Tip of the Spear Ventures

A Family Office that behaves like Venture Capital | Private Equity | Business Consulting

Tip of the Spear

Business For Sale?

By

With the continued expansion of the economy, there’s no time like the present for would-be entrepreneurs to consider launching a business (Especially when you consider the recent tax and regulatory reform). Tip of the Spear Ventures’ Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Business Advisory Service was established to (1) assist those desiring to purchase a business, as well as (2) those business owners looking to exit or sell their existing business.

Business for Sale_Mergers and Acquisitions

A recent UBS study titled Q1 Investor Watch Report, reports that nearly 60% (58%) of sampled wealthy investors would consider starting a business. The report also reflects 52% of existing business owners are looking to capitalize on the robust economy and sell within the next 5-years (20% would like to create a succession plan whereby heirs would take over the business responsibilities, while 18% say that they will opt to simply shut the business down). Why the large percentage of business owners looking to exit? The study found 2 succession reasons in particular:

  1. Succession plans whereby the business would be turned over to heirs reflect that these successors would rather have cash in the bank versus ownership in the business (82%).
  2. Millennials also reflect a propensity to hold back and not run a business, citing business ownership and entrepreneurship are simply too stressful (80%)

Tip of the Spear Ventures’ M&A Business Advisory Services seek to assist both those looking to purchase a business (Buy-side) as well as those looking to exit their business (Sell-side). Our services combine the best of counsel ranging from M&A expertise, Accountancy, and facts of Legal matters.

To find out more about Tip of the Spear Ventures’ M&A Business Advisory Services,please contact us by phone @ 855.97SPEAR (855 977 7327) or email: info@tipofthespearventures.com.

What Are Your 2018 Sales Business Development Resolutions? – 6 Tips!

By

The Point: Nothing happens in business until you sell something! If that’s the truth, as we start-off another year here at Tip of the Spear Ventures we asked ourselves “What are we going to see in terms of Sales + Business Development activity that is going to make our goals become reality?” So in this post, we’ll explore 6 tips that we believe will make the difference in your 2018 sales business development resolutions… Enjoy!

What Are Your 2018 Sales Business Development Resolutions 6 Tips

“And they’re off!” the horse track announcer calls across the public address (pa) system. Just like the horse race, so begins another year with all the hoopla/excitement that a new calendar deserves. “This year is going to be different” a leader tells me as we kick-off a new engagement. “How so?” I ask. “We’re going to do things different. Last year, especially as the year drew to a close, I found us as an organization in a ‘rut’ that we couldn’t get out of. We have goals of lead generation, sales acceleration, and next-level business development. So this year we’re going to avoid the ‘rut’ and drive towards accomplishing our sales business development goals.” What follows are the 6 Tips (or goals) that this leader sees as the success tasks for the New Year…

Tip #6 – Two Brains are Better!

You must have heard that two brains are better than one, and this can be a huge asset in Lead Generation. This is the theory that two leaders will provide enough perspective to align towards a better alternative than would have been achieved in/of their own. When a leader goes out in search of a business partner to have stronger and better plans for their small business, sharing information and deciding which way to go often works out for the better. Not only do the brains need to be compatible, but there is a lot more to it. I’m not advocating that leaders with similar brains should align, but often times leaders with differing thoughts can for even greater alignment/future direction. Out of everything else the two partners should be able to drive the business in the best manner together forward.

Tip #5 – Leveraging Technology (Artificial Intelligence – AI)

Can you ever have enough technology when it comes to lead generation, sales acceleration, and next-level business development? Another opportunity to consider in the coming year is adding Alexa (or a virtual assistant) to your workspace. Not only will your schedules be organized/optimized, but you can incorporate Alexa into almost everything you do. From scheduling meetings, managing clients and to-do lists and all those little tasks which you would rather not do because they take a little longer in doing. This type of technology is beneficial in uncountable ways for your sales and business development efforts.

Tip #4 – Cross-Functional Teams

No matter how much technology you have, it still comes down to people in business executing sales acceleration initiatives drafted. So why not adopt cross-functional teams to achieve your goals with less consumption of human energy and having more productive outcomes for your business. The cross-functional teams can prove to be a good support for the business plan when they are competent and collaborate and cooperating at the same time. These teams can handle a big part of your sales acceleration and lead generation.

