In evaluating success, an additional standard is looking at the alignment between your behavior and your values.   This is known as a measure of integrity, or success beyond success.

In his book Conscious Business author Fred Kofman lays out an impressive idea that integrity is not a particular value, akin to honesty, but rather integrity is adherence to a code of values.  Ask yourself the following question:  Are you willing to win at any cost?  Before you answer yes, consider another question.  What if winning requires unethical behavior? Does this cause a pause?  Enron, Tyco, WorldCom all had impressive codes of ethics.  But that code of ethics didn’t prevent their executives from acting unethically.

Most executives know the difference between right and wrong and we know where the dividing line is located.  In the heat of the moment do you put integrity first and subordinate success or uphold success at all costs and put integrity second?

Every time we act, we are either in alignment with our values or we are not.  We choose whether or not we are aligned.  When it comes to integrity, we can always be players.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Recently we have seen some failures in various sectors of our economy, financial institutions, the auto industry and mortgage banking to name just a few.  Yet many of us turn to our political leadership to solve our problems.   It’s easy to play the victim and say someone else is responsible for our woes.  But I submit we cannot, and should not, look to others to solve our problems.

I submit many of us need to take a step back and think about an exercise Fred Kofman has used to demonstrate what’s really important in our lives.  First, think of three characters you admire.  They can be real people or fictional characters.  Now think of key personality traits that make each of your chosen characters admirable to you.  My characters are: Abraham Lincoln, John Adams and George Patton.  I admire Lincoln’s courage; Adams desire for freedom and self awareness, and Patton’s tenacity and passion for defeat of tyranny.

Now compare these traits to what our society and other elements of the media define as success.  Kofman’s research suggests, and I concur, that it rare you will find anyone who is selected because their qualities are power, wealth, youth, beauty, pleasure or fame.

Your behavior in all kinds of situations can reveal the quality of your character.  Kofman suggest that you are more likely to be successful when you focus on the result of process versus an outcome.  While outcome is important, how you achieve that result is important to integrity of your own personal character.  And while winning is important, it’s more important how you win.  And this leads us to my future topic…Success beyond success.
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

In “Player versus Victim Leadership Part 1 we discussed that taking the role of a player is the preferred way to address business and life in general.  Let’s explore some additional information on this subject.

In his book Conscious Business, Fred Kofman outlines his definition of response-ability.  Kofman writes that this applies to the way you respond to a situations that are presented to you.  In life, we are presented with the opportunity to make choices.  The responses you make are the key to your individual self awareness.

In addition, being responsible does not necessarily translate into being successful.  But it provides a solid foundation from which one can live their life and deal with anything that comes your way.

While you are not responsible for the environmental factors that surround your world, you can and should be responsible for how you respond to the cards that are dealt your way.  Or in other words you can be a player and play the cards dealt to you, or, you can complain about them become disengaged and unproductive. 

“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.” Says Don Juan.
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

In Jim Collins book Good to Great the concept of Level 5 Leadership is discussed.  And while Collins can identify the traits of a Level 5 Leader, he indicated that in his research, he wasn’t able to identify how to develop Level 5 Leadership within an organization.  That’s a pretty strong statement from a highly respected author on the subject of “Leadership”.

Recently, I introduced you to some concepts of Leadership that I have come to understand as Conscious Business.  Conscious Business was written by Fred Kofman who I believe has developed a framework for the development of leaders within any organization.  Over the next few weeks, I will share with you some of the concepts discussed in Conscious Business that I believe can help any business owner, manager or CEO begin a program of leadership development within your organization.

Previously we have covered the concept of being a knower or a learner.  Today I would like to introduce another concept of leadership that I believe is important to success in today’s every changing environment.   This concept is known as being “response-able”.  Or, otherwise being a known as “player” versus playing the “victim” to events that happen to you.

This concept is exactly as it sounds.  Taking responsibility for your own behavior, irrespective of what environmental forces you face.  I will leave a small tidbit with you, if you are late for a meeting because of another meeting running over, or, arriving late for a meeting because of traffic, and you didn’t notify the party you are running late to meet, you have taken the role of playing the victim.

As we continue our journey through Conscious Business, I hope many of you will comment on the concepts we offer for your consideration.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

With the current economic climate, many companies either need to find a buyer or want to prepare to sell when their industry’s market makes an upturn. How does a company prepare for a sell event so that they are rewarded with the highest price for their company?

One way to prepare now is to perform a sell-side due diligence review. This process is designed to allow current management to continue to focus on day-to-day operations while outside professionals perform agreed upon procedures on your accounting and operations records and reports.

Your financial records must be in a condition that potential buyers can quickly understand financial information and operations reports.

Accuracy and transparency are key when buyers are evaluating your company and preparing an offer. Buyers want to ensure the quality of their purchases and develop a business plan and financial model that produces a significant return on their investment.

This type of review is designed to uncover potential concerns or anomalies that you will either want to correct or make the buyer aware of during the initial discussions.  Because when it comes to willing buyers you never know when they may be knocking at your door. 

For more information about sell-side due diligence engagements, visit www.PKFTexas.com/RTP.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

We are all aware of the economic downturn in the past 2 years. It is especially troublesome for those 70.5 years of age that are required to sell off portions of their portfolios held in retirement accounts to fund Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs). In early 2009, Congress passed a provision to relieve the RMD requirement for 2009 so that these taxpayers could wait for the market to recover. However, many taxpayers were unaware and withdrew their RMD early in the year. Fortunately, there are a few tax saving strategies available for those taxpayers in the next few weeks.
 
1. RMD Roll Over Provision
The new provision, which expires shortly on November 30, 2009, provides a means to rollover 2009 distributions into an IRA without having to include it in your 2009 taxable income and without RMD penalties.

2. RMD Transfer To Charity
Taxpayers subject to RMD’s may transfer up to $100,000 of IRA funds to a qualified charity by December 31, 2009 without including the withdrawal in taxable income or being subject to charitable limitations as long as it is a direct transfer from the financial institution. 

Be sure to speak to your accounting service provider about these timely tax provisions.  Tax updates from PKF Texas may be found at www.pkftexas.com/taxnews.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Recently, I introduced you to the leadership concept of being a “Learner” as opposed to being viewed as a “Knower”.  As part of my leadership class we studied this concept for quite a while as many of us were in our mid 40s to mid 50s.  As such, we are probably going to be in the workplace for a long time as the boomers start to retire in the next few years.  This will put us in contact with lots of young, eager, and passionate, but inexperienced workers.  The challenge is how to get them working with you at their optimal levels.

Here are some concepts for you to ponder as you challenge your own view of how others look at you as a leader:

1. In order to learn, ignorance “not knowing” is the starting point; yet to admit that we don’t know is a threat to our self-esteem and our public image.
2. Our culture appreciates knowledge (either real or apparent) more than it does a willingness to learn.
3. In order to create learning organizations, it’s necessary to allow ignorant organizations

Finally, people trust leaders who are “LEARNERS”, because they are confidence-based (vs. fear-based) and are authentic.

Ask yourself the following question:  “Do you love the truth more than you love your face?”

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

As we navigate through this current recession, watching our politicians talk about change,  I recently recalled this quote from Eric Hoffer I learned at a leadership class I once attended, “In times of change, the learners will inherit the Earth, while the knower’s will find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

So as a leader would you be classified as a “knower”, or a “learner”?  Or more importantly do you know the difference?  In Jim Collins book Good to Great he talks about Level 5 Leadership.  Level 5 leaders build enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.  Level 5 leaders channel their ego ambition away from themselves into the larger goal of building a great organization or company.

Knower’s have very limited ability to stretch themselves and get to panic mode very quickly.  On the other hand learners, have the ability to stretch themselves for a while before they reach panic mode.

What would your employees say about you…As a leader, are you a knower? Or a learner?  As you meet people each day, employees, prospective customer, vendors, advisors, etc. Ask yourself are they knower’s, or learners?  Knowing the difference could make a huge impact on your satisfaction.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

As we emerge from the recession is your company is in the best position to take advantage of new opportunities in the marketplace?

Many entrepreneurs used the downturn in the economy as an opportunity to reinvest in their technology to  run their business better, faster and cheaper.  If updating your technology has been on the back burner, now is the time to take a look at your current business applications. 

Meet with your management team to discuss the following areas that IT can support:

• Where are the areas with constant pain points?
• What new products are available for your industry? 
• What are you missing that will increase productivity and better serve your clients?
• How will a new system/process save you in the long term?  And what type of investment can you handle to get that new system or process?

By improving your processes and leveraging your technology, you can streamline your business, becoming more efficient and responsive to opportunities. And, as a result grow, your company will move past your competitors and better position itself in the market place.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

What is your company’s plan for taking advantage of opportunities in 2010? As we near the end of the year, have you scheduled an executive retreat to strategize with the key players in your company?  

A retreat is an opportunity to get away from the office to focus on your business with your management team. 

Using tools like a force field analysis, waste reduction process or one page plan help identify your management team’s ideas to improve the business.  They also aid in creating an implementation plan for any new systems or processes.

Consider bringing in a facilitator to assist with structuring your discussions and stimulating new conversations.  The facilitator can also serve as a third party to hold you and your management team accountable for the action items that stem from the retreat.

These meaningful conversations about the future of your company are a critical component of what will help your business continue to grow.

You may download white papers about the tools mentioned at pkftexas.com/RTP.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

When was the last time you asked your clients about your performance? Do you have a regular survey process or, a debrief meeting at the end of each project?

The ideal situation would be to have consistent ongoing communications with your clients, so you know exactly where you stand.  Be sure you’re asking the right questions.

Communications consultant Scott Cytron of Cytron & Company suggests that it’s easy to ask, “How are we doing?” but the answer is usually along the lines of “Just fine…”  This doesn’t get you the answers you need to make any necessary adjustments.  A better question would be, “How can we serve you more effectively?”  It leaves room for the client to truly tell you what, if anything, needs to be changed. 

If the feedback is negative, be sure to ask enough probing questions to get to the root of any issues.  Though tough to hear, you need to have as much information as possible to rectify or improve the situation. 

On the flip side, if the feedback is overwhelmingly positive, ask the client if they would be willing to provide a written testimonial, or have their experience profiled for a case study. 

As we near the end of the year, now is the time to be having these conversations.  Your clients will appreciate you are taking the time to make sure their needs are being met.
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

From an early age, we’re taught to take a risk to get ahead. Risk helps us discover something new about ourselves, but at what point do we stop to examine how risky our behavior really is compared to its outcome?

The business environment isn’t much different. Successful professionals in today’s companies need to constantly analyze their place in the market, and fully understand, assess and plan for risks that can directly and indirectly impact their organization. 

No one wants to spend money needlessly, especially in the current economic climate. However, can your business afford to have any surprises? Taking a “wait and see” approach could leave your business vulnerable to unforeseen issues.

An Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) initiative provides the greater likelihood of achieving a variety of objectives, fewer surprises and an improved understanding of all levels of risks in the business.

ERM is one of the critical components of a good corporate governance process established by company management and monitored by the Board of Directors.

There are many steps to a successful ERM, but these six major categories must be included in the project:

1. Define and Select the Framework.
2. Identify the Risks
3. Assess the Risks
4. Evaluate the Risks
5. Address the Risks
6. Monitor on a Continuous Basis

The goal is to get everyone in the organization to think about risk and how it is impacting, or may impact, the success of the project, process, business segment, corporate strategy or overall organization.  Don’t wait until your business gets out of hand to implement your ERM and better manage your risks.
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

If you’re not exploring social media options, or are just dipping your toe in the water, now is the time to make the move.  While social media won’t eliminate other forms of communication, it has changed the landscape of where, when and how we are communicating.

Erik Qualman author of the Socialnomics blog and book has created a video called the Social Media Revolution, with facts and figures about the rise of social media that will make you realize the power of communicating via social media networks.  The video can easily be found on YouTube.com or via the Socialnomics website, Socialnomics.net.

How many of you are using social media for personal or professional reasons?  If you’re not, why the hesitation?  Do you know where your employees and customers are online?  If you don’t, you could be missing valuable information.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

As an entrepreneur, where do you look for innovative ideas?  How often do you venture outside your industry to get new ideas?  What are thought leaders from other industries saying that you can apply to your business?

The magazine, The Economist, hosts numerous conferences each year on different topics, bringing in the thought leaders from a variety of industries. 

The TED conference, founded in 1984 has grown to be one of the premier conferences devoted to quote, “ideas worth spreading.”  It’s an invitation only conference, but you can access the conference webcasts via their website, TED.com.

These types of conferences can provide you a cache of ideas that you can apply to your business to take it to the next level.  Right now, innovation is king, and if you don’t stay on top of trends (in and out of your industry), you could get lost in the shuffle.
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

As we enter the fourth quarter of the year, many businesses have begun their budget process for next year.  Take this opportunity to look at where your money is going.  Many companies tightened their belts in 2009 and aren’t sure if and where to cut for 2010. 

Now is the perfect time to start negotiating with your vendors.  Often businesses sign contracts and don’t look at them for years.  Or, they ignore incremental increases and don’t check for competitive pricing. 

Can you negotiate a lower advertising rate?  What insurance plans are available for your size company?  Is there a way to decrease your printing costs by bidding out a job?  Can your vendor offer a bundled deal if you use multiple products? Ask about new products that might be a better fit for your company. 

