Sherwood Marine Marketing
Four Winns
Keller Marine
MRAA

 

Continuing to manage in a stubborn recession

Posted by on August 17th, 2010 (1 comment)

While there are encouraging signs of improvement in the economy, with some dealers reporting new sales, we are not out of the woods yet with the economy. We are getting warnings and reassurance about the economy, which for small businesses this means having a strategy that includes tactics for both an improving economy and a staggering one

Many of the tactics for shoring up your business as we entered the economic downturn still apply.  These are about weathering out the storm and maintaining a presence for your customers. Tactics for a recovering economy are intended to make it easy for your customers to buy from you, and keep them as fans of your business. Seven things you should be doing include: …  [ READ MORE of this article and comment ]

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Plan for Business Succession

Posted by on June 8th, 2010 (1 comment)

Having come from a family construction business, my own environmental management business working with the marina industry, having worked with numerous businesses in developing team leadership and organizational strategies, and now teaching a course on family business management I am learning a lot about what makes family businesses successful and those that do not.

Family businesses have a lot of competitive advantages, many referenced by others who have responded to your recent article “Family is Everything,” such as a consumers perception of trustworthiness, deep understanding of the business developed across generations, shared values, a long-term perspective and an appreciation for patient money. But rarely do we hear about the 70% of businesses that fail in the transition from founder to second generation.

The lack of planning for succession, of “starting with the end in mind,” from early-on, is probably the number one killer of a family business. …  [ READ MORE of this article and comment ]

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