May 18, 2022
May 18, 2022
1 min read
Help/Tips
Mar 2, 2022
Mar 2, 2022
1 min read
We can’t wait for you to experience the cleaner, brighter and more user-friendly feel of our new platform! The site is designed to give you and your company greater visibility. Here are three things you should know: Emails from XPX will now come from my.exitplanningexchange.com—please adjust your email settings!Your new profile can have a higher resolution photo and logo—please log in (upper right) to add those now!We’ll be hosting drop-by visibility trainings in September—be on the lookout for an announcement with exact dates! Have issues or questions? Please email me at cheryl@exitplanningexchange.com
Aug 20, 2021
Thank you for your support in the last year as we’ve worked together to pull through the pandemic. This feels like a good moment to take stock of where we are and how we can meet your needs moving into the future. The survey consists of one required and 20 optional, confidential questions and is designed (we hope!) to get your quick feedback.
May 14, 2021
May 14, 2021
1 min read
Two new member profile fields options for your profile: Disclaimer: If you work for a regulated firm and adding a disclaimer would enable you to get permission to have a public profile on XPX, please send us the language and we will add it to your profile. New areas of expertise: Cooperative business models, Worker cooperatives. It’s always a good idea to let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
Apr 15, 2021
Apr 15, 2021
1 min read
XPX is a valuable network of very experienced advisors to privately-held businesses. It can be a little intimidating to emerging professionals. But as good exit planners, we know that your firms need to develop your advisors and give them career advancement opportunities. That’s why many of our Chapters have specific membership and/or content alternatives for emerging professionals. We are also offering occasional national networking and learning opportunities. To stay on top of these opportunities, please join our
Mar 15, 2021
Mar 15, 2021
1 min read
Your XPX Member profile is a powerful way to make it easy for people to find you and connect with you. But please know that we have a clear log into your profile and click on the Privacy tab as you see at the top of this screenshot: logging into your profile for a quick privacy check.
Feb 11, 2021
Feb 11, 2021
1 min read
Jan 20, 2021
Jan 20, 2021
1 min read
We are pleased to introduce the Informed Inclusion Book Club as a forum for XPX members and guests who want to grow in their knowledge and understanding and take meaningful steps in combating racism, sexism, and other biases and discrimination through education and self-awareness to achieve greater equity and inclusion in our country, in our firms, and within the XPX business community. The Informed Inclusion Book Club will have a Kick-Off Meeting on January 19 at 4 PM CT/5 PM ET via Zoom. We will do introductions and pick our first few books with the goal of meeting again to discuss the first book sometime in February. The book we select for each meeting will guide our discussion, so readers are encouraged to attend. However, if you haven’t read the book, please plan to join us if you are interested in these topics as your perspective will add to the conversation. We’ll take suggestions at the meeting but feel free to suggest a book when you register. The Book Club leaders presently are John Weber from XPX’s Chicago chapter. More Book Club leaders, especially those who self-identify as diverse, are strongly encouraged to email Laura if you have questions or have an interest in getting involved. You may volunteer live during the Zoom meeting too! Can’t make this meeting? Be sure to sign up for the
Dec 15, 2020
Dec 15, 2020
1 min read
We’ve been working to enable our members to easily add events to your calendar. It’s now available for all events. In your confirmation email, you’ll see this notice: TWO STEPS TO ADD TO YOUR CALENDAR COPY THE VIRTUAL LOGIN INFO FOR THE EVENT: For virtual events, you will need the secure login below. You can add the login to your calendar item or use the link in the reminder emails we send you the day before and day of the virtual meeting. CLICK THE CALENDAR ICON AT THIS LINK AND PASTE THE LOGIN INFO: on calendar icon above the event title on our website and then paste the login info below Join Zoom Meeting
Nov 18, 2020
Nov 18, 2020
1 min read
Oct 16, 2020
Oct 16, 2020
1 min read
Work continues on our new XPX website. On the new site, we’ll be featuring our members’ names, photos and statements about “Why I’m a member of XPX.” We’d love to feature your profile! To take advantage of this added visibility, all you have to do is add a 200-character statement to your profile. The field is at the top of the Membership Fields in your profile. While you’re there, please make sure that you check out your other fields to make sure your profile is the best it can be! Update your profile now!