By negotiating with your vendors now, hopefully you can free up some cash flow for next year. 
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Are you getting the financial information you require from your business application?  Have you asked your users how long it takes them to get the financial information so they can make timely and fully informed decisions?  Our research shows that most of the users of business applications take what they can from their databases and then massage the numbers through several extractions to arrive at hopefully an accurate accounting.

How did we get this way?  Weren’t the millions of dollars we invested in such large scale business applications like SAP and Oracle supposed to make life easier?  Well the thought and goal was admirable, but the practicality is that the Power of People contributed to this failed strategy.

Both financial management and information technology management can work together to solve the issue if they collaborate in solving this problem.  The key is not which technology to use, but getting the people to use the technology the way it was intended.  In today’s workforce we generally see two types of workers.  First is the Baby Boom generation that grew up with mainframe computers and business at business.  Second, is the Millennials who grew up with PCs, PDAs and in general have been using technology since birth.

So you have the perfect storm for information breakdown, one group that understand process but goes manual to get its needs answered.  And the other group that doesn’t understand process but get its need through technical sources.

Make sure both groups understand how both process and technology work together and how your business application works the way it was intended.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Instability in the markets rattles confidence, lowers the value of financial assets and creates uncertainty for governments, businesses and consumers.  However, our own history suggests that those who can look past the short term concerns and focus on the long term opportunities set themselves up for accelerated development as business and market conditions turn to more favorable results.

The difficulties faced by organizations during these times cannot be minimized, or taken lightly.  But what is important is that you bring balance to your thoughts by focusing on the future and seeking new opportunities.  As the waters calm, if you can balance your current concerns against long-term investment opportunities, you have the chance to make the right information technology investments today.

As a user of information technology you are probably wondering did I invest wisely during the time before the current crisis.  If yes, more than likely you are already experiencing benefits from those choices.  If not, don’t worry we can get you there with more cost effective solutions and deeper solutions.  But it will require that you, “Focus on the Future”.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

In these uncertain times it’s important to identify areas of waste in your business.  Whether you are trying to squeeze one or two more percent cost reduction per transaction or increase profit margin by two or three percent, the impact is the same.  Add more to the bottom line.

Recently we highlighted some waste reduction steps adopted by Toyota in our Award Winning Magazine, “The Leading Edge”.  Let’s highlight them here:

1. Overproduction
2. Waiting
3. Transport
4. Inappropriate processing
5. Inventory
6. Motion and process improvement
7. Defects

Taking each of those areas you can then perform your own “whiteboard” waste audit to determine the two or three things in each of the seven areas above that are viewed as wasteful by your employees.  Get your employees to buy into the waste audit by involving them in the selection of the top wastes.  Put a dollar value on eliminating those wastes, remove them from business processes and watch the bottom line grow.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

As we work our way through the current recession, I was struck by some interesting comments on the concept of the blended world as defined by Microsoft.   The workplace of the second decade in this millennium will be a study in diversity.  Older workers will encounter younger workers with workplace perspectives that are very different from the ones they shared in their youth. 

The other day I was using my iPhone when a friend of my children said, “Why are using an iPhone?  You’re too old!”

Really, too old? I didn’t realize there was a driver’s test necessary for the phone at my age.  While I quickly educated this friend of my children on my own personal capabilities, we also talked about the differences in age, location and globalization on our culture.  Everything is now blurred as we are working globally in a real time perspective.  Technology has allowed us to take on multi-dimensional work on a global scale at a fraction of the investment even as little as 5-7 years ago.   Our boundaries of personal space; permitting friendships and personal pursuits within the workplace are shrinking and someone born before 1960 must ask, “What is going on here?”

I embrace the blended world and its message, “The blended world is a world of choice, a world co-created from the business strategy; the attitudes, work styles, and composition of the workforce.”  Using social networks internally and externally can keep employees and customers close.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

In this recession environment great ideas are plentiful, but that’s all they are if you do not have relevant, timely, and accurate information to make solid business decisions and execute strategy.  It’s best to focus not only ideas during a recession, but those that make good business sense every day. 

We like to advise our clients to follow R3-Retool, Retrain and Retain your personnel.  With this mindset you can get the information you need to make the right decisions each day.  Our recommendations include:

1. Improve or fully use what you already have
2. Re-evaluate internal processes to trim waste
3. Invest in additional systems training for your users
4. Assess how technology will improve your company
5. Leverage your intellectual capital, and
6. Adjust your spending

Here’s the best part, your employees through all types of social media are now globally connected to their friends, and, your competitors more than ever.  If you are not showing them you are invested in their success, they will leave taking all the experience right out the door with them.

Keep your employees; use R3 to show them you are invested in their success.  As Jimmie Johnson, former Head Football Coach of the Dallas Cowboys once said, “Let’s turn this thing around.”
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

As social media becomes more ingrained in our everyday communication, you need to be conscious of the possible need to set boundaries between your personal and professional connections.

If you have joined several social media networks, target who is a part of each network.  There may be some overlap of personal and professional, but it’s worth having an awareness and plan for what information you are going to share with each group.

Clearly communicate your purpose for membership with your contacts in each network.  This way if you choose not to “friend” a professional colleague on a network you use for personal reasons, he or she will not be offended.  Offer the suggestion to link up on your professional network instead.

Mashable.com is the online social media guide.  The site has many resources, including best practices on interacting with your different social networks.

By setting clear boundaries, you will be able to fully participate in all of your chosen social networks without the fear of reprisal from one or more of your audiences. 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

When protecting your company’s intellectual property, it is important to know whether you need to apply for a patent, trademark or copyright.  Each guards your intellectual property in a different manner.

• Patents protect inventions and improvements to inventions.

• Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, sounds or colors that distinguish your goods or services from those manufactured or sold by others. 

• Copyrights protect provided the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.

Taking the time to safe guard your intellectual property will ensure you have legal recourse if another company is trying to infringe on your rights as an entrepreneur. 

Look for educational seminars or workshops led by top patent, trademark and copyright attorneys in your area.  The Buskop Law Group in Houston offers these types of seminars once a month. 

For more information about obtaining patents, trademarks, or copyrights visit www.USPTO.gov and www.Copyright.gov.

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 Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

When times are tight, a good way to maximize your marketing budget is to sponsor events that are key to branding your business in targeted market segments.

The question is, how do you choose where to spend your sponsorship dollars?

When evaluating a potential event, ask yourself these questions:

• Where will I get the most exposure?
• Who are the other sponsors? How will they leverage their sponsorship?
• Are my competitors involved?
• How will being branded with this event shape conversations with clients and prospects?
• Are we getting involved at the right time?

Look to your local business journal, industry organizations or niche award programs for events that will give you the most return on your investment.  The Houston Business Journal, for example, has an events listing on their webpage, Houston.Bizjournals.com.  Attend the events you are interested to get a feel for whether or not your sponsorship will be worth the time and money.  A consistent sponsorship effort can turn into the gift that keeps giving to your business.
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Are you aware of what people are saying about your company and your brand when you’re not “in the room?”

With the proliferation of online communication, how are you keeping track of what is being said about your company?

The days of relying solely on a news clipping service are over.  By using tools like Google Alerts, you can have a report of online mentions about your company delivered to your inbox every morning.  It’s also a good way to track trends and gain competitive intelligence.

Searching for your company on sites like Twitter or BlogPulse.com are also ways to gauge online conversations about your company that you may not be aware of.  Traditional wire services, like PR Newswire, offer online media monitoring as well.

By monitoring what is being said about your company, you can develop a process to promote the positive and manage any negative communication.
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Organizations that can take advantage of the wealth of data available to them see opportunities that their competitors will miss.  The deep penetration of IT business applications into all areas of an organization which are creating efficiencies, are also creating rich operational data which also some high value.

Organizations can gain insights by looking at how data alters over time in response to different inputs and external conditions.  This allows them to ascertain hidden cause-and-effect relationships allowing decision makers to make intuitive decisions in advances of actual results.

Reducing costs is always a goal of Business Intelligence and Productivity, but what happens when you know your customers better than they do and you can anticipate their needs by “your business intelligence”?

How important are you then in the eyes of your customer?

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Recent studies by several outstanding research firms like: Forrester Research, McKinsey & Company and MIT have found that spending wisely in today’s economy will have significant paybacks to the Companies that can choose their projects wisely.  In fact McKinsey’s survey of 1,000 mostly global companies that weathered the 1990-1991 global recession, emerged from the recession as winners based upon a refocus of their spending, not just cutting it.

The McKinsey survey showed that the successful companies actually spent more in IT, SG&A and Advertising.  And  recent research by MIT Professor Erik Brynjolfsoon also indicates that organizations wishing to climb the productivity curve understand the importance of IT in the future.

Learning to do more with less, using technology to leverage personnel and provide greater coverage of expertise can bring positive results to your financial success. If you can reprioritize your spending, you will see gains in the turnaround and excellent your business immediately.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

I am constantly reminded that while many highly effective and sound decisions concerning the acquisition and implementation of a Enterprise Resource Planning System take place.  A series of fundamental flaws consistently provide feedback as items that are significantly important in the assessment of the final ROI, but are rarely considered.

So, what are they?

The abilities of your end users who will use the system and execute the procedures you said were the way you did business.  Can the users execute transactions in a way that are effective?

Experience shows that if fail to capture the users attention, you will not have success from your investment.   Training or the lack thereof, is probably the single most important element followed very closely by users accountability and acceptance.

Remember your end users must:

• Accept and use the application (no side systems)
• They must understand their specific role and how to effectively execute key processes
• Execute at level of proficiency for the role, with little or no support.

One of the procedures we recommend for post ERP implementations at the 6-12 month post go live timeline is an efficiency review as compared to the original specifications of the project.  This will help bring into focus what corrective action will be necessary to make sure you achieve your ROI.

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We have commented in many earlier editions about the need to continue refocusing your IT spending and not get movement towards retrenchment. One example of a successful refocused effort is UPS.

During the 1990s and through the dot com growth, the Atlanta based delivery company continued to invest heavily in upgrading their processes and making the organization more digital allowing its customers to see more deeply into the supply chain process. Rajv Kohli an associate professor at the College of William and Mary says, “UPS has gained significant competitive advantage and is now IT Company that happens to deliver packages.”

Kohli has additional research in which he really brings home a significant change in thought leadership concerning the ongoing world of IT investment. He states, “In today’s global economy, technology is pervasive and intertwined with business processes that companies cannot just function without. If you cut IT spending, the business will shut down.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

For businesses looking to secure private equity funding, Texas is a good place to be.  Investors are looking at the Southwest as an area with interesting opportunities across a diverse group of industries.

Take the overwhelming turnout for the 2009 Texas Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Capital Connection earlier this year, for example.  The conference saw its largest attendance in six years.

Connie Mahmood, Vice President/Secretary Treasurer of Allegiance Capital Corporation in Dallas, and a member of the National Board of the ACG, says, “Private equity backing has remained positive, even during these challenging economic times. The criteria and structure of the funding is changing, but the capital is still available for the right investment.”

Events like the Capital Connection bring all the right players together and help get the parties involved early-on in the process.  Attending these types of events will assist you to make the right connections to secure funding for your business.

Visit acg.org for more information about events or chapters in your area.

Allegiance Capital Corporation is a full-service investment banking firm specializing in the middle market (companies with revenue from $20 million to $500 million), with offices in Dallas, New York, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Vancouver, Shanghai, Tel Aviv, and Madrid. Through its worldwide network, Allegiance Capital assists companies in every aspect of selling and financing a business, including debt restructuring, mezzanine financing, buy out management, strategic partnering, consulting and other related services. Through its newly created Special Situations group, the Company handles financial restructuring and distressed mergers and acquisitions.

For more information about Allegiance Capital Corporation, visit allcapcorp.com.

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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act), which was signed into law by the President in February, includes many tax breaks for businesses. There are a couple worthy of note.

1. Bonus Depreciation

The new law extends the 50% first-year bonus depreciation allowed under the 2008 Economic Stimulus Act (2008 ESA) through December 31, 2009. The extension is retroactive to January 1, 2009.  This only applies for purchase of new equipment or certain components of newly constructed buildings.

2. Code Sec. 179 Expensing

The new law extends the increased 2008 Code Sec. 179 expensing (aka, small business expensing) amounts for 2009. The 2008 ESA increased the amount of Code Sec. 179 expensing for 2008 to $250,000 and increased the threshold for qualifying purchases for the deduction up to $800,000.  

Be sure to speak to your accounting service provider about these tax breaks. They will be able to answer any questions you may have and to help you take full advantage of the new laws to minimize your taxes. More information about the Recovery Act may be found at www.pkftexas.com/taxnews. 

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Conducting regular waste reduction audits should be a part of your regular business processes.  As is the case with most improvement initiatives, the first step is to gather your management team and hold a “whiteboard” session. Your management team will have a good feel for where waste is occurring in your business.

The most common areas of waste are:

• Overproduction
• Waiting
• Transport
• Inappropriate Processing
• Inventory
• Motion and process improvement
• Defects

Brainstorm at least three ideas per area about what can be done to eliminate the waste. Rank each idea on a scale of one to five, one being the easiest and five being the hardest to implement. Estimate how much money the company is spending or losing because of each area of waste.

