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LEVERAGED CAPITAL NEWSLETTER Leveraged Capital, is a free monthly newsletter that presents growth and strategy issues effecting entrepreneurs and owners of small to medium size enterprises (SME's). Leveraged Capital is published and delivered electronically to subscribers. Your privacy is strictly respected and we do not share or sell subscriber email addresses to anyone outside of Graham Financial Corporation. If you enjoy what we present, please forward a copy of Leveraged Capital to clients and associates. They can subscribe to Leveraged Capital, by clicking on this link: http://www.GrahamFinancial.com/newsLetter.htm and filling out the quick form.
Well, the past few months have had some interesting distractions (translated as other things to worry about) from the markets. Cough, Buzz and Moo have been the words dejour. Of late, we needed to be concerned with coughs and fevers that lingered, buzzing insects that cause more than itching, and alas, even a good piece of cow was brought into the realm of suspicion. Hats off to the Ontario government and their handling of SARS. I don't feel enough credit has been given to the Ministry of Health and the medical workers in containing this outbreak. Let's hope the Rolling Stones and friends will make the economic impact that has been projected. At the very least, 600,000 fans should have quite a party. If you haven't visited Toronto this summer, your dollar (particularly American dollars) will go a very, very long way as hotels, restaurants and tourist activities are pulling out all the stops to provide you tremendous value for your visit in these remaining summer months. Just returning from Atlanta this weekend, I also found out we need to worry about a pending postal strike - any one else find this a ridiculous notion for a developed nation such as ours? I'm all for a full court press to contain the union in like fashion to SARS, West Nile, and Mad Cow. Much (long-term) success to you, DPG.
In This Months Issue: (Click on the Article Title To Go To The Full Story.)
Quote Of The Month: Investment Hindsight:
This
article is a continuation of the “ABC’s” of U.S. work permits.
In last month’s newsletter, we provided information about the “TN”,
a work permit that has its origins in the NAFTA
and allows certain Canadian (or Mexican) professionals to work in the U.S.
In this article we provide information about the “H-1B” Specialty
Occupation visa.
Like the TN, H-1B status allows qualified persons to work on behalf of
U.S. employers in the United States but it is not limited solely to Canadians or
Mexicans. Specialty
Occupation. Educational
Qualifications.
The
last provision above permits issuance of H-1B status to persons who have not
earned a bachelors degree but whose experience combined with any education is
considered equivalent to a U.S. degree.
The general rule is that three years of experience in a related field is
equivalent to one year of post secondary education.
For example, it is possible for a person who has completed two years of
post secondary education to combine at least six years of expertise in a related
field as the equivalent of a U.S. bachelors degree.
Professional
educational evaluators exist throughout the U.S. to assist in the determination
as to whether a degree or degree plus experience are considered equivalent to a
U.S. degree. Certification
of Labor Condition Application.
Filing
the H-1B Petition - Timing
Issues & Filing Fees. Once
filed in most cases the H-1B petition will be adjudicated by the BCIS in
approximately three to four months.
