For the third consecutive year, B2B CFO© ranks among America’s fastest growing companies
Despite tough economy, B2B CFO continues record growth and takes spot in the prestigious Inc. 5000 list
Phoenix, Ariz. – August 21, 2012 – B2B CFO, the nation’s largest provider of CFO services, has been named to the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America for the third consecutive year.
The annual ranking by Inc. Magazine judges US-based and privately held companies by their revenue growth. This year’s list was ranked on the percentage in revenue increase from 2008-2011. B2B CFO’s 111% growth over the three year time period earned the position on Inc’s 2012 list.
In a personalized letter congratulating B2B CFO, Eric Schurenberg, the new editor-in-chief of Inc. Magazine’s wrote “To be honored this year is a particularly notable achievement. To rank among the 2012 Inc. 5000, your company had to thrive through three of the toughest years this economy has seen in living memory. Your success in such times is eloquent testimony to your team’s creativity, resilience, and tenacity. Congratulations to you and your team. You should be proud of all B2B CFO has achieved to date.”
In addition to attending the Inc. 500/5000 conference as an honoree, B2B CFO will also once again sponsor the upcoming conference. B2B CFO will also hold a “Meet and Greet” reception for business owners and CFOs in conjunction with the Inc. 500/5000 conference on Wednesday, October 3rd. For location, time and to RSVP please visit www.b2bcfo.com/inc5000
“It’s a great honor to make Inc.’s 5000 list for the third consecutive year,” said Jerry L. Mills, founder and CEO of B2B CFO. “We look forward to participating in the conference this October as both honoree and exhibitor and celebrating all the entrepreneurs who build businesses that move America’s economy.”
B2B CFO has grown steadily and consistently despite the tough economic conditions. In August 2012, B2B CFO has grown to 213 Partners across 45 states, boasting more than 5,000 years of cumulative experience. Each Partner is a seasoned financial executive who serves as 1099 CFO to growing businesses on as-needed basis. Together, B2B CFO Partners work with more than 600 businesses in the nation with combined annual sales of more than $3 Billion.
About Inc. Magazine
Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures LLC, Inc. is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies that delivers real solutions for today’s innovative company builders. Inc. provides hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing, and technology.
Inc. Magazine’s 31st annual Inc. 5000 ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the country is available online at www.inc.com/inc5000/list
About B2B CFO®
Headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz., the firm was founded in 1987 by Jerry L. Mills who pioneered the “1099 CFO” concept. Today, B2B CFO is the nation’s largest CFO services firm serving entrepreneurial, growth and mid-market companies. The firm’s partners have an average of 25 years of experience and each individual partner is a senior level executive with a broad range of expertise. Please visit online at www.B2BCFO.com to find out more about the company and B2B CFO careers
Note to editors: high-resolution image of the headshot is available upon request. Interviews, press materials, and any additional information can be obtained by emailing ania@anglespr.com
Employees, $250 Million, Pujols, and having a Plan B
Every CEO has been down this path before. A key employee is threatening to leave. And to a competitor too. What do you do? Make a bad decision? Let emotions rule? Cut bait?
As a lifelong-Cardinals fan, I was pleased and impressed with the team ownership in allowing the mighty Albert Pujols to walk away to greener pastures. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports the team offered him 10 years and more than $200 million. I thought that was way too much, a stretch. His body is already wearing down, and the second half of that $250 million contract will be a burden for his new team, the Angels.
And business owners can learn from the Cardinals owners in how they handled Pujols.
1. The owners had a number and stuck with it. The owners have a salary cap based on what their salaries can be as a percent to total revenues. Is your number 10%, 11%? Each team operates within their own budget constraints or their own salary cap. Do you? Do you actually look at your compensation percentages before adding employees, paying big bonuses, or offering other incentives.
