It’s Here! “Be Your Own Turnaround Manager”
Again, I will do a little shameless self–promotion. I have written a book titled, Be Your Own Turnaround Manager: A Common Sense Guide to Managing a Business Crisis, and it was released today.
For many years, I specialized in helping businesses that were in crisis and heading towards bankruptcy. Several of these business crises appear as case studies in the book. Although this book is directed toward small businesses with employees, I have presented many fundamental business precepts that can be valuable to any business.
To give you some idea of what this book is about, I have included, below, some of the front-page copy that is on the publisher’s web site:
Is a Business Bankruptcy or Other Business Crisis Looming on Your Horizon?
Be Your Own Turnaround Manager is one of the few business books that deals with the issues that small businesses face daily, but that no one wants to talk about. It helps you recover from small problems so they don’t become disasters.
If your business is already mired in a crisis, Be Your Own Turnaround Manager provides an alternative to filing for bankruptcy.
Be Your Own Turnaround Manager doesn’t present any new management fad, magic formula, or acronym approach that can save your enterprise once it is in crisis—it requires a step-by-step business recovery plan.
Regardless of whether you’re a small business owner, run a non-profit organization, or a segment of a larger corporation, any business crisis you face can be managed long before it gets out of control. The business recovery plan set forth in Be Your Own Turnaround Manager helps small business owners answer these questions:
- What do I do when I can’t pay my bills?
- How do I face my employees when there is no money for payday?
- What do I do when I can’t pay my past due bank loan?
- What if the bank no longer wants me as a customer?
- How do I know if I have a real business crisis, or just some “hard times?”
- How do I know when I should file for bankruptcy?
- How do I handle HR and government agency demands if my business is in crisis?
- With my business in crisis, what do I do first?
- How do I plan and execute a crisis management/turnaround program?
- How do I know when I need outside help?
- How do I execute an orderly shutdown if I just don’t want to go through a crisis turnaround program?
- What is a business recovery plan and how do I implement it?
These concerns, and many more, are addressed in Be Your Own Turnaround Manager. Actual case histories are presented and referred to extensively as examples of how others solved these kinds of problems. In addition, checklists are included in each chapter to assist you in developing real solutions to your own problems.
For information about this book, or to receive a discount, go to the publishers web site at beyourownturnaroundmanager.com It is also available at Amazon.com or through most major book stores.
Credit Crunch–What Credit Crunch?
The latest government numbers—through mid-October—show commercial and industrial loans from banks are UP, commercial real estate loans from banks are RISING, and interbank loans are CLIMBING. The real interesting thing is, from September 2007 to mid-October 2008, the numbers in all three categories have been consistently rising. So, what, or who, were the big bailouts for?
V.V. Chari, a University of Minnesota economist and consultant to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minnesota said recently that it sounds like the reasoning for the buildup to the Iraq war all over again…”We know things you don’t know. Trust us.” The government’s own data, however, contradicts what the politicians and bureaucrats are saying.
Lawrence Christiano, a Northwestern University economist recently said, “Nobody has explained how the money system has frozen when the data says it has not.” Because our economy is based primarily on emotion, it seems that we are in a situation similar to someone yelling “fire” in a crowded theater. The resultant panic is simply based on fear.
The Good News.
Anyway, this is a small business blog, not a political blog, but I did want to point out that for most businesses, there is no credit crunch, and money is still available for operating our businesses…and always has been. However, there is no question that there will no longer be any subprime loans available for the near future. To get a loan, a business now must be truly credit-worthy. But, isn’t that the way it is supposed to work?
The sad thing is that the politicians and bureaucrats who yelled “fire” in our crowded economy did so just to satisfy the debts created by greed and avarice of a very few rich and powerful people. Now, it will be up to individuals and small business to shoulder a perhaps unnecessary national debt—again.
But, don’t despair—keep on doing what you do so well, and, as usual, small businesses everywhere will stabilize economies and put the world back on track. At least until someone yells “fire” again.
Small Business Can Learn From Big Business
I just read a comparison between the market values of the two largest U.S. automakers and Japan’s two largest automakers. The market value of GM and Ford combined is $8.1 billion. The market value of Toyota and Honda combined is $146.3 billion—over 18 times greater than the U.S. big two.
Why is the American auto industry on life support, while Japan’s is alive, healthy, and prosperous? Most of Japan’s cars, that are sold in the U.S., are built in the United States. Japan’s auto makers belong to the same U.S. unions, pay the same wages, charge comparable prices for their products…and yet, they are many times more successful. Why do you suppose that is?
