Each of our last three clients had issues that could be traced back to their previous family members’ ownership. All too often the preceding owner is a strong person, respected in the community, respected within the business, and they are the “CONTROL”. The problem is that since a “person” is the control, he or she determines what “good” is for the organization. Thus, problems can be covered over by them saying, “I’m already successful and I must be doing it right”, and the successor family member begins to learn a dangerous method of management.

Each of our clients were historically “successful”. Each experienced frustration with the successor family member. Either “they just weren’t up to it” or “they aren’t doing what we did”, therefore leaving hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars “on the table”. Upon review, the structures and individual employee accountability to “minimum acceptable standards” of action, results, and reporting were never established. Information was generally wrong or incomplete or unfocused in form to the real problems and controls of the company. Without correct information, the successor was “flying blind”, and more importantly and disastrously, was attempting to rapidly expand the business. The concept was not wrong. However, without accountable structures in place, the company simply lost more profit while revenues increased. The attitude of, “We’re making money, so it must be good” and “It is just a matter of more revenue to be great”, is just a rehash of the old style of management which the successor believed did not work.

Prior to turning over your business via buy-out or gift, get a formal analysis of the operations and personnel including the current ownership and the planned successor by a qualified outside resource. Understand your strengths and weaknesses. Once defined and agreed upon, implement the corrections prior to the business transfer. The investment in yourself and the future will almost always yield multiples of the cost shown by new profit every successive year. Formulate a plan for the next generation to be well-prepared to move the company to even greater heights.

The Burruano Group has just become a Bronze Sponsor to NAHB Women’s Council. We are continually trying to extend our contacts and influence in the building industry through our numerous articles in construction trade publications, membership in the National Association of Home Builders, memberships in regional NAHB committees in commercial construction and remodeling.

As you probably already know we continue to perform and participate in a number of national speaking engagements, and noted business advisory and implementation services for the construction industry. We believe by joining the National Women’s Council of the NAHB and becoming a bronze sponsor of the council, this will continue our goal of becoming the premiere construction business consulting firm in the nation and addresses and often overlooked segment of the construction market: women.
Nearly 25% of our current consulting engagements are with women owned companies. Although the business issues may often be the same regardless of the make-up of privately held companies’ ownership, there are unique challenges to the women who operate in the construction industry. This affords our firm a unique and important insight and knowledge building to add to the services and advice we offer to our clients nationally.

We recently participated in the ICAN Event Auction. We offered a $10,000 voucher for our business consulting services as a means to raise money for the Island Coast AIDS Network, a charity that raises money and assists those afflicted and affected by AIDS, at its annual charity ball auction in Naples, Florida.

The Philip Douglas Salons (2 For The Road, Inc.) was the big winner and commenced work with us to expand their revenues, increase their profits, and attract and retain the very best hair stylists and color experts in the region.  Philip Lindquist and Paula Warnock, owners of the renowned chain of salons in Naples, Florida, enjoy the reputation of “Salon to the Stars on the Gold Coast of Florida“.  Philip, personally, is noted for the generous philanthropic giving of his services and money to those suffering from cancer.

Ed Sundberg and Tony Burruano, Joint Managing Directors of the Burruano Group, Inc., will be delivering 2 workshops at the Southeast Building Conference (SEBC), in Orlando, Florida tomorrow, July 14 2007. Sundberg will be presenting a workshop from 8am-10am on successful succession planning (Succession Planning: What, When, Why, & How) for privately held and family owned businesses.

Burruano will be presenting a workshop entitled “7 Deadly Mistakes Construction Businesses Make… How to Recognize, Quantify, and Avoid Them” from 10am-12pm also tomorrow, July 14^th.

This is the second straight year Burruano and Sundberg have offered workshops at this Eastern Regional construction business event. Marcia Albert, EVP – Marketing for Burruano Group will be on hand for both presentations to answer questions of the attendees regarding BG or regarding marketing/branding issues of their companies.

www.sebcshow.com

We are proud to announce the Burruano Group has joined NAHB. The NAHB is an association that offers timely information and support to the home building, home remodeling, and commercial construction industry. Burruano Group contributes to the NAHB by volunteering their time to several construction committees of their local chapter, Collier County Builders Association, and by offering their business consulting services to members of the NAHB at a discount. By the active involvement of its executive staff of Ed Sundberg, Marcia Albert, and Tony Burruano in NAHB, Burruano Group intends not only to broaden the firm’s knowledge of construction issues, but hopes to assist the association and its membership with improving their respective companies in terms of increased revenue and profits.

For more information please visit the NAHB’s website: http://www.nahb.org

We cannot be all things to all people! Not only do we need to focus on the applications of our products or services, but as our first step, we must clearly define, exactly, who our top tier customer is, where he is, and how to get there. The top tier customer is that person who is willing to pay for the value added service we provide (i.e. give us the margins we want) and will normally repeat that sale if that is important to us. Once we know who we want, we need to fine tune our message to them in order to set standards for ourselves around how many steps it will take to secure each sale. Our message confirms the “customer promise” (what the customer expects) and defines the value proposition that our business must deliver (we set up centers of excellence behind the value proposition). The standards define the resources we need to get the results we must have.