At the end of this process, it will be easy to identify the ideas that will have the highest value with the easiest implementation. This should be the starting point for attacking waste in your business.

Finally, document your work. Complete a one-page-plan for your company with regard to your waste reduction projects. 

By starting with the easiest, most valuable idea first, you will be able to transition into the ongoing waste reduction process for your business.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Do you have the relevant, timely and accurate information you need to make solid business decisions and execute strategy for your company?

By retooling your processes and technology, retraining your users, and retaining your best system users you can get this information faster, better, and cheaper.  We call this the R3 - retool, retrain and retain - framework.  Things to think about include:

• Improve/fully use what you already have. Do you understand the full functionality of your current resources? Using more of a system you already own helps eliminate pesky side systems.

• Assess how technology will improve your company and invest in additional training for your users. A smarter staff enables your company to generate very important financial data to help guide your business through rough waters.

• Re-evaluate your internal processes to trim waste.

• Leverage your intellectual capital. Your partners and service providers bring with them the experience of seeing what other organizations have done to do more with less.

• Adjust spending. Evaluate your spending habits, consider less expensive solutions. Many business owners fail to remember that mid-market accounting systems, such as Microsoft Dynamics NAV, will more than satisfy current needs and future growth.

Using the R3 framework gives you the tools to take your business to the next level in any economic condition.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Times of economic turbulence may bring renewal.  In the technology sector, for instance, many small entrepreneurial firms disappeared, either through bankruptcy or acquisition, after the fortunes floundered in the irrational exuberance of the dot-com boom.  (No bail out for them!) 

But many of their ideas survived and transformed the market.  The Internet itself became a new ecosystem, with emergent technology models such as social networking, rough-hewn consumer feedback, Web-based classified advertising, and blogging replacing dot-com era concepts. 

Similar transformations have many times before:  During the Oil embargo of the 1970s, for example, and at the end of the Cold War, when many Central European countries and companies joined what are now called Emerging Markets.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Reading Microsoft’s position paper, the effect of economic turbulence is all about external factors disrupting the underlying assumptions of an organization. 

In an interconnected global economy, for instance, networks transmit risk from the center to the edge, so that even “innocent bystanders” are implicated in the web of uncertainty.  System crises in one sector have the potential to disrupt access to capital, inhibit consumer spending, or constrain business activities in other sectors.

Look for opportunities amid the turbulence.  Even during turbulent economic times, opportunities exist.  They are, however, unevenly distributed.  Economic instability does not imply a retreat from technology, but it may require refocusing or relaxing boundaries. 

Business Intelligence (BI) and integrated communications technologies can help organizations better understand the world that exists by rapidly revealing changes in customer or market behavior.  Communications can also extend the reach of the organization to keep customers close during times of uncertainty. 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

How much international business is your company doing?  Are you using all of the international resources Houston has to offer?

Finding the tools you need to boost your international business opportunities is as simple as knowing where to look.

The Greater Houston Partnership, the District Export Council, the Houston International Protocol Alliance and the various international chambers of commerce all have programs and work to assist business owners looking to do business internationally.  Many of the 90 consulates also have local trade offices focused on facilitating business between the U.S. and their home country. For example, the UK Trade & Investment office and the Brazil Export & Investment Promotion Agency both have a large presence in Houston’s international business community.

Attending events such as the GHP’s World Trade Soiree, or seminars and presentations from the World Affairs Council of Houston is a good way to network with international business leaders.

With our resources, it is no surprise that, to quote Dr. Steven Kleinberg, “Houston is where the future of the world is happening today.”
 
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

People are critical to operational excellence.  Turbulent economics often evoke knee-jerk cost cutting at the expense of future flexibility.  Eliminating jobs is easier than reinventing processes, and the cost savings are more quickly realized.  But when companies look to their core missions, it is their unique combination of people, process, technology, and work environment that makes up the business, with process and work environment highly reliant on corporate learning and corporate culture for success.  And that means people need to remain positive and feel like they are relevant to the execution of strategy.

Empower people with better processes.  Keeping people at the center does not mean that all painful human resource decisions can be eliminated; rather, it means thinking through the implications. 

“People” decisions are often clouded by ineffective systems that have grown rampantly and organically in times of affluence and that force talented individuals to act as coordinators. 

In stark economic times, individual talents need to be unleashed to help navigate change and prepare for the next economic upturn.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Reading Microsoft’s position on balance its noted that turmoil in markets shakes confidence, diminishes the value of the financial assets, and creates uncertainty for business, consumers, and governments. 

History, however, informs us that shifts in the economic landscape also off unique opportunities for those who are able to look past the near-term difficulties and seek out opportunities. 

Organizations can choose to retrench, or they can choose to prepare for success and leadership roles.  If they take the latter approach, returns from hard-fought cost-reduction battles can be turned into infrastructure improvements and fundamental changes in market presence or positioning to fill new niches or those surrendered by competitors.

Seeing opportunity in times of turmoil reframes challenges in a way that projects the lessons of history onto the future.  Suggesting that organizations seize new opportunities during economic strife does not minimize the significant difficulties that they will encounter.  Although picturing the future is difficult, turbulent times call for balance against new factors. 

Organizations that can balance near-term concerns with forward-looking expectations will be better poised to succeed as markets calm; those that retreat risk becoming an anachronism while the world reinvents itself.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

The next generation of employees, the Millennials, have a lot to offer our businesses if we take the time to listen.

They are finding seats at the corporate table faster than previous generations and they’re doing it in their own, unique way.  With an entrepreneurial education in their back pockets upon graduation from universities like Rice and Texas A&M, who have dedicated entrepreneurship centers, the Millennials are equipped with that mindset from the get-go.  They are competing in competitions like the Rice Business Plan Competition and they are being recognized by programs like the Aggie 100.

These young professionals are our future, and it behooves us as experienced business owners to take the time to guide and mentor them.  We should also take the time to be mentored BY them.  They have a unique perspective and can bring a fresh voice to your business. Their pulse points can be vital to your efforts when using new technologies to grow your company.

What are you doing to engage your young professionals?  By making the strategic decision to include them in your business conversation, you are building your future.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Now is the time to get your company back to basics.  What is your company’s sustainable competitive advantage? What are your core market segments?  How can you make sure you are capitalizing on marketplace opportunities?

By conducting a thorough analysis of your operations, you can identify any changes needed to continue a growth track for your company.

The analysis process can include but is not limited to the following:

1. Identify your company’s key performance indicators
2. Create a one page plan to address any necessary improvements based on your KPIs
3. Meet regularly with your accountant and other service providers to keep you on top of any potential issues that may arise with new federal and state regulations

This analysis will help you focus on what is important in your business and can help you keep your company nimble in a time when you don’t know what next week will bring.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

In nearly every field, technology provides a way to examine and analyze the most granular elements, tasks, and decisions. The result is a wealth of new information and new complexities to deal with in gaining Business Insight.

The following are sources from which you can gain insight into your business, customers, and the world.

• Subscription Data.  From watching global events, to text mining on RSS feeds can provide a wide range of insight obtained through social media sources.
• Business Processes. Automated business processes are a great source insight.  Trends hidden in the databases can unlock hidden where and how processes go wrong.
• Enterprise Systems.  Provide data rich environments; the trick is getting the right KPIs or analytics to discover new products or services.
• Instruments and Devices. Some of our daily tools and instruments are becoming more data and network enabled.  For example, my new HP wireless printer at home has lots of information and makes suggestions for presentations of my data.
• Public Data.  The UN, the World Bank, Chambers and Economic Development Districts give insights into demographics and markets. Local, state and Federal governments have rich repositories of data as well.
   

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

The quality and timeliness of business decision making depends on the insights drawn from the oceans of information available.  Today’s technology challenge is no longer opening access to information; rather, it is opening access to insight.

When you and your organization can anticipate change, rather than simply reacting to it, you have mastered Insight from Complexity.

Microsoft recently indicated that gaining insight from increasing amounts of data can be categorized into the following three broad steps:

• Finding the sources of insight.  Identifying the components of the ever rich data environment that will unlock patterns of behavior that reveal new opportunities.
• Moving from insight to action.  Visualizing data to spot trends, listening to customers for insight and feedback.  Collaboration with colleagues and partners to make sure value is achieved.
• Staying productive in an information rich environment.  Managing content, context and contracts; dealing with interruptions; and keeping data up to date.

We will have additional comments on Business Insight in the next few weeks.
 

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If you are a woman business owner, Houston is a great place to be.  Texas ranks 3rd in the nation for the number of women owned businesses.

The face of corporate America is changing and many of our Houston award programs reflect that shift.  We’ve had several women owned businesses that are FastTech 50 winners, most recently, Janice Anderson’s company, Access Sciences Corporation. 

There are many resources and programs in Houston specifically tailored to women business owners.

The Greater Houston Partnership offers the Executive Women’s Partnership Committee and the Emerging Women Leaders program.  Both provide executive women an opportunity to address business issues and interests, learn from each other and exchange ideas.  The Partnership website, www.houston.org, has more information. 

Another resource in Houston is the Women’s Business Enterprise Alliance.  The WBEA is committed to increasing business opportunities for woman owned businesses and corporate members through education, programs, and professional networking. You can find the group online at www.wbea-texas.org

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

Effective market research is becoming increasingly important as companies look to launch products and services during an economic lull. With the costs of developing and launching a product on the rise, you want to make sure you are producing something that your target market needs or wants to buy.

Market research allows you to determine the need for your service, a product’s likelihood to sell, target demographics and geographic locations for points of purchase.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Who, if anyone, has a need for the product or service?
• How large is the customer base?
• What is the price point that will meet the needs of my business and the customer?

There are several ways to uncover the information you need.  These include:

• Online research
• Focus groups
• Surveys

One great resource in Houston is Saurage Research.  Visit their website at SaurageResearch.com. 

If you are resourceful, your market research shouldn’t be a budget buster.  The failure to adequately research your target market can be costly.  Does anyone remember “New Coke”?

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

The turbulent times we face today shakes confidence, diminishes the value of financial assets, and creates uncertainty for businesses, consumers, and governments.  History however, informs us that shifts in the economic landscape also offer unique opportunities for those able to look past the near-term difficulties and seek out opportunities.   As Warren Buffet once said, “Make money by selling when people are buying, and buying when people are selling.”

Organizations can choose to retrench, or they can choose to prepare for success and leadership roles.  If they take the latter approach, returns from those hard fought battles will turn into better business processes and provide the positioning to fill new niches or those surrendered by competitors. Based upon their customer experiences Microsoft has developed a framework from which you can build for the future. This includes:

• Getting more out of your IT investments, driving efficiencies and managing costs.
• Mapping IT investments with strategic priorities.
• Replace aging systems that cannot grow when the economy recovers.
• Ensuring a strong environment of collaboration.
• Invest in business analytics to understand what the numbers are telling you.
   

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

The Computing Technology Industry Association reports that the demand for mobility in the workplace combined with the downturn in the economy has led to many companies developing, or enhancing their telecommuting policies.

Telecommuting offers employers the chance to save money as well as recruit from a geographically diverse—and potentially cheaper—talent pool. With fewer people in an office environment, companies can occupy a smaller space, saving money on expenses like rent, utilities, and furniture.

When developing a telecommuting policy, the first thing you need to do is clearly define job duties that can be accomplished remotely and emphasize the results you as a manager/owner need to see. It's important to clearly communicate a well-organized concept of tasks and target deadlines and their interdependencies.

Provide your telecommuters with the tools they need, such as lap-tops, software, printers, internet connectivity, and a portal to connect to your internal network.

The key to telecommuting is trusting your people. How can you hold people responsible and accountable to you and your organization if you can't trust them?

With telecommuting, a reasonable amount of face-to-face time should still be required. Quarterly meetings tend to be the norm. 

If you get telecommuting right, you'll have a crew of independent team members who get their jobs done efficiently and produce results to improve your bottom line.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

Many successful businesses like Disney, Proctor & Gamble and Texas based law firm, Phillips & Reiter, were all started during a lull in the economy.  Recently traditional methods of financing have become more difficult to obtain, however, there are still options to consider, most notably angel investors. 

Angel investors are high net-worth individuals who invest in entrepreneurial companies, usually at an early stage.

Rather than pulling back in the downturn, angel investors are adapting to it. By following more disciplined-than-usual investment strategies and spreading deals amongst multiple angels, they are often able to get more value for their money.

The cost of starting many types of companies is getting lower. Ventures firms have reduced their seed and early-stage investment, and the tough economic climate is pushing valuations down.

For those looking for angel investors in Houston and Texas, The Houston Angel Network is a great resource.  It is a non-profit organization that provides its members a forum in which to efficiently evaluate promising early-stage investment opportunities. Its membership consists of active and SEC-accredited angel investors who share the goal of making informed, collaborative investments in promising early stage Texas-based companies. 

Visit their website HoustonAngelNetwork.org for more information.

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This past Tuesday, Russ Capper, whom you’ll know from listing to the BusinessMakers Radio Show, and I switched things up a bit, and I got the chance to interview him for a change.

Russ was the featured speaker at the January TECH (Technology Executive Club of Houston) luncheon and we recorded my interview with him, which will air during tomorrow’s BusinessMakers Radio Show (8:00am on 950AM).

