Tag: deal-driven growth

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Authentic Deal-Making Authentic Leadership Authentic Negotiating Deal-Driven Growth

Providing Value as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence

entreprenuer-in-residence Ramon Ray sits with hands on legs, blue sweater, black pants, yellow tie, smiling

Ramon Ray is a leading expert on small business success. He inspires and educates thousands of business owners every year through his content, events and media interviews. He’s also a four-time entrepreneur who has sold two companies, and a best selling author. His latest and fourth book is Celebrity CEO, all about personal branding. Ramon has shared the stage with many leading business thought leaders, including Seth Godin, Simon Sinek, and Gary Vaynerchuk. Most recently, he’s been named as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Oracle NetSuite. Ramon has also been married for over 25 years and has two adult children. Listen to our full conversation now, or read the show notes below!

(He also shared about influencer and sponsorship deals back on Episode 3 of the podcast!)

Bit By the Entrepreneurial Bug

Ramon was born in the Midwest. From childhood he loved to tinker, play with electronics, and read books. As a young teen he moved to Brooklyn, New York. You can say Ramon’s part “well-mannered midwestern” and part “action-oriented” New Yorker. He studied business administration in college, and one of his first jobs was as a temp staff member doing clerical work at the United Nations. Ramon went on to serve at the United Nations for over 10 years, and was promoted to administrative officer. There, he managed the administrative functions of the NY Office of a UN Agency headquartered in Asia.

While at the UN, Ramon was bit by the “business bug” and started a few small companies. By day he worked hard at the United Nations and by night he worked on his side businesses. This included attending networking events and producing many of his own successful events. Eventually, he left the UN and became a full time entrepreneur. Although Ramon enjoyed rubbing shoulders with diplomats from around the world, his passion was entrepreneurship. His business education and thirst for entrepreneurship was nurtured through the pages of Inc Magazine, Black Enterprise, and Entrepreneur Magazine. Ramon credits much of his education and business influence to many New York area business owners, including Yacov Wrocherinsky. 

The companies Ramon started include a small tech consulting business, Small Business Summit (an event company co-founded with Marian Banker), and a well-known blog, SmallBizTechnology.com. Ramon eventually sold the Small Business Summit to another event company. In 2019, he sold SmallBizTechnology.com to a publisher. Smart Hustle Media, Ramon’s latest passion, allows Ramon to combine his love of entrepreneurship and small business success.

Entrepreneur-in-Residence: New Opportunities Emerging

Earlier this year, Ramon joined Oracle NetSuite as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. He notes that many business-related brands are looking for mini-influencers. In commercial spaces, there are a lot of major influencers for products like clothing, makeup, and more. But in the business space specifically, things begin to narrow. There are a few big names that tend to dominate the space, and then a much larger middle ground. That’s where Ramon sees himself; as a small business influencer in that middle ground.

That’s where Oracle comes in. They have a board, of course, and they spend marketing dollars. However, they realized they didn’t necessarily have that strong personal, or human, element. They needed someone who could be themselves and do their own work, while also adding to who they were and how they presented themselves. As they say: “As part of our commitment to provide the resources and expert insights needed, we’re excited to partner with Ramon Ray, entrepreneur and founder of SmartHustle Media, as our first Entrepreneur in Residence. In his new role, Ramon will work closely with our team to help us inspire, educate and better serve business owners and entrepreneurs.”

Because Ramon had already built a relationship with Oracle, he was able to identify areas in which it would make sense for them to partner together. In fact, he was the one who proposed the Entrepreneur-in-Residence title as part of the shift in their relationship! There have been huge benefits for both sides — definitely listen in to hear more about these dynamics.

Building the Trust Factor

As Ramon shared about the ways in which his role with Oracle NetSuite had evolved, I was struck by how essential the trust factor had been. He had shown up as a speaker, gone live, offered feedback, and engaged with the organization on many fronts, over time, before taking on this larger, extended position.

Approaching the company and trying to start with where he is now probably wouldn’t have garnered much interest. By finding ways to engage while consistently providing value, Ramon set himself up to broker a larger deal when the opportunity arose.

He also had other strengths on the table, both tangible and intangible. Email lists, social followers, and a list of reputable connections, interviews, and appearances were key parts of demonstrating his value in the marketplace. Intangible components included his reputation, capacity to continue growing and expanding, and passion for entrepreneurship and small businesses.

That trust factor allowed Ramon to negotiate a profitable deal that allowed both sides of the table to feel excited about their future together. (Listen in to hear Ramon’s thoughts on the “perfect deal”. It includes a consideration of the payoff for BOTH sides.)

Structuring the Deal

Ramon’s deal with Oracle is structured annually. As such, it consists of a variety of “buckets”. For instance, he’s been leveraging relationships with other existing brand ambassadors and influencers. That includes actively identifying ways they can work together, collaborate, or otherwise bring something new to the table. Ramon is also actively involved in helping the organization work on utilizing their brand story. And, of course, he’s a major part of events as a speaker and influencer himself.

One major intangible benefit to Ramon is the credibility provided to him through a deal of this nature. He has been able to remain independent as an entrepreneur, while also receiving the backing and support of a larger organization that instantly adds authority to his name. Although he had done quite a bit of work with Oracle NetSuite in the past, becoming their Entrepreneur-in-Residence was a major shift in that relationship. 

At the end of the day, Ramon keeps coming back to the power of showing value. Value, value, value. You can’t beat showing up and providing value to anyone, at any time. 

No matter what negotiation you’re heading into, knowing that you’ve provided value and will continue to do so will set you up for success.

If you’d like to find out more about Ramon, head over to www.smarthustle.com OR check out www.ramonray.com.

Listen in to the full episode to hear more!

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

 

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Authentic Deal-Making Deal-Driven Growth

Speaker Management & Deal-Making Pivots

speaker management: a female speaker on stage, raised hands in the audience

Li Hayes is a returning guest (you can listen in to her previous episode, From Concept to Oscars: Overcoming Barriers to Entry in a New Industry, right here). Li is a phenomenal entrepreneur, television host, speaker’s agent, and inventor. After two decades in the corporate world, she summoned the courage to take the entrepreneurial plunge! She started by founding Go Leeward Speaker Management. Li works with associations, masterminds, corporations and more to help them make their events wildly successful. Her invention, the Cool Me scarf, helps to discreetly relieve hot flash symptoms for women dealing with menopause. (It was featured at the Oscars After party!)

The Impact of the Pandemic

Last time I interviewed Li was early 2020 — right before everything changed with Covid. She had just had her Cool Me scarf shown off at the Oscars, and was headed into larger scale production. We also talked a bit about public speaking, as Li continues to head Leeward Speaker Management. As you can imagine, both of those elements of her work went through changes as a result of the pandemic.

Li notes that the pandemic is something that happened to everybody; all business owners can relate to unexpected challenges, shifts, and pivots that have occurred in the last year. She’s no different!