Sep 16, 2020
Sep 16, 2020
1 min read
Call me when…. We are in the early stages of updating our website. One thing we are doing is changing the “Call me when” section of member profiles. It appears as a shorthand way for people to get a sense of who you are and why you might be a fit for their clients. Originally, we did not put a limit on the size of this field and some profiles have long statements that make our directory hard to read. The limit is now 200 characters. When we instituted this change, we had to shorten a few profiles. Either way, you might want to check that this statement is representing you the way you want. To check your profile make changes, just log into your profile:
Aug 17, 2020
Aug 17, 2020
1 min read
HOW TO GET MORE INVOLVED IN XPX – VOLUNTEER! Volunteering is a great way to increase your visibility in XPX and get to know a broader group of members. Each committee has a number of specific jobs. Here are just a few examples of ways you can get involved. To volunteer, talk to one of the leaders of Contact Us. Events/Programming Plan calendar Recruit speakers Events: Live: arrange event venue, food, AV Virtual: plan program and platform, and prep speakers Moderate meetings Membership Recruit/Welcome guests Onboard members Follow up with absent members Power networking (sometimes a separate committee) Diversity and inclusion (sometimes a separate committee) Sponsorship Recruit Coordinate sponsor story videos (you bring the person, we do the taping) Communications LinkedIn Ambassadors Web site 2020 update Chapter slide decks Finance Financials Regulatory reporting
Jul 17, 2020
Jul 17, 2020
1 min read
During these challenging times, XPX has continued our (now virtual) operations at a strong clip. As I’ve been saying, our clients need us more than ever and we need each other more than ever. The good news is that we provide many ways to help you see and be seen virtually: Attend meetings and sign up for power networking at your own Chapter Experience other Chapter meetings or our cross-Chapter power networking Connect, read and share the amazing content in the Knowledge Exchange.
Jun 19, 2020
Jun 19, 2020
1 min read
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As an advisor, your role is to help clients prepare to exit their business, yet many people resist thinking about the future because it involves so many unknowns, decisions, and choices. And emotions typically complicate matters further, sometimes derailing the process altogether. Here are some questions that can help you establish rapport with your clients, learn more about their concerns, and move the conversation forward. How are you feeling about your work/profession/business these days? Which aspects of work are you still enjoying, and which are you ready to leave behind? Do you envision retiring from work at some point, or are you contemplating an encore career? What part of planning for your future feels most challenging? How do you imagine your life in retirement will be different from how it is now? What process are you using to figure out what you’ll do next after you retire? What would you like to see happen with your business long term? What options have you considered for the transfer of your business? What steps have you taken to make your business more attractive to a potential buyer? What are your concerns about transitioning your firm to new ownership? What would be your ideal scenario for transitioning out of your company? What topic(s) have we touched on today that we should put on our agenda to revisit? So, what happens after you pose a few of these questions and your clients open up about emotional matters? Remember, the most helpful thing you can do is to listen attentively. You’ve created a valuable opportunity for them to talk about things they may not share with other advisors. Here are some tips for managing the conversation when clients raise emotionally loaded topics: Don’t try to “fix things” by immediately offering suggestions. Doing so sends the message that you’re uncomfortable hearing their concern. You can offer suggestions but do so later. Don’t say anything that conveys the message that their feeling or concern is unwarranted. “There’s really no need to feel that way” or “I’m sure it will be just fine” may sound reassuring to you but could be experienced as dismissive by your client. Don’t immediately offer a logical counterpoint to your client’s emotion. Remember, feelings don’t have to make sense; they’re “as is”. Put another way, if feelings made sense, they would be thoughts. People report concerns and characterize their feelings differently from one another, so it’s in your best interest to seek amplification and clarification by inquiring as follows . . . “I want to make sure that I understand exactly what you mean by ___. Can you tell me more?” “People sometimes mean slightly different things when they talk about ___. What does ___ mean for you?” “Before I suggest anything, I’d like to learn more about it from your perspective.” It’s possible that during early conversations your client may hint at mixed feelings about exiting their business. That’s perfectly normal, but you need to bring it out into the open. You want to foster an atmosphere such that your client keeps you apprised about where they’re at. If they keep their ambivalence to themselves, it has greater potential to blindside you and complicate the sale. You can say: “In my experience, it’s normal to have some mixed emotions about selling. Those thoughts may not always be top of mind, but when they do pop up let’s be sure to talk about them. Believe it or not, they can help inform our process and alert us to aspects of the sale that are important to you.” You may also find that your client is overly risk averse. If so, consider saying the following: “Our work together won’t be comprehensive if we only plan for what could go wrong. That’s just half the equation. It’s fine to be conservative and err on the side of caution, but to be truly realistic we should also consider a range of possibilities both good and bad.” Author’s Note: The concepts in this article are derived from Robert Leahy’s book, Overcoming Resistance in Cognitive Therapy. New York: Guilford