Tip #3 – Communicate the Sales + Business Development Plan!

So far this year, I’ve had a few disturbing moments when it comes to business leaders and their sales business development plans. The disturbing sales and business development moments come primarily in the form of not wrapping up 2017 aggressively and not having a sales acceleration plan in place for 2018. Now you and I both know that business can be unpredictable, and that best laid plans can become unraveled in a matter of what appears to be moments (especially in sales business development for those leadership members!) But to not finish strong (it’s not a matter of wanting to finish stronger!), often times comes down to not communicating the sales + business development plan to those expected to execute (and don’t get me started on the topic of accountability – a topic for a future post!) Communicating your idea in the best way possible is the key to manage a leading business. Communication serves the longest and healthiest life of a business (As business communications are largely dependent upon the presentations that are delivered to the potential partners or clients). It is very important to have some highly interactive and well explained and professionally created and creative presentations, but the content isn’t enough. You should definitely know the depths of what you want to deliver to the senior partners or clients of your business.

Tip #2 – Learn How to Negotiate

Learning to negotiate in a more effective way for this year is a key to the lifelong learning that I often see as a key to success (Especially when it comes to success in lead generation, sales acceleration, and next-level business development!) There are several tactics that make negotiations easier and more interesting. Being persuasive and being able to deliver your idea more effectively shows the best of a businessman.

Tip #1 – Communicate Up

Keep your senior management team in a constant supply of information and reviews about your business lead generation, sales acceleration, and next-level business development. You should be able to communicate the progress and the hurdles of your business to them. The senior management is able to look and help better when your reviews are honest and accurate. While they might be able to see the details from a metrics perspective, provide the “reasons” why initiatives are on/off-track so that they get the full picture.

SUMMARY

Keep your lead generation, sales acceleration, and next-level business development mission statement in line with your business strategy. Try to incorporate new ideas and keep yourself open to new avenues of technology and management. Just like Alexa, there are so many more technology (Artificial Intelligence – AI) that can make business handling far more easily and manageable. Look into all those options available for you and choose those best according to your needs and requirements.

 

Sam Palazzolo

Leading at the Tip of the Spear Lunch Offer

The Leadership Challenge: Swearing – 1 Tip!

By

The Point: We’ve all had those heated moments of leadership where using swear words seems like an appropriate choice. Call it lazy, call it a limited vocabulary, call it an attempt to add “humor” or levity to a situation, hey you can even call it getting your “street cred” in certain situations! But are any of these situations appropriate to swear? Should you breach the line of “in-good-taste” and swear in the workplace? In this post we’ll explore the leadership challenge of swearing and provide 1 tip (Yes, just one)… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge Swearing 1 Tip

I Swear, Therefore I am!

Apple’s release of the swearing emoji appears to capstone the era of bad taste. What was once a business climate of professionally dressed stakeholders in an organization, slid to business casual and landed in casual/inappropriate attire (as an organizational leader, does it blow your mind that focus is given to dress code instead of driving revenue generation or shareholder value? It should!)

Following this trend in dress code is the vocabulary that organizational leaders and their stakeholders use. I did some consulting work with an organization recently where all (leaders and stakeholders alike) seemed to employ the continuous use of the F-word expletive. As one leader of the organization shared with me when I inquired as to the F-words prevalence “That’s just our culture here… Think of it as fuel for our engine!”

Swearing… It’s What’s for Breakfast (Lunch and Dinner!)

The essence of swearing is derived from civilization’s back alleys, back countries, and backyard sporting events. If the goal of business is to push forward their initiatives/agendas, then why do so many leaders revert to this backward vocabulary choice?

Now I’m no angel! There have been plenty of times (more than I care to admit) where in a round of golf a mishit ball has caused me to exclaim a few choice words (Yes, Mom… Even the aforementioned F-word!) I’ve even worked for a leader right out of graduate school that used the F-word in his vocabulary as nonchalantly as Cousin Frankie requesting to pass the potatoes at Thanksgiving dinner. But does it have to be this way?

1 Tip for The Leadership Challenge of Swearing

I would contend that leaders, and stakeholders alike, would achieve much more success and create harmony in the workplace if swearing was done away with. If as a leader you are looking to advance agenda items, and as stakeholders execute said items, then why would you succumb to swearing?