In February 2020, Li was riding a post-Oscar high. Things had gone tremendously well, and she was really excited for production to ramp up. She was booked on Good Morning Connecticut to do a live interview, and everything was falling into place. Until, suddenly, it wasn’t. A week later, the interview was canceled. A few weeks after, she got a message from Amazon: “Please be advised, your product has been deprioritized.”

What many people don’t realize is that Amazon is a conglomerate of many businesses, in terms of who you’re actually purchasing from. When Covid hit, Amazon focused in on all products that were pandemic related. This included masks, gloves, disinfectant, groceries, and more. If your product didn’t pertain, it was not a priority. For Li’s Cool Me scarf, that meant you couldn’t even find it on Amazon at all. And if you can’t find it, you obviously can’t buy it!

The traction Li had been garnering died in its tracks.

Boom or Bust?

I’ve talked about this a bit over the last few months, but it’s worth mentioning again. Covid hit many businesses and industries hard. For example, restaurants and public speaking! Others, however, were able to use the pandemic as a catalyst for immense growth and success. Has terrible as it has been overall, it definitely hasn’t spelled disaster for everyone across the board.

Li’s scarf business died fast. Her speaker management agency also took a hard hit. She happened to be heavily involved in two industries that did not fare exceptionally well. However, Li notes that just because public speaking in general took a nosedive does not mean that all public speakers suffered. She shares that some of her speakers have done exceptionally well by finding ways to pivot with other strengths and abilities. For instance, one of her speakers also did website design and creation. When everything started shutting down, she pivoted into that capacity, and experienced a banner year.

Looking back now, Li sees two major waves. In Wave One, everyone hit the brakes hard. This was when the rule of thumb was just canceling any and all events, which was happening left and right. A few months into that, Wave Two came. This was mostly related to cautiously optimistic postponements. Rather than cancel a summer event, people were looking ahead and hoping to be able to hold the event in October or November instead.

Obviously, that mostly didn’t pan out! Those Wave Two postponements mostly resulted in early fall cancelations when it became clear that things were not reopened the way we had once imagined they might be.

Pivoting to Virtual & Maximizing Hybrid Models

It used to be that “real” events with high calibre speakers and large turnouts were always in-person. After the pandemic was mid-stride, there was a boom of virtual-only events to compensate.

Now, Li is seeing the rise of hybrid events, and she says they are flourishing. She loves this! In her personal life, Li notes that she genuinely loves attending events. However, there is a cap to how many she can legitimately travel to throughout the year while also balancing the rest of her work and life. With the hybrid option, she can choose to travel to some, and attend others virtually.

As this model continues to grow, Li expects to see an expansion in the events industry, as well as in those who are seeking speaker management agencies.

I remembered a Miami event I was supposed to have attended in March 2020. This was immediately after the lock-down, and the host scrambled to convert the whole thing into digital. She also let us all know that not only could we attend the virtual event, we would also get to attend a live event when the opportunity was again available.

After day one, we debriefed and she got excellent feedback. In fact, she decided to take that event (which she typically offered live 5x per year) and convert at least two of those into virtual experiences to increase access. Many people are finding that there are major pros to attending events virtually, and that they are willing to attend at least some events that way moving forward. (Obviously there are lots of reasons to love in-person events as well, and I don’t think we’ll see those going away!)

Speaker Management & Deal-Making

Li notes that speaker-related deals have been changing! 

When things first went virtual, she had immediately recommended to her speakers that they look at price adjustments. Some refused to do so, which they based on the value of their speaking, which they argued remained the same whether they were on stage or on camera. Although Li gets that argument, she would return with the idea that you have to be able to flex according to demand and needs.

So many events needed decreased prices because they had had to significantly reduce ticket prices. An event they may have charged $500 per ticket for live was suddenly being offered virtually for $50 per ticket. With those sorts of adjustments, profit margins significantly change.

For speakers who were willing to be flexible and work with those new realities, there were bookings to be found. For those who refused, it was hard to find openings.

Li notes that she had a number of speakers who would typically charge $30,000 for on-stage appearances. When the pandemic struck and many events couldn’t work with that, they began offering $5,000 appearances virtually. They ended up with more engagements and a better bottom line than previous years, because they got a lot of opportunities.

In general, I absolutely believe in knowing your value and remaining firm with your rates. However, I know that I made different choices as a speaker last year as well. In the law firm, our rates remained consistent and we were busier than ever (deal-making, as an industry, stayed quite busy!). On the speaking front, the “hold firm” strategy wouldn’t have played out as well.

Rigidity Kills Deals

Something I write about in my negotiation book is the reality that rigidity is a major reason for deal failure. It’s one thing to own your value and stay the course….but another to fail to realize changes in circumstances that should necessitate adjustments.

Personally, I was able to do a number of talks that I deeply enjoyed, even though my rate was not what it normally is. In fact, I now have multiple groups that are excited to bring me in live when things open up again; all because they got to experience me virtually during this pandemic. 

By choosing to be flexible and acknowledging the changing circumstances that were impacting the market, I was able to continue making deals that benefitted all parties. A win-win that I’m proud of.

Li noted that one major deal-making shift they went through in speaker management was brokering deals with the long-term in mind. For example, a speaker might be willing to offer a deeply discounted speaking engagement virtually now, in exchange for an opportunity to be the featured keynote speaker at the next live event when things opened back up. In this way, they were able to leverage both current and future opportunities.

There were incredible insights on this episode — it’s a must listen!

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

 

Categories
Authentic Deal-Making Authentic Negotiating Deal-Driven Growth

Repeatable Processes For Organizational Success

repeatable processes: two men sitting on a park bench, dressed in business clothing, looking at an iPad screen

As CEO, Martin Hershberger has scaled two companies to 8-figures and beyond. As a small business owner, he’s sold to Apple, HP, and American Express, to name just a few. He has spent the last fifteen years of his career consulting for businesses in the 5-50 million dollar range. Today, he helps business owners and CEO’s prepare for successful transitions by developing and executing strategies for repeatable processes that lead to profitable growth.

Martin believes that many change initiatives fail because they only offer partial solutions. He’s developed a framework that allows every element of an organization to get into sync and support strategies, leading to success. As Martin knows, all too often people underestimate the profitability you can grow with repeatable processes and solid systems. (A few weeks back, DealQuest guest Joel Block talked about the move towards subscriptions. This is a classic form of repeatable processes that lead to profit!)

Early Deal-Making 

Martin shares that being a business consultant wasn’t on his radar as a kid. In fact, he wanted to be a baseball player for the Red Socks. Although that never came to be, he’s pretty happy with how things turned out.

Martin was part of a team of three that shut down a supercomputer division of an organization. As part of that experience, he negotiated settlements for over 300 members. He notes he learned a lot about negotiating there! 

Upon starting his own company, he started signing major deals quickly while experiencing rapid growth. (Their first deal was with American Express!) Of course that feels amazing, but that kind of expansion early on can also lead to all sorts of struggles as well. Martin notes that there were often logistically difficult clients and a lot of specific needs that had to be met as part of these deals. Learning to navigate those was a major deal-making feat that required ongoing strategic planning.