2. Plan B. This is so important. The Cardinals have a Plan B and it’s in motion (which actually started two years earlier). They also have flexibility. To me, this is the greatest lesson for small business owners. Every year, I want to see all of my owners review their personnel listing and conduct what I call HR Contingency Planning. We do it for disaster recovery. Why not with our staff?
In short, go through each name. Circle your keepers, your best people. What would you do if you lost them today? Tomorrow? You need a Plan B. In bigger businesses of $20 million or more, that’s easier. That’s because your management team can be continually reproducing themselves through mentoring and coaching. That means people can step up if a key person departs. For businesses under $10 million, you do not have that luxury. In fact, you probably are the replacement if you lose that key person.
So that’s where you need a pipeline of resources you can reach out to if you lose a key person. Let’s say your top person is your sales guy generating $3 million in sales for you. Your Plan B probably includes several of the following:
1. Take over that person’s top 10 accounts. Spread out the remaining customers to existing staff.
2. Go to your files where you have been maintaining resumes over the year and identify the A Players (the approach Topgrading recommends).
3. Reach out to the contacts you have made over the years from conventions in your industry, various business mixers, and other networking activities.
Plan B assumes you are doing 2 and 3 above. If not, those activities need to be a part of your HR strategies.
For now, I’m anxious to see how Plan B works for the Cardinals. I wish Mr. Pujols and his family well in California. I hope he continues to play great ball and be a continued roll model for kids and his fans.
As Jack Buck, the legendary and former voice for the Cardinals would say, “Adios.”
Do you have an ideal week?
So do you?
Do you manage your calender or does it manage you? Who is in control?
I believe the key is consolidating your discretionary time in as large of blocks as possible. During those times, no e-mail, phone calls, web surfing, etc.
The best coaching firm on the planet for executives is Building Champions. Below is the ideal week for the founder.
Having a Problem Getting Your Daily Cash Balance?
Here’s a truism for small-company controllers and accounting managers. They typically do things the hard way, do not document their work, and are reactive instead of proactive. Unfortunately, that applies to the areas of cash and treasury management, some of your most important back-office functions.
In short, you need to know your cash position every single day. You want excess cash applied immediately to the LOC, or draws made if cash goes negative.
There is no excuse that this process cannot be followed in 15 to 30, even for larger businesses exceeding $50 million in revenue. The secret is a simple checklist like the one I created a few years ago for a publisher.
Simplicity is written all over this. Each category of cash has a set of steps. The steps are limited to 4 actions, that’s all. Each type of cash has a responsible party and when they do it.
I think I spent 10 minutes creating this workflow/checklist. So documenting the work is not hard. And the results? This little company went from hours to minutes with their treasury management function each morning.
The key words for treasury management? No excuses.
My Favorite CEO Trait – Humility
When I got home tonight, there were multiple e-mail messages in my inbox from various CEO’s I serve. But one quickly grabbed my attention and received first priority.
The message came from a man I admire and have grown to appreciate each day I’m around him. This man is successful, is mission and goals oriented, and just gets things done. But he’s also humble.
And here’s why. He sent a survey to his leadership team today where he asked two questions:
1. What are my strengths?
2. What are my weaknesses?
The second question takes guts, courage, and confidence. I happen to serve a few leaders that are unfortunately weak and insecure. This one is not.
Thank you (name withheld). And thank you for your example and your leadership qualities.
Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. C.S. Lewis
What is the Performance Prism?
The Balanced Scorecard.
McKensie’s 7S Framework.
The BCG Matrix.
Porter’s Five Forces.
The Performance Prism. Say what? Because this one is not a household name, let’s summarize what it is.
In short, the Performance Prism is a measurement tool built around four key areas of the business: stakeholders, strategies, processes, capabilities. Below is an image of this framework.
The framework should answer five key questions in the measurement design process.
Stakeholder Satisfaction – who are the key stakeholders and what do they want and need?
Strategies – what strategies do we have to put in place to satisfy the wants and needs of these key stakeholders?
Processes – What critical processes do we require if we are to execute these strategies?
Capabilities – what capabilities do we need to operate and enhance these processes?