We talked about some of his favorite guests, including Rod Canion, founder of Compaq and Gordon Bethune, former CEO of Continental Airlines.

Also, we discussed how and why he started the BusinessMakers Radio Show.  Russ observed that that there was no group that more positively affected our lives than innovators and entrepreneurs and yet their stories rarely made it to the mainstream media.  He sought to change that, and the BusinessMakers Radio Show was born.

The guests of the luncheon were eager to pick Russ’ brain and provide feedback, which you’ll be able to hear during the show.

Don’t hesitate to let us know your thoughts on the interview.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

I was reading Matthew David’s list of tech predictions for 2009 and was very impressed with some of his observations for 2009.  I have selected a few of the list for discussion:

2009 is the year of Cloud Computing. The biggest event to happen this year is in effect a series of events. The common thread will be Cloud Computing based services. Whether architected on Microsoft's, Amazon's or Google's cloud services, expect a lot of big name desktop solutions to come to the Web. The basics include email, calendar, but complex solutions such as word processing, spreadsheets and presentation tools will be part of your daily toolset by the end of the year. This time next year you will start to wonder why did you ever install software on your computer.

New OS's from everyone. Both Apple and Microsoft will release new Operating Systems. Apple will look to beat Microsoft to the punch with OS X Snow Leopard coming months before Windows 7. Did you hate those Microsoft "Mojave Experiment" commercials? Then expect no peace when the Microsoft marketing machine gets cranked up to full throttle with the launch of Microsoft Windows 7 and Office 2009 in time for the holiday season.

Netbooks arrive. Recession driven cheaper computers are sprouting up like mushrooms after a storm. The new devices are slim in features (many do not even have a DVD drive) and they have little or no hard drive but they do come with Windows XP or Linux, they do have WiFi and they come in under $450. These new devices are coming to be known as Netbooks. It is a catchy name. Target is even running a Linux Netbook for $299. If all you do is check email and surf the Web, then this may be the device for you.

You can see Matthew’s entire list at  itbusinessnet.com

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

What began as seemingly isolated showers in business markets has evolved to an economic storm that some experts predict will bring on a lengthy recession. In response, businesses worldwide are tightening budgets, cutting costs, and changing direction to weather the storm.

But where should you cut, and where should you invest to safely pilot your company through these turbulent economic waters?

The crisis is creating new challenges for corporate officers and other business decision makers. The kneejerk reaction to cut spending across the board, however, can be counter-productive when it comes to reducing risks during economic slumps. Instead, strategic investments in specific areas can actually cut costs as they improve operational efficiencies, personal performance, and customer service.

In fact, according to a recent McGraw-Hill study, companies that continue strategic spending not only outperformed non-spenders during a recession, but also experienced revenue growth of 275% during the first full year of recovery.
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

With the recent economic upheaval, one of the most significant announcements from the Securities and Exchange Commission seems to have been put on the back burner, or at least may no longer be in the forefront of most CEO’s and CFO’s minds.

The SEC recently announced its proposed roadmap for the eventual conversion of U.S publicly traded companies from Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

There are several factors that suggest IFRS will be made mandatory in the near future, including the SEC’s expressions of continued support for a unified set of accounting standards.

The initial plan calls for allowing the largest of the multinational companies to adopt and report financial results in IFRS starting in 2010.  Mandatory reporting for large, mid-sized and small companies would begin in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively. Right now this will impact public companies, but private companies should be aware of how it could potentially filter down to their companies.

PKF Texas has written a white paper detailing the impact of the impending conversion which can be found on our website at pkftexas.com/IFRS.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

Among the many attributes of successful entrepreneurs, business executives and advisors is the ability to foresee change, and even more importantly, the ability to adapt and execute a plan of action consistent with that change.

When President-Elect Barack Obama began his campaign of “change” in spring 2007, one of his consistent campaign messages was his desire to see fundamental changes in U.S. policy.

Here are some particular proposals that bear watching.

• Healthcare
• Energy and Environmental Policy
• U.S. Job Growth and Protection
• Overall Tax Policy

This new environment adds even further complexities to our ability as business owners and advisors to make planning decisions. Changes to the tax code will be a combination of stimulus and investment incentives, revenue raisers, deterrents, and attempts at social reformation.

As significant changes occur, using your team of business advisors to stay abreast of the most current information available to monitor Congressional proposals will rise to an unprecedented level of importance.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

We read about it every day, we hear about it on the news.  We are in the middle of a worldwide economic downtown.  For many folks in the business world, this is their first time to weather the storm and they are scared about what the future may hold.  So what conventional wisdom can we offer to those who don’t know what to do?

First, it’s important to understand the nature of your business and what its daily cash requirements are.  Make sure you have developed an effective cash flow budget that can be used for forecasting your future needs.  If you don’t know what you daily cash requirements are, you won’t be able to effective weather the storm.

Second, develop operational and financial budget scenarios that are realistic and provide a wide range of spectrums for you to react to.  This includes worst case, moderate case, or best case in projecting your business’ operations.

And thirdly, while you may have excellent or outstanding relationships with your banker, it’s always a good idea to meet other bankers, because you don’t want to go looking for a banker in a crisis.  You want to have already established a relationship with someone who knows your company in advance.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

A recent study from Deloitte Financial Advisory Services has found that bankrupt companies are three times as likely to have been cited for fraud.  The study went on to say that companies who are cited for fraud are twice as likely to end up in bankruptcy court. 

The study does not make it clear whether employees at bankrupt companies are more likely to commit fraud, or whether the microscope of bankruptcy makes it easier for regulators to detect it.

In either case, it is definitely something business owners should be aware of and discuss with their management team.

It’s important that you take the necessary steps to identify the potential for fraud in your company. PKF Texas has a diagnostic survey located on our website at pkftexas.com/FraudSurvey which can serve as a starting point to begin a dialogue with your management team.

With the economy the way it is right now, you can’t afford to be losing money to controllable factors like fraud. 

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Well every day you see more and more folks using them and you ask yourself should I breakdown and get that Blackberry, iPhone, of PDA/Phone that keeps you 100% wired 24x7?

While the question is a technology play, the answer and the reasons for using the technology are not.  They have to deal with the simple basic requirements of your business and how you want to balance them with your personal life.  I happen to use a PDA/Phone because my team and our client requirements require me to be available to either manage an issue directly, or be available to a team member or a client with a question. 

By using the device, it allows me to be projected across a broader base and be more fully involved in many processes.  But there is a dark side to the technology as well.  And many of you have crossed over to the dark side.   There are some of you who have allowed the “crackberry” device to command your attention 24X7 and you are constantly looking at them throughout the day vs. managing yourself.   Make sure you don’t irritate the person you are with by constantly reading your e-mail, etc.  Develop a process of when to check and not check the device so you are focused on the job at hand.

At some point many of us have left a meeting mentally to check our e-mail, text message or some other matter that was of more interest to us.  The reality is, we need to better manage our use of the technology and not become a slave to it.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

Strategic planning is key to the growth of a company.  Market forces often impact the planning and you must move quickly to respond to opportunities and threats.

Using the one page plan model can allow a company the nimbleness it needs to respond to these opportunities and threats.

Central to the creation of the one page plan is the concept of NOW, WHERE, HOW.  Where is the company NOW? WHERE does the company want to be in the future and HOW are we going to get there?

When developing the plan with your management team, document the company status NOW in regard to the areas where improvement is needed, the current status of the company as a whole and then where your company should in the next 6 to 12 months.

The HOW section of the plan documents what strategies and tasks are necessary to move the company from where you are NOW to WHERE you want the company to be in the next 6 to 12 months.

The key is to be as specific as possible about your strategy on HOW to move the issues from where it is NOW to WHERE we want to be in a specific period of time.

The one page plan is a living document, it can be easily updated, edited and communicated on an as need basis.  Key performance indicators can be developed to track the company’s performance with the implementation of the objectives identified in the one page plan.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

Do you know your corporate Key Performance Indicators?    Are people asking for a Benchmark Report on your business?  As your company grows, are you treading water?  Are you ahead or behind of your competitors?  Success leaves clues, so do you know where to look?  We call these clues your corporate DNA.

If you know your corporate DNA, you can adapt to changing business demands more readily.  There are several areas that make up corporate DNA.  These include but are not limited to: revenue growth, operating income margin, percentage cost of good sold, days sales outstanding, days in inventory, and days purchases outstanding.

Corporate DNA must be combined with performance metrics to drive success.
No matter what metric you use, make sure it is easily understood by many managers throughout your company.  Use the metrics to reward performance of your employees.  Also, make sure your corporate DNA relates to shareholder value.

Make sure you know the comparison between your corporate DNA and your industry.  If you do, you can implement improvement plans to put money in your pocket.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

Do you do business internationally, or are you thinking of global expansion? Your local District Export Council, or DEC for short, is a great resource to assist companies looking to expand internationally.

The DEC contributes leadership and international trade expertise to complement the U.S. Commercial Service’s export promotion efforts through counseling businesses on the exporting process and conducting trade education and community outreach. 

Houston’s DEC may be found online at www.ExportTexas.com/Houston. There you will find advice on a wide range of topics including marketing, technology licensing, and international legal considerations.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has created The Basic Guide to Exporting, to addresses the various issues related to doing business internationally. The guide can also be found on the Houston DEC website. 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

The talk of tough economic times has a lot of entrepreneurs I know taking a hard look at their companies to make sure they can weather the storm. I’ve read several good articles lately that give advice to business owners about ways they can prepare for and respond to economic instability.

The consensus is that you need to complete a thorough analysis of all areas of your business.

Key things to keep in mind include:
• Cash flow
• Marketing budget
• Sales strategy
• Pricing strategy
• Customer feedback and
• Keep an eye on the competition

Look at ways to become more efficient, solicit feedback from your customers, what are you doing well? Where can you improve? Which divisions are most susceptible to a downturn in the economy? Use a one page plan or a force field analysis to help guide the conversation with your management team.

The AICPA has a number of resources for business owners on their website, aicpa.org. If you take the time now to analyze your business, you will be able to anticipate and respond to issues as they arise as the economy fluctuates.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

In these uncertain economic times, have you done everything reasonably expected to prevent or detect fraud?  A fraud risk assessment may be the next logical step to lower the potential for fraud against your organization.

The risk assessment reviews the operations and controls including policies and procedures of an organization to determine where gaps exist that could allow a person or persons to carry out a fraud within an organization.

We are all operating in a global, fast paced marketplace with pressure to continually improve our operations.  This creates the need for more timely assurance that your risks are being mitigated effectively.

Because the threats to your company change over time, it is imperative to reassess your policies and controls, paying close attention to any discrepancies.  The sooner you know of a problem, the sooner you can find a solution. 

If you have concerns about your threat level, PKF Texas offers an online tool to help assess a company’s potential for fraud.  The tool may be found at pkftexas.com/fraudsurvey.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

If you are like most entrepreneurs, you started your company because you saw an opportunity in the market, developed a plan to capitalize on that market, and put a team together to implement your plan.

As your business grew; perhaps distance started to grow between you and the people that make things happen in your business.  Communication started to breakdown and before long, your business became the “job” you left to start your company.

How do you get your business back on track?   Keep it simple.  What separates you from your competition and makes your clients keep coming back?  What is your Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA)?

Gather your management team and list the things that make your company great. Is it service? Technical know how? Unique product? Whatever it is, expand on it and work to make it even better.  Use that SCA to drive your marketing efforts.

Take a hard look at your operations and analyze what could, or should be done to improve.

Ask yourselves:

• What are the latest innovations in your industry? 
• What procedural changes should be in place to make your product or service flow better from order to delivery? 
• Do you have access to timely and accurate information from your financial system allowing you to make good decisions?

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

An effective way to ensure your team meets continuing education requirements is to develop a formalized company internal university training program.  Many businesses use the university concept as an umbrella for all of their training and learning activities.

The curriculum should include both soft and technical topics.  Examples of non-technical topics include: stress management, networking and personal finance.  It is also an excellent tool to spotlight different niche areas within your firm and industry.

Using experts within your firm to make presentations is an easy way to keep costs down. Though many outside speakers will reduce their costs, or speak for free to get the chance to network with your firm.    

Opening classes when appropriate, to strategic referral partners, clients, and prospects is great for adding value to your relationships in the marketplace.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

With almost everything in life, complexity is usually not a good thing and simplicity is better. In software, complexity sometimes means both higher costs and less ability to keep the system up to meeting the ever-changing needs of the business. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) can be a measure of complexity in your IT area.

No business stays the same. You face challenges including, customers demanding new ways of doing business. Challenges include governments setting new regulations. Challenges include companies changing to gain competitive advantage. As is often said, the only constant in business is change. When systems are complex, it means that the company is less able to respond to these challenges. “Systems are often an obstacle to change”, says Olin Thompson of Lawson Software.

A direct benefit of a lower TCO is the pure economic benefit of spending less. Actually, that dollar could be used more effectively elsewhere in the business, for a purpose that offers a higher rate of return.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

Business managers worldwide believe that their company's number one business issue is customer relationships. According to a recent Forrester Consulting study, there's a huge gap between how business managers rate customer relationships, and how much they're willing to spend to support them. Their study asked the questions:

1. If customer relationships are so important, why don't more companies make them their top IT spending priority?
2. Why don't more managers see the connection between investing in human capital and strengthening customer relationships?
3. Why is innovation perceived largely as a cost-reduction tactic, rather than a key strategic priority?