Early Partnership Mistakes

Now, Martin works with industrial manufacturers and supply chain strategies. He notes that he transitioned from corporate to consulting as part of having experienced downsizing in the 4 billion dollar company he was working with. As part of his services for them, he had brainstormed solutions to major problems; problems he realized that everybody was having. He put together his own business plan, based on his prowess at solving systems problems, found a partner, raised funds, and launched his first company.

Building a partnership and raising funds were two major deal experiences he had early on. Martin notes he was incredibly naive when it came to raising capital, and that ultimately it would have been difficult to choose worse partners! Because of how he structured those early deals, Martin ended up with negative net equity almost immediately. Although he was able to sell to major corporations (like Apple and HP), he found he was having to do major “explaining” when it came to his balance sheets. 

Martin’s strategy was always to cash out of that business within 5-10 years. Unfortunately, with five offers on the table, his early investors wouldn’t accept any of the proposed deals. Having come out of the mainframe business, Martin knew that electronics prices were going to fall. As a result, he wanted to be able to get out of the business while it was at a peak, rather than waiting for prices to lower. Eventually, he ended up cashing out; his investors stayed in and ended up losing ground with failing internet sales.

Navigating Those Dotcom Bubbles

I remember the days of the dotcom bubbles and crazy inflation as well! Martin noted that the investors passed on a 20 million dollar deal for the business, because they just *knew* the company would be worth over a hundred in another 5 years. 

In my own 30+ law career, I saw clients navigate huge amounts of money, and put major deals on the table. I also remember how inflation rates were such that you could generate huge revenues but never make any profits. A client of mine was in exactly that position; even though there was a massive amount of money involved, he wasn’t taking anything home. Since then, he’s been able to create businesses that actually create more profit; on the flip side, he’ll never be able to sell them for the kinds of money that his early business went for.

Martin notes that he was seeing those same things, which is what motivated him to sell his shares and move on when he did. His original partner was able to do all right as well, and they left the investors behind to wait for those phantom larger numbers.

Building Partnerships

Although his investment partners didn’t work out, Martin notes that his early business partner was a great fit. Their skill sets and abilities complemented each other well, and they were able to work together to create success. Between them, they had a strong understanding of what they were looking for in a business.

Looking back, however, Martin also notes that they had a verbal understanding rather than a written one. Even though things ended well, that was more luck than anything. If there had been problems, it would have been really difficult to navigate them since nothing was in writing. Now, Martin would never do that again!

Finding That First Deal

When Martin was getting his business started, he knew that everyone was going to be worried about working with them. After all, no one wants to be the first to work with a new company, no matter how innovative their ideas are. (Or maybe especially if their ideas are innovative!)

Their first deal was based on a combination of solid systems, great salesmanship, and strategy. Martin knew that the client wasn’t going to be able to find anyone else who could offer what they could in terms of shipping. In fact, he sent them to FedEx to ask about their options so they could hear it from them themselves! He’d have them go there first, then he’d get them at the table and present his own value proposition.

Martin notes that he had some advantages here. He deeply understood the problem, and he had an excellent value proposition. Because he understood the larger picture that the industry operated within, as well as the more specific picture of how he could shrink a particular company’s pipeline, he was well positioned to make deals. 

Not many people can say that, as a competitive advantage, they actually sent people to the competition to learn exactly what their options were!

Repeatable Processes & Systems

Creating repeatable processes and systems makes a major difference when it comes to selling out or making deals! Martin’s philosophy is that any company should always be ready to sell if needed, and part of that means having systems in place.

An early client had commented to Martin, “You know, when I want to sell my company, no one wants to buy it.” Why? Because he wanted to sell in a downturn. By having systems and processes in place, as well as a transition plan in the back of their minds, business owners can actually position themselves to sell when they have the most leverage. (Which is much better than having to settle for what you can get in a buyer’s market!)

This is achieved by preparing yourself personally and your business organizationally to be ready to sell. Too many owners have a vague idea that of course they’ll want to get out at some point….but when they feel ready to sell they are so enmeshed in the business that it’s not clear what would happen if they left it.

Repeatable processes, clear systems, and the understanding that you will have to leave at some point can help remediate this. Martin recommends that business owners focus on repeatable success, which comes from systems and processes!

Listen in to the full episode here to hear more insights about repeatable processes and systems. They are the force that will enable you to exit when the time comes!

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

Categories
Authentic Deal-Making Authentic Leadership Authentic Negotiating Deal-Driven Growth

Capital Gains Rates and Deals

capital gains rates: black coffee mug sitting next to a legal folder with a paper reading "tax withholdings"

In this solocast, I talk about how potential increases in capital gains rates can have an impact on deals. Last year we started seeing this, and it’s only continued to grow coming into this year. We don’t know if capital gains rates are going to continue going up. However, we do know the Biden administration is proposing increases. The marketplace, of course, is watching and waiting. Regardless of your politics, you’ll want to be thinking through the business and deal-making implications of capital gains rate increases.

Capital Gains Rates & Deal-Making

When we started seeing the potential significant increases in capital gains rates at the end of last year, many businesses pushed deals through quickly. They were able to get them done in November and December of 2020, just in case the rates did change. It was a very busy time for deal-makers, despite the pandemic.

That acceleration has continued into this year. Now, possible increases in capital gains rates now appear to have been pushed back to 2022. As a result, many deals are occurring, and many businesses are positioning themselves to pursue active deal-making. On the M&A side of things, that means we’re headed for a robust year. Pair that with the reopening economy and the increased gains in Covid vaccinations, and I believe we’ll see deals continuing to move ahead full force in the upcoming months.

Other market factors are driving deals as well, such as valuation trends. However, an awareness of potential increases in capital gains rates is certainly present on everyone’s minds.

Deal-Making Timelines 

If your timeline for selling was about 5 years out (or more), you likely don’t need to make any major adjustments. However, if you were hoping to sell within the next year or two, it would be wise to have some awareness of how things are changing, and how that could impact your plans. It’s wise to be aware of how tax rates will impact you as both a seller and buyer, and it makes sense to mitigate losses when you’re able to.

Something worth noting, however, is that the primary driver of decisions is not tax policy. There are so many other factors impacting deals, including strategic reasons to buy/sell/acquire/merge, that tax policy cannot be considered the primary driver of deals.

When capital gains rates go up, there can be a depression of capital available for people wanting to invest. The increased rate of taxation makes returns less attractive, which can change people’s actions on the market. However, results and trends do show that these rates are not the only factors on the deals and investments people are making. Many factors contribute to deal-making, and taxes are only a single factor.

Should You Accelerate?

If you’re in the position to sell your company and you have a short term horizon, it may make sense to look into accelerating and taking action this year. Although capital gains rates may not increase, we do feel pretty sure they will either stay the same or go higher. They aren’t going down!

I definitely don’t think there is any call for panic though! Just because capital gains rates might be going up, you don’t need to feel pressed into selling if the time isn’t right for you. It’s wisest to make a measured, wise decision that takes both short and long term considerations into mind.

