5 Numbers Every Business Owner Must Know

Business owners - what are the 5 essential numbers to grow your business?  

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1. What’s the value of your time?  This number gives you perspective on how and where to apply your talents.  It helps prioritize your tasks.  Will this task make you money or avoid losing money - how much?  Without this this number you feel at odds constantly trying to do everything and failing to be productive.
2. When do you break-even?  Knowing when your revenues exceed the fixed and variable costs gives you confidence you make a profit for your efforts.  Without it you don’t know whether you’re winning or losing.  You don’t know the score.  You feel anxious and hesitant on strategy because you don’t know where you stand financially.
3. What’s the acquisition cost of your customers?  What are you spending in marketing, sales and customer experience to attract and retain them.  Are you receiving a return on investment?  Without this number you don’t have a basis to decide how and where to apply your resources.  You feel perplexed and must guess on marketing and sales strategies.
4. What is your customer lifetime value?  When you add up what your customer buys year-over-year plus their referrals, what value does it provide the business?  With this number you’ll appreciate your customers more.  Without this number you’ll miss apply your time with low quality customers vs focusing on retaining your loyal raving fans.
5. Finally, what is the value of your business?  What if you transitioned out of the business today, tomorrow or in 3 years what value do you need it to be?  What are the leveragable variables impacting the value?  How do you best show sustainable increasing discretionary cashflow?  Avoid feeling disappointed when this pinnacle event occurs.    

Knowing these 5 numbers is important.  Knowing the direction and rate of change is equally important over time.

If you’re uncertain about what your numbers are and their trends then let’s talk.  We’ll discuss how to calculate these numbers and how to move them in the right direction.  This is a complementary session and you're guaranteed to leave with at least a half dozen implementable ideas to improve these numbers.

Call me at ph:  972 709 6776 or eMail:  StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com

Let’s get started...know these numbers and we'll grow your business!

The 10 Components of an Internal Succession Plan for Professional Service Firms

We're at the beginning of one of the largest ownership transfers as the baby-boom generation retires.  Here are 10 components of an internal succession for professional service firms such as accounting, consulting, legal, architecture, construction, engineering or coaching.

1.  Assess the Adequacy and Desires of People that will Replace Departing Partner(s)

2.  Determine the Partners Intentions with Respect to Succession

3.  Determine the Value of the Partner’s Equity

4.  Consider how all of the Retiring Partner’s Roles and Responsibilities are delegated 

5.  Factor how the Client and Staff Relationships are protected

6.  Have Succession Plan cover all possibilities of loss of partner

7.  Create a Economic Win/Win Proposition for both Parties - Departing Partners and Remaining Partners

8.  Strengthen the Support and Service Team

9.  Have a Contingency Plan for the Firm if terms for transition are adversely affected

10.  What are Options if Internal Succession Plan is not Viable?

If you find your firm at this pinnacle point i.e. within 4 or 5 years of a partners retirement then let's have a discussion on how to ensure you'll succeed.

eM:  StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com ph:  972 709 6776

CPA's - Do You Have Capacity for One More Client...?

I'm interviewing DFW accounting firms providing traditional tax, audit and bookkeeping services to businesses and seek to significantly increase their financial, managerial and operational accounting billings.  The right firm currently has at least 75 business owner clients with revenues between $500,000 and $3.500,000.  The objective is to grow your client's business and increase your billings doing more predictable and interesting high value work with clients you enjoy. 

Here's the concept:. We work together to evaluate your clients based on existing performance and owner's desires to accelerate their growth.  We invite them to participate in an event, interview those interested to ensure they're qualified and make offers for them to participate.  The clients selected and accepting of the business coaching and higher value accounting services program are provided your services individually once a month.  The one-on-one monthly accounting sessions are facilitated by me and I pay your hourly rate.  

I call this co-coaching.  You're coaching them on their numbers and I'm coaching them on all the other facets of business building from business action plans & strategies, marketing & sales, systemization, team building and operations.  

Example:  $300/hr rate x 7 clients/day = $2,100/day for 12 sessions/year = $25,200/yr incremental services.  Can you see how you get a predictable revenue stream doing high value work for your best clients?  During the other 3 or 4 weeks in the month the client receives business coaching on the other growth areas from me.

If you're open to having this discussion, let me know soonest as I know the lull in accounting activity closes quickly and only 2 accountant firms can be handled this summer.