The conclusions raised by the study were:

1. Lack of discipline. Many organizations don't have corporation-wide programs, leadership, metrics in place, or even a clear customer experience strategy. Instead, they have siloed customer experiences, industry tunnel vision, and inward-focused product development.
2. Path of least resistance. Most project teams find it easier to build a business case for technology and human capital investments that result in operational efficiency than to justify improvements in customer relationships. It is easier to calculate the ROI of shortened cycle times or reallocated headcount, for example, than it is to quantify an increase in customer satisfaction or customer retention.
3. Shades of CRM. Many business and IT executives do not feel that the business benefits achieved with CRM investments meet their expectations, or that they are able to quickly realize value from the applications.

So how do we turn this thing around?
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

With world wide connectivity, global regulation, and an increasing request for even the smallest organization to be 24/7, how does an organization rise to these challenges in our present world?

The one constant for success against these external forces are people. The people in your organization are you key to success.  Only people have the flexibility and steadfastness to identify and then respond to new information to meet challenges or take advantage of new opportunities.

What the values of an Empowered Workforce?

1. People lead and create innovation;
2. People seek and promote operational excellence;
3. People strengthen vendor partnerships; and
4. People build customer relationships

By using products like Microsoft’s Dynamics NAV you can amplify the abilities of your personnel to meet these challenges.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

Bob Anderson with Microsoft had an interesting way of describing the way businesses tackle various improvement portfolios within their organizations.  Traditional views of business process re-engineering (BPR) establish a baseline based upon very stringent rules and data sources.  If your company follows this way of thinking you play a lot of orchestra music.  A structured process, with distinct rules. 

However business is not always structured and that’s where the cool cats of jazz come into play.  Jazz musicians base their success on improvisation, adapting to changes in condition.  They work within the framework of music, but outside the established processes.

Today’s world is about improvisation and adapting to change rapidly and quickly, do you have the team or tools to be a cool cat business jazz player?

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

Social Media is here to stay and if your company is not involved in it, you will be soon far behind your competitors.  Recently the movie “The Dark Night” opened its weekend at $155 million.  The head of distribution for Warner Bros. say that the movie’s gross was partly because of the incredible buzz and word of mouth that preceded it.  Much of that buzz came from on-line chat rooms; blogs, discussion forums and web pages on peer to peer networks..

The rise of social media is increasing at unprecedented magnitude beyond movies to every consumer product or service.  Savvy businesses are employing technology based solutions for leveraging word of mouth as a way of raising brand awareness, drive marketing improvement, and ultimately increasing shareholder value.

What’s your most recent example of social media that you saw, used or participated with recently?

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

When was the last time you performed an audit of the various databases that your organization uses on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis?   By audit, I mean when did you last really look at the values in the database to see if they make sense, given the possible answers? 

Examples of the audit include:
• How many duplicate customer names or locations do you have?
• How many customers with negative balances do you have?
• How many customers have no street name or zip code?
• How many customers show that they owe you $50 or less for over 12 months?
• Do you have invalid values like negatives for quantities and accounts numbers?

Recent studies have shown that some estimates put the cost of bad data at over $40 billion in the consumer product industry.  With millions of dollars being spent on reporting tools, and reporting scorecards from all types of information systems, maybe more focus on the source of data and processes used to create and store the initial data entry need s to be looked at.  Remember garbage in, garbage out.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

Have you considered seeking out an executive coach to help you continue to develop your leadership style?

A good executive coach will not only be a cheerleader, but most importantly, can help you work on a development plan to achieve specific goals.

The focus should be on how you can make specific behavioral changes that are sustainable, measurable, and observable by yourself, and others.

The coach can facilitate opening the channels of communication between you and your team members.

Coaching develops leaders in real time and does not take away from daily responsibilities.

We all want to work at becoming better leaders and calling an executive coach is one way to sharpen and improve your leadership skills.  Ask fellow executives, or contact the Professional Business Coaches Alliance at www.pbca.biz for recommendations.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

We’ve talked before about using and advisory board as a sounding board and idea source for your business. Another tool in the same vein is a C-Level Networking group.

By joining this type of group you can immediately tap into the knowledge and resources of several high level executives. Most groups give industry exclusivity. You will be the only company in your industry in your group. 

Building your centers of influence through these executives allows you to refer business back and forth as well as bounce ideas off of each other.

You have a third party sales group in the marketplace when you aren’t there. They are advocates and ambassadors for you and your business.

There are many companies across the country that facilitate C-Level networking groups. One such company in Houston is CEO Network Partners. They can be found on the web at ceonp.com. 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Does your business strategy deliver on its promised financial value? A recent HBR study suggests that over 1/3 of respondents indicated that they failed to hit the mark.   Do you vacillate between a better strategy, when you need better execution? Or, do you press for better execution when you need a better strategy?

How do you avoid these pitfalls? By viewing strategy and execution as being joined together at the hip, you can control the process and have a better chance for success. The study suggested seven rules for successful strategy execution:

1. Keep it simple
2. Challenge Assumptions
3. Speak the same language
4. Discuss resource deployments
5. Identify priorities
6. Continuously monitor performance
7. Develop execution ability

Within my own team at PKF, we have utilized these same seven rules using guidelines from Patrick Lencioni’s material and we have very pleased with the results.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

The real challenge of successful CRM processes is not the software, but rather the people who are going to be a part of the process. Too many managers assume the software will solve all their problems and help them become the next great success story in Fortune or the Houston Business Journal. 

Sadly, the most important aspect of your company, the knowledge and experience of your key employees and their managers is sometimes left to chance during the implementation of a CRM project. Leaving such a critical component to chance, means you will have no chance at success.    The hard lessons learned through experience, your industry cycles, your customers buying needs can’t always be factored into the CRM application you ultimately select. The CRM software is but one tool experienced managers can draw upon to be successful.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

When you’ve got a strong, established team, how do you continue to grow and take the team to the next level?

Take a look at what you’re currently outsourcing, writing for example.  Imagine the difference that skill set would make if you could bring it in house with the right person.

If a well balanced team fits together like the stripes on a beach ball, which color are you missing?

Decide what skills would make the most difference to your team and company, and then set out to hire the “superstar color” that has those skills and more.

To ensure a good fit with your successful group dynamic, consider having your team and top candidates take a personality assessment.  It is an unbiased way to single out the candidate who will fit best with your group.

Bringing in a superstar who complements the existing skills of your team can make your capabilities grow exponentially.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

The people who work for your organization and the partners they work with are the driving force behind your business's success. In today's marketplace, success depends on quick and intelligent responses to problems. To help ensure business success, you need to equip your people with the right tools to respond quickly to change, access the information they need to make critical decisions, and focus on strengthening and expanding profitable business relationships.

The days are long past when you could store information about each business partner on an index card.

As innovation becomes more of a preoccupation, its focus is changing. Gone are the days when an innovation was acquired from experts outside the company and then installed like a new piece of equipment.

While it's possible that a shotgun approach to innovation spending will lead to a positive outcome, it's highly probable that it also will result in wasted resources. Better to precisely target the effort.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Businesses don’t garner insights or make decisions. Businesses don’t close deals, invent new products, or find new efficiencies. People do. Strategies, organization, motivation, and leadership all set the stage for business success. But to see results, you also have to give your people the right tools, information, and opportunities—because success ultimately comes down to your people. We call businesses that foster a winning environment a “people-ready business.”

One of the key ways that people drive business change is through impacting their organization’s business processes. The ability to rapidly and continuously design, develop, and adapt your business processes in an agile fashion is a huge business advantage. 

Nevertheless, all organizations, irrespective of industry, share a need to improve processes in a number of key areas, including:

• Customer satisfaction and retention
• Faster time to delivery
• Improving employee productivity
• Trading partner interactions
• Administrative efficiencies and costs
• Flexibility, adaptability and streamlining of the disparate technologies that support business activities

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This is the last in our series on Information Management from Microsoft and PKF Texas. The challenge most companies face is separating business software and processes from the people who make the business successful. Every business must expand its customer base, create new practices and products, devise efficiencies, and identify and adapt to change. Business situations that require effective business information management are numerous. Imagine if your company were able to:

• Reduce product development cycles and remove collaboration and process blocks among teams.
• Provide informed responses to rushed Request for Proposals from customers and prospects.
• Make more effective sales and marketing decisions, and respond faster than your competition to marketplace changes.
• Provide customer representatives with information they need to respond quickly to customers' questions at call centers and in stores.
• Use customer data from the company's CRM and other systems more effectively, to provide the right information to customers at the right time.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This is the fifth in our series on Information Management from Microsoft and PKF Texas. When people can easily and quickly communicate insights and knowledge with peers, customers, and partners, they drive business success. Give your people the tools they need for:

• Quick publication. With Microsoft SharePoint Server you can easily create and publish Web content directly from familiar applications or e-mail. Personalized, dedicated SharePoint sites make data storage and sharing easy.
• Dynamic and frequent collaboration. Reduce travel costs through the use of online meetings and team workspaces that help groups to better collaborate on or off the corporate network.  
• Effective communication. With the integrated platform, your people can easily find and communicate with peers, partners, and customers in multiple ways (such as e-mail, phone, and instant messages). With team profiling tools, personnel can take advantage of people networks, both inside and outside your organization, to connect and share knowledge.
• Partner and supplier connections. Windows SharePoint Services helps you achieve tighter integration and high-value connections with your partners and suppliers through the easy creation of more secure extranet sites. This integrated approach can streamline shared business connections and reduce the time spent on administrative matters.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This is the fourth in our series on Information Management from Microsoft and PKF Texas. Information, once found, must be organized and managed to be used effectively. When data, facts, and figures are assembled in a coherent manner, they become knowledge and insight that your team or organization can use to drive the business forward. Effective data management requires:

• Sorting and selecting. A Desktop Search that offers visual page previews with detailed summary information to help reduce the time people spend interpreting search results.
• Customizable, up-to-date searches. Retrieve your information on demand with saved searches that organize and quickly display up-to-date information
• Integration with applications. Excel, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft Office applications smoothly incorporate data regardless of its format, to help your people transform information into knowledge.

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This is the third in our series on Information Management from Microsoft and PKF Texas.  Effective business information management requires providing the tools and access to an organization's people, helping them to make better decisions, be more productive, and achieve greater success. These tools and processes help people to find, use, and share information quickly, easily, and more securely.

The beginning of the information process typically begins with access—quickly and smoothly connecting people with the right information—which can dramatically impact an organization's productivity. To provide adequate access, make sure that your people have:

• A single interface that is integrated across the desktop, corporate network, and Internet, reducing the time spent looking for information.
• A smart search that quickly finds relevant results with business-specific search capabilities—across line of business applications, databases, and more.
• An intuitive search. Effectiveness is maximized when people use a familiar user interface, integrated into all familiar Microsoft Office applications.

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This is a second in our series on Information Management from Microsoft and PKF Texas. Organizations generate more and more information that is increasingly valuable, but also increasingly hard to locate and use in a meaningful way. Knowledge workers spend 15 percent to 30 percent of their work days looking for information, and at least 50 percent of online searches are not successful. The number and complexity of information sources are growing constantly, which results in people storing more data in more places. This creates inconsistencies and confusion.

As a result, the return on information for enterprises is lower than it should be. The growing complexity of business information makes it increasingly difficult to structure, organize, and process the information to improve business insight. Compounding this issue, people have an increasing amount of data on their computers, much of it stored and organized poorly. Often, when this data is placed on corporate networks, there is no unified process for filing and retrieving it.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Customer connections are the moments that define your business. Your people strive for those moments and your customers tell others about them. Through their talent, knowledge, and passion, your people transform interactions into the impression that your company is committed to delivering greater value than your competitors. Building connections creates lasting value for your organization through increased customer loyalty.

In the short term, customer loyalty benefits your business through revenue growth as a result of repeat and referral business. In the long term, closer relationships with customers give your organization a window of insight into your customers’ needs and preferences. With the cost to acquire new customers typically much greater than the cost of retaining existing ones, and profitability found to increase as much as 25 percent for every 5 percent increase in customer retention, there’s never been greater pressure or opportunity to invest in and foster the right customer connections.

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More news from PKF Texas! PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook has been awarded a 2007 Practice Innovation award in the impetus technology from Practical Accountant. We are honored to have been recognized for the 7^th time in 7 years.

All of my readers helped us win this award because it’s you who read the scripts every Friday. Our traffic spikes when the scripts post, so thanks for reading!

I hope you’ve received useful information from these tips. If there are topics you would like to see, let me know. I’m always on the look out for great material.

The Practice Innovation award winners appeared in the September issue of Practical Accountant. 

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Similar to corporations, owners of limited liability companies have limited personal liability for the debts and actions of the LLC but can be taxed as either a corporation, partnership, or, if owned by one person, as a so-called disregarded entity. Owners of LLC's are called "members". 