Maximizing net returns on capital is key for investors, for example, and their ability to do so is a more compelling decision-making factor than capital gains rates alone. Again, there are so many complex factors in deal-making that surpass tax rates. Although capital gains rates can impact things, the reality is that investors will be looking to deploy capital and get back multiples on that capital, and they’ll do it via investing.

Now, they may also choose to take the higher tax rates into consideration when coming to the deal table. This may change deal structures and offers, and may be something worth considering. The opportunity for growth within the market, however, will still be the largest factor in whether deals get done.

Overall Impact

There is a knee-jerk logic that says raising capital gains rates will automatically depress investment. I don’t think that is necessarily true, an idea that historical rates supports. Now, if the rates stay high for an extended time, we may see more negative results.

At the end of the day, it may happen or may not happen. In business, we have to deal with what is and minimize adverse impacts as we’re able to. Ultimately, entrepreneurs will keep building companies, investors will keep investing, and deals will be made.

Short-term, deal-growth and acceleration are being spurred by the possibility of capital gain rate increases. In the long-term, we’ll have to see whether the rates increase even gets passed at all. If it happens, I believe most operational business owners will find that there are many other factors that have more primacy than these rates over whether deals happen or not. 

There is honestly so much money out there that is ready to be deployed; deals aren’t going to dry up overnight because of increases to these rates. However, if you are positioned to make a deal this year, it makes the most sense to close it out before the end of the year. This way, you can avoid potential losses as a result of capital gains rate increases. We’ll be ⅓ of the way through the year when this episode goes live. Because deals take time, you’ll want to get moving if you know that you want to complete yours this year. If not, there’s no need to rush into anything based on this one factor.

Those are my thoughts. I’d love to hear from you how you’re choosing to react to the possibility of capital gains rates increases!

Listen in to the full episode here.

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

Categories
Authentic Business Relationships Authentic Deal-Making Authentic Leadership Deal-Driven Growth

Coaches, Deal-Making, and Buyouts

coaches: mans hands holding a business newspaper. Wearing a suit and gold watch.

Remy Blumenfeld is one of the world’s leading business coaches and advisors. He’s contributed more than 50 articles to Forbes. Remy was also listed by an independent newspaper as one of the Top 20 Most Influential LGBTQ People in the United Kingdom. He’s been featured in Forbes, Inc., The New York Times, and more!

Listen to our full interview here.

Getting His Start

Remy shares that, as a kid, he knew he wanted to be in the communication business. He had a little cassette recorder, and he would go around interviewing his friends. (He even found the old tapes from it recently!) His first real job was actually as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal television show in New York City. He didn’t stick with it for his full career, but it was an enjoyable start!

His first deal-making experience was at a school fundraiser. There were all sorts of little booths, and people were selling things to raise money for the school. Remy spent 5 pounds and purchased a set of prints that had been connected to a puppet show theatre. He then resold them for a few hundred! Ebay wasn’t in existence yet, but he was still flipping goods.

Remy and I also discussed the difference between looking 4 years into the future versus a hundred or more years into the future — you can listen in to hear about that!

Later, Remy transitioned into what he’s known for now: coaching and advising. While running multiple businesses, he had found that he was naturally fulfilling a sort of coaching relationship with his employees. (The only difference, he joked, was that he had no coaching training and they hadn’t actually hired him for his input!) 

Now, however, Remy coaches leaders, primarily in the creation sectors. He finds they are usually looking for a combination of coaching and business advice. As a result, he provides a hybrid model based on their needs. 

Early Deal-Making Experiences

Some of Remy’s largest deals include the businesses he’s sold. He started his first production company out of his bedroom in Brixton because he was out of a job. Remy decided he wanted to sell ideas to broadcasters. However, he realized that he couldn’t get companies to invest money into him as an individual person. As a result, he rebranded as a company and kept on trying. Looking back, he notes he was doing many things he now advises his clients to do. At the time, though, he was doing it by accident. In essence, he was making programs about where he lived and what he knew best. At the time, Remy was living in a rough area as a young, gay Jewish man. The shows he was making were often about the edges of society. (Those edges have since become the middle in many ways).

The production company that started in his bedroom made the first Black music show on Terrestrial TV in the UK, the first Asian pop culture show on the BBC, the first gay dating show, and more. He notes they did quite well by doing what they knew best. They understood it, they loved it, and they did it the best.

That lesson holds true in any sort of business and sales endeavor: you’ll do best by doing what you know best. It truly helps to be an expert in whatever you’re doing, as the buyer realizes that you are truly the best choice for them.

Years later, Remy sold his bedroom-started company for a high-multiple figure to a larger production company. Later, they became the company that produced Big Brother!

Leaning Into the End Game

Remy notes that, at a certain point, he understood that the production company had a saleable value that he hadn’t initially recognized. When he had started it, there wasn’t really a true market in the field. 

About 6-7 years into running things, however, independent production companies became something that investors were interested in. Big companies started buying up smaller companies, and he realized he was ready to sell. This required facing many realities about the business that their team had never really thought about before. For instance, Remy and his team realized that if you don’t have processes in place, big companies aren’t interested in buying you. Strangely run companies with weird or lacking systems get overlooked in buyout opportunities. Remy suggests running your small company as if it’s a big company in terms of utilizing systems, procedures, and watching the bottom line. (Watch your growth line!)

Now, Remy always advises people to imagine, from day one, that they are going to sell. He notes that you should be attempting to create a story with numbers — a story of growth, consistency, and profitability.

Remy now works with founders to implement checklists early on so they can create something others would actually want to buy from the beginning. (Rather than trying to “dress the bride on the way to the altar”!)

I noted that it’s possible to get deals done with a last minute scramble, but it’s surely not ideal. Preparing in advance is the best!

The Psychology of Buying a Company

Beyond the numbers, Remy thinks psychology is the most important aspect of the sale of a business. (In fact, he notes that ego tends to get in the way of the best and truest job quite often!)

In the creative sector, Remy notes that people often want to show they’ve done the best possible job tapping into every possible revenue stream and protecting their rights. You won’t feel very proud of yourself if you’ve just “forgotten” to access a revenue stream or market. There is a level of pride involved that can make owners want to emphasize that they’ve done everything.

However, a buyer wants to feel there is room for growth and improvement. If everything has been done that can be done, and growth can’t occur, it will be less attractive to them. A buyer wants to believe they can run the company better than you, or at least that there is room for them to do something bigger and better!

Remy does note, however, that sometimes in show business people forget the business and run the show! In a business deal, it’s key to be able to show that the business elements have been well handled so they can be moved through.

(Listen in to learn more about Remy’s thoughts on how the buyers will be approaching your business just like a home they recently purchased; there will be changes!)

The Power of Coaches & Coaching

I noted that I’ve worked with coaches myself, and asked Remy to share a bit more about the power of coaching. 