A filing fee of US$1,130 must be submitted with the petition. However,
the BCIS has enacted a service that allows, upon payment of an additional
“premium processing” US$1,000 fee, for the adjudication of H-1B and other
petitions within 15 days of receipt. Issuance
of H-1B Status. H-1B
Validity Period and Adjustment of Status. Alex Israel is a qualified US & Canadian attorney practicing immigration law with Aylesworth LLP's business immigration group. For further information, please contact him at 416-777-2406 or aisrael@aylaw.com. Visit their web site at http://www.aylesworth.com
At early-stage companies, the executive team comes to work dressed in battle fatigues, prepared to fight guerilla warfare. The founder selects the platoon based on each individual's specific skills in functional areas, such as sales and finance, and the group understands that the mission is to grow. If the company and its executives are still standing at the end of the day, they know they've succeeded. Take TriNet Group, Inc., the company I founded in 1988 with a single employee: my wife. Subsequently, I hired top talent in human resources, operations and finance. For a long time, my small band wore multiple hats: they were employees and managers as well as executives, and their battle plan to was find customers, keep them happy, and prevent as many baths in red ink as possible. Cut to fast growth: In the late 1990s, TriNet ballooned to 350 from 100 employees and scored five consecutive placements on Inc. magazine's list of the country's fastest growing private companies. It was then that I realized that my executive team needed to change as well. As our company became financially stable, the "fight hard, survive another day" mentality could give way to problems of another sort: complacency, departmental infighting, and executives who might no longer be able to perform at the required level. Executive Metrics. Those, of course, are the classic problems besetting mature companies. Unchecked, they could cause a once-nimble entity to be overtaken by more agile competitors. It was that scenario that I wanted to avoid. In short, I wanted TriNet's executives to be as fast, fresh and alert as they were during our early stage. And to assure that, I turned to a specific tool: metrics. Although creating an executive "dream team" is more of an art than a science, we have learned that metrics can help quantify the results as a company matures. At TriNet, we establish metrics for each member of our executive team, a process to which the entire group contributes. Individual executives take complete ownership of the numbers for which they will be accountable, using them to evaluate members of their own staffs. In addition, the executive group uses the metrics to establish goals and make decisions about how best to achieve critical results. Metrics, in other words, enable executives in a mature company to be proactive about creating and communicating shared goals. No longer do executives have the luxury of relying on free-form management to help employees avoid complacency, infighting, and becoming victims of the Peter Principle - being shunted into jobs for which they are ill suited. Confronting Complacency. Metrics help combat complacency by keeping the focus on constant improvement. At financially stable companies with no threats on the horizon, guerilla outfits get stowed away, and it's all too easy for executives to succumb to inertia. Look for the warning signs: meetings following routines with no significant outcome, a focus on appearance rather than substance, and form and process valued more than results. With a shared set of relevant metrics, leaders cannot simply relax into their titles and roles, coasting on momentum. At each reporting period, they must answer for the numbers they've agreed to achieve. These include not only the company's overall results, but also those pertaining to their own departments and functions. At TriNet, for example, sales and marketing directors watch leading indicators, such as the number of raw leads coming in, the flow of "Requests for Proposals" through the Web site, and the number of meetings scheduled by the sales people. Sales forecasts are adjusted to reflect those numbers, and each executive attends to activities that drive those indicators. The pressure that is put upon the executives spreads quickly throughout the company. During our recent fourth quarter, our top team created a campaign called "Autumn Leads," which tracked customers and prospect referrals and rewarded the internal employees who helped solicit them. Although sales executives were ultimately responsible for meeting their metrics, the energy generated by their efforts was detectable at every level of the company. The result? TriNet had its best sales month ever. Walking the Talk. A set measuring system helps break down the interdepartmental friction that takes hold at mature companies. When TriNet's staff more than tripled in the late 1990s, turf battles increased. The goal became getting employees to communicate and work together. The metrics we established enabled our leaders to act as if our large company was still a small one. The bigger the company, the harder it is for employees to see the connection between their efforts and top-level goals, such as increasing profit. Establishing a link between job-related expectations and executive-level metrics helps make that connection abundantly clear. Excising the Peter Principle. Another plus is that metrics helps guard against executives being moved into jobs for which they aren't suited, the so-called Peter Principle. As a company matures, certain executives who rose quickly and served admirably during the early days won't have the skills necessary for the next stage. Having a loyal yet no-longer-effective executive on staff poses a gut-wrenching dilemma for the entrepreneur. It is important to do right by a long-term employee who has shown great value in the past, but it is also important to act in the best interests of the organization. A measurement system assures that the focus is on results when evaluating executive team members, thus reducing the need to rely on personal feelings. When the numbers are in black and white, I have found that some executives often elect on their own to leave. The guerilla approach to a company works when the agenda for business each day is pure survival, and executives are picked solely for their skill as individual contributors. As the business grows larger, that kind of spontaneity needs to be exchanged for a formal system of building, maintaining, and communicating the company's goals. It's not possible to eliminate growing pains completely, but moving from free-form chaos to shared executive metrics will go a long way towards ensuring a company's continued vitality. Martin Babinec is the founder, president and CEO of an outsourcer of human resource services that has grown into a $32-million-plus operation. Visit www.trinet.com. This article originally appeared Kauffman Foundation's Entreworld . Visit www.emkf.org and www.entreworld.org. The Kauffman Foundation works to accelerate entrepreneurial in America by reaching individuals of all ages through the delivery of education, development, and the promotion of an entrepreneurial environment.