As with corporations, each member's liability is limited to their financial investment. To form an LLC, one must register under a state LLC statute, file articles of organization, and comply with state requirements that are a condition of its limited liability status. There are many things that must be considered when contemplating LLC status. Some questions to consider include the number of owners, the desirability of limited liability, whether losses are expected in the initial years, other sources of income to the owners, simplicity of formation, and flexibility of structure. Usually, owners form their businesses as LLC's because they want the tax-transparency of an S corporation and the flexibility of a partnership with the limited liability of a corporation.

Due to complexities in every situation, please be sure to contact your tax advisor when making entity selection.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Last week we talked about the pros and cons of S Corporations. This week we will continue with some additional information. S corporations have the same liability protections as regular (C) corporations. The biggest advantage of an S corporation is that S corporations are tax-transparent. With few exceptions an S corporation is not taxable on the income it earns.                       

Companies that expect to generate losses in the early years should consider using tax transparent business forms, such as S corporation so that owners who are active in the business may be able to apply the company’s losses against income from other sources.

Due to complexities in every situation, please be sure to contact your tax advisor when making entity selection.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

A corporation formed in the US can elect to be taxed as an S corporation. S corporations are organized in a single state, and ownership is in the form of stock. There can only be one class of stock issued and no more than 100 shareholders. Shareholders can include only individuals and certain estates, trusts, and other S corporations. 

To form an S corporation, you must file articles of incorporation with the secretary of the state in the jurisdiction of the organization, adopt bylaws, elect a board of directors, hold organizational meetings, and keep minutes. In addition, an S corporation election must be made with the Internal Revenue Service. 

Tune in next week for the final segment on S Corporations entity selection. Due to complexities in every situation, please be sure to contact your tax advisor when maxing entity selection.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Last week, we introduced KPIs. Here is an example of one type of KPI.

One of the paradigms that you need to discuss with your management team is the concept of revenue minus expenses equals profit which is limiting and one dimensional. Entertain the concept of people times process equals profit. 

For example, sales now becomes a function of y dollars being derived from x number of sales calls. Therefore if x number of sales calls produce y dollars of sales then an increase of 1 more call per person per day should produce what amount of additional sales per month? 

KPIs will help you track and improve these types of concepts and will have a dramatic and instant impact on your business. 

Now imagine you are on the golf course, it’s Friday afternoon and you get an updated KPI report on your iPhone. You see that all of your KPIs are moving nicely in the right direction. It won’t bother you at all that you just put that brand new $4 golf ball in the middle of the lake!

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Any sports fan knows there are statistics that coaches use to evaluate and improve the team’s performance. The same principle can be applied to your business using Key Performance Indicators or KPIs.    

So how do you start?  Identify the area of your business that has the most possibility for improvement. Focus on particular areas of concern and don’t try to track too many indicators at first. 

For example, you may be tracking gross revenue each quarter. But what is that really telling you? How are you obtaining growth or, more importantly, what is causing a decline?

To answer those questions spend time with your management team. Brainstorm and agree on the top two or three KPIs that are contributing to your success or decline. Using a force field analysis can be helpful. Then determine who will track the measurement and distribute the information on a daily or weekly basis. 

Next week, we’ll discuss a sample equation that demonstrates the process for a sales KPI.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

C corporations are organized under the laws of a US state, and ownership is in the form of stock. There is no limit to the number of shareholders or the number of classes of stock. Articles of incorporation must be filed with the state. 

An advantage of C corporations is that shareholders are usually protected from liability for corporate debts. Also, shareholders who provide services to the corporation are eligible to receive tax-free fringe benefits, such as health care benefits, group term life insurance, and may participate in company-sponsored retirement plans.

Disadvantages in using a C corporation include double taxation and administrative requirements.  Profits of a C corporation are taxed to the corporation when earned, and then taxed again to shareholders when distributed as dividends. Tune in next week for the final segment on C Corporations entity selection. Due to complexities in every situation, please be sure to contact your tax advisor when maxing entity selection.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Previously we talked about a recent study Forrester Consulting did for Microsoft on customer relationships and innovation.

During those studies some additional thoughts on innovation arose.

• Half of all managers surveyed chose cost reduction above all other benefits when asked to choose from a list of key innovation benefits.
• Innovation is primarily valued as a way to boost operational efficiency and enhance customer relationships.
• Companies may be missing the growth possibilities offered by strategic innovation.
• And while innovation may be a key benefit, most companies don’t tolerate failed innovation projects, which may also be limiting strategic innovation.

Ask yourself, what was or is our most strategic innovation project at my company? The answer may surprise you.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Last week we talked about a recent study Forrester Consulting did for Microsoft on customer relationships and innovation.

Related Forrester research on innovation discovered a similar bottom-line orientation: Half of all managers chose cost reduction as a key reason to innovate. Further, only 41 percent of respondents listed innovation as one of their top two strategic priorities, well behind customer relationships (75 percent) and operational excellence (52 percent). Business managers may perceive the value of innovation, but they do not yet see it as part of a strategic approach.

Because customer interactions are valued so highly, they are outsourced less often than is commonly believed. Spending on IT and human capital is not yet fully aligned with the high priority placed on customer relationships. What would your answers be to these questions?

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Why don't companies invest more in customer relationships and take a more strategic approach to innovation?

According to a Forrester Consulting report commissioned by Microsoft, 55 percent of business managers rate customer relationships as their most important strategic priority. But that doesn't always translate into spending on IT and human capital. Only 35 percent of those managers chose customer relationships as the top reason to invest in human capital, and only 32 percent named customer relationships as their top basis for IT spending.

That raises a question: If customer relationships are so important, why don't more companies make it their top IT spending priority?

Next week we will have some follow up comments on this study.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

In the competitive market for talent, you can’t afford to only promote your company when you are recruiting entry-level and experienced professionals.

You also have to promote your city and what makes it different from others recruits may be considering. 

What advantages does your city have over others? Lower taxes? Cheaper average gas prices? Unique social scene?

Houston, for example, has one of the lowest costs of living of major cities in the country. That is certainly attractive to recent graduates just starting out, as well as experienced professionals looking to relocate from more expensive cities like Los Angeles or New York City. 

For next generation talent, where they live is just as important as their job. So don’t just sell your company, sell your city too.

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Good news for fans of PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook! The Association for Accounting Marketing has honored PKF Texas with a Marketing Achievement Award for the PR campaign associated with PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook.

Thanks for listening to the spots on the radio, on The BusinessMakers website, and reading the scripts here. They have been a great success and I hope you’re finding the tips useful.

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Due to technical difficulties, last week’s PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook didn’t run on KPRC 950 AM.  The entry from 5/26 ran.  Rather than repeat last week’s script here, I thought I’d just post this message.  Technology is great when it works isn’t it?

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Last week we detailed the theory behind Force Field Analysis. 

With your management team together, start by identifying the positive influences of an issue. 

Keep the number to five. There may be more, but for now you are only trying to get a consensus on the main influences.

Encourage everyone to contribute and listen to all the ideas that are presented. 

Once everyone agrees to the top positive influences, identify three to four tasks that will enhance or improve each positive influence. 

Again, you may have more tasks but get the group to agree to the best three to four tasks per item. 

At this point you should have 15 to 20 ideas that, if implemented, would enhance the positive influences of that issue. 

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Before we know it, 2007 will be half over. How do you think this year’s financial results are going to stack up compared to previous years? By reviewing the results and analyzing the details in your business from 2006, you should have a firm grip on what did and didn’t work. 

Perform an assessment to see what issues would take your business to the next level or keep it from moving forward.

With everything you have to do on a daily basis, how can you make time to do this type of analysis? 

Take an afternoon to work “on” your business and not “in” your business.

Get out of the office if you have to. 

Identify one or two things that if improved or changed you know would have an impact on the profitability of your company immediately. 

Next week we will begin a 4 part series which details a good way to do this, called a Force Field Analysis. 

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Houston is a booming international marketplace. Any business expansion has pitfalls. International expansions can be tricky. Last week you heard the first of several common complications and surprises faced by international entrepreneurs. Here’s another:

If you don’t have a hybrid – get one.

Hybrids are foreign companies that can be treated as corporations in the foreign country and partnerships in the US. They are important because the US differs  from many other countries in that here corporate business profits are taxed twice - first to the corporation and second to the owners when the profits are paid out as dividends. That’s why so many US businesses are run as partnerships or subchapter S corporations. Unlike the U.S., many foreign countries do not have this double taxation. Generally, those countries exempt shareholders from dividend taxation under the principle that the taxes on that income have been paid once, and that once is enough. Therefore, partnerships are not as commonly accepted as a way to do business in many countries. Hybrids can help US entrepreneurs operate effectively in the foreign country and use taxes paid there to offset their taxes in the US. 

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This is the first of a two part tip brought to you by Susan Ward of Cypress Technologies and PKF Texas.

In the age of Web 2.0, many people talk about Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, but there are those who are still unsure of what this means for their website.

SEO is the process of choosing targeted keywords and phrases to ensure a webpage is well placed when returned in search engine results. The goal of effective SEO is to have your pages listed on the first or second page of results. Most people won’t look much further than that for information.

To do this, there are five basic rules to keep in mind:

 First, remember that each page of your site is a separate entity. You need to apply the basics of effective SEO to each individual page.

Second, Choose appropriate key words or phrases for each page. The specific phrasing matters. There are online tools such inventory.overture.com, where you can enter search terms and view the most popular phrasing of that term.

Tune in next week to hear the last three rules of SEO.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This tip is brought to you by Susan Ward of Cypress Technologies and PKF Texas.

Do you have an advisory board for your business? 

Some think advisory boards are only for large, or public companies. There are many advantages for companies of all sizes to have a board.

Your advisory board will serve as a sounding board, a source of ideas and expertise – to give you honest advice. Approach retired executives, or influential people in your community to serve on your board.

The board should meet on a regular basis, usually quarterly. Also, be prepared to be completely open with your board. They cannot function and advise properly if information is held back.

An advisory board that meets regularly gets to know you and your business. They can provide the management expertise to avoid common business mistakes and set your business up for success.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Many midsize companies spend more time on accounting than they need to. Here are some of the most powerful but least utilized automation features available in today’s accounting systems.

Prepare and Distribute Reports Automatically
Managers usually rely on a standard set of financial reports. Rather than have accounting staff prepare, and distribute those reports, you can configure your accounting package to prepare and distribute reports automatically.

Make Recurring Payments Online
Paying the phone bill each month is a time-consuming chore. But if your financial system supports online bill paying, you can process recurring payables automatically.

Receive Automatic Notice of Impending Problems
The best time to find out about a financial problem is before it happens. Using the alerts technology available in many accounting systems, you can warn appropriate managers of potential trouble. You can instruct your software to notify the credit manager any time a customer comes within 2 percent of their credit limit.

Transfer Data from Spreadsheets Electronically
To save time and reduce errors, use the import functionality available in most accounting packages to download financial data from spreadsheets.

Automatically Reconcile Ledgers and Account Statements
Reconciling general ledger reports is such tiresome work that some businesses unwisely neglect it. Let your software automatically reconcile sub-ledgers to the GL.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

For those businesses ready to commit to knowledge development, there are loads of tools to facilitate speedy information sharing and creation. Depending on your needs, you might choose to use one or all of the following:

• Portals. Portals take advantage of technologies like SharePoint and their virtual team sites are ideal for structured, process-oriented tasks requiring document creation and versioning.
• Blogs. Found on either company internal, or external Web sites. Blogs can also give employees that might not normally be called upon, the opportunity to espouse ideas in an informal environment.  
• Wikis. One of the newest arrivals on the scene is the wiki, a Web site to which anyone can add, modify or edit material simply by clicking on an “edit” button. Wikis can also help manage open, unstructured business collaboration, such as in an engineering or RAD (rapid application development) environment. Wikis are different than blogs and portals in that information presented in those tools remains static.
• Mash-up: The term originated in the hip-hop world to refer to remixing songs, but now “mash-up” can also describe the practice of combining applications or tools from different sources. Like using Outlook and Dynamics NAV CRM for sales collaboration purposes.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

You developed an idea to sell products or services on the Internet. Now, the next most important step is selecting a domain name.

At the cost of a few dollars a year, the right domain name helps your business develop a recognizable online brand. It promotes name recognition among your customers and keeps them coming back to the right place.

When you set up a standard account with an Internet Service Provider (ISP), you’re allocated an e-mail address and, in most cases, a Web site at the ISP’s domain. The e-mail address and the URL belong to the ISP. If you switch service providers, you will have to change both of them.

A domain name that you register and control essentially makes your Web site and e-mail address portable. You get the flexibility of being able to change your hosting service without having to also change your Web and e-mail addresses.

And remember a good domain name should be short and memorable.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This tip is brought to you by Rebecca Ryan, of Next Generation Consulting, Inc.and PKF Texas.

A company’s vision and value statement tell the overall goals and priorities of an organization.

By having a concise vision and values statement you let your employees and clients know the high level of service you expect to provide, and the foundation on which your company is built. Post this information on your corporate website so everyone can easily access it.     

The vision and values statement also give your employees a sense of meaning and purpose as to their roles within the company. If they strive to fulfill the company’s vision and values, they will feel like they are more connected to the organization. And that will produce better financial results. It all goes back to the mantra, that if the employees are happy- they work harder and the company sees results with an improved bottom line.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This tip is brought to you by Rebecca Ryan, of Next Generation Consulting, Inc.and PKF Texas.