Remy noted that one of the things he finds to be most powerful is helping people commit to their own goals and standards, independent of anybody else. It’s key to be able to hold these apart from your partner, parents, clients, or anyone else in your life. As a coach, Remy also finds it useful that he’s not involved in his client’s lives or goals in a personal way. He’s able to provide feedback and accountability that is received differently than that of a friend or colleague would be.

I see that as the deal clients and coaches make between one another, in terms of how they will hold one another accountable and show up.

Listen to our full interview here.

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal-Ready Assessment today!

 

Categories
Authentic Deal-Making Authentic Negotiating Deal-Driven Growth

Your Primal Brain & Deal-Making

Primal Brain: 5 people depicting evolutionary growth

Tim Ash is an international keynote speaker on evolutionary psychology and digital marketing. He’s also a thought leader, marketing trainer, and founder of strategic conversion rate optimization agency SiteTuners. Tim has written multiple books, and is the bestselling author of Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions. As an industry leader he’s created over a billion dollars in value for massive brands like Google, Expedia, Nestle, Semantic, Costco, and more. He’s the founder and former chair of the worldwide Digital Growth Unleashed conference series. His work has helped him learn how our primal brain impacts businesses and lives.

His latest book is titled Unleash Your Primal Brain: Demystifying How We Think and Why We Act.

Early Experiences

Keynote speaking and becoming a primal brain and marketing expert were not on the list of what Tim imagined for himself as a child! After immigrating from Moscow to the US around age 8, Tim set his sights on becoming a cowboy. (Listen in to hear about the deal this made me think of — it was one of the few cash deals from Russia at the time.)

As Russia opened up in the 90’s, all sorts of creative maneuvers were part of making deals!

When Tim reflects on his earliest deals, he remembers shoveling snow in driveways in New Jersey. Rather than charging by the job, however, he created a subscription model. He would charge $5 per week for the three months of winter, and pledge to shovel all the snow during that time. Even as a teen he was a hustler! This reminded me of Joel Block’s advice on subscription models, which he sees as a current business trend.

Brain Evolution & Deal-Making

Tim notes that marketing subscription models makes sense from an evolutionary psychology perspective. Because the sale goes on auto-pilot and minimizes your need to think about something, it’s much easier to get people to continue paying once you’ve drawn them in.

When I used to do deals in the health industry, I saw the shift away from an annual membership that you had to choose to renew, to a month-by-month subscription that had no hard end date. Even though people “could” cancel anytime, they often didn’t. It’s easier not to; plus, canceling sends a message to yourself that you’re going to do the thing you signed up for. 

Tim shared about a subscription he kept for years without using it — even with all he knows about the brain, the same tricks work on him sometimes.

Neuromarketing and Evolutionary Psychology

Eventually Tim came to believe that the best and highest use of his time was not in providing a service. Now, he focuses on keynote speaking and writing. He also offers some consulting for senior marketing executives looking for a backup CMO who will be on their side and make them look good.

When he started his first agency, Tim’s group focused on performance-based deals. Rather than putting the risk on the client, Tim decided to share it. Client’s paid him when he created results for them. However, this created complex contract issues and other issues. For the first time, Tim fully realized how much human nature played into deal-making!

Eventually he opted to sell his shares of that business to his partners, who have experienced continued growth.

As he’s grown, Tim has also explored various options with distributing stocks in the companies he owns. What he’s found from that is that you need clear guidelines if you’re planning to do this! From becoming joined at the hip, to facing confusion about who gets to make what decisions, Tim has found that clarity  is essential when distributing stocks!

Working With Your Nature

Tim notes that we play many roles in life: you can be a parent, a spouse, a CEO, a speaker all at once. Sometimes those roles will overlap, and sometimes they will conflict with one another.

If he could go back, Tim would focus much earlier on his personality and the things that energized him. He shared his DISC, Enneagram, and Meyers-Briggs all helped him understand important parts of himself. In addition, he’s seen how working with his strengths and nature works much better than fighting against it.

In terms of his personal career transitions, Tim breaks them down into three major phases:

  1. Being someone’s employee. Tim had seen soul-killing enterprises from the inside, and he knew he didn’t want to take that path! He knew he could better himself.
  2. Work for yourself. Once he started an agency, Tim felt like now he was basically hiring his own bosses. Yes, he had more control….but at the end of they day, he was still working for clients and answering to them.
  3. Jettison both of those! Tim was ready to be done being an employee…AND done hiring bosses. 

After transitioning into Phase 3, Tim found that he felt a bit naked. He was so used to being an agency head, and realized that he had been defined by that in many ways. One thing he’s really enjoyed is being able to shift from constantly thinking about what would best for his business, into being able to genuinely think about how he can serve others.

I love this way of thinking, and have done quite a few exercises myself pertaining to establishing personal identity outside of my titles and roles. Certain roles can truly become entwined with who you are as a person!

Unleash Your Primal Brain

Tims’ newest book, Unleash Your Primal Brain: Demystifying How We Think and Why We Act, is a crash course on being human. He covers everything from sleep, chemicals in the brian, storytelling, and more. It’s not dumbed down, but it’s not just a bunch of jargon either. Tim thinks of it as a fast-paced detective story about what makes us tick.

Although I’m not the expert Tim is, I have done some reading on neuroscience and brains. My biggest takeaway: this field is constantly evolving because there is so much to learn about this! Tim is working to unify fields like neuroscience, behavioral economics, anthropology and more by breaking down silos and finding the red thread of evolutionary psychology.

He sees this topic as being what all 8 billion people on the planet have in common!

My question to Tim: from an evolutionary psychology perspective, what makes some people “deal-makers” and others not so much?

We Are Always Negotiating

First off, Tim notes that, as humans, we are always doing deals because we are always negotiating. Being able to engage with negotiating is a useful skill to have across the board.

Tim shares that when things are black and white, we automatically evaluate and accept them for what they are. If something is a sure thing, or is definitely going to fail, we know where we stand. However, once we start bringing in probability, statistics, and chance, things feel much riskier. People pay a premium when risk is reduced.

In fact, Tim notes that guarantees (such as a lifetime guarantee) have a huge impact on sales. All sorts of packaging uses this now; it gives immediate peace of mind that makes the consumer feel good, and the percentage of people who actually exercise it is tiny. 

Creating certainty and minimizing risk is a major deal-making plus!

Next, Tim notes that we all tend to aversive to threats more than we are open to rewards. We’re tuned in to loss and pain avoidance much more than we are to pleasure seeking. Pain is more motivating! For that reason, the way we frame offers in our deals is key. For instance, if a doctor tells you that you have to have a procedure, they could present it in one of two ways: there is a 95% chance you’ll make it through OR there is a 5% chance you’ll die. The former orients you towards the positive, the latter orients you towards the negative.

Most deal-makers can find ways to frame their deals that emphasize the positive and decrease the focus on pain and loss. It makes a difference!

Due Diligence as a Deal-Maker

I always tell people that doing a major due diligence process to prepare for a deal is a key part of preparation. Why? Because the people walking into the deal are highly risk averse. They stand to lose a lot if things go wrong, and they want to avoid any problems.

