Archive for month: June, 2015

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By James S. Cassel
June 14, 2015

While the technology and healthcare/biotech industries in South Florida continue to gain strength and momentum, the region’s middle-market businesses are not properly positioning themselves to serve these industries and benefit from their growth.

There can be significant revenue opportunities for those that make the financial and other commitments necessary to position themselves to fulfill the needs of these growth businesses for highly qualified suppliers, subcontractors, and service providers. Too often, these growth businesses feel a need to look beyond South Florida for support because they do not believe their needs can be handled locally — a void that must be addressed. Right or wrong, this is the perception in the marketplace.

Based on our experience advising middle-market businesses seeking growth opportunities, the following is practical guidance for businesses that cater or want to begin catering to these growth industries:

Create a business-development strategy. Identify the key businesses you want to serve and pinpoint the ones you are best-suited to begin serving in the near or long term. Develop a plan for getting in front of these businesses to assess their needs and offer your services.

Identify the areas of your business, including products or services that you provide, which you may need to trim or expand in order to serve growth industries. Some of this may require partnering with or outsourcing work to other companies, locally, or in other parts of the United States, or internationally.

Consider investing in your team by providing educational or training opportunities and/or by adding head count. Hiring the best talent can be an expensive commitment, especially for business owners who are not sure if they will ultimately have enough business to support the additional head count. Thus, it may be wise to consider hiring temporary personnel or independent contractors who can eventually become permanent team members after you have gotten to know them and confirmed that they are a good fit, and when you are sure you have enough business to justify their compensation.

Consider acquiring or merging with competitors in the market. This is a great way to acquire quality talent. It is not uncommon in some industries, such as technology, for companies needing talent to buy younger, smaller companies to gain a competitive advantage.

Evaluate your client roster and eliminate the bottom 10 percent of your clients that may be too problematic, unprofitable or a disproportionate drain on your resources. One of the main obstacles for South Florida’s middle-market businesses is that many of them are running at or near capacity and lack the necessary talent and infrastructure to effectively handle the higher level of work required by companies in these growth industries. While parting with paying clients can often be a difficult decision, it is critical for long-term success. Part of the trouble with keeping clients that are cumbersome or not profitable is that they can drain your business in terms of time, energy and other resources. They can diminish your ability to provide quality service to other customers. Just as important, they can hurt your company’s employee morale and job satisfaction. For these reasons, bottom-tier clients might not be sustainable over the long term. Simply put, these clients are not good business and should be let go in order to make room for clients that will better support your growth.

Consider increasing your capacity by incorporating advanced solutions. Manufacturers, for example, may consider using robotics to reduce costs and increase capacity and productivity. 3D printing is another great way to increase efficiency. For example, manufacturers can use 3D printing to put together product prototypes that are quicker, less expensive, and easier to produce, and are thereby speeding up the manufacturing process and using technology to enhance their productivity and competiveness.

Develop a marketing-communications strategy. In order to hire you, companies need to know you exist and that you are able to serve them. When you have completed your business plan and implemented the necessary changes within your company to execute on those goals, you should work with experienced marketers to determine how to best position yourself to your target audiences, differentiate yourself from competitors, elevate visibility of your company among these audiences, and motivate them to want to hire you or buy your products. Your marketing strategy also should include a plan for building direct relationships with key decision-makers by attending key events, providing seminars and workshops, distributing e-newsletters, etc.

Without a doubt, South Florida’s middle market is missing opportunities to serve local companies in industries that are growing right in our own backyards. Serving these growth industries is not only important to our local middle-market businesses — it will also bring significant benefits to our local economy by creating more local jobs, financial opportunities and economic growth.

James Cassel is co-founder and chairman of Cassel Salpeter & Co., LLC. He may be reached via email at jcassel@casselsalpeter.com or via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesscassel. His website is: www.casselsalpeter.com

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By Beth Pinsker
June 2, 2015

There is one big advantage 23-year-old Clint Morrison has found joining his family’s business fresh upon graduating from Rider University: he has a job, while most of his friends do not.

“They’re all still sort of scrambling,” Morrison says.

The Morrison family business, Benefit Design Specialists Inc, administers employee benefit plans for small businesses and is based in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Dad Tim employs not only his youngest son, Clint, but also two older sons, ages 27 and 29, as well as his own sister, a sister-in-law, a cousin and about 10 other non-related employees.

The key to a harmonious office with so many family members? “You have to find a spot for them to be productive or they won’t make it in the family business,” the patriarch says.

Here are some tips on joining the workforce – with your relatives, according to family business experts:

START ELSEWHERE

There is no official tally of how many “& Sons” or “& Daughters” are among the 28 million small businesses in the United States, according to the Small Business Association.

Yet one of Clint Morrison’s business professors advised him not to start in the family business. The advice: go elsewhere and garner some knowledge of the industry first. Given the state of the job market and his family’s specialty niche, Morrison decided that was not feasible.

The strategy worked well for Laura Salpeter, who got a law degree and then worked for a few years at a law firm before joining her father Scott Salpeter’s Miami-based investment banking firm, Cassel Salpeter. Also working there, after a few years of getting experience with other companies, is Philip Cassel, son of Scott Salpeter’s partner. Both offspring are now 30.

“Working with my father was something I’ve always contemplated. So I dived into the business world and found out more about what it is,” said Cassel.

WORK YOUR WAY UP

Even if you spent your childhood playing in the family factory, that does not mean you are going to walk into a corner office once you get your diploma.

Robert Spielman, a partner in the tax and business services unit at Marcum LLP, advises clients that it is their job to make sure their kids are exposed to all aspects of the business, especially if they expect to hand it over to them one day.

For example, one of his clients, a fish distributor, hired several family members for its sales force. “But none learned how to manage the business, and eventually, they had financial troubles,” Spielman said.

The best way is to start at the bottom and experience all areas of the enterprise. If the family business is a trucking company, start out in maintenance, then drive for six months, go into sales and then assist in the financing side before managing the fleet and employees, Spielman says.

MANAGE EXPECTATIONS

The family business dream – that someday, all of this will be yours – can be a great motivator, but it can also instill an unwieldy sense of entitlement.

This happened to one family business owner client of Steve Faulkner, head of private business advisory for J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s Advice Lab. The son was lording his status over his coworkers and superiors, saying “Someday, I’m going to own all of this, and fire everyone I don’t like.”

When the son’s manager finally had the courage to tattle to the boss, he fired his own son. However, two months later, when the son could not find another job, the boss asked another manager to hire him back.

“That’s a horrible succession plan,” said Faulkner.

It is better, he says, for business owners to get their relatives to work harder than they ever have to be worthy to take over the reins.

Another of Faulkner’s clients does exactly this, down to a formalized training program for the fourth generation that is now joining the business. Newcomers spend up to six years training at international subsidiaries before being brought back to headquarters for management jobs.

The process drills respect into the employees, something Laura Salpeter says she has learned on the job.

Her top advice for those joining the family business? Understand you are working for your parent, not with your parent.