Work related learning is an important source of fulfillment for the next generation of employees.

Classroom and other formal types of learning and training are important. However, the work environment, and the job itself, provide the foundation for work related learning.

Some factors that contribute to interesting and fulfilling work related learning include:

• Access to the latest tools and technologies,
• Input on the development of training programs,
• Opportunities for formal learning and development, and
• The potential for interesting and exciting projects

These types of tools allow your employees to find their niche and develop new sets of skills and expertise. Providing this type of learning environment enhances the overall capabilities of both the employees and the company. 

To read and comment on the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook, visit my blog, fromgregshead.com. PKF Texas--Where People are the key to our future.

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PKF Texas’ Entrepreneur’s Playbook is moving! The BusinessMakers Radio Show has found a new home on KPRC 950 AM. The show will air Saturday mornings from 8:00 – 9:00 am. 

The show will still be streamed from www.thebusinessmakers.com and the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook will still be posted on my blog every Friday before the show. 

The first show on the new station was this past Saturday (1/20). I went into record a new PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook with Russ and John last week and was thoroughly impressed with the new studio. Everyone is excited about the move to KPRC.

So tune in Saturday mornings to hear me, “One Take Jake” give the latest best practice tip and to hear Russ and John interview the most fascinating entrepreneurs from around the country. 

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

With almost everything in life, complexity is usually not a good thing and simplicity is better. In software, complexity sometimes means both higher costs and less ability to keep the system up to meeting the ever-changing needs of the business. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) can be a measure of complexity in your IT area.

No business stays the same. You face challenges including, customers demanding new ways of doing business. Challenges include governments setting new regulations. Challenges include companies changing to gain competitive advantage. As is often said, the only constant in business is change. When systems are complex, it means that the company is less able to respond to these challenges. “Systems are often an obstacle to change”, says Olin Thompson of Lawson Software.

A direct benefit of a lower TCO is the pure economic benefit of spending less. Actually, that dollar could be used more effectively elsewhere in the business, for a purpose that offers a higher rate of return.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Unless you have been living under a rock these past few years, you probably have heard someone talk about Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) and its impact on internal control reporting at their business. Long before the creation of SOX legislation, the concept of developing and adhering to, strong internal controls was well known. But, many organizations didn’t give it as high as a priority as they should have.

History has shown, that focusing on internal controls is not just for public companies that are required to comply with federal and state regulations. In fact, there are benefits for privately held and not for profit organizations as well. Internal controls include, but are not limited to:

• Segregation of duties;
• Approval limits;
• Authorizations; and
• Programmed Controls

But from our perspective the most important control is the tone at the top towards compliance as set by the CEO. Without proper support from the CEO, internal controls will take a back seat to operational needs. Make sure your executive management team supports the development and implementation of effective internal controls. If you don’t, you be wasting more than time and money. You will wasting a chance to impress your customers, investors and employees with solid business practices that improve your profitability. 

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This is a supply chain logistics tip from Bruce Hoard of Microsoft and PKF Texas.

Growing and midsize companies are among the many organizations that are increasingly using the outsourcing capabilities of third-party logistics (3PL) firms. In the distribution area in particular, executives are choosing to hand over such key business process applications as order processing and transportation management to outside experts rather than build out expensive infrastructures that are not compatible with their core competencies.

It’s a smart idea, but takes a lot of work—and trust—to implement. Trust is always a major issue when it comes to outsourcing sensitive company data, as the failure of so many storage services providers a few years back made painfully clear. Even when trust does exist between 3PLs and their customers, it still makes sense for customer firms to insist on being able to monitor every step along the product manufacturing and distribution path.

Most organizations want visibility into the operations of that 3PL. They will want to know how much inventory they have, and, if they’re doing order fulfillment. In addition, how many orders are they fulfilling, and their timeliness. If you know what’s going on, you can provide your customers with better service.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This best practice tip is brought to you by Phillip Harper, writer for Microsoft and PKF Texas.

In our last segment on the question of when to add staff, we reviewed 4 key areas that suggest a positive answer. But two other issues rise when you make that decision. 

Full Time versus Temporary

Once the decision to hire is made, the question is whether to hire a full-time employee, a temporary worker or a subcontractor.

If the work is part of the core service of the company, it makes sense to hire [a full timer], Harper says. But if it's more of a secondary thing, or not as important to the customer, it's better to subcontract because you could reduce expenses.

In the case of entry-level support personnel, some companies use temps to cover short-term needs and then end up hiring them for full-time positions. The try before you buy scenario.

Competition with big businessesWhile it can be true that small companies have difficulty competing against major corporations in the area of benefits, workers interested in emerging businesses may have other areas of greater interest to them. Some folks may be looking for real world experience and the increasing pool of skilled workers on early retirements can add depth to your bench very quickly.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

I am often asked on when, and how does as organization begin to look for new employees to join their company. In addition, the economy is pretty hot right now in Houston, so finding good employees can be a difficult challenge. 

Entrepreneurs trying to navigate their ship through the economic waves may not have spent much time wondering about whether to add new employees. However, as the economic recovery continues, they may want to start thinking about it.

But it raises a simple question: How can a small-business owner know when it's time to add staff?

Phillip Harper suggests, “You need to add workers if:

1. The amount of overtime pay is increasing. Aside from spending issues, your workforce may be nearing burnout
2. Your backlog of sales is (or may soon be) growing.
3. Your business’s billing multiplier has risen above the norm. To get the billing multiplier divide your net revenue by your direct labor costs. Check your industry average against your actual results and make adjustments accordingly.
4. Your debt is at a level that allows you to assume additional risk.

Solid advice on all fronts.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

One of the most important steps any entrepreneur should take is to protect the intellectual property of your company.

Securing an intellectual property attorney is the first step. The attorney will be able to provide the advice and the resources needed to file a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office.

Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, sounds or colors that distinguish your goods or services from those manufactured or sold by others. 

Some of the benefits of registering and protecting your intellectual property include:

• Notice to the public of ownership of the trademark;
• The exclusive use of the trademark; and
• The ability to pursue legal action concerning the trademark in the court system.

Taking the time to protect your intellectual property will safe guard you in the future from other companies trying to infringe on your rights as an entrepreneur. For more information about obtaining patents or trademarks, visit www.uspto.gov.

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If exporting internationally is a part of your business, you have most likely heard about changes to the federal income tax laws repealing many exporter benefits. Despite the repeal, there are still several tax benefits available for exporters.

One export benefit called Interest Charge – Domestic International Sales Corporation or IC-DISC, is still available to closely held export companies. 

IC-DISC is an export incentive vehicle which effectively allows exporters to defer a portion of their export income from current federal income taxation.

There are several key ways IC-DISC can help your business depending on how much of your income is export-based:

1. It can minimize double taxation on a portion of export income
2. It can reduce your overall effective tax rate
3. It can help you redeploy cash into your business to create wealth

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, this is a continuing series of inventory control tips by Jon Schreibfeder. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Last week we talked about forecasting for inventory management. While most distributors use an average of past usage, we’ve also discovered that an average of past usage is just one element of a good forecast formula.

In fact, comprehensive forecasting considers four elements:

• A weighted average of past usage
• An optional trend factor
• Possible collaborative information from customers and/or salespeople
• Identification of the proper time frame for the forecast, also known as the forecast horizon

Accurate demand forecasts are a critical factor in achieving effective inventory management. If you do not have good estimates of future usage, you are forced to overstock in order to maintain a high level of customer service. This is the equivalent of adding "fat" to your warehouse.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, this is a continuing series of inventory control tips by Jon Schreibfeder. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, this is a continuing series of inventory control tips by Jon Schreibfeder. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Community involvement should be a key aspect of every company. It gives employees a great opportunity to give back to the community.

Poll your employees to see which organizations they care about. Maybe several employees have been personally affected by heart disease or Alzheimer’s. If the employees have a say in which organization you choose they will be more willing to support this type of initiative. 

Most charitable organizations have a walk or run in the fall or spring. Participating in and raising money for the walk or run is an easy way to get involved. 

Several ways to ensure a successful fundraising campaign include:

• Create a taskforce to handle communications and logistics.
• Set a high, but reachable company fundraising goal
• Provide incentives for reaching personal fundraising goals. For example, if everyone donates $10 have a “jeans and sneakers” day, or for the top fundraiser in your firm, provide an extra vacation day. 

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This tip is brought to you by Rebecca Ryan, of Next Generation Consulting, Inc.and PKF Texas.

An important factor in becoming a Next Generation Company is creating and sustaining a good work-life balance for all of your employees. 

If your employees know you respect and value their non-work life, they will be more willing to provide the level of service necessary to run a successful business.

Make sure you listen to the wants and needs of your employees and look for ways to incorporate these in your corporate strategy. Everything from providing gym memberships to onsite child care facilities can show your employees that your firm supports and values their personal lives.  

By putting into place policies and procedures providing a good work-life balance, You will be able to reduce turn-over, provide higher quality work to your clients, and ultimately attract and retain quality employees.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, this is a continuing series of budgeting tips brought to you by Ventana Research and PKF Texas. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on SuperTalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Does your company have a “quality” budgeting and planning process? A quality process is one that:

• Aligns the budget to your corporate strategy
• Promotes accuracy
• Increases organizational agility
• Deepens operation insight for everyone involved and for the company as a whole

To gain a leg up on your larger, entrenched competitors, you need to allocate your budget resources to your strengths. Accuracy is important. But in this case, we are talking about wider participation, and increased communication among functional silos. 

Because of our constantly changing world managers should think contingently about their areas and the impact of events on their budget. 

And finally, if your company is growing rapidly, executives in mid-size companies may not appreciate that not everyone is working off the same page the way they used to.

By budgeting and planning more effectively, mid-size companies can recapture the agility they had as a smaller organization and overcome the advantages that their larger competitors enjoy.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

As much as we don't like to talk about it, sometimes the world experiences a disaster. In the wake of a major world event, people's needs change, and manufacturers are challenged with shifting production quickly to address customer demands.

By integrating closely with suppliers, manufacturers have a higher level of agility and can efficiently react to changes, instantaneously. The bottom line? Competitive edge is in the hands of manufacturers with a level of agility that enables them to shift with the global marketplace.

Globalization, declining margins, and shorter product life cycles are pressuring manufacturers to transform their traditional supply chains to demand-driven, adaptive supply chain networks. Creating a collaborative environment to work very closely with suppliers and partners is essential to maintain an edge.

Manufacturing companies must be agile in a shifting global marketplace

How can manufacturers achieve this agility? Consider the following:

• Reduce time to market.
• Integrate supply chain.
• Share costs.

Customer demands in manufacturing get resolved fast with supply chain integration tools

For example, consider the following uses of technology in the supply chain:

• Effective and accurate inventory accounting.
• Tracking products during manufacturing.
• Precise parts selection.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This tip is brought to you by Thomas A. Kayser, author of Mining Group Gold and PKF Texas.

Communication can be one of the most misunderstood and misused tools in business. How do you effectively communicate with your employees and not waste time in meetings? Effective communication does not just happen. 

Every meeting should have an agenda with time allotted for each topic. There should be a facilitator, timekeeper, and a scribe.

The facilitator plans the meeting, prepares the agenda, and keeps the group on task during the meeting.
Planning for meetings should include answers to the following questions:

· What is the purpose and desired outcome?

· Who should attend?

· What is the agenda content and topic flow?

The time keeper reminds the group what time it is and if they are exceeding the time allowed for each topic.

The scribe is responsible for keeping meeting notes and action item assignments.

In practicing these simple techniques you will be more effective with better results. 

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This tip is brought to you by Rebecca Ryan, of Next Generation Consulting, Inc.and PKF Texas.

Can your company be considered a next generation company? 

Next generation companies work to put in place policies and procedures to ensure their employees come first. They look at what motivates their employees and adapt to meet the needs of both the talent and the marketplace.

These are a few questions you should ask yourself in order assess how your company can provide a better work/life balance for your employees.

·        What are you doing now that makes the most difference to your staff?

·        Which current practices should you maintain and enhance?

·        Which should you abandon?

·        What new practices should you implement?

Because of the shrinking talent pool, companies are facing greater pressures to change their policies and practices in order to compete for and to retain talent. Have you thought of forming an internal taskforce to provide a forum for your employees to voice their preferences?  Allowing your employees to have a voice will ensure they are more engaged and committed to delivering the results needed to run a profitable business.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, this is a continuing series of budgeting tips brought to you by Ventana Research and PKF Texas. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on SuperTalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

The electronic spreadsheet was a breakthrough because it automated the most time consuming part of manual budgeting and eliminated errors caused by purely arithmetic processes. In theory, spreadsheets should allow organizations to collect detailed information from every individual with budget authority and roll it up into a consolidated view.

In reality, two decades of results has shown that numerous issues routinely occur making it difficult to achieve ideal results. Common problems include:

• Broken links or formulas
• Consolidation errors
• Using the wrong data
• Using the wrong/incorrect formula

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, this is a continuing series of inventory control tips by Jon Schreibfeder. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Separate your “stock” from your “stuff”.