Differentiation, niche marketing, and positioning. These and
other related business buzzwords have no doubt crossed every business owner and
marketing director's ears in recent years. But what do these words really mean to you
in your business? Usually they mean that a business will attempt
to sell a product or service that is somehow different than the competition's to
a certain, specific target market. In theory, this is a great idea. If you could
just reach that one segment of the market with your great, new, innovative
product... Welcome to reality. If your company is innovative enough to
develop a truly unique product or service that is earning you a profit, the
following inevitably happens: competition springs up from nowhere to imitate
your product or service, undersell your price, and steal your market share. It's
immutable. So as your next line of defense, you choose to position
yourself as the quality leader within your field. Or as the low price
leader. Or as the service king. You soon find yourself in a battle with
four other companies - all claiming to have the largest selection, lowest
prices, highest quality or best service. A marketing free-for-all usually ensues. Each competitor
tries in vain to shout with the loudest voice that his business is superior.
Headlines get bigger, radio ads get more obnoxious, advertising agencies get
richer. More significantly, customers begin to discount any claim made by any
of the companies. Is niche marketing the way to go then? Obviously, different
is better than "me too." The question isn't whether or not to be
different, but rather how to communicate those differences in a way that
your customers will believe and embrace them. Your Real
Opportunity for Innovation Lies in the Marketing. Here's
What Marketing Really Is... You need to realize three things about business to
understand marketing. These three things are always true, regardless of what
industry you're in: 1) All businesses do just one thing: They Woo
Customers - Period. 2) All customers want just one thing: The Best Deal
- Period. 3) Your marketing should do just one thing: Articulate Why You're
The Best Deal - Period. You can build confidence if you articulate
your advantage. This is not a complicated thing. If you dispute any of the
three points, please call me to discuss it at once. I don't want to be wrong
about such simple stuff. But if this is such simple stuff...then why do most
businesses have so much trouble executing a decent marketing plan? I say
it's because, in general, we are lazy communicators. See if this scenario sounds familiar. When you get home from
work, your spouse asks you how your day was. What do you usually say? Fine,
okay, I'm tired, great, it stunk. Do these words actually communicate anything?
What about when you see someone you know at the store and you ask, "Whatcha
doin'?" (as if you really care or can't tell by looking) and he answers,
"Fine," which is actually the answer to the other question he was
expecting, which is "How ya doin'?" We are a society of lazy
communicators...we are on communication autopilot. Don't think, just
talk. These communication habits spill over into marketing and
advertising all the time. Show me 99% of all marketing material created and I'll
show you a huge jumble of hyperbole, fluff, platitudes, and yawnably
unbelievable, black hole nothing words. Words like cheapest, professionalism,
service, quality, speedy, convenient, and best. These words do absolutely
nothing to communicate why you're the best deal. NOTHING. Claude Hopkins,
the greatest advertising man in history, summed it up: "Platitudes
and generalities roll off the human understanding like water from a duck. They
leave no impression whatever." Consider an example. The city I live in has just over
150,000 people. The local yellow page directory lists a whopping 81 companies
that repair air conditioners. Of those, 34 spend from $300 to $5,000 a month for
space ads in addition to the regular category listing. Some of the advertisers claim to be "the" experts.