So here is my 1 tip for the leadership challenge of swearing:

“If you feel as though you must swear… Just don’t do it!”

If the laws of persuasion and influence are alive and well (Thank you Dr. Robert Cialdini!), your vocabulary can help elevate your consistency, likeability, authority, social proof, scarcity, and reciprocity moments. If you’ve spent your entire career building your professionalism, why would you undo it all in a split second with a poor word choice? Know this much… It will take effort and energy NOT to swear.

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve explored the leadership challenge of swearing and provided 1 tip. You can learn a lot about a person by the vocabulary they select. Perhaps there is room for swearing in the locker room, but the boardroom?

 

Sam Palazzolo

PS – I’m proud to say at Tip of the Spear and our platform companies that we’ve had in place for over five years now a “No F-Word” policy. This policy prohibits stakeholders from directing the f-word at each other. It’s written into our code of conduct, and can be used to release one of their duties. I understand that vocabulary is a choice, and am a proud proponent of one’s first amendment “freedom of speech” rights. However, there are plenty of places where one can work if their choice is to employ vocabulary unbecoming.

PPSS – Here’s a nice use of the f-word: “The ‘F-word’ you must use every day in your career” by Danny Rubin

M&A: Is Leadership Transparency the Key to Success? – 6 Tips!

By

The Point: Transparency is the buzzword of leadership gurus du jour… But rather than being just another of the leadership programs of the month, I challenged a client to think of the benefits that leadership transparency brings to the leader/their organization. After all, the success of the company is greatly dependent on the commitment and motivation levels therein. This is especially true in organizations going through Mergers and Acquisitions. So in this post, we’ll attempt to answer “Is Leadership Transparency the Key to Success?” along with 6 Tips… Enjoy!

M&A: Is Leadership Transparency the Key to Success? – 6 Tips!

Leadership Transparency

The leadership transparency could be defined succinctly as communicating, mobilizing, sharing and delegating.

Consider that leaders have clients within the company: their collaborators on one-side and their co-leaders on the other.

  • To their hierarchical superiors/peers, they deliver performance.
  • To their collaborators, they provide strategic vision and support to achieve their goals.
  • To maximize the motivation of the clients, it is necessary to optimize the leadership transparency.

From the Mergers and Acquisition Leader’s perspective, these transparency moments almost entirely involve the leading/managing of people. Having great ideas and a strategic vision will not take you very far if your employees are not willing to follow you. I’ve often said that if no one is following you, are you really a leader?

Here then are 6 Tips presented as basic factors for leadership transparency success:

Tip #6 – Strategic Vision

Passion and a great business idea are not enough to succeed in business, especially during mergers and acquisitions. Your business needs a leadership strategy. Plan where you want to get it in five years and how you will do it.

Tip #5 – Identify and Retain Top Talent

The success of your business reflects the people who work there. The great leaders who have created successful businesses have in common the fact that they have surrounded themselves with talented, courageous and loyal employees. After recruiting them, invest in their development by providing them with training and coaching. Leadership transparency is seen as a service that builds a successful business.

Tip #4 – Delegation

Leaders in Mergers and Acquisitions, by nature, have a thought pattern when it comes to their business that they are convinced that no one can do better than them. Those who succeed are those who recognize leadership transparency moments, in that they are unable to fulfill the duties of President and/or C-Suite Leader by themselves. They share, delegate and reinforce the autonomy of their teams.

Tip #3 – Leading by Example

Be honest and ethical in everything. Have strong values. Set the tone. By all means lead the way by example!

Tip #2 – Ask for advice

Even if you know your industry well, mergers and acquisitions challenges change transformations in business so fast that even the most skilled leaders get bogged down in the details. Develop the leadership transparency to know the best transparent result, which sometimes comes from others through asking for their input/perspective. Unfortunately, most leaders during M&A are afraid to ask!?!

Tip #1 – Develop Tomorrows Leaders Today!

Leadership transparency should start at the top of the business, but leaders do not necessarily come from positions of power/title. Leadership mentality come from all levels of an organization. M&A activity almost forces leaders to Identify those future leaders and help them develop their leadership skills through training/coaching/mentoring/etc.

SUMMARY

In this post, we’ve explored the Mergers and Acquisition topic of “Is Leadership Transparency the Key to Success?” along with providing 6 Tips! If leadership transparency could be identified as the root cause of M&A success and/or failure, then a transparent leadership strategy could make for a successful path forward.