When you stock material you are making a commitment. A commitment that an item will be available in reasonable quantities for immediate shipment or delivery to customers. Most distributors’ warehouses are filled with two things: “stock” and “stuff.” Stock is the material you intend to have in the warehouse. These are the items that you anticipate your customers will want. Stuff is everything else.  You have got to separate the stock from the stuff in order to have effective inventory management . Our goal is to liquidate the stuff and arrange the stock items in the best way to facilitate filling customer orders.

To determine which products you should stock, we suggest you sort the items in a warehouse based on each product’s “annual hits.”

Annual hits represents the number of times each product was ordered by customers, transferred or used in an assembly during the past 12 months, regardless of quantity. Why do we rank products based on hits, instead of the total quantity or material value ordered?

Annual hits more fairly represent that actual expectations of your customers and not the hoped for, or budgeted sales of your sales and marketing personnel.  Track items based upon the number of annual hits and compare this to the quantities ordered.  Once you start eliminating products with few annual hits your own the way to improving your cash flow and achieving effective inventory management.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, this is a continuing series of budgeting tips brought to you by Ventana Research and PKF Texas. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on FM Newschannel 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Many executives at mid-size companies feel trapped in the middle, bigger but less agile as an organization that they were previously, but smaller and without the resources of large organizations.

By budgeting and planning more effectively, mid-size companies can recapture the agility that they had as a smaller organization and overcome the advantage of their larger competitors.

Agility is as much about seizing opportunities as reacting to disappointments. When markets are hot, companies that can decide to apply more resources sooner are more successful than those who wait. During downturns companies that trim spending sooner do well, but those that understand where best to cut resources do even better.

Agility is one of the most important reasons small companies are able to compete effectively against giant corporations that have far more resources. People associate survival of the fittest with Darwin. However, what Darwin actually wrote is “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent…it’s the one most adaptable to change.”

Agility is knowing the right answer sooner, not later.

Agility is being able to make the right decision sooner, not later.

Agility is being able to implement the action plan in a concerted effort sooner, not later.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Attracting and retaining talent for your company roster is one of the hottest topics in boardrooms across the country. In order to successfully compete for quality talent, companies need to take the steps to set themselves apart from the fierce competition in today’s crowded marketplace.

Participating in the Houston Business Journal’s Best Places To Work program is a proven method for setting yourself apart. It demonstrates to the marketplace a commitment is being made to emphasize and nurture a positive corporate culture, and serves as a morale booster for firm recruitment and retention.

 Potential talent along with prospective clients want to align themselves with companies on the Best Places To Work list. What attracts and retains talent will ultimately attract and retain clients as well.

The champions who make Best Places To Work a reality, are the company’s employees – not the media or public. There is no better advocate for your company than you own employees!

The Houston Business Journal’s 2006 Best Places to Work awards ceremony is scheduled for Oct 12 at the Hyatt Regency Downtown. If you want to know how your company can benefit from such an award, sign up several of your key employees to attend this event.  Visit houstonbusinessjournal.com for event details.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, this is a continuing series of inventory control tips by Jon Schreibfeder. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on FM Newschannel 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

How accurate are your inventory stock balances?

Accurate Stock Balances Are Needed for Success
– No computer system will replenish inventory with the right quantity of the right item at the right time in the right location if the quantity in the computer system does not agree with the quantity physically in stock.

Maintaining Stock Level Accuracy is Difficult
– Not all material related transactions are properly recorded
– Material is put away incorrectly
– Damaged material is mixed with good stock
– There is a lack of warehouse security

A lot of distributors try to make up for stock level inaccuracy with more sophisticated computer software.  Every Employee Must Know the Cost of Bad Inventory Mgmt.
– Inventory is valuable 
– Paychecks result from the sale of inventory
– If inventory is lost, stolen or destroyed, it must be paid for with net profits
– Management must lead by example

Assuming a 4% net profit, it takes $2,500 in new sales to make up for a $100 material loss.  If $100 is lost per week, a branch needs $130,000 in additional sales each year just to break even.  If your employees have not bought into concepts of Inventory Control (Controlling what is in your warehouse) and Inventory Management (Managing your inventory investment to maximize net profits), you will have difficulty reaching your financial goals.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Do you know your corporate financial DNA?

Are people asking for a Benchmark Report on your business?  As your company grows, are you treading water?  Are you ahead or behind of your competitors?  Success leaves clues, so do you know where to look?

If you know your corporate financial DNA, you can adapt to changing business demands more readily.  There are several areas that make up corporate financial DNA.  These include but are not limited to: revenue growth, operating income margin, percentage cost of good sold, days sales outstanding, days in inventory, and days purchases outstanding.

Corporate DNA must be combined with performance metrics to drive success.

No matter what metric you use, make sure it is easily understood by many managers throughout your company.  Use the metrics to reward performance of your employees.  Also, make sure your corporate DNA relates to shareholder value.

Look back at your successes.  What did you do right and how can you apply that to the future?  Success is measurable, but it takes the right combination of people, process, and technology to become effective.  Make sure you map SCM initiatives to financial performance gaps and link gaps to SCM Business Processes and Strategies.

Studies have shown, that for certain industries, using your corporate financial DNA to improve performance in reducing your Days Sales Outstanding from the median to the 1st quartile has a bigger impact on your cash flow than increasing sales from median to the 1st quartile.

Make sure you know the comparison between your corporate financial DNA and your industry.  If you do, you can implement improvement plans to put money in your pocket.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on Supertalk 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

If supply chain management, or SCM, has so much potential, why does it often fail to deliver a return on capital?  Recent studies have shown that return on capital is down thirty percent for 1,500 manufacturers, distributors and retailers.  Is the hype driving us all to move in a direction that we believe will help our businesses?  Or it is something else?  It is something, or a process that seems so simple, but elusive to most businesses.

There are several reasons SCM can fail but three key reasons are consistently found:
First, SCM project managers often lack access to C level executives.  C level personnel are crucial for success and must be involved in any SCM project.  The C level person must be engaged in the oversight and management of the SCM project.  If they don’t, they have shirked their responsibilities and the SCM will have to battle priorities and commitment from others.

Second, SCM project managers don’t necessarily speak the language of finance.  In order to be successful, they have to have the tools to communicate information effectively.  They don’t know the key elements of their Corporate DNA.  Corporate DNA being defined as the metrics by which you measure success beyond the software implementation.

And third, SCM cannot be done in a vacuum.  You must take into account entity wide issues.  Getting departments to work across company lines and getting input from the appropriate key people sounds easy.   But as many SCM project managers will attest to, getting this cooperation is much more difficult than one might expect.
In short, everyone has to be active and committed to an SCM project for it to be a success.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, this is the first in a continuing series of budgeting tips brought to you by Ventana Research and PKF Texas. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on FM Newschannel 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

With all the advances in technology, software and collaboration tools, one might think the budgeting has risen to new and more effective higher levels.  However, recent research has shown that executives in mid-sized companies have not focused on the potential benefits of more effective budgeting and are unaware of possible solutions that can be quickly implemented.

Questions to Ask About Your Budgeting and Planning Process

Is the process strategic?  The CEO of you company has a strategy, but how well does the financial budget reflect it?  Is you budget realistic or just update of last year’s amounts by a factor of inflation?

Is it accurate?  Are the budgets as accurate as they should be?  Does the budget process itself create systematic errors?

Does it increase your company’s agility?  Does the company respond quickly to changes in the environment or changes in the competitive landscape?  When things don’t go as planned does the company have a coordinated response?

Does it provide deeper insight? What assumptions are being made in forecasting? Can you drill down to ascertain consistency, assumptions, etc?

Does your budgeting and planning process improve process quality?  How quickly can you prepare your budget?  Is it consistent from year to year and department to department?  What tools are you using to help in this effort?

We recommend that you start to improve your budgets by looking at three key areas:
1) Making strategy explicit;
2) Increasing collaboration
3) Optimizing resource allocation. 

With this focus, you can improve your budgeting process and your results.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, this is a continuing series of inventory control tips by Jon Schreibfeder. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on FM Newschannel 97.5. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

What is Effective Inventory Management?

“Effective inventory management allows a distributor to meet or exceed customers’ expectations of product availability by maintaining the amount of each item that will also maximize their company’s net profit.”

Effective inventory management is the result of outstanding inventory control and inventory management. What is the difference between “inventory control” and “inventory management?” Inventory control involves managing the inventory that is already in your warehouse, stockroom or store. That is, knowing what products are “out there,” how much you have of each item, and where it is.

Inventory management involves determining when to order products and how much to order, as well as identifying the most effective source of supply for each item in each stocking location. Inventory management includes all of the activities of forecasting and replenishment.

The most common question we are asked is “where do we start?” The answer is: You must begin with inventory control. Unless you know exactly what inventory is in your warehouse and that material is in usable condition, you can’t accurately determine when to reorder products.

Stay tuned for future segments on effective inventory management. 

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, This is the first in a series of inventory control tips by Jon Schreibfeder. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on FM Newschannel 97.5. Audio files can be found at the PKF Texas Radio/Television page.

How do you achieve Inventory Control? Where do you begin?

First, you have to understand the problem. I’ve worked with distributors throughout the world. These firms have distributed nearly every type of product imaginable. Despite the variety of locations and industries, I’ve found they typically have very similar inventory-related problems:

• They have too much of some products.
  • Results in excess inventory and dead stock and leads to decreased turnover and profitability
• They experience stock outs of other products.
  • Results in backorders, lost sales and an overall decrease in customer service.
• They don’t know what is in stock.
• They can’t find material in their warehouse.

As a result, many distributors don’t have control of their inventory. So, to get control, you need a plan for effective inventory management.

Stay tuned for future segments on effective inventory management. 

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, this is the third in a series of business tips offered by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on FM Newschannel 97.5. Audio files can be found at the PKF Texas Radio/Television page.

This is a good time of the year to take a look at your budget and forecast for 2006, and compare your performance to your expectations. If you do not have a forecast, it’s not too late to prepare one for 2006.

How do you use a forecast to take your company to the next level of performance?

The secret may be a “flash report.” A flash report will keep you focused on the key performance indicators that will drive your forecast. For example, if your goal is to improve cash flow and increase sales, a report would track your daily or weekly sales, along with the daily cash balances of your business.

Track a few items in your business and see how it works for you. Over time, I think you will find you can keep your finger on the pulse of your business by using a flash report on a regular basis. Remember you can’t manage what you can’t measure!

Share you own business insights by sending me a note.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, this is the second in a series of business tips offered by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on FM Newschannel 97.5. Audio files can be found at the PKF Texas Radio/Television page.

In this ever more fragile economy, managing your cash flow may prove to be one of the keys to your Company’s survival. Customers will delay payment in an effort to preserve what little free cash they have. Unfortunately, this can be prove to be extremely painful for your Company, and may lead to your demise.

As an owner/entrepreneur, you are faced with many financial terms. One of the key terms you should become familiar with in managing your business is “Days Sales Outstanding (DSO).” You can calculate DSO by dividing your total annual revenues by 365 to get your average daily sales. Then, take your monthly accounts receivable balance and divide by the average daily sales to get your DSO.

Did you know that a properly designed and implemented cash management process, allowing you to track and collect overdue accountings can have an immediate impact on your cash flow? For example, a three-day reduction in your DSO balances (a very reasonable and achievable target) will generate $5,000 in cash flow for every $1 million in revenue. Thus, a $10 million dollar company should be able to generate $50,000 in cash flow by having a well designed and operating cash management and collection program.

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Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, this is the first in a series of business tips offered by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the  BusinessMaker's Radio Show on FM Newschannel 97.5. Audio files can be found online at the PKF Texas Radio/Television page.
 
According to Fortune Magazine, “Blogs have become a force businesses can’t ignore.”

With all the buzz about business blogging, perhaps you’ve already considered whether this tool would be a good fit for your business.

What is a blog? Well, a blog is simply an online journal. Web log = blog. More than that, blogs are conversations among human authors, not marketing departments. They are part of online communities where information is shared and commented on.

Ask yourself: Do I have something to say? Can I make it interesting and relevant? Can I keep talking about it?

Two great resources to look at if you’re thinking about blogging are problogger.net and lexblog.com. These sites were excellent guides during the development of my business blog, fromgregshead.com.

A blog can be a useful communication tool for the technology minded entrepreneur. The possibilities are endless and you limited only by the information you provide to your audience.

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As many of you know, I was featured on the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show several times, and now they have asked me to present a series of best practice business tips to air during their Saturday morning show on FM Newschannel 97.5.

I am going to be the voice of PKF Texas’ Entrepreneur’s Playbook.

The first tip from the Entrepreneur’s Playbook will air this Saturday – July 1. Each Friday, I will post both the written and broadcast versions of the current tip here in the blog.

Here is a list of some of the topics The Entrepreneur’s Playbook will cover:

• Blogs
• Inventory Control
• Profit Enhancement
• Human Capital
• Cash Management

As someone who writes a blog with a technology focus, it is always interesting to see how technology plays a role in different industries. The amount of time that went into recording and mixing these spots, as well as the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show, is commendable. Thanks to John Whiteside and Russ Capper who helped make me “One Take Jake.”

Let me know what you think about the Entrepreneur’s Playbook and especially using the blog for broadcast clips. Were the tips useful for your business? Are there any topics you would like me to touch on? What are your own best practice tips? I look forward to your interaction on my blog.

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