The document outlines strategies for business owners to enhance company value and operational effectiveness, emphasizing the importance of quantifiable advantages, financial management, talent management, and strategic direction. It highlights critical red flags that could signify value loss and provides guidance on aligning business goals with operational capabilities. The overall aim is to equip owners with insights to optimize performance, prepare for future transitions, and ensure their businesses are resilient and strategically aligned.

1. Chairman’s View
How to shift
YOUR Company
into High Gear!
Bruce Fischer, MBA, CMC, Chairman
Fischer Group Inc.
1

2. Agenda
•
•
Top 5 Red Flags
5. Quantifiable Advantage
4. Financial Management
3. Talent Management
2. Strategic Direction
1. “Do it All” Business Owner
Panel Discussion
2

3. Chairman’s View
Value challenge
Performance challenge
Get Owners to:
• View their businesses as assets
• Think like an Owner
• Build your business to last decades, but prepare to sell it
tomorrow
3

4. Quantifiable Advantage
Margins that are very low, or lower
than average in your industry means
your operating business doesn't
efficiently make money and may not
be well positioned in the market
Jeffrey Dale, Chairman
CEO, Odawa Group Inc.
4

5. What sets you apart in the Marketplace?




Product/Service Differentiation
Innovation
Corporate Culture
Cost/Operational Leadership
5

6. Business Books

7. Blue Ocean - Framework
• What needs to be eliminated
• What needs to be reduced
below industry standards
• What should be raised well
above industry standards
• What should be created that
the industry has never
offered

8. Blue Ocean of Cirque du Soleil
• Eliminate
– Star Performers
– Animal Shows
– Aisle Concessions
• Reduce
– Thrill and Danger
• Improve
– Unique Venue
• Create
– Theme
– Artistic Music and Dance
– Multiple Productions

9. Local Quantifiable Advantage

10. The Works: Product Differentiation
• Started 2001 – Sold 2010
– 6 Locations in Ottawa
• Improve - Its all about
Burgers
• Eliminate - No Bar, No TV
• Reduce - Close at 10
• Owner had health issues
• Large expansion
opportunities
– (30 GTA requests alone)
• Right time to sell at a
premium

11. Bridgehead: Corporate Culture
• Opened 2000
– 16 Locations
– 2004 Bakery 2012
Roastery
• Improve - fair trade + organic
food & sustainable
environment
• Create - unique feel in every
store (employees and décor)
• Low employee turnover
• Customer loyalty

12. Med-Eng: Innovation
• Founded in 1981
• Bomb Disposal Suits and
equipment
– Founder tested 19 times
• Growth - Electronic Counter
Measures (Bomb Jammers)
• Improve - Helmets and Suits
• Create - Electronic Products
– success in Afghanistan & Iraq
• 2001 – Revenue ~$50M
• 2007 – Revenues ~$400M
• 2007 Sold - $650M

13. Advantage of Quantifiable Advantage
VALUE TO BUSINESS
•
•
•
•
VALUE TO OWNER
Attract new customers
• Increase value of the
business
Retain existing customers
• Options for owner
Faster revenue growth
– Grow the business
Maintain/improve
– Transition or sell
margins
business

14. Polling Question #1:
How well do you know your company’s quantifiable advantage?
1. Very well
2. Better than your competitors
3. Have a solid understanding
4. Somewhat
5. Don’t know it
14

15. Financial Management
Strong governance, transparency
and financial & operational reports
will strengthen the business and its
ability to make effective decisions,
AND make it bullet proof for a due
diligence
Candace Enman, CA, CPA
President, WelchGroup Consulting
15

16. Financial Drivers
1. Financial Statements
2. Operating Reports
3. Audits
4. Intellectual Property
5. Tangible Assets
6. Banking & Capital
7. Risk & Insurance
8. Tax
16

17. 1st Gear
1st Gear: Financial Statements
1. Spreadsheets
2. “Box Jobs”
3. Computerized financial reporting package
• Balance sheet
• Profit & loss
Doing compliance reporting alone will not add
value to your business.
17

18. 2nd Gear
2nd Gear: Operational Reporting
“management reports that are routinely generated
and used by management to review the company’s
performance and make operational decisions”
1. Operational reporting
• Do they tell the
company story?
• Key Performance
Indicators (KPI’s)
2. Transparency
18

19. 2nd Gear
2nd Gear: Operational Reporting
3. Forecasts/Projections
4. Dashboard reporting
 Real time reporting
Position yourself to make decisions proactively.
Accelerate or put on the brakes when you need to.
19

20. 3rd Gear: Audit
1. Numbers are audit-ready & “bulletproof”
• Clean records, business processes, internal
controls
If you performed a due diligence on yourself would
you like the results?
2. Documentation
• Business continuity
Greater Confidence = Lower Risk for Buyer
= More Value!
20

