Archive for year: 2019

When Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas was asked why his company’s burgers were square, he replied, “Because we never cut corners.” Thomas’ grandmother Minnie reportedly instilled this value in him, and his reply is a reminder that with some aspects of your business, you can’t afford to cut corners. Reducing effective marketing, customer service, employee benefits, and cybersecurity, or not nurturing your company’s core DNA, will cost you.

A study by marketing service OutboundEngine found that a staggering 50 percent of business owners admit to not having a marketing plan. It reports 55 percent of owners of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) spend less than 5 percent of annual revenue on marketing, and over 58 percent of SMB owners spent just five hours a week or less on marketing.

If the study is accurate, these companies are heading down a slippery slope. Keeping your company top-of-mind is fundamental to success and growth. Resources spent on strategic marketing is money you should get back with a healthy return.

Too often when times get tough, owners make ill-advised cuts to marketing/PR/ad budgets because they don’t understand the importance of these fundamental tools for stabilizing or growing a company. A business’ future viability requires not just cost controls, but revenue enhancement. Ill- advised slashing, or not putting in the time, effort or resources to successfully market your company will slowly deplete your business.

Remember not to under- or overspend, but work with your team to get your message out effectively.

Now, take a moment to consider the last time you reached out to a company and think about that customer service experience. Was it easy to find someone to handle your problem? Did the company resolve the matter quickly? If you’re a smart consumer and the answer was “no,” you likely moved on to another company to get that product/service.

Companies like Amazon and Lexus consistently rank as top customer service providers. Look to their efficiencies and strategies as a road map to your company’s customer service success. This is your front line of defense against bad-word-of-mouth and negative reviews online. Whether you’re building a culture of customer service, choosing the right vendor to handle inbound calls, or selecting digital customer service providers, in today’s era, with a negative review just a few clicks away, customer service is more important than ever.

Another area to support is your team, maybe your most important asset. If you hope to recruit and retain the top talent, potential and current employees need to know you’re willing to invest in them. Everything from company retreats, education, vacation time, and other benefits, matter.

Securing employee buy-in is directly correlated to how much you value your team, and how you treat your employees may ultimately affect how they deal with your clients and customers. If you have underappreciated employees, you’ll be faced with costly turnovers, problematic recruiting, or discover your employees are unwilling to deliver the level of service essential to your success. Little things matter when it comes to building esprit de corps. Don’t skimp here.

Underneath everything your company does, there should be a recognizable identity. Remember your mission and never forget your principles. You must know what your core DNA is, then you need to build and nurture that. And, if your company is growing, but its identity is being diluted, you have a problem. It’s time to regroup to ensure that the one good thing you are known for, is the one thing that never changes.

Finally, highly publicized trade secrets thefts and the Equifax and Capital One data breaches show there are malicious actors out there looking to target you next. Skimping on adequate cybersecurity measures to safeguard your customer data, trade secrets and intellectual property will end up costing you customers, while saddling your outfit with financial liability and huge image problems. All this can mean the death of your business.

Every company owner is faced with the task that only ends when the business ends: Ensuring that your operation is lean and efficient. But as you’re trimming costs, remember not to be pennywise and pound-foolish. There are certain things your business just can’t afford to do without.

James S. Cassel is co-founder and chairman of Cassel Salpeter & Co. jcassel@casselsalpeter.com.

With the 2020 election fast approaching, presidential hopefuls set on wooing business owners need to devise a courtship strategy based on more than platitudes. Given that many entrepreneurs are supportive of various Trump economic policies, and according to some polls, from a financial standpoint, feel he has their “best interests at heart,” candidates must address foundational issues — including taxes, regulation, labor, tariffs, the environment, healthcare, and income inequality — while remembering that this is still a capitalist democracy, not a socialist country.

First, although many business owners cheered President Donald Trump’s tax reform, there remains a sense that middle-market businesses benefited little, while big business and the wealthy were its main beneficiaries.

Candidates should define their plan for equitable taxes and which temporary breaks they would make permanent. It’s also important to remember the economic effect of both tax increases and tax breaks on the deficit, which recently hit a record $22 trillion and is still growing. This also needs to be balanced against social needs.

Regulation is another important issue. Under this administration, deregulation is driven by the requirement to eliminate two regulations for every new one added.

Business owners are generally supportive of deregulation as it can substantially impact their bottom line. Candidates should reassure business owners that under their leadership, government would be responsive, reasonable, and committed to eliminating red tape, while keeping in mind that many regulations are in the public’s best interest and end up saving money in the long term. For example, many states and companies do not want a rollback of auto emission standards due to the negative effects on climate, and ultimately, the economy.

Another key issue involves labor. Trump’s anti-immigration policies worry many business sectors, including agriculture, construction, and restaurant and hospitality, which rely on this labor.

Candidates should adopt level-headed approaches to this sensitive issue, neither avoiding it, nor demonizing immigrants — who are part of the ever- changing tapestry of this country and grow our economy. Without immigration, we would not have the same GDP growth.

Also, burdensome tariffs (ultimately a tax paid by consumers); a current, if fragile, truce in the U.S.-China trade war; and the looming threat of more tariffs, are part of the new reality for entrepreneurs, manufacturers, and farmers. Given how tariffs affect the supply chain, impacting the U.S. and global economies, candidates must develop a clearly articulated policy aimed at defusing tensions with China and other nations, while not ignoring trade problems and the transfer/theft of intellectual property.

Another issue, the environment, is a sore spot for green-minded business owners who decry Trump’s environmental record — including pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord and undermining the Clean Power Plan.

The environment has economic and global repercussions: It impacts insurance rates for businesses, can shut down supply chains, increases food costs, drives mass migration, and is not a matter that can be kicked down the road anymore. With the environment, a stalemate that continues to stagnate results in disaster for generations to come.

A sixth area is healthcare. While the administration has made clear its intention to repeal Obamacare, its proposed solution remains elusive, and we have yet to see what the courts will do. Uncertainty is a death knell for business owners.

Finally, presidential hopefuls should consider that increasing income for lower earners translates into more buying power and a stimulated economy. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25. Despite Trump’s campaign promises, it has not been increased in 10 years, although many companies have raised wages out of necessity to secure employees.

It is not sustainable to have to provide taxpayer-funded assistance in the form of food stamps and other benefits to those who are working 40-hour weeks, but still can’t make ends meet.

Thoughtfully fleshing out issues that matter to business owners will enable presidential hopefuls to stand out and gain support. These are tough issues, but they cannot be ignored by either the administration or candidates. In the political arena, where blustering, posturing, and unbridled contention are the modus operandi, a moderate, cool and balanced voice of reason could be an irresistible magnet around which America rallies.

James S. Cassel is a monthly contributor to Business Monday of the Miami Herald who writes about issues affecting the middle market; the views expressed are his and not necessarily those of the newspaper. Cassel is co- founder and chairman of Cassel Salpeter & Co., an investment-banking firm based in Miami.