Advice for CEOs

What are some inexpensive best practices you have seen that companies can use to train their sales force and keep them informed about product strategy and market trends? How do they generate collaboration between sales folks who often tend to be competitive with each other?

Every entrepreneur worries about losing their good people. There usually isn’t enough stock or options to tie in everyone you don’t want to lose—and even those mechanisms don’t always work as planned. How have you seen companies try to retain key people—even when these folks might be targeted by competitors?

Building a distinctive company brand that resonates with the market is important for any business. Middle market companies often aren’t able to afford the services of a brand consultant to help them think through an intricate brand strategy—or a marketing team to “police” internal brand practices. How do entrepreneurs you admire go about defining their brand(s), communicating it to their organization and using it in a meaningful, positive way in the market?

Among the biggest business risks is having your sales concentrated in only a few customers. Lenders, investors and prospective buyers of your company are sure to look hard at this issue. How have you seen well run companies take steps to diversify their customer base?

On September 14, 2016 Newport Partner and Managing Director Michael Evans co-led a webinar sponsored by Moss Adams, the CPA firm, about Succession Planning. The webinar ranged widely over family business and exit and succession issues, providing significant background on these topics and actionable ideas for participants to consider.

Note: Fred Fink, is the co-author of this blog. The business model of professional services firms—whether lawyers, accountants, doctors, architects, management consultants, or others who deploy specialized “white collar” expertise to serve clients, usually with some degree of fiduciary responsibility—is based on sharing of expertise between practitioners.