Sam Palazzolo

PS – If you or your organization are challenged as a result of M&A activity, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line and request future post titles! Here are a few of the other M&A titles previously published/in the works:

– Will Your M&A be a Success of Failure?

– The Importance of a M&A Strategic Plan – 3 Tips!

– Mergers & Acquisitions – Six Diversification Questions

– How to Successfully Survive Mergers & Acquisitions

– M&A: Creating Shareholder Value

– M&A: Should You Go For Stock or Cash?

 

 

The Importance of a Mergers & Acquisitions Strategic Plan – 3 Tips!

By

The Point: The thought of acquiring another company can be a very seductive strategic plan when CEOs wish to improve corporate performance and overall growth. Companies spend a huge amount of money every year on acquisitions – yet studies have confirmed that the rate of failure among mergers & acquisitions is at an all time high (peak!). What exactly are the causes of these failures (and more importantly successes)? In this post, we’ll discuss the importance of a Mergers & Acquisitions Strategic Plan and provide 3 Tips… Enjoy!

The Importance of a Mergers & Acquisitions Strategic Plan – 3 Tips!

What Leadership Does Wrong?

A large number of acquisitions miss the mark in regards to expectations since organizational leadership mistakenly attempts to coordinate candidates with the strategic aim behind the arrangement, neglecting to recognize bargains that may enhance current operations and those that could drastically change growth prospects of the company. These often make organizations pay the wrong price (i.e., overvalued) and integrate the acquisition wrongly.

There are two motivations behind acquiring a company, which most executives frequently befuddle. The first, and the most widely recognized one, is to increase your organization’s present performance – That is, to hold a superior position, while cutting expenses. The second, and less-known reason for acquiring a company, is to re-evaluate the mode of business operations through expense reduction – This is most likely to confound investors with spectacular pay off (especially when labor costs are slashed).

Integration often determines whether the acquisition will succeed or fail. You should be able to describe exactly what you are buying to foresee the way integration will play out.

One powerful way forecast effectively is to view the established targets/goals in its business model. Additionally, value is created and delivered through 4 interdependent elements of a business model:

– The customer value proposition is the first element

– The profit formula

– Available resources (such as technology, employees and cash)

– Lastly processes (including budget, R&D, manufacturing, and sales)

Three Tips of Having a Good Mergers & Acquisition Strategic Plan

Tip #1: Helps in Acquiring Resources That Command Premium Prices

Having plans to improve a new product or service is no guarantee to command a price premium. Buying improved components (compatible with their products) is a strategy that is routinely done by some companies to command premium prices.

Tip #2: It Helps to Lower Company Costs

Leadership often promise that an acquisition will lower costs, where in reality, it’s only possible in few scenarios, such as, and acquiring company with high fixed costs can expect higher profit potential. Most deals succeed using almost the same strategy.

The parent plugs some particular assets from the procurement into its current model, ejecting whatever is left of the acquired model and closing down, laying-off or offering redundant assets for sale. The execution help comes about because of utilizing the objective’s assets such that scale financial matters can drive down expenses. The strategic use of resources from the target will help in boosting performance and drive down costs 

Tip #3: A Disruptive Business Model can be Acquired

Disruptive business models and products have been proven to be the most reliable sources of massive growth in both margins and revenues. Disruptive companies typically offer simpler and more affordable products than what bigger players offer. Their footholds are well secured in the low-end of a market and gradually step up to products with higher margin and performance.

SUMMARY

In Mergers & Acquisitions, we all believe that success will be the end result. However, wrong companies are being purchased daily for the erroneous motive, wrong elements are integrated into the wrong business models, and wrong measures of value used when pricing deals (This is a mess that shouldn’t be!) You must be able to predict accurately if a company under acquisition consideration is a great deal, or just a debacle in the waiting!

 

Sam Palazzolo

PS – If you or your organization are challenged as a result of M&A activity, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line and request future post titles! Here are a few of the other M&A titles previously published/in the works:

– Will Your M&A be a Success of Failure? (CLICK HERE)

– How to Successfully Survive Mergers & Acquisitions

– M&A: Creating Shareholder Value

– M&A: Should You Go For Stock or Cash?