To find the answer I think we only have to look as far as the customer satisfaction surveys conducted by J. D. Powers, Consumer Reports, and the like. American automobiles just do not satisfy the consumers as well as the Japanese automobiles do, and they haven’t for a long time. According to the surveys, Japanese autos are better designed, higher quality, and just built better. In other words, Japanese automakers provide more value for the money.
How does this apply to small business?
Value for their money is also what our own customers and clients search for. It doesn’t matter if you are a one-person web site design studio, or General Motors…if you do not provide the best value for your customers or clients money—you will fail. It is as simple as that. Maybe it is time for all of us to take stock of what we are delivering to our customers and clients.
Toyota does it; Honda does it; Costco does it; Avon does it—why can’t we?
Jobs are Always Available–Somewhere!
This post is for those of you who are looking for a job.
Job openings may not always be in your neighborhood, nor even in your comfort zone, but they are always available—somewhere. For instance, here is something to consider:
The Canadian Province of Saskatchewan is the fastest growing area in North America, and they are currently sitting on a $3 billion budget surplus (no recession here). Unfortunately, they can’t spend their money on the much-needed infrastructure to support their growth, because there are not enough tradesmen there to do the work. That is why they are sending out recruiting missions to all points of the globe to try to recruit workers. They need 10,000 new workers and their families—immediately.
Yes, it gets cold in Saskatchewan in the winter, but no more so than the northern tier of states in the U.S. The province borders Montana, and North Dakota, and is a mecca of agriculture and natural resources. Here’s a little known fact—the U.S. imports more oil from Saskatchewan than it does from Kuwait.
Saskatchewan is an area about the size of Texas and has only a million residents (Texas has 24 million). So, if you are looking for wide-open spaces away from the big city chaos—and a long-term job—take a look up North. They’ll welcome you with open arms.
You might look at the 10,000 job openings posted on saskjobs.ca and see if there is anything you might be interested in.
Good luck.
What Can We Learn From Costco?
In their November 2008 issue, Fast Company magazine featured an interview with Jim Sinegal, CEO and cofounder of Costco. While most retailers are whining about the economy, in August Costco had an increase in same-store sales of 9%. The reason for this is very simple; there are no secret programs, or special incentives to buy there…just good old-fashioned business sense. Here are the key points in Jim’s interview that we can all learn from.
- Don’t gouge your customers. The interviewer pointed out that some suppliers still balk at Jim’s policy of not marking products up more than 15%. So much for supply and demand marketing.
- Treat your customers well. Jim: “Customers shop with us for value. They don’t shop with us for cheap prices on cheap merchandise. They expect us to deliver value on quality….The final analysis is, the customers vote at the checkout.” This is something for all of us to remember.
- Treat your employees well. Wall Street complains that Costco treats its customers and employees better than they do their shareholders. They pay their workers an average of $17 per hour, and 90% of health insurance costs, for both full-time and part-time employees. Yet, revenues have grown 70% in the last five years, and their stock has doubled.
- Know your competition. Jim: “Hardly a week goes by that I’m not in a Sam’s.” Do we study our own competition that closely?
- Try new things. Sales on Costco’s e-commerce site are expected to hit $1.6 billion this year, a 33% increase over 2007. Coffins are one of their big e-commerce sellers. Who would have thought?
- Do not be afraid to fail. Jim: “You don’t have enough space in your magazine to talk about all the things that we’ve tried that didn’t work out.” How bold are we about trying new things?
- Manage by walking around. Jim: “You know, there certainly are days when I’ll visit 12 (stores). I will be traveling to our warehouses every single week between now and Christmas…I try to approach the visits from the standpoint of the customer. Does the building have the right goods out? Is it well stocked and clean and safe? Nothing is a bigger turnoff than poor housekeeping.” Spending quality time with our customers and employees is going to be one of the keys to surviving this recession.
- Be innovative. Jim: “We just reconfigured our cashews. They were in a round canister, and we put them in a square canister. It sounds crazy, but we saved something like 560 truckloads a year of that one product.” In today’s chaotic world, innovation is not optional.
- Keep overhead low. Jim answers his own phone and sends his own faxes. I read somewhere else, a while back, that Jim uses the same desk, in the same small office where he started 25 years ago. Many of us can take a lesson from that.
Obviously, Costco is a reflection of its CEO and the values he brings to his business. But then, aren’t all our businesses a reflection of the values of the owner?
Something to think about.
My Book
Any business crisis can be managed before it becomes fatal . . . Be Your Own Turnaround Manager tells you how. Click here for more information.