Stakeholder Contribution – what contributions do we require form our stakeholders if we are to maintain and develop these capabilities?
If you take the time to understand the performance framework, it makes much sense. However, application in small to mid-sized businesses may be problematic as training will be necessary for the users of this tool.
The Performance Prism was created by the Centre for Business Performance at Cranfield University in the UK. While the framework may be confusing to implement on your own, there are bits and pieces of if that can apply in your current business planning processes.
Is Your Business Like Rock or Classical Music?
Last week, the little munchkins re-watched the newest Star Trek flick that came out a year or two ago. I ultimately viewed it again, and for whatever reason, I enjoyed it the second time around.
During the special features, the producer J.J. Abrams was comparing Star Trek and Star Wars. He definitely wanted to grab younger audiences for the new Star Trek movie, the demographic that generally watched Star Wars.
He noted that Star Wars was like rock music, whereas Star Trek was like classical music. His goal was to keep the classical music, but add rock to the film. Resounding metaphor. And not only that, he nailed it.
For us 50-somethings, we appreciated the classical undertones to the film who grew up watching Kirk and Spock in the 60′s. Yet, the younger kids appreciated the rock sprinkled throughout the film — lots of action, fast-paced, youthful cast.
And the same metaphor applies to business, right? Amazon, rock music. Borders, classical. The Sony Walkman, classical. The iPod, rock. Google Docs, rock. Excel, classical.
But I’m not saying rock is good or even desirable. Law firms are classical, so strategically, they need to operate accordingly. But online services selling legal content are rock stars and have to operate, market, and find the right people for their fast-paced environment.
So which are you? Classical or rock? The worst thing you can do is try to be rock when you are really classical. Each genre has their place and their own operating strategies. So if your business is classical, then operate like one. If rock, keep rockin.
Mizzou, Pinkel, and Great Leadership
Last weekend, I was listening to the MU football game against Kansas. It was bad, really bad for the good guys. MU couldn’t do anything right. Three interceptions in the first half. One paper stated the MU quarterback wanted the offensive coordinator to quit calling passing plays (talk about a lack of confidence).
But here’s a great quote, a great story. Leave it to the MU coach to say the right thing at the right time to a key player:
“Hey, you know what?” Pinkel told Franklin. “You made some bad throws. But you’re a great player. You’re not the only guy that’s ever done this. So move on, get rid of it. Park it.” Souce: Kansas City Star
Great words. How many times have we seen situations like this where the coach tears into the player. Or a parent? Or a boss?
Coach Pinkel made some poor decisions a few weeks earlier, but the words of wisdom and encouragement above can teach us much both on and off the field.
And yes, the good guys won.
When Hiring a New Attorney – Three Questions to Ask
Over the past year, a few of my clients have hired new attorneys. Here are three simple questions I recommend they ask during the interviewing process (the same ones I use):
1. Do you have SEC experience? This is not a deal breaker, but business attorneys that have worked in large firms right out of college sometimes get to work on SEC-related projects. I’ve found in the past that attorneys with SEC experience are great business thinkers. Accordingly, I want an attorney who knows business inside and out, not just the law. Those with an SEC background generally have an edge over their peers without such experience.
2. Do you bill by the hour? The billable hour is idiotic. Thankfully, there are some firms around the globe that are finally moving to value-based billing. Think about it — are you paying for butts in seats or for results? If I need a DPA for a business I’m buying, give me a price.
3. And that leads to a similar point. Will the attorney have their para-legals or junior-level staff do as much of the work as possible keeping costs down? You will not find that in smaller practices, so the question is relevant if you are on a tight budget.
Good luck on your search.
New Guide to Understanding the Tax Code is a Hit
I appreciate a loyal reader that passed along this picture of the Dummies Guide to Understanding our U.S. Tax Code. Sorry, but I’ll pass on this one.
The Wall Street Journal featured B2B CFO® as experts in cash flow management. 