For five decades, the southern United States has been an attractive location for automakers to open plants thanks to generous tax breaks and cheaper, non-union labor. However, after decades of failing to unionize automakers in the South, the United Auto Workers dealt a serious blow to that model by winning a landslide union victory at Volkswagen. In an effort to fight back, three southern states have gotten creative: they passed laws barring companies from receiving state grants, loans and tax incentives if the company voluntarily recognizes a union or voluntarily provides unions with employee information. The laws also allow the government to claw back incentive payments after they were made. While these laws are very similar, each law has unique nuances. If you are in an impacted state, you should seek local counsel. In 2023, Tennessee was the first state to pass such a law. This year, Georgia and Alabama followed suit. So why this push? In 2023, the American Legislative Exchange Council (“ALEC”), a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model legislation for distribution among state governments, adopted Tennessee’s law as model legislation. In fact, the primary sponsor of Tennessee’s bill was recognized as an ALEC Policy Champion in March 2023. ALEC’s push comes as voluntary recognition of unions gains popularity as an alternative to fighting unions. We recently saw this with the high-profile Ben & Jerry’s voluntary recognition. Will this Southern strategy work to push back against growing union successes? Time will tell. Brody and Associates regularly advises its clients on all labor management issues, including union-related matters, and provides union-free training. If we can be of assistance in this area, please contact us at info@brodyandassociates.com or 203.454.0560.
Almost since time began, the nimble small business has been axiomatic. Large corporations are like big ships, the common knowledge goes. They take a long time to change direction.
I once had the thrill of interviewing Jerry West on management. He was “The Logo” for the NBA, although back then they didn’t advertise him as such. Only the Laker followers knew for sure. In 1989 the “Showtime” Lakers were coming off back-to-back championships. Pat Riley was a year away from his first of three Coach of the Year awards.
Can you Offer Too Many SKUs to Your Customers? The short answer is YES! A SKU, or Stock Keeping Unit, defines each different product version that you sell and keep inventory of. There may be different SKUs of the same overall item based on size, color, capacity (think computer or cellphone memory), features, and many other parameters. For build to forecast businesses, that number of variations can quickly explode and become difficult to manage. Your customers are busy and want ordering simplified. Of course, they may need (or want) more than one variation of a product. That is reasonable and a common aspect of business – one size does not fit all! But there is a point where too offering too many SKUs is not value added either for your customer or your business. In his April 30, 2013 article “Successful Retailers Learn That Fewer Choices Trigger More Sales” in Forbes, Carmine Gallo discusses his experience and a study about “choice overload” by other authors. He writes about a retailer that “has discovered that giving a customer more than three choices at one time actually overwhelms customers and makes them frustrated…when the customer is faced with too many choices at once, it leaves the customer confused and less likely to buy from any of the choices!” Choice overload is well-documented in consumer studies but can apply in B2B as well. While customer satisfaction is important, another key concern is the often-hidden costs associated with a business offering and managing a large number of SKUs for a given product type. These costs include holding inventory, S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning) team time, small production runs, and scrapping inventory. Holding inventory takes up space, which may come with a cost or utilize racks that could be used for other products. Scheduled inventory counts take up employee time and may result in blackout periods when the warehouse is not shipping product. The more SKUs there are, including extra SKUS, the greater the potential impact. The Sales team’s forecasting and the Operations team’s purchasing reviews that are part of the S&OP process can occupy more of their valuable time if they need to consider these times. If small orders or forecasts require a new production run, this could be costly and create excess inventory. Whether from this new production or past builds, eventually it will make sense to write off and scrap old inventory, another cost impact to the company. How do you know which SKUs to focus on if you wish to look at reducing your total number of SKUs? Start by examining SKUs that have: Low historic sales over a period of time Small variations