Hooking a potential customer takes much deliberate work. The first step is to find out where he lives and how to access him. It may often take a third party introduction or finding the proper conduit for reaching the prospect. The second step is to arrange that first meeting. That may sound odd, but the less you come across “selling”, the less the chance you will be lied to in return. Just think about all the times people have tried to sell you things you didn’t want to buy. You would tell them anything to get them out of your way. That applies to even the best sales person when talking to someone who doesn’t know they need your product or service. So the approach here is not to sell, but set up the prospect to buy! This is called “hooking”. If the hook is buried deep, you can close. Premature closing can result in that fish pulling away and the “sale” lost.

So how do you hook? First, you must appreciate the research that says that people “buy” emotionally and not intellectually. Second, you need to get your prospect into your system of selling and get them out of their system of buying. During your discourse with them, qualify their emotions to determine it they fit a “real” customer profile. If you undertake your discourse correctly, you will lead your prospect into a funnel of emotional pain. That emotional pain is not an “OUCH!”, it is an emotional need to change and buy your product or service in order to solve their serious issues or needs that you can address better than your competitors. Once you have captured the emotional issues surrounding your prospect’s ability to do a better job for themselves by using your product or service, you have placed the hook. Setting the hook deeper requires a constant reinforcement in the “selling” process. Their relief from pain comes from working with your company using your solutions that he is very willing to pay for at this point. Now how do we get to “close”?

The next article in this series will describe how to “close” the customer.

Bonuses paid when a job or a year “goes well” or “you make money”, or worse, paid as a Christmas bonus inevitably become ENTITLEMENTS. When the incentive is not paid based on the job and/or the year EXCEEDING your planned profit and performance, when it’s not based on the employee or employee group (as applicable) exceeding their specific standards in their jobs linked to your MINIMUM ACCEPTABLE PROFIT, simply the bonus becomes a gift and eventually becomes an expected entitlement. When it becomes an expected entitlement and it’s not paid on a job or at the end of the fiscal year or in December, the reverse often occurs…productivity declines - another waste of profit and cash flow with a potential decline in business discipline, poor attitudes, and more lost profit and cash flow.

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I’ve heard the term “accountability” probably only second to cash flow/profit over my 30 plus years of working with privately held and publicly traded companies. I’m often told, “I hired them for their experience and expertise, they know their jobs, but I just get what I get…not what I want”.

The fallacy is that when you leave it up to your employees to determine “what good is”, you simply get their “good” (potentially multiple little businesses ongoing with no risk…except to you as the owner), not YOUR GOOD. Assuming that your definition of “good” is valid (keeps you in business) and achievable (not impossible or benchmarked to constant 100% performance), whether in construction, manufacturing, distribution, or services, if you can’t clearly define YOUR GOOD in terms of critical processes to be performed, financial and operational standards linked to HOW YOU MAKE MONEY, have the ability to measure those results by critical process, and link the results to how the employee makes money, you simply can’t create ACCOUNTABILITY. In simpler terms the employee has to know precisely what they are accountable for daily/weekly/by job (standards or benchmarks based on the specific job or process); when they have to look to know if what their doing is working under your definition of “good” (via reports or simple observation); and to whom they have to communicate the results of their observation of good or bad to defined timelines.

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Nearly 10% of all the companies that I have personally worked with over the past 35 years describe themselves as “Christian Based”. The Christian based companies have an exceptional acknowledgment of Jesus in their daily lives, love of the Bible, and they believe in the power of prayer. They read from the Bible either at home or at the office and often with their employees. Many begin each meeting with prayer. Everyone I have met in the Christian based companies are wonderful, consistent people who care deeply about their faith, their customers, their family and their employees.

The nature of my business, the Burruano Group, consists of defining and implementing corrections to problems involving employee accountability, profit, compensation and revenue. During the course of my work, I have discovered that each one of the Christian based companies experiences the same problems common to every other company we have worked with over the years, Christian based or not.

One of the unique challenges I have encountered in working with this group is that when they have an over dependence on prayer and family ties, they become paralyzed. They are unable to take “ACTION”. As I’ve said to each of them, “You were already successful or you wouldn’t be in a position to retain our current firm. You have been given a blessing in the continued existence of your business. Realize that many businesses fail early on, yet you have made it this far!”

What they often forget is the charge in the Bible to “Stewardship”, which is a responsibility to take the gift you have received, use it and act upon it. Neither prayer alone, nor love of family and employees alone, “gets it done” in the business world or in life.

Acting with discipline, accountability and standards, and moving forward to implement your desired and achievable results, coupled with a faith based culture in your organization, “gets it done”. Accept your responsibility as a “Steward” to act and use the gift you’ve been given by God.