As such, if they smell smoke during a deal they assume there is a fire.

Rather than letting that happen, you must do your due diligence and ensure that you have your ducks lined up. Tim also noted that, as a deal-maker, you don’t want to let the party you’re deal-making with get too far into their analytical brains. He suggests you diffuse that mindset and refocus on the bigger picture if you want to avoid death by a thousand cuts.

(During the interview, Tim recommends two books: Never Split the Difference and Pitch Anything.)

To learn more about deal-making and the primal brain, listen in to the full episode! Tim shared more amazing thoughts on cold cognition, the role of emotion, and more in this powerful interview!

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal-Ready Assessment today!

Categories
Authentic Deal-Making Deal-Driven Growth

Licensing Deals

licensing deals

This week, we’re talking about licensing deals! Personally, I think licensing deals are underutilized. I’d love to see more of them happening, as there is so much that can be leveraged in this form of deal-making.

What Can You License?

Anything that is created by you or your team (physical or intangible), is potentially licensible. Who will license it? Someone who will want access because they know they can leverage it in their own life, business, or community. 

Licensing Deals & Inventions

First off, we have things that are patentable. This includes inventions and products; something you’ve created you can put a patent on. Chemical, mechanical, systemic, software; all of these types of inventions are things you can license. Bigger companies are especially interested in paying for tools that will enable them to manufacture, market, or otherwise use what you’ve built. Now, a large company would probably prefer to outright purchase what you’ve created — but don’t let them make you believe that that is your only option! 

Even if you make a worldwide, exclusive, into perpetuity license that states only they can use it (and you won’t sell it to anyone else), you can still create a licensing deal rather than outright sale. 

Of course you can also be thinking about ways in which to license your invention out to many companies, including competitors! By licensing the rights to what you’ve created, you can make a lot of money. It’s worth considering!

Also, think beyond physical items for this one. Training programs, keynotes addresses, workbooks, and so on; all of that can be licensed and sold to organizations who would love to use your content, curriculum, handouts, and frameworks. In the full episode I dive further into how you can make this desirable for your clients as well!

Listen here to catch my full interview on leveraging intellectual property rights with Bill Cates.

Structuring a Licensing Deal

A major early question that always comes is what the licensing fee or royalty is going to be. Every industry is a little different here; for instance, there could be a lump sum of money up front in order to get the rights to the license. In other cases, that isn’t an expectation.

In any industry, however, the idea of an ongoing royalty paid out to the owner is pretty standard. Monthly, quarterly, annually or other iterations are common. Total percentage varies greatly by industry; as a deal-maker, you’ll want to take a look at the norms within your industry as you consider this option.

The licensor will want to ensure that the base for setting the commission is top-line revenue, or a percentage of gross revenue. Why? Because once you get below that gross revenue line with a licensing deal, there is a lot of ability to manipulate and control what the number being used. Gross revenue is very clearly defined and diminishes game-playing.

As the licensor, you’ll also want to clarify some form of reporting to accompany your scheduled payments. This gives you a framework to ensure that the payments are appropriate to your deal. Keep in mind, however, that a report doesn’t mean that much if you can’t verify that it is accurate. The only way you can ensure accuracy is to retain some form of audit rights. You’ll want to know that you, or a third party provider, can double check to ensure that everything is above board. 

Exclusive vs. Non-exclusive Deals

Depending on your industry and product, this may go either way. What should you do? 

First of all, the licensor will want to lean towards non-exclusive deals. It makes sense that you stand to generate the most income by being able to create licensing deals with multiple parties for the same invention or intellectual property. However, that isn’t always an option.

For example, some organizations may need to know that they have exclusive rights to use a certain tool or framework. Now, this may extend to only certain industry competitors or geographic areas that you agree not to create deals within, or this could be complete exclusivity across all sectors. If you license it to one company in healthcare, for instance, you may agree that you will not license it to other healthcare groups, but that you can license it to a group outside of their domain, such as an automotive group.

Worldwide exclusivity that disallows you from licensing the group to anyone ought to be tied to minimum returns. This can at least ensure that you will make a return, even though you are limited to a single licensee. Now, if the minimum is not met, there are a few options.

For instance, the licensee may be allowed to maintain the license, but lose exclusivity. Or, the licensee may lose access to the product altogether. All of this needs to be included in the agreements!

Areas to Be Aware Of

Each state has variations on their rules about licensing. Something to be very aware of is the difference between a license and a franchise, which will differ in each state, and also has federal law attached.

For instance, McDonalds is a large franchise. You can’t start introducing your own food products into McDonalds, even if you are running your own location, because it is a franchise. There are expectations around how things have to look, how food is cooked, and what decisions you get to make. In a licensing deal, however, this level of restriction doesn’t usually apply. Does this mean that licensing is a free for all?

Well, as a licensor you do want and need standards! After all, your property and the elements of your brand or name that are being utilized are things you still want to reflect positively on yourself. If a licensee is using your product or performing in a way you no longer desire to be connected to, you may want to allow yourself an escape hatch. 

Creating these standards can begin to cross line between licensing and franchising, which is why it’s so essential you understand the differences in your state. I highly recommend working with a professional for that part!

To learn more about finding licensees and getting started with licensing deals, listen in to the whole episode!

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal-Ready Assessment today!

 

Categories
Authentic Business Relationships Authentic Deal-Making Authentic Leadership Authentic Negotiating Deal-Driven Growth

Angel Investing & Startups with Dom Einhorn

angel investing: man sitting on a pile of large gold coins

Dom Einhorn is a French-American social entrepreneur and founder and CEO of UNIQORN, the largest rural incubator-accelerator of its kind in the world. Located in southwestern France (Sarlat-la-Canéda), its mission is to give entrepreneurs and their families their lives back while helping them build game-changing technology startups. Dom has a long history of working with startups and in angel investing, and he shares so much wisdom in our interview!

He is also the founder of multiple other successful startups and businesses, including the Startup Supercup. This is a leading tech conference that unites 1000 carefully vetted angel investors, VCs, private equity funds, technology startups and leading media outlets from around the world. The three-day conference takes place in medieval Sarlat France.

Listen in today to hear all about Dom’s work!

Young Dreams

As a kid, Dom wanted to be like his dad, who worked for the French railway as an engineer. Clearly he ended up going down a different route!

The first deal-making experience he remembers was with his magazine route. Students could get a commission for every issue they sold, and Dom outsold everyone else. It was his first time getting compensated, and it sparked his entrepreneurial dreams.

Now, Dom has several major focuses. One major one is UNIQORN, which he returned to France to launch in 2018 (in German Dom’s last name means “unicorn”!). UNIQORN startups are provided with a complete ecosystem for success. This includes direct access to proven funding sources, top-notch legal and accounting representation, access to the world’s most generous business incentives and, most importantly, a dedicated sales and marketing accelerator. All that combined puts a startup’s product or service on the fast track to success.

Art Auction Adventures

In 1996 Dom created the first online art auction company. It quickly became one of the largest in the world, and he was able to turn around and sell it 5 months later.

