Strombeck News: Strombeck Relief Effort
In the wake of Hurricane Dorian, our Strombeck family partnered with other local businesses to provide immediate relief effort for the Bahamas. We banded together to deliver emergency supplies and critical aid directly to survivors on the island via helicopter. Even ahead of the formal mobilization of agencies on the ground. To learn how you can donate to the ongoing relief effort in the Bahamas and help the island rebuild visit: bahamas. Read more…
Finance: 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Profit Margins
While every entrepreneur needs a top line focus (nothing happens ‘til someone sells something) we need to be reminded about attention to profits. Samuel Johnson once said, “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.” Here’s a reminder to pause in the top-line thinking and get some practical bottom-line focus – because even if you may have Walmart revenues, but have Nordstrom operating expenses, you’re going to go broke: Inc: 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Profit Margins
Strategy: KPI’s – Moving from Talk to Action
You’ve heard it from the B-schools, fellow entrepreneurs, you Vistage or other CEO peer group – you need Key Performance Indicators to move your business forward (or keep it from sliding back.) But KPI’s are not generic – yours aren’t the same as everyone else’s, even your closest competition. Success will bring you to a point where you have to grow past your trusty “gut” and quantify critical functions so you can translate “gut” into actionable and transferrable skills to your team. BernardMarr.com: A Sample KPI Template
Marketing: Spending $$ on Social Media Marketing
“In the digital world, there are many ways to acquire customers: paid social, paid search, email acquisition, organic social, organic search (earning traffic through content), public relations, influencer marketing, and earned media.” Author Adam Bornstein reminds of ways to get the most bang for your buck – even some free means of engaging and acquiring new customers. Entrepreneur: How Much Should You Spend on Social Media Marketing?
Image credit: Petra Balekic, The Oracles Sales: 5 Elements of a Winning Sales Cadence
The best salespeople often have that intangible, that ‘woo’, that ability to connect with a customer. But beyond ‘gut’ there are processes – “cadences” that help develop a rhythm to the process of sales. And for many high value products and services, sales is a process, not an event. How’s your ‘cadence’? Salesloft: 5 Elements of a Winning Sales Cadence
Image credit: Google Leadership: Google Tried to Prove Managers Don’t Matter
Middle management is tough. Entry level employees focus on applying skills to get tasks done. Upper management has proven they have the skills. So they get to talk strategy, markets. Use ‘soft skills.’ But life in the middle is responsible for the tasks of others, to coach, assist and not succumb to the ‘I’ll just do it myself’ temptation. It’s a balancing act of people and task. So in 2002, Google tried to prove that middle managers didn’t matter. Inc.: Google Tried to Prove Managers Don't Matter
Digital Strategy: The Four Fights You Have to Win
Middle management is tough. Entry level employees focus on applying skills to get tasks done. Upper management has proven they have the skills. So they get to talk strategy, markets. Use ‘soft skills.’ But life in the middle is responsible for the tasks of others, to coach, assist and not succumb to the ‘I’ll just do it myself’ temptation. It’s a balancing act of people and task. So in 2002, Google tried to prove that middle managers didn’t matter. McKinsey: Digital strategy - The four fights you have to win
Finance: Seller Notes for Acquisitions
“It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.” -Warren Buffet Growth through acquisitions is a common occurrence for business owners. But judging whether the company to be acquired will meet Mr. Buffet’s definition of wonderful can be difficult. When circumstances are somewhat uncertain, some of the risk of the future performance of the acquired company can be shifted to the seller. Read more…
Strombeck Solutions: Seller Notes for Acquisitions
“With the new automated process from Strombeck Consulting, I was able to get more data every week, and the numbers were 100% reliable. I saved significantly on labor costs and my team was able to use that time to focus on other tasks.” Mike MacKubin, retired CFO of DiPasqua Enrerprises, Inc., operator of 120 Subway stores in Central Florida (http://www.subwaydipasqua.com) Like many growing businesses, DiPasqua Enterprises had accumulated a series of inputs for its reporting and payroll that included programs and spreadsheets that provided data for manual inputs into the company’s primary accounting software. Read more…
Finance: What is Bitcoin?
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” -Albert Einstein Would Einstein understand Bitcoin? Bitcoin is one of a series of newly created virtual currencies. If it can achieve adequate acceptance, it can provide the same utility as your current electronic banking, but with a very important difference. No bank or government is involved, and transactions are entirely anonymous. For a more detailed description visit http://www.bitcoin.org. Read more…