21. Cruise Control
21

22. Polling Question #2:
Do your Operational Reports identify the activities & health of
your business to help with “proactive” management decisions?
1. Yes – very helpful
2. Yes – but needs improvement
3. No – I don’t think we’re focused on the right things
4. Don’t have operational reports
22

23. Talent Management
A company that has the ability to find,
develop and retain quality individuals in the
right positions, at the right time, will enable
success in all aspects of the business
Margo Crawford, President
Business Sherpa Group
23

24. 3 Major HR Themes that can Depress Value
1. Having the right team at the right time through business
changes and for long term success
2. Having a team that is performing at its full potential to
drive business value.
3. Having the right structures and processes in place to
Financial
Measures sustainable and repeatable performance
ensure
Revenue, EBITDA
24

25. Do you have the right team at key business
inflection points?
Headcount (mix/#s)
Headcount
Business Performance
• Natural business inflection points require different skills & sometimes different
people
• Common response to business challenges is to add people
• Over time it becomes more difficult to change the trajectory of business
performance with a given team
• Strong tendency to not change up the team that built the business at an early stage
Formation
Early
Growth
Accelerated
Growth
Maturing
Growth
Time
Next Stage
Growth

26. Indicators of Workforce
Weakness
• Has there been any additions
or changes to your leadership
team?
• Does your organization
achieve relatively less with
more people?
• Pressure on margins despite
revenue growth
Value Depressors
• Confidence around leadership
team
• Succession plans – single
points of failure
• Productivity & performance –
a team that can achieve
results (revenue/head)
• Cost of over loaded team
• No or exceptionally low
turnover OR exceptionally
high turnover
• Skills to achieve what the
business needs

27. Do you have a team that is performing at its full
potential to drive business value?
• Important to set a course and let the team know what needs to be accomplished
• Develop programs to drive value – performance management; total
rewards/incentives; set expectations and measure performance
$100M
$90M
Valuation
$80M
$70M
How do you get the
team driving this
additional valuation?
$60M
$50M
$40M
$30M
$20M
Time
Current Value
Future Value

28. Indicators of Low
Performing Team
Value Depressors
• Expectations not articulated
• Missed milestones and key
deliverables
• No communications around
corporate goals
• Connection of corporate
goals to individual goals and
behaviours
• Lack of approaches to
reward behaviours that
drive value
• Star performers not
identified and not locked
into business
• Nothing in place to push
performance – possible
low caliber team

29. Having the right structures & processes in place to
ensure sustainable and repeatable performance.
Contracts
• Protect IP & assets
• Retain or lock in key employees
• Appropriate liabilities and obligations; mitigate risks
Compensation
• Appropriate compensation for market
• Motivate and Reward performance
Sales Incentives
• Sales compensation plans that drive quota attainment
• Models that make financial sense and are in line with market
• Terms that create appropriate obligations
Policies
• Policies that ensure compliance with laws
• Practices that align with business values; motivate the right behaviours;
and ensure sustainable business operations
Workforce
Planning &
Recruitment
• Exceptional recruitment process and selection practices – resourceful
and diligent sourcing; hire for best fit
• Workforce plans that align with business goals
Performance
Management
• Effective feedback tools; programs that build goals that align with
business goals

30. Polling Question #3:
What type of goals does your company measure & reward senior
management on?
1. Corporate, functional & individual goals
2. Corporate & functional goals
3. Functional area goals only
4. Individual goals only
5. No specific measures/rewards given
30

31. Strategic Direction
A business without a strategic plan is like
a ship without a compass. Your
business may float just fine today, but
chances are it will eventually get lost.
Valuable businesses have a strong
sense of direction.
Bron Vasic, CA, CMC, Chairman
President, B Vasic & Associates Inc.
31

32. Shift your Company into High Gear
 Valuable businesses have a strong
sense of direction
 They make the time to Think & Act
Strategically
 Strategy: A plan or method for
achieving something, especially over a
long period of time

33. Management Functional Areas
Financial
Information
Technology
Operations
/Delivery
Strategic
Management
Human
Resources
Marketing
Need for
Alignment
33

34. Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is a management tool
1. Focus its energy
2. Ensure that all staff are
working toward the same
goal
3. Assist in assessing and
adjusting the
organizations direction
in response to a
changing environment
4. Prioritize Financial
Needs
34

35. Excuses to Think or Act Strategically
1. Lack of understanding and focus in the process of
planning
2. Mentally fatigued
3. Partial commitment
4. Lack of understanding
5. Lack of accountability.
6. Lack of follow-up
7. Lack of flexibility
35

36. 5 Strategic Questions to Ask
1. What business are we in and how
are we doing now?
2. What’s happening around us?
• Are there any serious dangers
in staying where we are – i.e.
sticking with the same business
and strategy?
3. If so, is there a better place for us to
be?
4. How do we get there?
5. How will we know we have arrived?
36