At that time, Dom happened to have a lot of artists as clients. They were all “starving artists”, including himself! He decided to build the online art auction in order to solve a problem he saw his clients facing. Selling art on a one-off basis was difficult, and didn’t scale well. His solution? An online auction house.

The first few months saw little activity, but one day a major magazine came in and did a report. They skyrocketed from 150 bidders to 20,000+. Overnight, they were in the art business….which they realized they knew nothing about. They were shipping art uninsured, with glass, and found themselves in a logistics nightmare.

One day they got an email from a buyer willing to buy them out; Dom was ready to move on and do something else! The new buyer had infrastructure to handle logistics and shipping, but were lacking on the technical side. Their weaknesses were Dom’s strengths, and they arranged a 6 month transition period. Once their team had the platform knowledge they needed, Dom was fully out of the business.

The fundamental lesson he learned from the online art auction house was that whatever you launch you should serve a legitimate purpose and respond to a problem in the market.

Vanity Business Models

Dom has noticed there are a lot of companies popping up that don’t solve a new problem or reach a new market. He referred to these as “vanity business models”, and noted that they simply aren’t sustainable.

If you want to become a billionaire, help a billion people. The rest will happen by itself.

Early on, Dom noted that if you wanted to be in e-commerce, you needed an Oracle license that cost $32,000. Raising cash was key, because barriers to entries were extremely high. By 2015, if you had a couple hundred dollars worth of technology you could launch an entire business. That’s both a blessing and a curse; there isn’t a natural economic gatekeeper. That means more opportunity for more people, but can also mean there is no real vetting process pushing people to only bring the best ideas to the table.

Back in the 90’s, you had to be in Silicon Valley if you wanted to get backing or support. Now, however, you can be anywhere. Dom shares that when he’s visited Vietnam with his wife they’ve seen co-working spaces the size of Walmart, with teeneagers building out online games that are worth billions now. The market is expanding, and decentralization has really democratized the process.

Dom foresees that we’re heading “back to the garage”, where things first started for technology.

Moving Away from Cities

Prior to Covid, Dom’s UNIQORN team did a study and found that 12% of young entrepreneurs wanted to move away from large urban centers to launch their businesses. Today, 38% say they want to operate outside of large cities.

He feels that the world is coming to the realization that not only CAN that be done…it probably should be done.

Dom shared some great examples of employees who have new commutes of about 45 seconds on foot. He’s seen this new way of living and working lead to better quality of life, with employees who are fresher, less tired, and able to show up in a different way. Now, more than ever, people see what is possible when it comes to living and working outside of major metropolitan centers of business.

This trend isn’t just in entrepreneurship. Large companies are starting to realize that their people can be just as productive working remotely as from inside the office. Employees are also starting to show up to interviews with more confidence to request remote or flexible work options.

From No Cash to Major Deals

In the first 2-3 years of one of his early startups, Dom was ready to throw in the towel. By 1999, however, the company exploded. They had a leg up on the competition, they were gaining traction for clients, and things were taking off. From a handful of clients to 500+, they grew with amazing speed.

One day Dom realized they had run out of money. Because of their fast growth, they had been burning through cash at a much faster rate than he had thought. It was time for payroll, and the reality was: there wasn’t enough money to pay everyone.

Dom was sitting at his desk, trying to get creative with numbers, when he got a call with an offer: someone wanted to buy the company. Although he first held out on selling, the offer was too good to refuse. The seller was building a new technology, and they needed merchant relationships. When the check was put on the table, he took the offer — then rushed to the bank so he could deposit it and make payroll.

When clients are pouring in and business is booming, entrepreneurs often underestimate the need for cash flow and profit. What Dom learned the hard way was that revenue and profit are not the same thing, and profit margins are an absolute key.

Dom shares that when he looks at a new business now, he doesn’t pay any attention to top line revenue. All he wants to see is actual margin, because that’s where you can see how healthy and sustainable a business is.

Building Value

Dom’s had deal-making success throughout his life because he’s built value again and again. From the outside looking in, buyers were able to see that value, and they came to him. That’s a much different situation then being in a bad place with your business and desperately looking for someone who might be willing to buy.

If you focus on solving a fundamental problem, Dom believes that there will always be people out there looking for what you have. He’s never proactively gone out looking for a buyer, because the people who need the solution he’s created have always been able to find him.

To hear more about the ways in which Dom has leveraged strategy, connections, and deal-making, listen in to the full episode!

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal-Ready Assessment today!

Categories
Authentic Deal-Making Authentic Leadership Deal-Driven Growth

2021 M&A Outlook

2021 M&A Outlook

This week on the solocast we’re checking out the 2021 M&A deals outlook. It’s been interesting to take a look at what people are seeing, and what might be around the corner. M&A deals tend to be especially easy to find information on, and often give indicators about other deal-based forecasts as well. 

As always, there are no guarantees in the deal-making industry!

2021 Industry Predictions

Many experts are predicting a robust year for 2021 M&A deals. This is in line with what I’ve been experiencing, and other statistics are bearing it out as well.

Big publications and industry newsletters for tech, insurance, pharmaceuticals, biotech, logistics, and more seem to be reporting that trends are looking positive. Why? What’s leading to such a robust 2021 M&A outlook when we’re in the midst of a global pandemic and other economic issues?

Well, in the economy overall we’re seeing few things happening.

  1. More Positive Deal-Making Outlook

We’re seeing our way towards the end of the pandemic. Vaccines are going out, and we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. That may trigger an expectation that the economy will be opening up more, and contribute to the positive M&A deal outlook for 2021.

Also, the second half of 2020 was unbelievably strong. That was mid-Covid, with no end in sight. Although the spring and summer of that year was rough, things really did recover and we were on an upswing prior to 2021. That means there must be other major factors at play here!

  1. Impact of the K Economy

A K-based recovery speaks to the idea of both upstrokes and downstrokes as part of the overall economic repair. This fits 2021 because we’re seeing that some industries, like retail and restaurants, are suffering. Other industries, however, are booming. 

The downstrokes speak to reasons that deals would likely slow down or struggle. The upstroke, however, denotes areas where deals would possibly be growing and seeing massive success. Logistics, tech, pharmaceuticals: these are businesses that have seen robust growth.

I’ve also seen that both the upstroke/downstroke of a K economy can lead to increases in deals. In a boom economy there are major amounts of capital available. In fact, there are trillions of dollars of private equity money available as investment capital right now. That’s significant when it comes to funding deals. On the flip side, in a down economy companies are looking for ways to survive. This can include sales, combining multiple businesses, and major pivots that result in deals. Companies need to consider how they can add more value, alter their business models, and reevaluate what they’re doing.

In a K economy, deals are available for a plethora of reasons, and that may be contributing to the positive 2021 M&A outlook. Regardless of the size of your company, you may find that you can benefit from deal-making in the upcoming months.

What Are the Trends?