between SKUs that customers do not value Older technology or model when newer option SKUs are available This requires a true partnership between Sales and Operations. It starts with educating both teams on the costs involved – neither group may be aware of the money and time impact to the company. Periodic (such as quarterly) reviews of SKUs that meet the above descriptions should become a fixed part of the calendar. A review of the data and other available for sale options should result in the identification of SKUs which may not be needed. At that point, it is helpful to have a customer friendly EOL (End of Life) Notice process by which you inform customers of last time buy requirements for this SKU and alternates available. It is usually best to provide some time for the last time buy in the interest of customer satisfaction, although that may not always be necessary. At a company that designed and sold electronics, a robust SKU rationalization process was implemented to help address these issues. A representative from the Operations team analyzed SKUs that met a version of the above criteria and suggested candidates for the EOL process. Next, a member of the Sales team reviewed them and, where appropriate, issued product change or EOL notices to customers, providing them time for last time buy orders when needed. These steps helped reduce the work involved in maintaining these SKUs while not leading to any customer complaints. A final note – sometimes it makes sense to continue offering low selling SKUs – to support customers buying other items (hopefully in larger quantities). It may be worthwhile to encourage them to keep coming back to you for all of their product needs and this may be a way to accomplish that. But it helps to understand that this is truly the case and not assume that this customer would not be equally happy with another, more popular, SKU. Steven Lustig is founder and CEO of Lustig Global Consulting and an experienced Supply Chain Executive. He is a recognized thought leader in supply chain and risk mitigation, and serves on the Boards of Directors for Loh Medical and Atlanta Technology Angels.
When it comes to careers, business owners are a minority of the population. In conversations this week, I mentioned the statistics several times, and each owner I was discussing it with was surprised that they had so few peers. According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), there are over 33,000,000 businesses in the US. Let’s discount those with zero employees. Many are shell companies or real estate holding entities. Also, those with fewer than 5 employees, true “Mom and Pop” businesses, are hard to distinguish from a job. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Association, lists businesses with 5 to 99 employees at about 3,300,000, and 123,000 have 100 to 500 employees (the SBA’s largest “small business” classification.) Overall, that means about 1% of the country are private employers. Owners are a small minority, a very small minority, of the population. Even if we only count working adults (161,000,000) business owners represent only a little more than 2% of that population. So What? Where am I going with this, and how does it relate to our recent discussions of purpose in business exit planning? It’s an important issue to consider when discussing an owner’s identity after transition. Whether or not individual owners know the statistics of their “rare species” status in society, they instinctively understand that they are different. They are identified with their owner status in every aspect of their business and personal life. At a social event, when asked “What do you do?” they will often respond “I own a business.” It’s an immediate differentiator from describing a job. “I am a carpenter.” or “I work in systems engineering,” describes a function. “I am a business owner” describes a life role. When asked for further information, the owner frequently replies in the Imperial first person plural. “We build multi-family housing,” is never mistaken for a personal role in the company. No one takes that answer to mean that the speaker swings a hammer all day. Owners are a Minority We process much of our information subconsciously. If a man enters a business gathering, for example, and the others in the room are 75% female, he will know instinctively, without consciously counting, that this business meeting or organization is different from others he attends. Similarly, business owners accept their minority status without thinking about it. They expect that the vast majority of the people they meet socially, who attend their church, or who have kids that play sports with theirs, work for someone else. There are places where owners congregate, but otherwise, they don’t expect to meet many other owners in the normal course of daily activity. This can be an issue after they exit the business. You see, telling people “I’m retired” has no distinction. Roughly 98% of the other people who say that never built an organization. They didn’t take the same risks. Others didn’t deal with the same broad variety of issues and challenges. Most didn’t have to personally live with the impact of every daily decision they made, or watch others suffer the consequences of their bad calls. That is why so many former owners suffer from a lack of identity after they leave. Subconsciously, they expect to stand out from the other 98%. “I’m retired” carries no such distinction. This article was originally published by John F. Dini, CBEC, CExP, CEPA on
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