37. Strategic Direction
• Run at peak performance
• Make sure that the business is in the right gear
• Bigger is not better
• Running leaner has many advantages and efficiencies
• Get out of crisis mode, get aligned, get things meshing well
• People are starved for leadership – take charge, be proud of what you
have and make decisions based on what you know
• Procrastination for a day can be good, even a couple of days but
beyond a week you are in analysis paralysis
• Don’t grind your gears
• Have the necessary tune ups that will allow for a smooth ride (perform
better, save gas)
• Getting all on the same page and not doing business alone
• Simplicity in planning and words that everyone will understand
37

38. Polling Question #4:
Does your company have a strategic plan?
1. Yes we have a plan
2. We have a plan, but it’s not updated
3. No plan on paper, but we meet regularly about it
4. No plan on paper, but we have a common vision
5. No plan
38

39. Polling Question #5:
We have a private jet waiting for you at the airport that can take
you anywhere you want to go. You only have 1 hour to prepare.
Would you be able to pack up and leave your company and
have it continue to operate smoothly without you?
1. Yes
2. Yes, but only for a month
3. Yes, but only for a week
4. Yes, but I would need my smartphone
5. No
39

40. Do it All Business Owner
A "do it all" business owner means the
value of the business is in the business
owner versus the actual operating
business
Chuck Richards, CEO
Chairman’s View/CoreValue
40

41. Owner’s Role
The fundamental responsibility
of the CEO is to build
enterprise value.

42. Enterprise Value is:
If Enterprise Value is the measure of business
success, questions every CEO needs to ask and
answer:
What is my business really worth?
Why?
How do I make it more valuable?

43. Polling Question #6:
Do you know the value of your Company today?
1. Yes
2. I have a general idea
3. No
43

44. Polling Question #7:
If your business sold today, could your business survive
due diligence (i.e. is the value transferable)?
1. 100% confident
2. Greater than 75% confident
3. Greater than 50% confident
4. There’s some work I’d have to do to get it ready
44

45. Polling Question #8:
Do you know how to improve the performance and value
of your business?
1. Yes and I have a plan that will help me execute it
2. Yes but I don’t have a plan
3. I’m not sure where to start
45

46. Enterprise Value is not:
1. Profit
2. Revenue
3. Captured on the Balance Sheet

47. Enterprise Value is:
A company’s ability to generate
future revenue and profit,
without the current business
owner(s) in charge

48. You Need to Know

49. Red Flags – Negate all Value
43%
22%
19%

50. Why it Really, Really Matters
6,500,000+ private businesses with payrolls
• 50%+
North American job base
• 75%+
Owned by Boomers
• 80%+
Failure rate to transfer ownership

51. Business is An Engine

52. Finance Measures the Outputs of the Engine
Revenue and Profit

53. Value = Ability of the Engine to Dependably
Generate Revenue and Profit into the Future

54. Need to Look “Under the Hood”

55. CoreValue Rating based on a
framework of 18 Value Drivers

56. The Chairman’s View Process
Define Success
– Owner Interviews
– Management Interviews
Core Value Software
– Assess
– Track

57. CoreValue “Assess”
“Market View” of the Value of Your Company
•
•
•
•
•
•
Transferable Enterprise Value
Potential Value
Value Gap
Red Flags
Pre Due Diligence
Roadmap to Improve Value

64. CoreValue “Track”:
Building real Transferable Enterprise Value
•
•
•
•
•
Quantified list of Actions
Prioritize Actions by $$ / ROI
Regular CoreValue Rating reviews
Track how Enterprise Value increases
Complete Due Diligence as needed

69. Next Step: simple
ENGAGE

70. CoreValue “Engage”:
Begin the conversation of a Lifetime
•
•
•
•
Structured Conversation
Strength of your Business Engine
Estimate of your Value Gap
Identify 5 Value Drivers that need your
time

72. Panel Q&A
•
Bruce Fischer
•
Jeffrey Dale
•
Candace Enman
•
Margo Crawford
•
Bron Vasic
•
Chuck Richards
72

73. Contact Us
Candace Enman
President, WelchGroup Consulting
cenman@w-group.com
www.w-group.com
Bron Vasic
Chairman, WelchGroup Consulting
bron@bvasic.com
www.w-group.com
Bruce Fischer
Chairman, WelchGroup Consulting
bfischer57@magma.ca
www.w-group.com
Chuck Richards
CEO, Chairman’s View/CoreValue
crichards@corevaluesoftware.com
www.corevaluesoftware.com
Jeffrey Dale
Chairman, CEO, Odawa Group Inc.
JDALE@w-group.com
www.w-group.com
Margo Crawford
President, Business Sherpa Group Inc.
margo@businesssherpagroup.com
www.businesssherpagroup.com
73