Even if you aren’t large enough to be a trendsetter yourself, you can still benefit from looking at current trends. Where are large companies spending money? What deals are they making?

You may find yourself discovering trends within an industry, niche, technology, or platform that you can take advantage of in your own way. Perhaps growth, product/service development, or deals of your own will develop as you identify the trends impacting the market.

At the end of the day, there is no crystal ball. No one knows exactly what’s happening next. All you can do is remain aware, do your own homework, and make informed decisions for yourself and your business. I’m cautiously optimistic, especially as I’m operating in many sectors experiencing an upstroke in the current economy. I’ll continue to stay aware, examine trends, listen to insiders as I make more 2021 deals.

If you’re interested in the 2021 M&A outlook, check out the full episode!

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal-Ready Assessment today!

 

Categories
Authentic Business Relationships Authentic Leadership Authentic Negotiating Deal-Driven Growth

How to Hire the Best

How to Hire the Best: Dr. Sabrina Starling on DealQuest Podcast

Business psychologist, How to Hire the Best author, and Tap The Potential Founder Sabrina Starling is back with us again! This time she joined me for an amazing interview we conducted live on Facebook. Dr. Starling has coached thousands of entrepreneurs to overcome the day-to-day struggles of business growth by getting out of their own way and developing a success mindset that propels them to higher and higher levels of success (and profitability). Last time we talked we focused on transforming small businesses into highly profitable, great places to work. Today, we focused in on her latest book in her How to Hire the Best series.

Small Business Owners with Growth Opportunities

Years ago, Dr. Sabrina realized she was working with small business owners who were passing on growth opportunities because they didn’t have the capacity to take on anything new. They were stuck in that place so many entrepreneurs find familiar: running their business reports, ordering supplies at Staples, and wearing so many hats they were ending every day drained and exhausted.

Even though they were reaching the point where more and more opportunities were naturally coming their way….they had maxed themselves out and could no longer take advantage of their natural momentum and growth. If they did happen to have an employee or two, they were often what Dr. Sabrina calls “warm body” employees. That is, they were technically hired to work there, so they were there. They didn’t really have that A-Player, above-and-beyond, valuable asset energy of someone who could help you reach a new level.

Dr. Sabrina knew what they needed: to hire A-player employees and increase their capacity! However, she also knew that hiring is a huge commitment. From candidate searching and posting your job, to screening and interviewing, to onboarding and then releasing responsibilities to this new team member — the time, expense, and potential for things to go wrong make it feel prohibitive!

That’s why so many small business owners and entrepreneurs make the choice to put off hiring until “later”. The truth of the matter is, however, that you will never magically become less busy. If your business keeps growing (which is usually desirable!), you’ll actually have less time and capacity. You have to choose to either “cap out”….or find a way to expand!

For Growth, You Need A-Players

As a business psychologist, she tried coaching business owners on how to turn their “warm body” employees into something more…and it just didn’t work. The alternative, however, seemed to be hiring top-line employees. A lot of small business owners didn’t feel that was possible. After all, the more skills and experience someone has, the more they expect to be compensated. 

This felt like a true dilemma, and was one Dr. Sabrina herself believed for quite a while!

One morning, however, she woke up with this question: “What if it’s not true?”

That question resulted in the search for small business owners who already had employees they considered A-level. She started interviewing them, and kept asking how they had found them and hired them. Their answers, again and again, were “I don’t know!”. (They also requested she come back and tell them if she ever figured out, because they all wanted to do it again!)

I see that as “unconscious competence”, which Bob Proctor has done lots of work on! Somehow, some small business owners had hit the hiring jackpot. Since they weren’t clear on how they had done it, they weren’t able to truly profit from it.

Eventually, Dr. Sabrina found that networking and word of mouth seemed to be the key for success. (Very similar to the most proven marketing techniques for finding clients.) Because the small businesses employing these tactics weren’t aware WHY they were working, they hadn’t been able to consistently and methodically employ them for ongoing, repeated hiring success.

Traditional Hiring Methods Don’t Work

When you follow traditional hiring methods, you have a 1 in 4 chance of hiring an A-player. (And a 3 in 4 chance of ending up with another “warm body”.)

Traditionally, you decide you need to fill an opening. You make a job ad, and put that out into the world. As applicants respond, you complete interviews, then you pick someone. That’s how we tend to do it….and that’s the method that offers a 75% chance of missing the best fit for the role.

In How to Hire the Best, Dr. Sabrina teaches employees how to leverage her non-traditional method that’s been proven to work consistently.

Part of her approach includes starting with the end in mind, and employing best practices in a strategic way.

The first question I had is, “When does all this start?” I knew it probably wasn’t going to be “Once you realize you need someone.” – and I was right!

A-Players Think Differently

For one thing, Dr. Sabrina notes that traditional job postings tend to attract people who are unemployed. This can mean they’re willing to accept anything — even if they aren’t that excited about your company, mission, or values, they’ll position themselves as if they are because they need the job. 

A-Players, however, move from one opportunity to the next. They are looking for opportunities, and they transition when people in their networks let them know about promising positions. You should be networking for A-Players long before in the position of desperately needing to hire.

The best time to hire is when you are generating consistent business leads. As soon as you hit your rhythm here, you should be tapping into your networks and using them to look for your next A-Player. I appreciate Dr. Sabrina’s technique here, and see that it would fit into the bucket I call “entrepreneurial freedom”. 

It’s important to note that A-Players aren’t necessarily people who are superstars on every level. An A-Player might be a role player with a very specific ability or capacity — but in your business, that ability is what enables them to shine. You can’t be the best at every single thing, and your employees can’t be either. It’s not fair to expect that from them!

Hiring an A-Player is more about bringing on the people who have the gifts, talents, and personality strengths to do what you need them to do. They also need to resonate with your business’ values and culture. When you can get them plugged in, the change is powerful!

So who are these magical people? Well, they are go-getters, problem solvers, and autonomous agents who know how to use resources. A team full of people who think like that can change your business from the inside out!

Build Your Team to Create Your Desired Lifestyle

Regardless of what you do, building a team enables you to create a lifestyle business that will allow you to step away as needed and have your business continue to run without you. (Your A-players are there making it all happen!) 

This could mean you’re setting yourself up for a 4-week vacation, or that you’re working on a future transition plan. Dr. Sabrina notes that no one comes along and says, “I hear you work 70+ hours a week in your business. I’d love to buy it!” No one is looking to buy a job, they want to buy a business.

When you learn how to hire the best, you’re setting your business up for success, both now and in the future. The more A-Players you bring on to your team, the more value you are adding.

Dr. Sabrina notes that if you currently have many players who are more like D-Players, it can be overwhelming to know how to fix it. She encourages business owners in that position to focus on hiring up as they grow. That might mean you have the chance to replace someone, and you find an A- or B-Player for the open position. Once you hit a tipping point (say 3 out of 5 are strong employees), those who are lower performers will either choose to leave, or will rise to the challenge. 

Gradually, your culture will shift!

If you’re looking to hire the best, you NEED to listen in to this interview!