Most tell me in bullet points that they only charge one low rate, even if
service is needed after hours or on weekends. Almost all of them tout that they
fix all major brands. None of them, however, give me a compelling reason
why I should call them instead of their competitors. The "unique"
claims of each company have become generic, unappealing, and meaningless to the
prospect...who is just waiting to be sold. Surprisingly, very few businesses really make more than a
token attempt to distinguish themselves from their competitors. Once a
company stakes out a position in the marketplace, the usual strategy is to
foolishly proclaim to all potential customers, "Here we are, now give us
all the business that you have been giving to our competition...for no
justifiable, rational reason." Fortunately, you can cash in on what your competitors are
doing wrong. The most powerful tool you can use to stand head and shoulders
above your competition is the Articulated Sales Argument (ASA). Your ASA is the
singular, unique benefit that your customers can expect to receive when they
favor your business instead of your competitor's - stated in specific,
graphically illustrated terms. An air conditioning repair company I know of in Las Vegas
harnessed the power of the ASA and tripled the size of its business in less than
a year. Before developing and implementing an ASA, the company had been guilty
of running "me too" advertising. Their yellow page ad (where 90% of
their business came from) had the company name plastered across the top in huge
letters. Bullet points let everyone know that they provided 24-hour service,
they serviced most major brands, they had 22 years of experience, etc. Because everyone else's ad said essentially the same thing
and since their ad was relatively large, they were able to build a respectable
business in spite of their "me too" approach. Each year, they were
able to generate enough revenue to do the following: 1.
Add a new truck or two to their fleet. What more could small business owners ask for? A lot more!
The first step in developing their ASA was to determine what customers wanted
most from an air conditioning repair company. In the 8 month long Las Vegas
summer even a couple of hours without an air conditioner is sheer misery. Customer
surveys confirmed their notion - fast service was to be the premise for
their ASA. But everyone else already claimed to have fast service. Some
companies even put FAST SERVICE in big headlines at the top of their ads. It
wasn't as if nobody else had ever figured out that being fast was important. The
funny thing was that nobody else had ever figured out a way to say it in a
way that would allow them to stand head and shoulders above the competition. The next year they ran a half page ad as usual (no
additional expense), but changed the wording to say, "Because we have 58
repairmen on call 24 hours a day to man our 27 service trucks, we can guarantee
that your home or business will be cool within 2 hours of your call - or there's
no charge for the repair." And that was just the headline! The rest of the ad went on to explain that if the crews were
too busy to fix the unit right then or if the repair would take longer than 2
hours, portable units would be brought in to cool the house at no extra charge
until the repair was completed. Bottom line, the customer would be cool in a
hurry - period. The company put a lot of faith in their new ASA based on
previous test results - they actually only had 17 repair trucks and about 40
technicians when they first placed the ad. They were counting on the ad to
generate enough business to afford them the additional trucks and personnel. The
number of calls the ad generated quadrupled in less than one month
after the new book came out. More importantly, they were able to convert 50% of
the calls into jobs - up from 38% before. Gross revenues soared and new trucks
were bought to keep up with demand. The end of the year profit for the owners
was higher than they thought they would ever see. Their integration of the ASA "fast service" was the key element in the company's turnaround. Obviously, other factors contributed as well, like the company's underlying dedication to fulfilling the "big promise" of fast service. But the point is a simple headline stating the ASA "fast service" increased their bottom line by over 400% with no additional advertising cost. Reproduced with permission from the Monopolize Your Marketplace Newsletter. Copyright © 2003 Y2Marketing except where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide. http://www.y2marketing.com
For years, we have advised Canadian companies to capture US market share by
being active in the United States. In keeping with our own advice, in June
we announced the opening of the offices of Graham Corporate Growth, LLC in
Atlanta Georgia.
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